Did N.J. drop the ball and pass the blame for colossal storm fail? Here's how the chaos unfolded.

(Photo by Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Maybe you thought it while sitting in your car for the fifth hour as a snowstorm turned New Jersey's rush hour into traffic hell. Or maybe it was after you were told at the Port Authority bus terminal to find another way home.

Weary commuters across the Garden State all probably wondered at some point Thursday night: How in the world did this happen?

It was still a question Friday as leaders, meteorologists and residents pointed fingers over how a mid-November storm that dropped only a few more inches of snow than expected left New Jersey in gridlock for hours.

Many fingers were pointed at Gov. Phil Murphy, who admitted the state "could have done better" with its response but continued to say forecasters under-predicted the storm and left his administration hamstrung.

At least one meteorologist said Murphy was wrong to blame botched forecasts, and Republican state lawmakers lambasted the Democratic governor for the mess.

Privately, some officials from Murphy's own party said the state simply made the wrong judgment call about the size of the storm and was underprepared. Multiple sources said plows weren't sent out on state roads until the snow was already heavy and cars were already clogging highways.

Others argued the state alone wasn't at fault — and how the disarray was compounded by the fact officials from across the state started the day at a convention in Atlantic City.

"This was a real failure on a lot of different levels of government," said Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University's Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship. "It wasn't just state highways that people couldn't move through. It was widespread. And no one would ever want this to happen again."

Here's an inside look at how unexpected snow chaos came to grip New Jersey:

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The morning in Atlantic City

Many forecasts early in the week called for a few inches of snow in most parts of New Jersey, with precipitation turning into rain later in the day. But some predictions later in the week suggested a larger storm and at the very least a dangerous, icy mix of snow and sleet. By 2 p.m. Thursday, the forecasts got worse.

Murphy and thousands of the sate's lawmakers and local officials — from public works directors to mayors — began the day at the annual New Jersey League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City.

That could have added to slow storm response time not just from the state but from towns all over the map, three sources with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. The sources asked for anonymity so they could discuss sensitive matters candidly.

Murphy's morning included an appearance at an invitation-only event to thank fellow Democrats for their help with the midterm election and then a lunchtime speech.

The state had already been preparing for the storm. The New Jersey Department of Transportation said they put crews on the road to begin pretreating roads Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management activated the state's Emergency Operations Center at 7 a.m. Thursday to monitor conditions. Administration officials said Murphy's office was also in contact with emergency personnel in all 21 counties.

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A late start for the plows

But three sources said contractors hired to plow state roads waited in frustration throughout Thursday morning without word from the state. Plows were not deployed until after 2 p.m., according to the sources.

By then, the storm was getting worse, children were about to be sent home from school, and many workers across the state left early to beat the weather home. By rush hour, the snow was falling hard.

Stephen Schapiro, a spokesman or the state Department of Transportation, said the agency always plans based on the weather predictions it's handed.

"The department deployed resources based on the forecast and adjusted as necessary as the forecast worsened," Schapiro told NJ Advance Media. "I think the storm came in a little harder and quicker than people expected."

In the end, Murphy said the state deployed about 1,800 pieces of equipment to plow and spread salt. State Police troopers also responded to more than 1,000 car crashes.

But many major highways remained snow-locked and packed with cars late into Thursday night. NJ Transit trains were delayed for hours. The Port Authority bus terminal was essentially shuttered, leaving people unable to board NJ Transit buses. And some West Orange students had to sleep at their schools because their buses were turned back.

"A judgment call was made by folks in the administration that this was going to be a mild storm that turned into rain," said state Assemblyman Daniel Benson, chairman of the Assembly's transportation committee. "That call turned out to be the wrong one."

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Murphy blames the forecasts

After his speech in Atlantic City, Murphy held an early-afternoon briefing call on the storm with his cabinet in Princeton. Later, he visited the New Jersey Turnpike command center in Woodbridge.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Murphy called in to numerous television and radio stations to tell stranded commuters to practice "patience" and that the state was turning "on a dime" to respond to a storm that was stronger than expected.

