Carla Caldwell, Morning Edition Editor 
 
 Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed defended the decisions he made leading into Tuesday's winter storm on NBC’s 'Today' show early Thursday, and told host Matt Lauer the gridlocked interstates and abandoned cars the network keeps showing aren't in Atlanta. 
 
 Reed's appearance follows criticism by Today Chief Meteorologist Al Roker. The weatherman blasted Reed and Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday, saying they should have been prepared Tuesday for the winter storm that ultimately paralyzed metro Atlanta. 
 
 Roker said Wednesday: 
 
 The mayor and the governor got on TV yesterday [Tuesday] and said this wasn’t expected. That’s not true. We were talking about this Monday. That this was going to happen. They took a gamble. They didn’t want to pretreat the roads. I don’t think they wanted to spend the money and do what they needed to do. Then everybody started going home right around noon. By 1:30 p.m., I-285, I-75, I-85 was a parking lot. And this was poor planning on the mayor’s part, and the governor’s part. Pure and simple. They were warned about it. They should have been prepared for it. People are still suffering. The roads are still gridlocked. It’s a shame. It really is.” 
 
 Click here to view a YouTube video of Roker’s comments 
 
 Reed responded Wednesday that Roker doesn’t know what he is talking about. VIDEO here. 
 
 Reed told Lauer early Thursday that roads the network showed leading into his interview, and earlier this week, are not in the city of Atlanta. The city does not have jurisdiction for the interstates that lead through Atlanta, Reed pressed. 
 
 Reed said Atlanta made an error in the way it released residents when the storm set in, but not in the way it prepared streets. He said that he, businesses and schools released everyone at about the same time and that more coordination will occur in the future to prevent that from happening again. 

 
 
 People rest at the aisle of a Publix grocery store after being stranded due to a snowstorm in Atlanta, Jan. 29, 2014. A rare winter storm gripped the U.S. South on Wednesday, killing five people, stranding children overnight at their schools, gnarling traffic across many states and canceling flights at the world’s busiest airport. (Tami Chappell/Reuters) 
 
 The National Weather Service saw it coming. The Weather Channel did too. Governors in nearby states declared states of emergency even before the winter storm slamming the South dropped the first flurry. 
 
 But while Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (D) insisted they planned for the storm, the state’s largest metropolitan area was hit hard by the rare Southern storm, which, on Tuesday, dropped up to two inches of snow and ice on an area stretching from the Carolinas to Louisiana. 
 
 As a result, commuters waited on freeways for hours, school children slept in gymnasiums, and those stuck downtown slept in the aisles in at least one CVS Pharmacy. 
 
 Early Tuesday, Reed tweeted that the city was ready for the impending storm. But late Tuesday night, Deal — with Reed standing beside him — said the region had been caught unprepared. 
 
 Atlanta, we are ready for the snow. For useful numbers and information, make sure you read our press release: http://t.co/wogjK34YjT — Kasim Reed (@KasimReed) January 28, 2014 
 
 “We have been confronted with an unexpected storm that has hit the metropolitan Atlanta area,” Deal said in a late-night news conference. 
 
 Deal and Reed are coming under fire for the delayed response, which weather experts said should have been faster given the warnings. 
 
 “They could be prepared. The mayor and the governor got on TV yesterday and said ‘Oh, this wasn’t expected.’ And that’s not true. I mean, we were talking about this Monday, that this was going to happen. They took a gamble. They didn’t want to pre-treat the roads. I don’t think they wanted to spend the money,” Al Roker said on NBC’s “Today Show.” “This was poor planning on the mayor’s part and the governor’s part, pure and simple.” 
 
 While Deal spoke Tuesday night, commuters waited in traffic jams that lasted for hours on Interstates 75, 85 and 285. Around midnight, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Public School system said at least 50 children were still aboard buses trying to get home. 
 
 “I just finished listening to ‘The Hunger Games’ audible book, played all my lives on Candy Crush, met 10 people in various cars and watched the same policeman save four people,” area resident Candace Bazemore told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in an e-mail. 
 
 Deal declared a liberal leave day for state employees on Tuesday, but his administration waited until after 5 p.m. to declare a state of emergency, well after the worst of the traffic snarls had begun to develop. 
 
