Farther north, winter storms continued to cause problems. More snow was expected in the Northeast by the end of the week. More than 13,000 customers of the Philadelphia Electric Company, most of them in the city’s suburbs, were still without power Monday, six days after an ice storm knocked down hundreds of power lines and trees.

Although most of Atlanta is likely to see rain during the day Tuesday, the city will be largely shut down. Both Mr. Deal and Mr. Reed told government employees to use their judgment on whether to stay home or telecommute.

“The next three days are going to be challenging days for the state and for local government and for private entities,” Mr. Deal said. He urged citizens to get prepared, as well, using “their own good judgment and not depend on somebody having to tell them what to do.”

Other Southern states were also preparing. In North Carolina, state transportation officials began salting roads in and around Charlotte on Sunday.

In Alabama, where the governor declared a statewide emergency, hardware stores in Birmingham sold out of rock salt as soon as they opened on Monday. And, with the memory of more than 3,000 students who were stuck at schools overnight during the last storm still fresh, administrators said schools would be closed Tuesday. “It might be an overreaction, but after the last two weeks, everyone is skittish about the weather,” said Brad Dillion, whose son’s championship basketball game was moved up because of the storm.

In Atlanta, grocery stores, gas stations and hardware stores were jammed.

Many people were skeptical about the region’s ability to properly handle the ice this time, but they were defensive about being judged so harshly for the impact that the snow and ice had on the area during the storm two weeks ago. An inch of ice would bring any region to its knees, said Kadia Prospere, 33, a hospital nurse who was buying food in case she needed to stay at work for a couple of days.

But the real test, people waiting in a grocery store line here agreed, would be how well officials like Mr. Deal and Mr. Reed could lead during this, their second chance.

“They just looked bad, especially Kasim Reed,” said Linda Dixon, 54, a manager at AT&T who moved to Atlanta from New Jersey in 1985. “His attitude was so poor. I’m sorry and I’m a fan, but they cannot make that mistake again.”