federal government. this is a wrinkle in the rollout of the president's signature health care achievement. it's one we'll be watching. >> jim, many thanks. thanks for joining me this hour. i'm carol costello. at this hour starts. at this hour there's snow, snow, more snow. a heck of a lot of news. i'm john berman. my colleague michaela pereira is outside in the snow. we'll find her in a minute. that's first up at this hour. this storm could be the biggest yet. the powerful blast of ice and snow that's knocked out the south is attacking the north. roads closed, flights cancelled, power out. a lot of people say here we go again. also at this hour, a florida jury is deciding whether michael dunn should go to prison for shooting and killing an unarmed

teenager. dunn said he feared for his life after el thing teens in the car to turn down their loud music. he says he saw a gun. police say no weapon was found inside the car. comcast is announcing plans to buy time warner cable for 45 billion. they are the largest cable companies and rank lowest in satisfaction ri surveys. thyme warner cable is not affiliated with cnn apparent thyme warner. a bus driver is out of a job after a fight with a teenager caught on camera. he says it started after asking the teen for his information after having issues in the past. the teen started punching, and the driver fought back. the bus rolled into parked cars. the driver says he wants his job back. the big story up and down the east coast right now, especially

right now at this moment in new york city is the snow. right in the middle of it all, michaela pereira. michaela? >> reporter: john, you got sunscreen. it's balmy. my goodness. see the snow coming down? it's crazy. wind conditions are brutal. we've had a lot of snow come down. speed seems to be picking up. we've got this covered like nobody else. cnn are has correspondents all over. folks in north carolina, dave there. maria in white plains new york and in atlanta is jennifer gray. we're going to start with you people are concerned about crops and livestock.

>> reporter: so many people got stuck on the interstates during a big snowstorm. they're proud of the fact saying no one had to spend the night out there last night. no one was left stranded. they are having to deal way lot of abandoned cars saying it's okay for people to come back and pick them up if it's safe. the way the weather is now, that's a bit dicey. they're talking about how many traffic accidents they've had so far. 1,900 across the state. this time yesterday we were talking about the snowfall. look what's happening now. this started after dawn. it's been steady. this was cleared when we got up this morning. now it's covered again. they're saying stay off you the roads for your own safety plus the fact they want you to stay out of the way of all the plows and sand trucks they have out

there to do their job to keep the roads passable. >> reporter: all right. so we see the situation there. we're going to move further north from north carolina. we're going to head to white plain, new york. about an hour's drive north of manhattan. we have maria santana. i know you are really feeling the brunt of it. a lot of snow where you are. >> reporter: we are. good morning michaela. white plains definitely living up to its name today. the entire area is covered in white. this heavy snow is coming down hard. it's coming down fast. i'm getting pelted in the face. it's in my eyes. i'm going to step out of the way so you can really see what is happening here behind me. it's really quite breathtaking right now. i was joking with my producer on our way up here that we could be at a resort, a ski resort in

vermont and seeing the same thing. looks can be very deceiving. authorities are saying of course the conditions on the roads are pretty hazardous. for the most part, people are staying indoors which is a good thing. local police report a couple of spinouts already on the roads. fortunately no major accidents, no serious injuries associated with those. the plows we have seen them out in full force. they're expected to get anywhere from 10 to 14 inches up here. already five inches have fallen. when we spoke to the commissioner of public works this morning he said things are going okay. it's like dying by a thousand cuts. they've seen so much snow up here it's hard to keep up. as soon as the plows come by, the snow just piles back on up. michaela? >> reporter: that's the thing maria. it seems as though all of us on

the eastern seaboard feel we just recovered from the last storm, and another comes along. i haven't had the chance to meet you face to face. we meet in the snow from a far. great job. >> reporter: thank you. >> reporter: we're going to head now to atlanta. this is a different scenario than what they were dealing with before. they had advanced warning and need preparation warnings. folks have stayed where they are and off the roads. jennifer has an overview and how things are looking in atlanta. jennifer? >> michaela, good news in atlanta. things are better this time around. people stayed off you the roads. this hit in the middle of the night. when we woke up and saw the blanket of white, people definitely stayed home. we didn't have the catastrophe from last go around. i want to show you snow totals. 15 inches in virginia, 11 inches

d.c. philly picked up you nine. in new york, central park, eight. here's the storm system now. we're seeing the snow moving into boston, new york, still coming down for you. it is pretty much ended in d.c. going to get warm air pulling in. you should start to transition to rain as we go through the afternoon. the winter threat still in place. we have the winter storm warning currently in place up and down the eastern seaboard, northeast. let's time this out for you. here goes the low. thursday, 8:00 tonight, little bit of change over to rain along the coast. still getting heavy snow in interior sections. then it pushes off by friday morning. we should be much, much better in the northeast by 11:00 friday morning. all of us should be dry. michaela, it was insane. some areas getting up to four inches of snow an hour. some areas experiencing blizzard like conditions.