 At a news conference late Tuesday, Reed said not closing schools early was an error. 
 
 “Government, schools and business[es] closing at the same time and releasing everybody out into the city was a mistake,” Reed said. “I’m not going to get into the blame game, but the crisis that we are going through is across the region. If you look at anybody’s street in any community across the entire region, there’s no one doing a better job than we are in the City of Atlanta.” 
 
 In an interview Wednesday morning on CNN, Reed clashed with host Carol Costello over his response to the storm, especially the decision not to close the city’s school district. 
 
 “Let me say this: if you’re being fair, you would point out that the Atlanta public school system makes the call on when the system is closed,” Reed said. “You ought to be fair with the interview.” 
 
 Deal, who is running for reelection this year, and Reed, who just won reelection to his second term, should be wary of their response: Botching the handling of a major snowstorm has claimed political careers before. Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic lost reelection in 1979 after a series of snowstorms buried his city. Denver Mayor Bill McNichols suffered the same fate in 1983. So did Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who lost reelection in 2009. 
 
 Both New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came under fire after a 2010 snowstorm hit the Northeast over the Christmas holiday. Christie was on vacation with his wife and children in Florida at the time; Bloomberg, it came out a few weeks later, was spending the holiday in Bermuda. 

 Story highlights Gov. Deal, citing forecasts, said the storm was "unexpected' in the metro area 
 
 The traffic was so bad, one guy says, that salt trucks couldn't navigate 
 
 Region doesn't have the capacity to properly treat roads in rare snow events 
 
 People say poor planning caused the gridlock 
 
 We're a world-class city, Greater Atlanta boasts. 
 
 Atlanta is home to the world's busiest airport. To CNN and the Weather Channel. The headquarters of Home Depot and Coca-Cola. The city hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. Three major professional sports teams call Atlanta home. 
 
 But the city's solid rep is going south, thanks to Tuesday's "rush hour from hell." 
 
 There's no easy answer for who's to blame. Rather, it was a perfect storm -- pun intended -- of factors that created the commute of nightmares. 
 
 Governor: Blame the weatherman 
 
 JUST WATCHED Honoré: Mother nature had a vote Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Honoré: Mother nature had a vote 02:14 
 
 JUST WATCHED Georgia gov.: Forecasts were wrong Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Georgia gov.: Forecasts were wrong 01:34 
 
 JUST WATCHED Snow storm sleepover at Home Depot Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Snow storm sleepover at Home Depot 03:24 
 
 Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said the region was caught off guard by weather predictions. During a Tuesday night briefing, the governor called the weather event "an unexpected storm" that hit the metro area. Citing forecasts, he said most of the effects of the storm would be south of the city. 
 
 "The National Weather Service continually had their modeling showing that the city of Atlanta would not be the primary area where the storm would hit, that it would be south of Atlanta," Deal said Wednesday. "You've already heard some of our agencies saying that based on that modeling, they had not brought in some of the resources earlier because they thought there were going to be other parts of the state that were going to be more severely impacted than the metropolitan Atlanta area." 
 
 "Some of the local meteorologists were more correct on their predictions, that the storm center might be 50 miles north of where the National Weather Service's modeling had indicated that it would be," he said. 
 
 CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said Atlanta had plenty of warning. Myers himself had predicted up to 2 inches of snow would fall, starting sometime between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. 
 
 "We got 2.3. If that's wrong, then I take credit for being wrong. But at 2.3, when I said 1 to 2, I think that's OK," Myers said. 
 
 Mayor Reed: Businesses get some blame 
 
 Stuck for hours in traffic, Matthew Holcomb, a vice president of engineering at CNN, said he wants to know, "what was the plan?" 
 
 "I mean, two or three weeks ago, the kids were let out of school when it got cold here. Knowing what was coming, I can't believe they didn't have the kids out of school and there wasn't a better plan on the roads." 
 
 Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed laid part of the blame on local businesses, saying they contributed to the gridlock by letting workers leave at the same time. When the snow started, he said, schools and businesses released people simultaneously, inundating the roads with more vehicles than there was pavement. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Snow and ice freeze traffic for South Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Snow and ice freeze traffic for South 01:31 
 
 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A car lies half submerged in the Cahaba River in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Thursday, January 30. The driver was able to escape before the car slid into the river during a snow storm on Tuesday and was not injured. A wave of arctic air that started over the Midwest and Plains spread to the Southeast, bringing snow, freezing ice and sleet to a region that doesn't deal with such weather very often. Hide Caption 1 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice forms swirls on the banks of the Cahaba River in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on January 30. Hide Caption 2 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Travelers wait out flight delays at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on January 30. Hide Caption 3 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Cars are left abandoned at the bottom of a hill in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 30. Hide Caption 4 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Vehicles remain stranded along Interstate 20 in Leeds, Alabama, on Wednesday, January 29. Hide Caption 5 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Abandoned cars are piled up on the median of an ice-covered road in Atlanta on January 29. Hide Caption 6 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Police monitor a fire January 29 in a vehicle left overnight by a motorist who was stranded in Brookhaven, Georgia. Hide Caption 7 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A lone car travels on Interstate 75/85 in downtown Atlanta on January 29, a day after the roadway was packed with vehicles. Hide Caption 8 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Sue Morrison watches as Chris McAdams scrapes ice from her car on January 29 in Panama City Beach, Florida. Hide Caption 9 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Kevin Moore hands out snacks and water to stranded motorists on Interstate 285 in Dunwoody, Georgia, on January 29. Hide Caption 10 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic is snarled along Interstate 285, north of metro Atlanta, on January 29. Hide Caption 11 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man stands on the frozen roadway January 29 as he waits for traffic to clear along Interstate 75 in Macon, Georgia. Hide Caption 12 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Caution tape is wrapped around a car that crashed into a tree after the driver lost control in Snellville, Georgia, on January 29. Hide Caption 13 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The ice-covered interstate highways running through Atlanta appear empty on January 29. Hide Caption 14 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Icicles hang off a camellia bush in Savannah, Georgia's historic Forsyth Park after freezing rain hit the area on January 29. Hide Caption 15 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic moves past an ice-covered hill on Interstate 75 in Covington, Kentucky, on January 29. Hide Caption 16 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A police officer talks with a crash victim who was involved in a five-car pileup in Sandy Springs, Georgia, early on January 29. Hide Caption 17 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – As dawn breaks on January 29, southbound traffic is at a standstill near downtown Atlanta. Hide Caption 18 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Gavin Chambers plays an electronic game January 29 at Oak Mountain Intermediate School in Indian Springs, Alabama. The severe weather forced thousands of students to spend the night in various school buildings across the state. Hide Caption 19 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Abandoned vehicles in Dunwoody, Georgia, line Interstate 285 early on January 29. Hide Caption 20 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A DeKalb County school bus sits abandoned near Interstate 285 in Dunwoody on January 29. Hide Caption 21 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – People work to clear stranded vehicles on County Road 25 in Wilsonville, Alabama, on Tuesday, January 28. Hide Caption 22 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Snow falls on cattle at Todd Galliher's farm in Harmony, North Carolina, on January 28. Hide Caption 23 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Two women are stranded at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on January 28 after flights were canceled due to the weather. Hide Caption 24 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Motorists jam Interstate 75/85 in Atlanta on January 28. Hide Caption 25 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A semi slides off the road as the driver tries to avoid another wrecked truck as snow begins to accumulate on Interstate 65 in Clanton, Alabama, on January 28. Clanton lies between the capital, Montgomery, and the state's biggest city, Birmingham. Hide Caption 26 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man puts sand on the steps of his business in downtown Northport, Alabama, on January 28. Northport is near Tuscaloosa in the central-west part of the state. Hide Caption 27 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic travels along the highway near downtown Birmingham on January 28. Hide Caption 28 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – With temperatures around -10 degrees, commuters wait for a bus in Chicago on January 27. Hide Caption 29 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The Duquesne Incline climbs Mount Washington across the frozen Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in downtown Pittsburgh on January 28. Hide Caption 30 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Steam rises from Lake Michigan in Chicago on Monday, January 27. Hide Caption 31 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Workers dump sand across a bridge in Covington, Louisiana, on January 27. Hide Caption 32 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man jumps off a snow-covered sidewalk to cross a downtown Cleveland street January 27. A minor car accident is in the background. Hide Caption 33 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice forms as waves crash along the Lake Michigan shore January 27 in Chicago. Hide Caption 34 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A strong wind kicks up snow Sunday, January 26, in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, creating drifts over roads and parking lots. Hide Caption 35 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The Cincinnati neighborhood of Mount Adams is shown blanketed in snow on Saturday, January 25. Hide Caption 36 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – People walk in a snow squall January 25 in Trenton, New Jersey. Hide Caption 37 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Cars sit in drifts and plowed snow on January 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hide Caption 38 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A North Hudson County firefighter walks in front of an ice-covered vehicle near a building where a six-alarm fire was put out January 24 in Union City, New Jersey. Hide Caption 39 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Kyle Malott scraps the ice off his girlfriend's car near Covington, Louisiana, on January 24. Hide Caption 40 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ben Eggart pushes Hannah Graham down a hill at Girard Park in Lafayette, Louisiana, on January 24. Hide Caption 41 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice floats by the Chicago skyline on Lake Michigan on Thursday, January 23. Hide Caption 42 of 42 
 
