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The “life-threatening” and “historic” blizzard New Yorkers hunkered down for reared its head Monday evening, but pulled back just when meteorologists thought it would deliver its promised Day After Tomorrow wrath.

And people expecting to get their Jake Gyllenhaal on weren’t very happy with New York City officials for preparing for the worst.

We’re not kidding.

With 20 inches predicted, the city shut down the transit systems, threatened to fine those on the road for non-emergency purposes, and reminded New Yorkers every two minutes — this is not the storm you want to underestimate.

But on Tuesday morning, Central Park only measured eight inches. Not enough, apparently.

In other words…GIVE ME MY DISASTER!!! YOU LIED! GIVE IT TO ME! Snow over safety, always.

Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the snowfall wasn’t as large as expected (a good thing), but emergency preparedness was absolutely necessary.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio opened city streets to traffic Tuesday morning, and the subway system was being brought up to speed. The city had feared a blast of 20 inches of snow or more; Central Park had almost 8 inches Tuesday morning.

“This is a better-safe-than-sorry scenario,” de Blasio said on CNN Tuesday morning. “It is still very bad on the streets … but we dodged a bullet.”

And it was. The world didn’t end, but New York, especially Suffolk County, endured battering winds and heavy snow. New England caught the brunt of the historic storm, leaving thousands without power. The area could see up to 3 feet by Wednesday.

Coastal areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island, N.Y., were facing blizzard conditions — heavy snow with consistent wind gusts in excess of 35 mph.

The island of Nantucket, Mass., was without power, leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power. Worcester had 25 inches of snow. Parts of Long Island had 21 inches early Tuesday.

And there was plenty of storm left to go. At least an additional foot of snow was forecast to fall across most of eastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire, and most of Maine, according to The Weather Channel.

Sustained winds of 20 to 40 mph with gusts up to 55 mph are howling across much of eastern New England. Even higher winds are expected in eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, where gusts of 70+ mph had been reported.

Yep, sounds like a blizzard.

But the lack of snow in areas like New Jersey, NYC, and Philadelphia brought an avalanche of criticism on meteorologists, who then took to Twitter and Facebook to apologize.

Yep. That happened.

A sheepish National Weather Service office in New York posted this on its Facebook page: “The science of forecasting storms, while continually improving, still can be subject to error, especially if we’re on the edge of the heavy precipitation shield. Efforts, including research, are already underway to more easily communicate that forecast uncertainty.”

Note to city officials and meteorologists? Don’t apologize. Snowball fights never trump safety. You did your job.

Stay safe out there.

SOURCE: USA Today, Twitter | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.