>> reporter: it's one of the situations depending on where you are and what kind of precipitation is coming down. it's fun, beautiful and sure is pretty. you don't want to be out in it on the roads. especially in atlanta they're dealing with ice, no point. let's not enforce the issue. dave, jennifer, we're going to touch base throughout the show. john berman, got a bit of a bone to pick with you. i heard rumor who ever was ahead in the medal count in sochi got to choose who went outside. really? really? >> i think the u.s. just slip aed ahead of canada. >> reporter: that's what i'm saying. >> this is wicked fun for me now, this storm. my question for you is this, if you don't have to be outside because your bosses who sit there sent you outside, are people trying to get out and work and do things?

>> reporter: it's surprising. there's a few people taking a stroll. we're here on the circle. central park is behind me. it's beautiful. you get like the polar vortex right here. you can see the snow coming sideways across our lens. behind us, it's quite beautiful if you're dressed for it. that's the key. >> you look beautiful standing a midst that beauty. one of the questions we're going to ask going ahead, kids in school here in new york, they did not cancel school. a lot of people are outraged. we'll talk about that in a bit. first ahead that the hour, they killed american troops. why the get out of jail free pass? we'll look at the afghan prisoner release had the outraged the u.s. military, u.s. officials and a lot of u.s. citizens. that's coming up. ♪ ♪

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cardioviva. this morning. veterans are flabbergasted. many wonder what's the point in afghanistan? this set them off. 65 prisoners are free, 65 men who attacked and killed american soldier, targeted u.s. alleies and destabilize the longest war in u.s. history. the afghan president set them free. this is probably creating the highest level of tension between the two governments to date. let's talk about this. retired marine jesse jane did you have served in iraq and afghanistan and retired spider

marks is from virginia. 2100 troops have been killed, 20,000 wounded there. to you, where you're sitting now, does this feel like a slap in the face? >> this is a disgusting measure. we agreed to release these to the afghan government with the condition they would not release them without our consent. they were supposed to hold them on trial. we passed the evidence. they said there wasn't enough evidence. we have 32 american and ally troops, additionally 23 afghan peace keepers that are killed. another 17 directly associated with roadside bombs. what are we looking at? americans are dead so they can go back to the battlefield and kill our forces still there today? this is apalling. >> spider, this coming after afghan president refuses to sign the fact about the future of

forces in afghanistan. what should the u.s. do about this? >> clearly this is a critical issue for the zragadministratio. the outrage is from department of defense and military forces. what we need to see now is our president picking up the phone and engaging with the president and letting him know in absolute terms this is unacceptable. united states has a long term commitment to afghanistan and demonstrated that over the past decade. we look forward to a future relationship. decisions like this that clearly go beyond outrageous, almost a criminal act in itself, needs to be addressed by our president. i think that's the next step. right now it's being handled by sub al terns, those within the administration. this is a critical issue that needs to go to the top. >> if the president doesn't

respond and do what asked, spider, then what? >> the united states is fully interested and invested in afghanistan going forward and need to establish a status of forces agreement. that's what it is. a sofa that allows us to have a presence to conduct activities in afghanistan that gets the support of the afghan government, we can move forward. if not, we need to depart immediately. we don't need to drag this out. we need to bring it down and get out of the country. this is going off the rails real quick. >> sergeant duf, i see you nodding your head. should this have been dealt with before rather than letting it get to this point? >> it's ridiculous. it's already off the rails. he's snubbed his nose at us. he's not going to sign the security agreement. basically those deaths are in

vein. billions of taxpayers basically. our blood is on their sand. he says i know you defeated the taliban. they're back now roaring and screaming. he's sitting back snubbing his nose at this country, our dedication, our blood on their soil. it's not going to change. when we look at the history with him, he has not signed anything. he's essentially saying too bad so bad. your efforts, thank you but no effort. i'm a palled this administration failed up to 24 this point to manage this long before now to the point we're releasing killers of our forces onto the streets. watch, we're going to see our bases and troops attacked once again. >> well, to be clear, it's not the u.s. releasing prisoners. it is the afghan government. >> but they will attack our people that are still there. >> in the u.s. government is clearly very, very upset about this. the question is what are they going to do about it now?

we can hear the outrage and anger in your voice. sergeant duff and spider mark. thanks. we'll talk about this in the days and weeks ahead. ahead in "this hour." this is hard the to believe. a girrafe may be marked for death in another zoo. can this really happen? first d zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ] starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family.

