good evening i'm antonio mora, this is lo al jazeera america. >> we see this as a major storm. it has life and death implication he. implications. >> the winter storm sweeping across the eastern u.s. is deadly, the impact on travel. accused of a hostile act. also a battle for the soul of the republican party.

a look at a major call to get rid of donald trump. and. >> we're seeing the largest el nino arguably on record. >> california farmers willing to face the dangerous weather pattern for more rain. tens of millions of americans are hunkered down in their homes tonight as the eastern u.s. is pounded by one of the biggest snow storms in years. this nasa satellite video shows just how large the storm is and why it could be one of the most powerful on record. john terret is in washington which has already been hit hard. john some paralyzing snow there. >> reporter: you know, it really is paralyzing. look at the scene behind me. this is m street antonio. one of the major thoroughfares in washington, d.c, the nation's capital and look, there's hardly anybody out. normally on a friday night at

this hour there would be cars and taxis and buses and people having a good time but not tonight. that's because the snow began here in washington about 1:15 eastern this afternoon. it's gotten steadily heavier as the afternoon went on. we're told by meteorologists that this is only just getting going, not the full storm has started yet. they are already calling there the the storm of 2016. the monster storm is forecast to dump around two feet of snow on the most iconic sights in the nation's capital. at the end of the national mall, president lincoln never looks too pleased certainly thought today. the city's mayor says this is a dangerous winter event made worse by high winds. >> we see this as a major storm.

it has life and death implication he and all the residents of the district of columbia should treat it that way. we need the city's full cooperation. >> reporter: and she has reason to worry. only this week d.c. had a dusting of snow and ice and the commute ground to a halt, some commuting took six hours. >> we expect to see down trees and power lines. the winds are expected to be 30 miles an hour up to 50 miles an hour through saturday evening and we believe that you're going to see the wind pick up throughout day. in fact our forecasters call this event having thunder snow in parts of the storm. >> reporter: 70 to 80 million americans are said to be in the eye of this weekend's storm on course to engulf pretty much the entire northeast of the country.

in new york governor andrew quomo says it's not worst storm the state has ever seen but it shouldn't be taken lightly. >> right now we're bringing down 200 d.o.t. trucks, 400 staff, basically plows, salt spreaders, et cetera, 6 national guard are on the ready. >> aircraft are moved out of harm's way, not expected to be back in service until sunday at the ear earliest. back in new york, many the government was shut down in 2010 for a week. and the other big concern here in washington, d.c. and the immediate hinterland of northern virginia and southern maryland, that there will be so much snow that it will weigh heavily on roofs, flat or otherwise and cause them to collapse. that's a real concern tonight

too, antonio. >> john, are washington is known to the to deal too well with snow. how soon will things get back to normal? >> it's a terrific point. i've been associated with this city since 2002 on and off and it never used to get snow like this. 5'6" seven eight years, they didn't get snow, they used to tip the snow into the potomac. 2010 was the snowmageddon where the greater part of the city was shut down. the underground metro is closing down as we speak, won't open until sunday at the earliest. they're going to keep the trains in the tunnels to keep them warm antonio. >> it looks freezing where you are, john, thank you.

kevin corriveau joins us, the predictions are going up and up and up. >> the area of low pressure is going to be a little bit closer to the coast, bringing that even further. look at the scale of the storm. we're talking up here towards new york. we've even seen snow for mississippi, georgia, down here towards parts of florida, mississippi alabama as well i mentioned that so a big big storm. i want to go a little bit closer in and show you what we are expecting. now storm brought the snow a lot quicker than what we thought in parts of new york, philly, and what philadelphia has received about four inches of snow as well, the snow is coming down at about one to two inches per hour. we have some very strong bands pushing through that particular area. but it's the immense amount of warnings that we are talking about, all the way from parts of massachusetts down towards georgia but it's those blizzard

warnings that are the most dangerous. you saw john terret and those winds, those winds are going to be the problem all the way from long island to parts of maryland and washington. winds greater than 35 miles per hour, visibility less than a quarter of a mile. lasting anywhere from 24 to 30 hours. snow totals, virginia three feet of snow, new jersey two feet of snow up to new york we're talking possibly 18 to 20 inches of stow. it is going to be an absolute mess. >> not something to look forward to thank you kevin. canadian officials say a school shooting has left four people dead in saskatchewan. three others seriously wounded. canadian prime minister justin trudeau confirmed the sheeting. one boy is the suspect, the school h severance the aboriginl

