With some reluctance, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is returning home today from the 2016 presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire as a major snowstorm approaches his state with the potential to drop up to 18 inches of snow with blizzard conditions and coastal flooding.

In a series of tweets, Christie said he was leaving New Hampshire to make sure the people of New Jersey "feel safe and secure."

Christie was apprehensive to leave New Hampshire just a day after learning his support in the early voting state had plummeted from 12 percent to just 4 percent in a month's time. The New Hampshire primary is less than three weeks away and is the only poll in which Christie has been at all competitive, according to RealClear Politics, which currently has Christie in fifth place in the state in recent polling averages.

"I was on a call last night. I'll be on another call tonight," Christie told WMUR Thursday, as he hoped to remain in New Hampshire to campaign. "If I feel like it's necessary for me to get down there, I will, but I'm not driving a plow truck, OK? We have all of our people ready to go. They know what to do. We've been through Hurricane Sandy, this cabinet, so 6, 8, 10, 12 inches of snow on a weekend will not be something that I think will be more than we can handle."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized Christie for staying in New Hampshire with the storm rapidly approaching. "I think he needs to come back," said de Blasio today in an interview with CNN, according to NJ.com. "A day or two ago, it might have been a question mark. Right now, it's not a question mark anymore. Obviously, we are being warned that it could even be worse and we find this out with each storm - sometimes it's less than we expected and sometimes it's more, so for any governor, it's time to come home."

The Democratic National Committee also sought to hit the governor on the matter, piling on the ongoing criticism that Christie has not properly governed his state since running for the White House. "Absentee Governor Chris Christie proved once again that he'll put his own political ambitions before the well-being of his constituents," said DNC spokesperson Eric Walker in a press release, reported the Hill. "It's shameful that the governor would phone it in instead of being on the ground to handle the crisis."

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