It was a no-win situation for them.
NWS, as standard practice, has to issue a Watch when we're no less than 48 hours away from the start of an event. This is to ensure sufficient notice is given to the general public to allow for storm preparation.
The guidance, as of last night at least, was still somewhat supportive of potential for warning criteria snowfall to being met (and in fairness, it's a low bar at 3").
My bigger bone to pick though is how the model verification will seemingly be so poor within 3-4 days.