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all right. got to say you may not believe you're hearing this. a danish zoo this morning might be on the verge of killing a giraffe.

that sounds familiar, right? days ago a zoo in copenhagen killed a healthy giraffe, chopped him up and fed him to lions as kids watched. that happened. jack hanna joins us now by phone from jacksonville, florida. the host of jack hanna into the wild. the second zoo says killing the giraffe is a possibility. it's not definite. it's about space and breeding. i think a lot of people find the fact this could happen again, they think it's shocking. >> well, you just said the word shocking. i can go worse beyond that. i've been doing shows all over the world, not just this country. i just heard about this. i drove all night because planes are cancelled. you can hear from my voice this is beyond shocking. this animal is a hybrid.

i don't know how it was done. in the wild, giraffes do this breeding and animals is okay. this is not inbreeding by any means. this animal is put there. some say this is livestock. good lord put livestock here for one reason. that's the point. that's it. zoos here today almost like noah's ark. noah's ark did save all the animals. zoos today are noah's ark. we're here to teach people about overpopulation. we have problems in the world. we have an obligation to our visitor as well as to the animals mostly that we give them a good life. if something happens to the animal, injured or hurt, that's one thing for youthization. i made two phone calls yesterday. raised over $150,000 to get that

other giraffe over here. i raised enough money to bring that to a place. we have 10,000 acres. i'll house not one giraffe, but i'll take 20 or 30. let me tell you something not pleasant for you to hear. a guy sitting with me yesterday. he said mr. hannah is is this hitler of the zoo world in europe -- not europe, but in this country. is that what this is? i said my gosh. that's terrible what he said. do you hear what i said. when someone asked me that question. i said i don't know. i can't believe what they're doing with animals perfectly good. they say this giraffe is going to be given six months to decide if they can find a home. i can tell you we already found a home for it at the columbus zoo. >> jack, let me ask you this.

the fact it happened once shocked a lot of people. jack hanna, thank you so much for being with us. we'll continue this discussion. right now here in new york city, the new mayor, bill de blasio giving a news conference about another snowstorm hitting at this hour. >> since the early morning hours today will continue into the evening and overnight. we wanted everyone working together from the beginning on a coordinated response. a lot of folks here have worked very hard in the last six weeks and folks they supervise have worked hard in the field. it's been a winter of long nights and 12 hour shifts on a regular basis. i want to thank them. it's not easy. they have continued in a selfless manner to address these problems. i want to telling you the effort it takes to keep our streets clear and to deal with all the

challenges that come up as a result of these storms. i hope people in the city take a moment to recognize all the work done by sanitation and then how all of our first responders deal with challenges regardless of the winter conditions thrown at them. i want to thank them all for consistency of their work. all leaders of our effort starting with our mayor. i want to thank them for continuing to create strong coordination and communication between all agencies. this storm as with every storm is particular. in each case we see different attributes. this came with a particular set of challenges. we started to get heavy, wet snow falling overnight. accumulation depending on the part of the city -- there's big variations depending on parts of the bureaus. we had roughly five to eight inches by the end of the morning rush hour. that was heavier and faster than

the weather service predicted last night. i want to emphasize, we work in constant partnership with the national weather service. want to thank them for that. they know as we know storms slow down and speed up. you can have greater accumulation than expected and have less than expect ed we all heard reports of what would happen last weekend. thank god last weekend was quite small. this storm sped up and had more accumulation than expected late last night. we ended up with more on the ground in the rush hour than original projections suggested. by the end of the night, we expect, 2kdepending on what par of the city, expect 10 to 14 inches total of snow. that will be affected by some extent by the other precipitation. rain, freezing rain and sleet depending on time of day and part of the city you're in.

