cancellations this week have passengers asking what compensation and reimbursements are they entitled to? should

they be canceled or delayed? we'll get the scoop from going .com. but first, this week's avalanches in lake tahoe. are they so-called acts of god or are they preventable? and are some ski resorts more dangerous than others? you are watching getting answers on abc seven. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. avalanche dangers remain elevated, with tahoe ski resorts doing a lot of explosions to reduce the risk ahead of another powerful storm this weekend. this is a live look at lake tahoe. our camera at zephyr cove. it's a beautiful, if a bit clouded picture right now, but very soon things are going to change. this area is going to be pounded with more heavy snow, blustery winds and difficult conditions. whether you're skiing or driving . let's get the latest on the timeline of this latest wintry blast from abc seven news meteorologist drew tuma. >> a winter storm warning begins at 10 p.m. today. again, a warning means heavy snow is imminent and we will see that

snow heaviest tomorrow afternoon where we'll pile on about 1 to 2ft of snow above 6000ft. snow levels could drop to 3000ft, where we could pick up a couple of inches of snow, travel tomorrow is. you should not do it. don't try and go because it will be difficult to impossible. here's the snowfall totals we're expecting again. 1 to 2ft on some of our highest peaks. tahoe city, about seven inches. incline about six inches. traveling to tahoe tomorrow. do not try and do it. we have that heavy snow, but things clear out here on sunday and for the holiday on monday. it is looking nice. >> all right, well, given wednesday's deadly avalanche at palisades and another non-injury avalanche yesterday, we wanted to explore the science behind this potentially lethal natural phenomenon. joining us live now to discuss this is the chair and professor of meteorology at san jose state university, craig clemens. thank you so much for joining us, craig. thanks for having me. look, i know we have avalanches all the time. usually

they're not reported on because usually they're not where people are and they're not deadly, certainly very rarely on maintained runs as ski resorts. s so how rare was this and why did this happen? what made it possible? >> well, it was very rare. i mean, in bound or ski resort uh- avalanche incidents are very rare and the conditions were just set up perfectly because we had strong winds, a lot of snow on a very weak layer and it was triggered. and so typically only resorts uh- have avalanche management and they go out and they trigger those avalanches ahead of time. and it's just not a perfect science yet. so sometimes uh- skiers trigger avalanches inbounds. >> i was going to say what could make that happen. right. presuming that palisade did everything that they normally do , the mitigation measures like the bombs that set off those many avalanches, is what could make that happen. is it something about like a rock underneath the degree of the

slope and, um, talk to us more about that? >> yeah. so you know, there's lots of variables that go into avalanche mechanics, weather, terrain and the snow type. and in this case, we had a very weak layer, the uh, which was buried by a much deeper snowpack of a few feet. what do you mean by weak layer? >> what's a weak layer? >> so a weak layer is a layer of snow, like a snow surface that doesn't bond well with new snow usually only takes a few days for the new snowpack or the new snow that's fallen to bond with the surface. snow that's already present. and in this case, it was a layer of what we call surface horror. it's like feathery crystals that form on the surface from a temperature gradient. when we have really clear and cold nights and you get these really pretty crystals that form on the surface and when snow falls on top of that and you get a deep layer, it becomes an easy trigger for an

avalanche to occur. so that's what we talk about when we think about instability in the snowpack, what layers are weak and how much snow would it take to cause an avalanche. right. >> well, i certainly understand there's investigation still going on and i'm not laying blame at anyone at all, but i do wonder, as i look at this, that the sierra avalanche center's forecast had predicted dangerous avalanche conditions. i think they gave it three out of five. um, you know, that day. and i'm wondering when that is the case for me as a casual, occasional skier, i wonder, should the resorts just close the resort or the runs under such conditions, or is that too much to ask and really unnecessary? >> maybe it's a necessary no, because most ski resorts don't have the terrain that's super, super steep. uh, most avalanches occur between 30 and 45 degrees, so anything over 30 degrees, which is quite steep, actually, uh, is prime for a slide or an avalanche to occur under that. generally, we don't get avalanches, and it's very, very rare. and so if you look at a