"This gives forecasting a bad name," Murphy said.

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The next day

Murphy had the same message at a news conference Friday. "No one realized the gravity of what was to come," the governor said in Woodbridge.

State Sen. Richard Codey, an ally and former governor himself, had a similar view.

"How would he prepare for what happened?" Codey, D-Essex, asked NJ Advance Media. "Forecasters did not forecast it."

Reporters pointed out that forecasts mid-day Thursday showed snow totals increasing. But Murphy's administration insisted the models changed so quickly that it didn't give the state enough time to get equipment on the road to plow and salt.

On top of that, state officials said snow clearing was slowed by an already busy rush-hour commute that was suddenly filled with car crashes, jackknifed tractor-trailers, and stopped traffic.

As for the Port Authority, the bi-state agency that runs the bus terminal in New York City? Murphy said he asked why access was restricted there but did not have further explanation.

"This is a serious issue that I and our team have addressed to its leadership," he said. "It's unacceptable."

Murphy didn't apologize for the whole ordeal. Instead, his transportation commissioner did. The governor also said it was too "black-and-white" to say his administration "dropped the ball."

But the governor said "the buck stops with me, period." And he stressed his administration would be "looking very hard in the mirror," conducting a post-mortem to see what went wrong and how it can prepare better for future storms.

"I can understand and appreciate entirely and completely the frustration that I am hearing, and our team is hearing from commuters," Murphy said. "Every storm gives us a test. This is not the first, by a mile, but it gives us the chance to review responses and make adjustments for the next one."

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Murphy in the crosshairs

But one notable New Jersey meteorologist took Murphy to task on Twitter for blaming the forecasters. Gary Szatkowski, the former head of the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, accused Murphy's administration of trying to "scam" residents.

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At the same time, Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, called for legislative hearings on how Murphy's team responded to the storm.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick told NJ Advance Media this is another example of Murphy being poorly served by an "inexperienced staff" and that the governor doesn't "reach out to anybody who has experience in Trenton."

"Every single governor who has ever spoken before a storm says we prepare for the worst and we pray for the best," Bramnick, R-Union, added. "That is not the formula he followed. Period. End of story."

Carl Golden, a former press secretary for Republican Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman, said Murphy made a mistake by not apologizing and roasting forecasters in a state where commuting looms large.

"People in this state, when we have something like this occur, it becomes an order of magnitude dwarfing practically anything else because it affects so many people and it’s so personal," said Golden, who is now an analyst with the Hughes Center at Stockton University. "It’s government not doing what people think it should be doing."

"People want to see someone in charge," he added. "Someone in command. Someone who’s on top of the situation. And he wasn’t."

Still, Dworkin, the Rowan professor, said this is unlikely to wound Murphy too badly because the rookie governor is three years away from re-election.

"I think we’ll be onto other issues by the time that rolls around," Dworkin said.

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So what's next?

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, sent a letter to Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole on Friday asking the bistate organization to hold a special hearing for commuters on its "disturbing" response to the storm.

"If the Port Authority’s main goal is overseeing infrastructure in the region," Vainieri Huttle wrote, "certainly this was not the case last night and negligible at best."

And Benson, the Democratic chairman of the Assembly transportation committee, sent Murphy a letter Friday asking him to brief the panel on the administration's storm post-mortem by Nov. 26.

"There’s definitely some lessons to be learned," Benson told NJ Advance Media. "The big one is: Shall we prepare for a bigger storm next time?"

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Gov. Murphy blames forecasters, doesn't apologize

Was the forecast wrong, or did we just miss the warnings?

Dear N.J., I just moved here and it took me 12 hours to get home in the snow

Di Ionno: Don't blame Gov. Murphy for the snowstorm traffic mess. We're all to blame.

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NJ Advance Media staff writers Matt Arco and Ted Sherman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


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