we expect in early afternoon, a switch over from snow to other types of precipitation that might reduce the amount of snow on the ground in some places if it warms up more. temperatures have been hovering around low 30s. we might get rain on enough level to reduce the snow. that's not certain. we could get a lot of freezing rain and ice and sleet. we all know that when we get a lot of snow during rush hour, literally in the heart of rush hour, it creates particular difficulties. we all know that the best situation is when the sanitation department has the freedom to get out and hit hard and make an impact. they certainly did that in the early morning hours. then the rush hour created a challenge for them. we want to constantly urge if you don't need to be in your car, don't use your car. a lot of people have heard many times i ask you in the city how urgent to stay out of cars to

maximum extent for their own safety and facilitate the ongoing clean up work of the sanitation department. oem operation center has been up and running since 10:00 p.m. last night. sanitation started efforts in the early morning hours in great mass, great impact from the early morning hours. we have been telling people again not only to you stay off the roads but if they have to get somewhere to always choose the option of mass transit. that again will facilitate the cleanups. there are some service delays and adjustments with the mta. they're relatively limited. good news is they're running largely on schedule and various lines are running well by and large. there's a few exceptions which we can have our representative discuss. the simple message to all new yorkers is, mass transit is your

best option. if you want specific information, call mta.info. use the info to verify what's going on with each route. let's talk about what sanitation has put in the field since the early morning hours this morning. there are 475 salt spreaders that were out. let me check with john, starting at what time roughly? >> started around 3:00 a.m. >> around 3:00 a.m. salt spreaders started. >> i'm sorry. a little after midnight. >> i'm sorry. so 475 salt spreaders were out in anticipation of the snow. 1,900 plows have been out since the early morning hours as soon as we had accumulation. they do work once there's accumulation. they went to work all over the city.

combined we have over 2,300 pieces of equipment out. we've had 12 hour shifts that began at 7:00 p.m. last night. 2,300 workers per shift. 7:00 p.m. shift was relieved at 7:00 a.m. by another 2,300 workers. the sanitation department has done this job aggressively. they recognized the particular nature of the storm. we have right now 800 emergency snow laborers in and working basins, crosswalks, bus stops and fire hydrants. 800 have been brought in and are out working now. extra efforts were made to address the roads starting early this morning. a lot of strong effort by the sanitation department across the board. now, all property owners do what i have done every morning and

clear your own walks. sanitation does its job and does it well. it depends on property owners to do their job and clear walks so everyone can get around. it's important if you have a fire hydrant on your property to clear around it to help fndy. plows have been activated. as usual, the other agencies that can do so much to support the work of sanitation are doing so. that includes the department of parks, department of environmental protection and department of transportation. d.o.t. is focussing on pedestrian overpasses. 17 crews are clearing priority pedestrian overpass. these were pretreated yesterday in anticipation of today's storm. we know that some of these overpasses have snow and ice that accumulated over recent days. they'll take extra work.

we'll continue that effort until they're fully clear. our tow truck task force is activated and is available to remove any disabled vehicles. so far things have been relatively smooth. that task force is available for quick deployment where we have disabled vehicles. a couple of announcements about the next days because we have an unusual situation here. the storm is starting early this morning continuing into the night even the early morning hours tomorrow. then we have a weekend. then we have a federal holiday. obviously a city holiday monday. alternate side parking suspended today, tomorrow and saturday. we know there will be a lot of work here to do this clean up properly. we want to get ahead of it. monday obviously being a holiday there will not be alternate side as well. i've said it a thousand times. parking meters remain in effect. in terms of garbage and

recycling collections given the magnitude -- >> we've been watching new york's mayor bill de blasio talking about the snowstorm he suspe expects 10 to 14 inches of snow to fall. he says equipment is out there clearing the way talking about plans for the next few days. not talking about the one issue that's on a lot people's minds which is the schools not closed. a lot of kids didn't make it in today. >> reporter: that's the topic we're going to bring up with kelly wallace joining me in the snow. we're going to talk about it at this hour. more on the snow, weather, and what are we doing about kids in new york city? are they supposed to go to school right now? we'll be right back. [ phone dings ]

