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

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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."