 "I said immediately yesterday that releasing all of these folks was not the right way to go," Reed told CNN's Carol Costello on Wednesday. "If I had my druthers, we would have staggered the closures." 
 
 Reed gave the city's response a good grade during his sometimes testy exchange with Costello. 
 
 "We got a million people out of the city," Reed said. "We have not had any fatalities. We cleared the way of all of our hospitals, all of our police stations." 
 
 Costello cut in to say, "Well, I heard this from public officials before, 'We didn't have any fatalities,' but that was just by the grace of God. There were a thousand traffic accidents. People got out of their cars on icy roadways in frigid conditions to walk home." 
 
 "That's easy to say from your anchor seat," Reed said. 
 
 "No, I was out stuck in the traffic," Costello replied. "I was one of those people." 
 
 Many of those million people who Reed says got out of the city spent the night sleeping in their cars, on the side of the road or in gas station parking lots. Others sought shelter on lounge chairs at area Home Depots or in the aisles of 24-hour CVS stores. 
 
 Former Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who coordinated relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, did not equivocate in finding fault. 
 
 "They need to have in Atlanta the same type of government you have in New York City, where the mayor controls the city and everything around that city, and the mayor can make decisions on road closures; he has emergency powers as when schools close," he said. 
 
 The schools and the government should have been closed Tuesday, he said. "I hope the governor and the mayor learn from this that they're going to have to act before these events, not make some symbolic gesture after." 
 
 He called their performance "a failure to lead." 
 
 The offices of the governor and the mayor confirmed the men were at a luncheon in Atlanta around noon Tuesday, about the time the snowfall began. 
 
 Anne Torres, Atlanta's deputy communications director, said Reed accepted an award from Georgia Trend magazine as 2014 Georgian of the Year. The governor's spokeswoman, Sasha Dlugounski, said Deal had been kept up-to-date on conditions and cleared his schedule after the award presentation. 
 
 Wednesday night, Reed defended his storm response, noting government officials "have a shared responsibility." 
 
 "But, I want to state clearly, I don't have jurisdiction to clear interstate highways in the city of Atlanta," he said. "I'm responsible for the streets that are in the city of Atlanta. And, as of today -- one day into a severe weather event -- we got our streets cleaned. We kept our hospitals open. We kept our people safe, and the city of Atlanta is running again." 
 
 Snow induces mass panic in Southern drivers 
 
 It's an easy joke made by Northerners. A dusting of snow shuts down an entire city and hapless drivers white-knuckle their way through a handful of flurries. 
 
 But the thousands of people sitting in their cars Tuesday night, watching fellow drivers skid off the road, were in no mood to joke. 
 
 Add inexperience with the snow to the lack of necessary equipment and crews to treat the roads, and, well, Tuesday happens. 
 
 Holcomb, one of the many stranded drivers, said he hadn't seen a snowplow "or anyone slinging sand." 
 
 "I've been on the road for over 16 hours now. I've not seen anybody out," he said. "They've done nothing. I have seen literally hundreds of cars parked on the side of the road. I saw a lady carrying her kid in a blanket down the side of the road. I mean, people going the wrong way on major, major interstates. It's scary stuff." 
 
 CNN iReporter Shauna Welling came across dozens of abandoned cars on Wednesday in Sandy Springs, just north of the city. Welling is from Ohio and said she's used to winter weather. 
 