lot of the terrain, let's look at some of the palisades and alpine meadows side. some of those upper bowls that are double black diamonds are between 32 and 30 5 to 38 degrees. and so those are very, very steep terrain. there's not a lot of people skiing that terrain. and it's 99% of the terrain. and probably all the ski resorts in the us are totally safe. >> i see. okay, well, the wednesday one was at the gs bowl there near the famed k2 22 extra run at the old squaw valley, and yesterday's was at the wolverine bowl at the, um, old alpine. and by the way, yesterday there was no injury. is there something about also not just the steepness but the bowl shape that makes avalanches more possible? i guess i'm just thinking that because i've always prefer skiing trails for some reason they feel safer to me. >> they generally can be for sure. so, uh, these bowls, what happens a lot of the times is you get wind that, uh, deposits

more snow and depressions and in bowls and we call that wind loading. and so when, when and what wind does is it picks up snow from one side of the mountain and deposits on another location. and so you can actually get more snow so that in a location then actually that fell over from the storm. so you might get more accumulation just from the wind. loading and so wind loaded slopes are quite dangerous. and they tend to fracture pretty easily. and so that could be the situation in this case. there's lots of wind slabs with these storms. and that's takes a couple of days for those to uh uh, bond and become safer. so with ski resorts it doesn't matter because they're usually bombing and it's lower angle. so those situations don't really, um, aren't of concern. >> all right. one article i read said that the factors that make alpine meadows an amazing ski area are the same factors that make it avalanche prone. to what extent do you agree with that? >> uh, i totally agree that, you

know, people want steep, challenging terrain. and with new ski steep, challenging terrain, there's, um, that's terrain that will avalanche. if not, um, protected or if it's not, uh, bombed or, you know, controlled. so this is a very again, these these events are very, very rare. and and uh, people should be feel safe when they're skiing in any ski resort . all right. >> i want to ask you if you think there are some safety features, additional ones. i know they already do a lot that can be implemented at ski resorts, either in terms of protocol or daily actions or just the design that could make it even safer. uh there might be i don't i think you know, given the rarity of these events, i don't think that that's, uh, really a question, but i don't really know exactly the situation. >> so i can't really comment on that. but yeah, everything everything can always be safer. all sports can always be safer. but i think that, uh, the protocols that we have with

avalanche control, uh, they've been in, you know, they're pretty good. so how about got to ask you about climate change? >> has that out increased avalanche risk in any way? i. you know, i don't think we really have an answer to that. >> it potentially could, being that it changes the maybe if we get warmed it more warm days in the winter, it changes the surface of the snowpack. so when we do get heavier snow or, or, you know, a warm snow event that could trigger some more avalanches, but there isn't really any research linking climate change to avalanche activity. avalanche activity is a function of our by our daily weather events and terrain conditions. >> so real quickly, before we let you go for skiers and snowboarders who really want to bring their risks down to practically zero, uh, in terms of avoiding avalanches, what is the safest either terrain or routes or runs? well, one thing to do is get trained in avalanche. >> um, safety. we there's many

courses that are offered in the tahoe area where you can get trained to, uh, understand avalanche terrain and how to dig one out and probe using a shovel, a probe and a beacon and ski in pairs, ski youth partners and that are trained in those techniques. and on a big powder days carry that equipment with you in bounds. i know a lot of skiers that do that. anyways, just in case. >> all right. and if i heard you correctly, find slopes that are less than 30% for absolute safety. yeah, definitely the blues. >> and you know, most people are skiing on less, uh, very, very safe terrain. >> i stick to the blues. all right. chair and professor of meteorology at san jose state, craig clemens. thank you so much for your time and insight. >> thanks for having me. >> it's the countdown to iowa and the first real test of the 2024 presidential race. up next, we'll speak with jonathan karl from abc news on what's at stake and the expectations going into the

a short time ago, i got a preview with jonathan karl, abc news chief washington correspondent, and co-host of this week with george stephanopoulos. jonathan thanks for joining us. nice to see you. great. to be here. >> thanks for having me. >> so i know it's very busy for you. the iowa caucuses are on monday. i'm sure you'll be all over it this week on sunday. but going into the kickoff of the presidential voting season, where do things stand on the gop side? >> you know, it's donald trump's

dominance that's been the enduring story of this primary so far. but of course, nobody's voted yet. uh- he's got a big lead in the polls nationally. he's got a big lead in iowa, which votes on monday will be talking to ron desantis, who is bet everything on iowa. and you know, he's he's facing a battle with nikki haley. but really so far it looks like a battle for second place. one factor to consider here. uh- going into this this home stretch, iowa caucuses. remember voters have to show up in person at 7 a.m. there's no mail in voting. there's no early voting. everybody has to go to a caucus. this may be the coldest. iowa has ever been during the caucuses, as they are in the midst of an epic winter storm. so really, the die hard faithful will be the ones turning out. >> i was going to say, right, it could be interesting to test who's got the most staunchest loyal voters and supporters, who's going to turn out despite that deep freeze. so so we'll

