People in the south are not used to this, and the government doesn’t have the equipment to remove the snow and ice
1. We get a really nasty ice storm like this once every 8-10 years or so. Probably 60% of our population is from somewhere else in the last 3-4 years or so, so they do NOT remember the last time.
2. The winter weather here is very unpredictable, and the news media don't always call it right. While the article CLAIMS that the storm warning was up the night before, that is not really accurate.
The preceding day, the weather report was that there would be no snow or ice in Atlanta, it would all be further south in the Columbus-Macon area (that actually occurs fairly often). Then that started to change overnight, but different news services picked it up at different times, and there was not a lot of agreement about how much frozen precip there would be or exactly where it would hit. Most people don't think to LOOK at the radar service.
Plus, there have been plenty of occasions when the news media screamed "THE SKY IS FALLING" and absolutely nothing happened.
3. The weather looked pretty good and it was not very cold until around 10-11 in the morning. If you just stuck your head outside, you would have wondered what all the fuss was about. That also is typical, but see No. 1.
4. The bad stuff hit just north of the city, in Cobb County, and was very bad there for several hours before downtown got hit. Atlanta's a big place.
5. The city and surrounding counties have very little snow removal equipment. It's not cost effective for something that only happens every 8-10 years or so.
6. The snow hit at the worst possible time - mid day. Employers and schools were reluctant to cancel in the morning when everything still looked o.k., see No. 1.
As one of Kipling's characters said, it's just what does happen every so often. Keep your gas tank full and your eye on the radar when cold air is moving south and Gulf moisture is moving northeast.