( CNN ) -- To understand how human nature sometimes does n't heed winter weather warnings , listen to how Deanna Hunt did n't listen . She ventured into Wednesday 's storm in North Carolina , rendering herself stuck in her car on a snowbound road -- even after the nation saw two weeks ago how Georgia motorists were forced to sleep in their cars while stuck in another storm . Such standstills frustrate officials who warn the public of deadly weather . They 're now studying ways to improve messaging , the National Weather Service said . `` You know , it was such a crazy thing , '' Hunt , who is pregnant , told CNN . `` We knew there was a huge front coming through , but you just never anticipate it coming as fast as it does . And it came in the middle of the day at lunchtime . `` My impression was that I could get to where I was going and get back , like a lot of other people . And the fact that it came so fast , that 's the thing . It 's amazing how quickly you can get stuck , '' she added . `` All it takes is one accident , and then it just starts backing up , and it 's the trickle-down effect . `` And here I am , ironically , stuck in it , '' Hunt said in a phone interview Wednesday from her vehicle . She and her child were spending their fourth hour in the car , though it should have taken only 22 minutes to get home in Raleigh . When officials see footage of such stranded drivers , they become distressed , said Eli Jacks , the National Weather Service chief of fire and public weather services . Weather warnings are often issued three or four days in advance of a storm so that people can prepare for their safety , Jacks said . Thwarting those efforts are public attitudes of `` I 've been through this before or I 'll get through this , '' he said . `` In places that are n't used to receiving this type of weather like Atlanta and North Carolina , the images of people being on the road unable to move are very disturbing , '' Jacks said . `` Nobody wants to see that . `` We 're issuing these watches , warning and advisories , and yet people go out into these storms , '' Jacks said . `` We issue them so that people will listen to them and say , hey , there is something different going on than the average weather . '' The agency is working with social scientists and researchers on possible ways to improve the public messages . Their goal is to protect people and property . `` One of the things that we 're studying is whether our messages are clear , '' Jacks said . `` There is no single answer to this . It 's a topic that I think is important to study because we want to minimize ( distressing weather images ) you see on TV , so that people understand the threat and they react to the threat appropriately . '' Do n't put on your stupid hat . Gabrielle Harte of Raleigh experienced frostbite on her ankles Wednesday when she left work and drove home as snowfall began . But she moved only a mile in an hour and then did n't move at all two hours later , so she decided to walk the remaining four miles , she said . She became stranded in a hotel where she warmed up and discovered the apparent frostbite , she said . Fortunately , a team of nurses were also finding refuge in the hotel , and they wrapped her ankles and elevated her feet . Harte acknowledged she heard of the weather warnings . `` I was kind of hesitant to go , but figured I would leave as soon as it started , then make it back in time , '' Harte said . `` But once the snow came , in 45 minutes , everything was covered . Traffic was bumper-to-bumper . No one was moving . '' Abandoned or snowbound vehicles in the middle of the road can hamper the travel of first responders and government trucks with snow plows , sand and salt , the North Carolina Department of Transportation said Thursday . There 's also the driving peril of fallen power lines , trees and branches as well as ice dropping from overpasses , the Georgia Department of Transportation added . That 's why transportation officials urge motorists to stay off the road during storms . Widespread gridlock unfolded any way Wednesday , inflaming North Carolina Gov . Pat McCrory to tell residents bluntly not to be `` stupid . '' `` More than anything else , we 're just encouraging people to be smart , and do n't put their stupid hat on during the next 48 hours , '' McCrory said , in reference to how special four-wheel vehicles were being dispatched to rescue motorists stranded on highways . Officials and citizens alike often speak of how experience can go a long way in avoiding such calamities , but as the writer Aldous Huxley put it , `` Experience teaches only the teachable . '' The school of hard knocks . Georgia seemed teachable this week , as residents wisely stayed home and off the roads in the ongoing storm that has since moved north and is now pummeling North Carolina and New York . But Georgia 's response was learned the hard way after last month 's ice storm brought highway and local traffic to an eerie standstill , as if frozen in a snow globe . In all , that weather was blamed for 10 deaths in the Southeast , five in Alabama and the others in North Carolina and Mississippi . In last month 's storm , Georgia officials were excoriated for not acting promptly on early warnings . `` I accept responsibility for the fact that we did not make preparation early enough to avoid these consequences , '' Gov . Nathan Deal said . `` ... I 'm not looking for a scapegoat . I 'm the governor , the buck stops with me . '' In this week 's storm , however , Georgia 's highways and byways were so empty that one Atlanta resident likened them to a sleeping beauty . Meteorologist Mike Smith , senior vice president of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions , remarked how Georgians this week avoided spending 22 hours stuck in their car as they did in last month 's storm . `` With that wake-up call , people took the forecasts seriously this time , '' Smith said in a CNN commentary . `` Schedules were adjusted and people worked from home . For days , meteorologists warned of widespread power failures . '' Heeding the warnings mitigated the effects of electricity loss Wednesday to more than 729,000 customers in South Carolina , North Carolina , Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast , Smith said . Mayor blasted over opening schools . As the front now hammers New York with 14 inches of snow , controversy now roils there about whether the city should be holding school for its 1.1 million students -- especially when Gov . Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Thursday for New York City , Long Island and the mid-Hudson areas . Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the criticism against opening the schools in a snowstorm , but he defended his decision . Other school districts in the region kept students at home . `` It 's always a tough decision based on imperfect information , '' de Blasio told reporters Thursday . He said the National Weather Service reported as little as 3 inches of snow on the ground at the start of the school day , with warmer conditions than in previous storms . But meteorologist Al Roker of NBC 's `` Today '' show disagreed with the mayor 's characterization of the forecast , saying it was `` on time and on the money . '' `` At the time , we thought our children would be able to get to school safely , '' the mayor said . `` There are a huge number of parents for whom the consistency of the school schedule is absolutely necessary . `` They are going to work , they have no choice . If they ca n't get their kid to school , they do n't have another option . There are huge numbers of parents for whom their kid getting to school also means their child will have a good meal , and in some cases , two meals . And so , the fact is , it 's a very big deal to some parents , '' de Blasio added . The city 's teachers union disagreed with him , citing safety concerns . `` Having students , parents and staff traveling in these conditions was unwarranted . It was a mistake to open schools today , '' Michael Mulgrew , president of the United Federation of Teachers , said Thursday .
National Weather Service studies ways to improve messaging of danger . Gabrielle Harte gets ankle frostbite after she abandons car and walks . Deanna Hunt , pregnant , drives into a winter storm thinking it wo n't hit her . North Carolina governor tells residents not to put `` their stupid hat on ''