Was Boston's snow forecast a failure? Depends on who you ask.

The fast-moving winter storm sweeping across the Northeast was once poised to blanket the Boston area with as much as a foot of snow, but is now set to move further south than expected, reducing the region's snowfall totals by more than half will decline than previously expected, according to the latest estimates.

“Snow lovers may be very angry that snow totals have decreased as the system has moved further south,” Torry Dooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boston, said by phone early Tuesday. “But other people who might not like the snow might be happy this morning that the snow totals are down.”

Regardless of where weather observers fall in the snow debate, Mr. Dooley emphasized that weather is fickle and predictions are just that: predictions.

“Our weather is very changeable,” Mr Dooley said. “So the atmosphere is very fluid. Forecasts evolve with better data.”

Officials in Boston were closely monitoring the storm eventually closed schools on Tuesday. Nearby school systems, as in Plymouth And Salemmade the same decision.

Mr. Dooley said Weather Service meteorologists do not discuss school closure decisions with officials and superintendents make those decisions.

On Monday afternoon, meteorologists began receiving newer data showing the storm's track shifting further south.

Although snowfall forecasts for the Boston area have decreased significantly since the original forecast, southern Massachusetts can still expect several inches through Tuesday afternoon.

However, the Boston region will not remain completely unaffected. Light rain showers were expected to turn to snow before 9 a.m

“Once that happens we'll get some moderate snowfall,” Mr Dooley said. “The areas surrounding Boston will generally see four to six inches of snow today.”