see. but talk about what each of the candidates needs to do here in iowa and what would be considered a good finish for them. >> well, trump has made much of the fact that he is the dominant person in this race. and look, he is or has been, but the expectations are high. so i would say one thing to watch for is does donald trump get more than 50% of the vote? he's almost certainly going to come in first. but are there effectively more people voting for somebody else than voting for trump? or does he have the absolute outright majority? so that's issue number one to look for. the other is who wins that battle for second place. nikki haley is doing very well in polls almost across the board in new hampshire. she has a chance. it looks like, to actually win in new hampshire. but can she get some momentum coming out of iowa? can she actually beat out ron desantis for second place and for desantis, if he doesn't have at least a strong second place finish, it's hard to see where his campaign goes from

here. >> right? so it could be his last stand. right. we'll see. we don't know. but you mentioned new hampshire. that's of course, next after iowa, i know you're going to be one of the moderators of the abc gop debate in new hampshire. that comes five days, of course, before the contest there. and what do you expect in terms of the dynamic there? i know you said nikki haley is doing really well there, but what are the variables? >> well, one big thing is, you know, assuming that trump doesn't show up again, trump has not gone to a single debate. his opponents now are trying to make an issue out of that. you heard both desantis and haley hit him at that, being basically afraid to debate. so the dynamic here is whether or not any either one of them with trump not likely not present, will actually take the fight to donald because it's not enough. we saw the two of them debated in iowa and they spent almost the entire debate going after each other quite viciously, calling each other liars, untrue, worthy, and more. but you know, nikki haley has to do more than beat ron desantis

and vice versa. they've got to take the fight to donald trump. and with chris christie out of this race, nobody is doing that forcefully. at least not yet. yeah i mean, he was the only one who was kind of taking him on directly and forcefully, like you said. >> and he's, of course, out of the race. but i want to ask you, if you think with trump's civil fraud trial wrapping up, how soon will we have a verdict? and could those results change anything? with his electability or eligibility? >> well, the civil fraud trial, obviously different from the four criminal cases, but potentially uh- as devastating as any of them to trump personally because they get at the heart of his reputation as a business success story. we expect the judge will decide what the punishment will be by the end of the month. so by by january 31st, it is appealable. trump will certainly appeal almost any t decision by the judge, a judge he has been vilifying. but this could be

devastating to trump. it could cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and it could prevent him from being able to continue to operate his business in new york . it could force him basically to sell trump tower, among other things. >> all right. well, certainly a lot at stake. but let me ask you before you go real quickly, which of these candidates remaining on the gop side do you think biden would like to face least? >> i think that probably a nikki haley. um, and that's not just because you've seen some hypothetical matchups that show that nikki haley does better than either desantis or trump in a hypothetical matchup against biden, but she's a woman, and this is going to be a battle in in many ways over over women voters, especially with abortion in such a such a top issue. desantis signed a six week abortion ban, which makes him a quite vulnerable in a general election. on that where most voters in a general election are not there. uh- nikki haley is also pro-life and says she's

proudly pro-life, but talks about it in a different way than either trump or or desantis. i think that obviously the candidate that they want to run against is donald trump. they believe that he is somebody who they beat last time and they can beat again. >> all right. cohost of this week and abc's correspondent jonathan karl. thank you so much. really appreciate it. >> great. thank you. >> and you can watch jonathan on this week with george stephanopoulos on sunday morning at eight right here on abc seven. last week's alaska airlines mid-air mishap continues to cause flight delays and cancellations. what are your rights as a passenger? we'll talk to a

due to weather and the continued faa grounding of the boeing 737 max nine after alaska airlines mid-air door plug flying off

incident for the hundreds of thousands of travelers affected. what are their rights? joining us live now to share insight and along the latest deals going dot. com's katie nastro. katie, good to see you. >> thanks so much for having me. >> i gotta admit, i do have a dog in this fight. uh, my flight back from vacation this week was canceled, and the earliest i could get rebooked was a day later, so i had to fork out a lot for the extra hotel night car rental meals for another day. um, not to mention losing a work day. so my question is, what does my airline owe me in this situation? am i entitled to something? and what? >> sure. so in this very interesting case, alaska is actually putting out flexible travel policy or flexible travel waivers. so it's very specific to this scenario. and basically it is saying that they will give you a full refund and a new flight. um for any flights. so you can actually get rebookedn a new flight or decide to take a full refund back to your method