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welcome back. at this hour, it is still snowing. we actually decided it's freezing rain. i'm michaela pereira outside central park. kelly wallace our digital correspondent is here with us. she's going to talk to us a minute about our kids. one of the things we're concern about is the fact kids are new york city are expected to go to school today. one of the over arching i think thises is people are without power. thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed. we know this is impacting so many people. ten deaths already because of this storm. here in the city, mayor bill de

blasio recently became mayor. he's had a year already to deal with, inclement weather after inclement weather. he spoke about the decision that's weighed when they decide whether kids go to school or not and whether or not to keep them open. >> from a number of perspectives including that of public schools from a parent and i have been one 14 years. our job is to make a decision that's always a tough decision. with always by definition in perfect information. it's our job to make that decision as quick as we can to give the maximum notice to parents. we knew based on reports of the national weather service that we could have as little as three inches of snow on the ground by the time kids walked in the door of their schools. we could have more. we could have four or five or more. it was a gray situation. we did know however that it

would be warmer temperatures. that has been true. based on knowledge of what sanitation could do overnight, we were convinced kids could get to school this morning. we always emphasize making decisions. think about 1.1 million kids. so many families depend on schools as a place for kids to be during the day, a safe place, place they are not only taught, get nutrition and safe from elements. so many members of families have to go to work. they do not have a choice and needed safe options for their kids. >> reporter: mayor de blasio talking about the decision to keep the new york city schools open. kelly wallace, let's bring you into the conversation. a lot of people look at the weather, see the forecast and amount of snow expected, of course you're going to hut the schools down. >> reporter: you did hear the mayor. it's a tough decision. working families have to go to work, expected to get to the office. if they decided the roads they thought would be clear enough, a

lot of kids rely on public transportation to get there. they're factoring in all those things which might not be popular. they're weighing that on whether the schools are open. >> reporter: it makes since. so many kids rely on that lunch meal to be served a hot meal at school. >> reporter: exactly. relying on lunch and breakfast. a lot of people are criticizing them for it. they weigh a lot of factors before making this call. >> reporter: that's the deal. there are teams and teams of people out here busy clear the roads trying to get snow on the road. kelly earned her cup of hot chocolate. thanks for coming out. john is back in the warm, dry, studio. there's a lot of kids sitting at home crossing their fingers for a snow day. your kids got a snow day. not across the state. >> on the flip side, my kids did

get a snow day. they've had so many, they're starting to take away vacation days. they're on day six. they're taking days a wway from days in april. ahead at this hour, washington d.c. dealing with the snow. the city is a buzz with a display that few have seen. congress raised the debt ceiling, but it's the way they did it that has everyone talking. is it sign of bipartisan future or new sign of turmoil? [ female announcer ] when you're serious about fighting wrinkles, turn to roc® retinol correxion®. one week, fine lines appear to fade. one month, deep wrinkles look smoother. after one year, skin looks ageless. high performance skincare™ only from roc®.

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news about obama care. more than 1 million people signed up for insurance through the obama care health exchange in january bringing total sign ups to 3.3 million according to figures released by the government. the jump in enrollment is

obviously a shift following the rollout of the obama care website. still below what they thought they would have at this time. there's another big story in washington besides obama care and the snow. it has people buzzing today. it's the bizarre aftertaste left from one of the most bizarre episodes congress has seen. the senate passed the measure to raise the debt ceiling meaning the u.s. will pay its 3wbills another year. the way it happened, joining every democrat to break a filibuster of ted cruz. anna, a lot of republicans not happy at all with ted cruz. the wall street journal made an editorial today calling ted cruz the minority maker. >> he's a rival arouser. he's made the term to force the hand of people like mitch mcconnel. that's unheard of in the senate. what you saw yesterday was they

had to keep the vote open for an hour. you had mcconnel and senator john cornan facing tough people on the right, something they didn't want to have happen. >> how does this affect them? republicans that voted with the democrats, what trouble do they face in locations coming ahead? mitch mcconnel has a tough primary? >> absolutely. he's trying to go to the right on a number of issues. he tried to have the republicans on the right peg him as somebody in washington that doesn't understand what being a true conservative is. we've seen the conservative groups that have come out and said it was this was a bad vote, they don't like it. this is not what they wanted to happen. >> democrats have risks also. this debt ceiling debate is over now. this is over until 2015. now once again, they're facing

the image of obama care. yes, there were some numbers i'm are thinking are encouraging. they're extending the employment mandate. >> the debt ceiling kept giving every couple of months we faced it and you saw the dysfunction of republicans on display over and over again. when you look at immigration reform, unemployment insurance. those aren't going to happen. when you look at fast track trade deals that seem like they could have gotten done, there's disagreement on the democrat side on how to move forward on that. instead of having democrats unified on this you're looking at disorganization there. >> you brought up immigration reform point. that doesn't look like a lot on the table. some wondered if this was a bipartisan model to get things done. you don't seem hopeful about that. >> you have had some positive news right.