 "What I'm not used to is driving in it with 6 million other people on roads that were not prepared for snow," she said. "People from the North think this is funny, but I have never in my life experienced anything like it. It was actually really horrifying." 
 
 Myers, the CNN meteorologist, hails from Buffalo, where streets are salted well in advance of a coming storm. But Atlanta doesn't have the capacity for that kind of treatment, he said. 
 
 "We simply have never purchased the amount of equipment necessary," he said Wednesday. "Why would you in a city that gets one snow event every three years? Why would you buy 500 snowplows and salt trucks and have them sit around for 1,000 days, waiting for the next event?" 
 
 One Facebook post, addressing "Yankees laughing at GA for being shut down by two inches of snow," had an answer for the salt truck issue: The gridlock slowed down the salting, said Robbie Medwed, a 32-year-old Atlanta educator. 
 
 "At noon, it started snowing. All of the schools, at once, decided to close without any advance notice around 1:30. It was basically, 'Hey, we're closed now! come get your kids!'" 
 
 And around the same time, most businesses closed. 
 
 "So that's roughly 5 million people who all got on the roads at the same time, which clearly caused a massive traffic jam. Then, while they're out there, the snow gets worse, turns into slush, and then, eventually, full-on sheets of ice. And, while everyone was in gridlock, they couldn't reload the salt trucks because the gridlock was too thick to navigate back to the salt storage areas (we have 30 trucks and 40 plows in ATL proper)," Medwed said. 
 
 A silver lining? 
 
 Yvonne Williams, who works on transportation infrastructure projects in Atlanta, said there needed to be a community-wide coalition of first responders ready to take this on. 
 
 "If I were a leader for the day, I'd make sure everyone is organized together, preparing for these kinds of emergencies," she said. 
 
 Many Atlantans say there needs to be more mass transit and roads. 
 
 Public transit, they say, isn't as wide-ranging as it is in other cities, like New York, or overseas, such as in London. But a transportation tax proposal failed recently. Many people just don't want to spend the money to expand the region's MARTA train system. 
 
 Liane Levetan, a former Georgia state senator, is one of the many Atlantans who wants more rail and road modifications. She thinks the gridlock could turn out to be a "godsend." 
 
 "You've got to have more transportation available. We really are a metropolis now," she said. 
 
 She pointed out that bad traffic is an "everyday situation" Atlantans endure. 
 
 "For us to be forward thinking, maybe this will be the catalyst. We're being penny-wise and pound-foolish. If we want to be growth leaders, people have got to move around," she said. 
 
 John A. Williams, a native Atlantan and CEO of Preferred Apartment Communities, has a decidedly different take. Maybe more can be done to improve transportation in Atlanta, but he's not sure there could be enough money to address a problem like this one. 
 
 "Every decade, we have a storm like this," he said. "I'm not sure there could be enough money to spend to solve the problems." 
 
 And, he said, traffic is a good thing, a solid indicator of growth. In fact, when you weigh the positives and negatives about Atlanta's sprawl and the tightly packed populations in many cities, the region has its pluses, he said. 
 
 "Atlanta is a city without natural boundaries, Atlanta has grown greatly in every direction, south, north, east and west. Atlanta has a certain amount of sprawl. It is difficult to serve that sprawl with mass transit," he said. "Atlanta is a city of trees and hills. People don't necessarily want to live in Chicago, highly dense urban environments." 
 
 For now, people have to drink up an unfamiliar cocktail of Atlanta traffic and Southern snow. 
 
 "Snow in Atlanta, I couldn't make it to the liquor store," one man quipped on Facebook. "So we may have to survive on food and water for several days." 

 ATLANTA (AP) — The snow and sleet have stopped falling and traffic was moving again around Atlanta following a crippling storm — but transportation and rescue officials said that didn't mean it was safe yet to drive, especially after the sun goes down. 
 