community of la loche. investigative hearing could be held to lead to dismissal of authorities involved in the flint, michigan water crisis. north korea says it has detained an american college student. state run media said he was arrested just before north korea conducted their fourth nuclear test. harry fawcett reports from seoul south korea. >> this news came through on the north korean state media, kcna, saying north korea had detained a u.s. citizen a student for a supposed hostile act against the state. also this media report saying that act was tolerated and manipulated by the united states

government. the name of this man otto frederick wombier. the u.s. embassy in seoul has confirmed it has seen these media reports, and referring the rest to the stat state departmet washington. young pioneer tours says this young man was on one of their tours in north korea and he was detained on january the 2nd. they say they are acting closely with the swedish embassy in pyongyang, which looks after the u.s. interests in north korea. trying the get this man released. it is not certainly the first u.s. citizen to be daind in nortdetained innorth korea. one tourist who left behind a bible in a hotel, these kinds of things have got people in trouble in the past. also last year there was a south korean student with a u.s. green

card he was studying in the u.s. he was detained after crossing illegally into north korean territory from china, he was kept six months before being handed over to south korean authorities here. so this isn't the first of its type but certainly this is a new development a new u.s. citizen reportedly detained inside north korea. >> harry fawcett in seoul. many conservative republicans have lined up publicly against donald trump. now the gop front runner, a men aas i tomenace to americans. amazon offering a rebate on hover borders.

>> on hard earned, inspiring new beginnings... >> these workers got the fight in them, they just don't know it. >> facing up to old demons... >> i am really, really nervous... >> lives hanging in the balance... >> it's make or break... i got past the class... >> hard earned pride... hard earned respect... hard earned future... a real look at the american dream hard earned only on al jazeera america >> the country's first ban on a common second trimester abortion method will not take place at least for now. the kansas board of appeals put on hold. purpose back the deadline

for publishing the last of hillary clinton's e-mails from her time at secretary of state. the court ordered to publish them by january 29th. now the messages need to be reviewed by other government agencies. the iowa caucuses will be the first political test for gop front runner donald trump. conservatives are opening fire on the billionaire businessman in a very public way and as david schuster shows us trump is hitting back. >> just a week from the iowa caucuses and donald trump is now taking fire from some of the most prominent conservatives in the nation. when the cover titled against trump, the national review said he was a philosophically unmoored political opportunist. 22 conservatives including

william crystal, and glen beck, added their commentaries. no opposition to a never expanding government. this is a crisis for conservatism. in nevada at a news conference trump was dismissive. >> it's a dying paper, circulation way down. people don't even think about the national review so i guess they want to get a little publicity. that the a dying paper. >> taken the lead in iowa over texas senator ted cruz, a survey of iowa republicans indicates trump is ahead 37% to 26. cruz is now trying to portray trump as part of the political establishment. >> if as a voter you think what we need is more republicans in wash twashington to cut a deal h harry reid and nancy pelosi then

trump is your guy. >> ronald reagan would get along with tip oh neill and they would sit down and make great deals with everybody. that's what the country is about really isn't it? >> while the reactions between trump and cruz are matter of fact, on television their ads have become rough. >> i want immigration reform to pass and those here illegally to come out of the shadows. >> for his part cruz is now blasting trump for his support of laws boosting eminent domain. >> eminent domain, fancy term for politicians, to enrich the fat cats who bank them like trump. >> i think eminent domain is wonderful. >> jeb bush has pulled his ads and resources out of iowa and is now focused almost entirely on

the new hampshire primary. his latest ad features his mother former first lady barbara bush. >> jeb has been a wonderful son. his heart is big. when push comes to shove people are going to realize jeb has reeling solutions. >> reporter: based open the latest polls, the biggest is john kasich, playing well with independent voters. >> when we work together to solve problems we leave a legacy. >> kasich's political legacy may be to further weaken chris christie and marco rubio, counting on new hampshire to make them the trump alternative. therdz in otheralternative.

nerds, trump's position is becoming more broad pap david schuster, al jazeera. >> al jazeera political contributor bill schneider joins us. let's talk about trump's reaction to the national review, the writers were a pretty eclectic group that went beyond the establishment, they are tea partyers and neoconservatives. >> they are all conservatives they have bled and sacrificed for decades to turn the republican party over into a conservative movement. their message is, trump is not one of us, it is a hostile take over of our party. trump says a lot of conservative things, he don't need nor stinking ideology. what he believes in is himself. >> there was a variety of thinking and attacking trump.

