The director of the National Weather Service says his agency should have done a better job of communicating the uncertainty about its forecast for a storm that hit the Northeast but did not hit the New York City area nearly as hard as predicted.

On a conference call Tuesday with reporters, Louis Uccellini thanked officials for making decisions to close roads, transit lines and schools.

Even though the storm delivered inches of snow rather than the predicted feet from Philadelphia to New York City, the closures made for a faster recovery.

He says it was "the right forecast decision to make."

Uccellini nevertheless says the weather service will evaluate how it makes forecasts.