 Richard Uzoma returns to his car after he lost control and abandoned it overnight along with other vehicles which couldn't traverse the ice build up on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Deanna Davis, left, her dog and her friend Steve Worsham, walk down the street as ice covers downtown Mobile, Ala. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. The ice and snow storm that hit Alabama was wider and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iris Henry, left, runs from her sister Victoria Henry, center, as Olivia Henry, looks on, during a snow day in Durham, N.C. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. A rare snowstorm left thousands across the U.S.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Josh Watson walks on the dock with his son Parker at the end of Crofter's Court in Leland, N.C. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. A winter storm left the area cover in a blanket of ice and snow. (AP Photo/The... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics' students Lucy Su, top, Gabrielle Beaudry, center, and Luckshume Ketheeswaran slide down a hill at the Hillsndale Golf Course in Durham N.C. on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cody Carpp, left, and Michael Gane, both of Mobile, Ala., walk through Bienville Square as ice covers downtown Mobile and temperatures remain below freezing on Wednesday Jan. 29, 2014. The ice and snow... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bridges are frozen and ice covers downtown Mobile, Ala., as temperatures remain below freezing on Wednesday Jan. 29, 2014. The ice and snow storm that hit Alabama was wider and more severe than some... (Associated Press) 
 
 A truck blocks all east-bound lanes of Interstate 285 in Sandy Spring, Ga. after htting an icet patch of road. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, in Atlanta. Some interstates remained clogged by jackknifed... (Associated Press) 
 
 The Downtown Atlanta skyline looms over a barren Connector on Wednesday evening Jan. 29, 2014. Roads were in pretty good shape late Wednesday and most people were staying off the roads. (AP Photo/Atlanta... (Associated Press) 
 
 Officials from the Georgia Department of Transportation said Wednesday night that they were concerned with sub-freezing overnight lows potentially leading to layers of black ice coating roads that might appear to be safe. 
 
 Temperatures were expected to drop to about 15 degrees overnight in the Atlanta area, according to National Weather Service forecasters. Although it was supposed to be in the high 30s Thursday, it is forecast to dip below freezing again before rising into the 50s on Friday. 
 
 "Whatever little leeway that we've gained with melting and slushiness is gonna refreeze," Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Karlene Barron said of local road conditions. She added that the department was especially concerned with semi-trucks jackknifing and leading to additional traffic jams. 
 
 Heeding the warnings, school districts and state and local governments stretching from northwest to coastal Georgia announced that offices and classrooms would remain closed Thursday. 
 
 A storm that dropped just inches of snow Tuesday wreaked havoc across much of the South, closing highways, grounding flights and contributing to at least a dozen deaths from traffic accidents and a mobile home fire. Yet it was Atlanta, home to major corporations and the world's busiest airport, that was Exhibit A for how a Southern city could be sent reeling by winter weather that, in the North, might be no more than an inconvenience. 
 
 The Georgia State Patrol responded to more than 1,460 crashes between Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening, including two fatal crashes, and reported more than 175 injuries. 
 
 At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, more than 400 flights in and out were canceled by 6 a.m. Thursday, according to data from the flight tracking service FlightAware. Many of those flights were canceled before the day began. 
 
 Thousands of schoolchildren either slept on the buses that tried and failed to get them home, or on cots in school gymnasiums. All were back home by Wednesday evening, officials said. 
 
 State transportation crews spent much of Wednesday rescuing stranded drivers and moving disabled and abandoned vehicles that littered the interstates, medians and shoulders. Gov. Nathan Deal said emergency workers, police, and the National Guard would help drivers Thursday to recover their cars and would provide them with fuel if necessary. 
 
 Crews planned to use four-wheel-drive vehicles to take motorists to vehicles they abandoned to reclaim them Thursday. State officials also said they were creating a database to help motorists locate vehicles that were towed to impound lots. 
 
 Gov. Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed found themselves on the defensive Wednesday, acknowledging that storm preparations could have been better. But Deal also blamed federal forecasters, saying he was led to believe it wouldn't be so bad. 
 
 However, the National Weather Service explicitly cautioned on Monday that snow-covered roads "will make travel difficult or impossible." The agency issued a winter storm warning for metro Atlanta early Tuesday and cautioned against driving. 
 
 Deal, who is up for re-election in November, said warnings could have been posted along highways earlier, but he also fended off criticism. 
 
 "We don't want to be accused of crying wolf. Because if we had been wrong, y'all would have all been in here saying, 'Do you know how many millions of dollars you cost the economies of the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia by shutting down businesses all over this city and this state?'" Deal told reporters. 
 
