UPDATE: Blizzard warnings have been lifted for all of New Jersey. The National Weather Service is now calling for a max of 6 to 10 inches of snow in Northeastern New Jersey and far less for much of the rest of the state.

It's looking more and more like the Blizzard of 2015 is a bust.

While the first major snow event of 2015 should still have a substantial impact on New Jersey, a feared knockout punch was downgraded early Tuesday to a glancing blow for much of the state — to the embarrassment of forecasters.

“My deepest apologies to many key decision makers and so many members of the general public,” Gary Szatkowski, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mt. Holly, said via Twitter early Tuesday morning.

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Blizzard warnings remained in effect early Tuesday for the coast and the northeast areas of the state, with Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Passaic and Bergen counties all forecast to see accumulations of between 8 and 12 inches through Tuesday.

Gusts of up to 45 miles per hour and whiteout conditions were still possible, as were power outages due to falling limbs. Travel along the I-95 corridor Tuesday is expected to be impacted as well, the National Weather Service predicted.

OK, no sense postponing the inevitable. Snow amounts have been sharply curtailed. New products coming out now from @NWS_MountHolly — Gary Szatkowski (@GarySzatkowski) January 27, 2015

You made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn't. Once again, I'm sorry. — Gary Szatkowski (@GarySzatkowski) January 27, 2015

But those accumulations are a far cry from the “historic” totals forecast in some projections Sunday and early Monday, which called for up to two feet or more from a system touching much of the urban Northeast from Philadelphia to Boston.

Instead, the worst of that system ended up on a track further out over the Atlantic. It’s still expected to pack a powerful wallop on eastern Long Island and southern New England.

“The high impact snowstorm affecting southern New England and Long Island will probably end up 90 miles east of our forecast area,” the NWS said in an update early Tuesday.

Inland from coastal New Jersey, meanwhile, the forecast looked markedly brighter.

A winter storm warning was downgraded to a winter weather advisory in the southern counties of Camden, Gloucester, Cumberland and Cape May. The advisory, in effect until 3 p.m., calls for 2 to 4 inches of accumulation and gusts of up to 30 mph.

Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon, Somerset, Mercer and Burlington counties remained under a winter storm warning until 3 p.m. Tuesday, with 4 to 8 inches of accumulation expected.



Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.