we've had the farm bill pass. the two-year budget deal. as far as looking at next several months, we're going into campaign season. it's hard to see how you could get significant movement on immigration reform in the next couple of months. >> it should be fun. all right anna, thoonanks so mu next on "this hour. say you get storm in a winter r storm and have to deliver

at this hour we are outside our new york city studios. right at this hour it is raining, snowing, raining, snowing. bret larson, our technology analyst is here because, look, you might be stuck indoors thinking, oh, technology, entertain me, aid me in some way to survive this. you have some great apps. start with the one ways. >> this is a great idea. it's a social traffic app. so when you're actually stuck in traffic and you open it up, it asks you a few questions, how slow is the traffic, how long have you been stuck here. but it also knows the people around you and what they've been going through. >> and might give you realtime sort of feedback. >> it's the best. it's that exactly. it's i'm sitting here, maybe the guy five cars down says i've been here ten minutes, it's terrible. >> there's a snowplow stuck, go around kind of thing. >> right. it gives you a good peek at the road. >> next up, go2aid. >> this is going to be great if you're stuck inside, if the power goes out, if you're stuck in your car, it gives you tips on different things to do.

like what are the symptoms of hypothermia. >> this is going to be great if you, you know, you're stuck inside, you don't want to go to the doctor, or you just want to check and make sure maybe it's nothing, maybe it is more serious. >> we also know that over 5,000 flights have been impacted, canceled, delayed, not fun. you know of an app that can alert us ahead of time. >> flight aware, if you're flying anywhere, you have to have this app. you can search by flight, you can search by route too. >> okay. >> if you absolutely have to get somewhere, you can see, well, are any airlines able to get through this. you can also see in realtime the weather on your route. it gives you a good indication of am i going to get there and what's there when i get there. >> because it's changing as we know. and last but not least, wikihow. >> it's got a winter survival how-to guide that includes everything from the important stuff, what do you do if you get stuck in your car in a

snowstorm. >> right. >> and also some other important stuff, what if you get stuck in your car and you have to deliver a baby? >> that can happen. >> we report on those stories. >> we actually did that. >> i'll ask the question, do saint ber nards really walk around with the barrel of whiskey around their neck. is that a question it can answer for me. >> probably not. maybe google can do it. >> i wonder if we can put this on the at this hour website. the way winter has been shaping ub, this is not like it's the only storm of winter 2013/2014. >> it's good to be prepared. and it's raining. >> and he was prepared to be outside in the snow. >> yeah, john. >> appreciate brett larson, you're a great addition to the family here at this hour. by the way, you can tweet us now @thishour on twitter. the inclement weather all the way up and down in the coast. the folks in the west, meanwhile, still dealing with that darn drought.

john, we've got some things to talk to you about. do you want to explain to people? >> what's going on? i was listening. i thought you were going to talk to me about some stuff there. no, you were talking about the fact -- >> yeah, the thing i was going to ask you. >> go ahead, go for it. >> how is it that i'm out here and you're inside? >> yeah. well, ask brett larson because there's apparently an app for that. you can ask wikihow and tweet that. put it out there say why is it makaila is outside. we're going to put the canadian outside there. so far it's gone very well. >> and i'm a californian. >> a year ago i was in 80-degree weather in california, just reminding you of that. >> you make a lovely couple. all right, guys, brett, macayla, great to see you out there. warm up. thank you everyone for joining us at this hour. ashleigh banfield starts right after this. in philadelphia youn access a philly cheesesteak

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this is cnn breaking news. hello everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield reporting live in the heart of new york city from columbus circle on the edge of central park where a massive nor'easter hit just after midnight last night. and so far has dropped over 9.5 inches of snow. where i'm standing here in central park that makes it very difficult in a city this size with this many people and the amount of snow that needs to be moved to places that just don't exist. let me tell you what's happened just over the last hour or so. that incredible blizzard that had snowflakes the size of your thumb has turned into a rainstorm. it is now exactly as the forecasters predicted. it has turned into a freezing rainstorm and a slush mess. all of those inches of snow i just mentioned are going to be impacted by it. ice will now take over in