 The Atlanta area was crippled by an ice storm in 2011, and officials had vowed not to be caught unprepared again. But in this case, few closings or other measures were ordered ahead of time. 
 
 Among the commuters trapped in the gridlock was Jessica Troy, who described her drive home to the suburb of Smyrna as a slow-motion obstacle course on sheets of ice. 
 
 "We literally would go 5 feet and sit for two hours," Troy said after she and a co-worker spent more than 16 hours covering 12 miles. 
 
 Nelson Kickly said he left work in Alpharetta, an Atlanta suburb, around 1 p.m. Tuesday and didn't get home to Smyrna until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. On a typical day, Kickly's commute lasts about 45 minutes. He said the journey has motivated him to take a closer look at his emergency preparedness strategy. 
 
 "I had a full tank of gas but if I didn't, I'd have been freezing cold," he said. "I was just listening to the radio and you know, I don't know how I didn't go crazy." 
 
 After daybreak, a few good Samaritans appeared, going car-to-car with bottles of water and cookies. Traffic started moving again about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. 
 
 At Atlanta's Deerwood Elementary School, librarian Brian Ashley, a dozen of his colleagues, and 35 children spent the night on cots set up in the gym. 
 
 The teachers and other staff members opened up the pantry in the cafeteria, making pizza and chicken nuggets accompanied by carrots and apples for dinner. Later, some police officers dropped off sandwiches, and parents living nearby brought food. 
 
 "The kids slept peacefully through the night," Ashley said. "They knew that there were people around them that cared about them." 
 
 However, Ashley said he was surprised officials allowed the schools to open Tuesday in the first place. 
 
 "They were forewarned about the weather, and they were ill-prepared," he said. "If schools were canceled yesterday, we would not have had the catastrophe we did last night and today." 
 
 Even amid the chaos, Atlanta officials insisted that downtown was open for business — at least for a huge meat- and poultry-industry exposition at the Georgia World Congress Center. Roughly 27,000 people from more than 100 countries were expected to attend between Monday and Friday. 
 
 City officials arranged for prompt scraping and ice-melting operations on roads around the center. 
 
 "Atlanta has a lot at stake with the convention business," said Charles Olentine, the expo's general manager. "It is mandatory that visitors to Atlanta feel welcome and attended to."
– How is it that just a couple inches of snow managed to cripple Atlanta? CNN calls it "a perfect storm—pun intended—of factors." Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal called Tuesday's storm, which left commuters stranded on gridlocked highways and forced students to spend the night at schools, "unexpected," saying forecasts had predicted the worst conditions would be south of the city. But a CNN meteorologist disputes that idea and says Atlanta was warned; he himself predicted up to 2 inches of snow, and 2.3 inches fell. Numerous reports indicate the city had been warned of the coming weather by Monday, and other Southern states took more precautions. Even Al Roker has taken Atlanta to task over the "gamble" it took. And Deal admitted he didn't want to be "accused of crying wolf" and wasting millions of dollars, the AP reports. Once the snow started falling, according to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, part of the problem was that businesses and schools released workers and students at the same time, leading to the gridlocked roads. "If I had my druthers, we would have staggered the closures," he says. Former Lt. Gen. Russel Honore has a better idea: Schools and government offices should never have been open at all on Tuesday. (Both the governor and the mayor were at an award luncheon when the snow started to fall, and a state of emergency was not declared until after 5pm Tuesday.) And, funny as it may seem to Northerners, a few inches of snow really is a big deal in the South. Atlanta doesn't have the capability to salt all its streets before a storm, like Northern cities do, explains the CNN meteorologist: "Why would you buy 500 snowplows and salt trucks and have them sit around for 1,000 days, waiting for the next event?" It also didn't help that once the gridlock began, salt trucks couldn't even get around. And some Atlantans are complaining that a larger mass transit system and more roads are necessary. Meanwhile, how are things looking now? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that temperatures are still extremely low but will rise above freezing this afternoon, and there are still problems with black ice in some areas—so, though some parts of the interstates are safe, others aren't, and neighborhood streets are still in bad shape. As for the hundreds of abandoned vehicles, state agencies are bringing owners to retrieve them starting today. How many car accidents? The Georgia State Patrol responded to more than 1,460 between Tuesday morning and last night, two of them fatal.