the main thrust of the argument got confusing. too far out on the right but mostly argued that he was a liberal trojan horse. doesn't that model the antitrump methodical? >> trump doesn't have a consistent ideology. they think he's an impostor. he can sound lie a conservative at times, he deserves the right to change his mind any time and he does. >> back fire do you think that would happen here? >> i think they could back fire. trump's message is a message of defiance. he denice the republican party -- defies the republican party leadership, sometimes he defies common decency. >> what does that say about the

gop that so many prominent republicans are so passionately opposing a candidate who is supported by so many republican voters across the country? >> what it says is the leadership of the republican party and the conservative movement could be out of touch with their foolers. stowrn strategy, then ronald reagan brought in a lot of white working class voters who were religious conservatives, they are not deferential w.h.o. for their view is that we're not going to need these leaders we're going to take over for ourselves and it was an insur insurrection. >> a lot of republicans will refuse to support donald trump, they think he's a vulgar

populist. >> if donald trump is foss owned so passionately, do you think the antitrump vote to coalesce around a nontrump or cruz candidate, but the reality is they would have to drop out and they don't seem to be inclined to do. >> they are not but sooner or later they'll find their money is drawing up. what happens in nfer is i new h, if one of them comes out sizeably ahead of the others then one will lose a lot of their financial backing and will claim to be the anti-trump candidate to save not only the republican party but the conservative movement from donald trump. suppose cruz beats trump in iowa by a good margin, the trump

balloon could immediately burst about. if he's a loser he'll find a lot of his backers abandon him. >> nice try at a new york accent. thank you for joining us. an oklahoma man suing gm claiming his air bags did not inflate when his car crashed in 2014. legal experts said, the case would giver an indication of how much liability gm had. lawyers for both sides requested the dismissal today. gm's ignition switch problems are linked to at least 124 deaths. amazon is offering refunds for anyone who purchased a hover board. the consumer products safety commission investigated 40 incidents involving the popular

devices that allegedly caught fire. el nino has brought havoc up and down the west coast but in wine country? how to get advantage of all that extra rain. and an astronaut teaches us earth lingearthlings how to plag in space.

>> the centers for disease control and prevention is expanding its zika virus advisory, a dozen zika cases have been confirmed in the u.s. among almost all who traveled broad. today the cdc expanded its travel warnings. the organization in charge of the oscars says it will take steps to improve diversity in hollywood. the alameda says those steps including doubling the number of female and minority members by 2020. stars have said they would boycott the ceremony because of the lack of minority nominations. the el nino phenomenon has

created powerful storms but in california many are relieved to see the rain. lisa ber nartd report bernard ra winery in northern california. >> flooding in mississippi. flooding in missouri, rivers unable to accommodate the torrential rain. scientists say el nino which is the warming of the pacific ocean is in full swing and impacting weather across the globe. including at boletto vineyards. where wine makers are keeping an eye on the sky. >> how closely do you watch the forecast? >> we get an e-mail every mortgage and it will give you a five day forecast. >> nick says northern california wine makers are switching gears to make sure el nino doesn't threaten the wine making industry here.

>> you need the rain, recharge the groundwater for vines in the spring. >> managing the water is critical. at boletto there are ros rows of cover crop. >> if you are not conscientious in trying to preserve the soil. >> ground is soggy from early season storms and more are coming. according to meteorologist john monteverde sphwhrp we are seeing the largest el nino in record. >> placing straw on the road to redirect the rain. >> ultimately end up down there at the bottom of the vineyard in the laguna. >> a spot that is full now but was empty this time last year.

the hope is that all of the preparation outside will pay off in here and that el nino will keep these barrels full. and keep the wine flowing at the boletto tasting room and on store shelves. fry says the vintners are committed to protecting the lucrative grapes. >> i think in farming we deal with what mother nature gives you and you never know what it will be but you try and adapt as best you can. >> the goal is to produce and serve wine here for decades to come regardless of droughts or downpours. lisa bernard, al jazeera, sonoma county, california. the international space station doesn't have space for a ping pong table. kelly has been in space for 300 days will return after completing a full year on the

space station. i'm antonio mora. thanks for joining us. for latest news, head over to al aljazeera.com. ray suarez is up next with "inside story." have a good weekend. >> ♪ ♪ >> it's one of the small details of life. something you do without a second thought. in communities around the country. head to the sink, pour yourself a glass of water. no hesitation. no worry about whether that glass is going to cause brain damage or poison you. the puzzling water crisis in flint needs a second and third look: how did it happen. are there other cities just waiting to become the next flint, poor people's water. it's the "inside