of payment for flights affected between january sixth and january 24th or or if you are scheduled to fly on this specific specific boeing max nine and don't really feel comfortable, even if it does get the okay to fly again, you can actually have call alaska and have them change. rebook you on a new flight on a different type of aircraft, or get a refund back to your credit card that is good to know, but what about my already incurred expenses because of their cancellation and my extra day where i was stuck and the hotel and the car rental? >> they said just to send in the receipts. but is there not a rule? um, from the dot or anything? how much i need to be compensated, right? >> unfortunate. in our country we don't have compensation on top of what the airline is already offering you, and it all is laid out what you are entitled to or not entitled to. on that dot dashboard. now each it varies per airline, but most

airlines will cover expenses due to things that are due to cancellation and significant delays in their control. and this was definitely something that fits into that scenario. so. so you should be submitting your expenses and definitely saving all those receipts. and if you don't hear back, then then you can apply to the dot and send a complaint, which unfortunately you don't want to get to that point. but alaska is definitely aware that they have mucked up in this scenario and should be on top of it. >> okay, i hope you're right. you're right, but i didn't know about the dot complaint as a last resort. so good for our viewers to know that hopefully we won't get to that. but i want to ask you, we never used to buy travel insurance, right? because costly delays, you know, cancellations didn't happen. all that often. so i figured, well, for the occasional time it happens. it wasn't worth the you know, 20 times that i bought the travel insurance. but do you think things are changing? do you these days recommend travel insurance? >> you know, travel insurance

can be great when you have a multi layered trip or, you know, maybe you're taking a really big ticket trip, that one of those bucket list trips that you've always wanted to go to, you know, maybe over to asia. and it has multiple parts, or you're going on a cruise where, you know, it's not all booked through one, say, travel agency. and whatnot. um, so in that scenario, figure out all the ways you're already protected and then see if you need travel insurance to sort of fill in any holes. right now under federal law, though, you are protected whether your flight is canceled or significant delayed to get a full refund back if you so should. so choose or get rebooked on a new flight, and specifically with alaska in the last few days, they've actually changed their regular policy. if your flight is impacted or significantly delayed by even an hour, you can get a full refund back to your card regardless of the scenario as to why. whereas in the past, if your flight was canceled or or just delayed by, you know, a two hours, it

wouldn't necessarily have fit into their for their suggestions and you wouldn't be entitled to that. so they've actually made their policies a bit more flexible. >> okay. getting a little bit closer to the eu in terms of how much they offer passengers, a little bit, a little bit, okay. real quickly, for passengers who wish to avoid the max nine for now, how can they find out the type of aircraft when they're booking? >> right. so there is a couple of ways to do so. when you're booking your tickets, you can actually see on the, the, the, the flight number by typing it into google to see what exactly what aircraft they are going to use as well as you can always type up into the chat if you are booking online or through the app. and of course, you know google is our best friend. uh, so that's probably the easiest way to do so. >> okay. hey, we have about a minute. so real quickly, i know, i know@going.com you track the latest deals. so what are they right now if you happen to be a lucky person who can take off in january or in the near future,

right. >> so for january and february, some fantastic deals that we're finding, finding over at going for the san francisco area can fly to savannah for 195 round trip. kona, hawaii 191 round trip, get a little sun. or maybe you want to take that european trip that you weren't able to take in 2023 for 58 round trip to madrid, spain, all on full service airlines. >> wow, that is great to know. all right, katie nastro, great information as always. thank you so much for your time. >> thanks so much for having me. >> all right. take care. so a reminder folks. um. oh, this is what she was talking about earlier. the alaska airlines website that has their flexible travel policy. so you can check that out. and yeah, in the meantime, you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv and roku. just search abc seven bay area and download it now.

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world news tonight with david muir is next. i'll see you back here at four. >> david: tonight, the life-threatening winter storm as we come on the air. blizzard conditions, several states, the northeast bracing. new york's governor tonight declaring a state of emergency already. at this hour, the blinding snow, potentially dangerous flooding, and record cold moving in. severe storms in the midwest already. then from florida to the carolinas all the way up the east coast. thousands of flights canceled or delayed. chicago's o'hare airport ordering a ground stop for a time. the windchills comin