in the next hour and two. thank you very much for watching. our coverage continues right now with don lemon and cnn tonight. don? >> anderson thank you very much. yeah it's going to be a long evening for a lot of people here in the northeast. i'm standing outside here on the west side of manhattan and i'm going to do my best to show you around what people are dealing with here. it's really unbelievable what the city of new york and really cities all over the country, all over the northeast, i should say, are dealing with right now. in about an hour this will be illegal, what we're doing, unless you are an emergency vehicle. because the mayor and the governor they have ordered everyone off the roads unless you are emergency personnel. the tunnels and bridges, most of them into and out of manhattan, they have been shut down. virtually shutting down the island of manhattan. it is essentially that an island and there's no communication, at least no transportation going in and out

of manhattan. if you are caught on the roads, even if you are a delivery person on a bicycle, you could face a fine of up to $300 and you'll have to go to court. it's a misdemeanor. but all up and down the east coast, some 60 million people affected by this. we're talking more than 7,000 flights that have been canceled from laguardia to newark airport, to jfk and on and on and on. logan in boston as well. as we drive around here this city which is usually bustling the city that really rarely ever sleeps is pretty darn sleepy right now. as we take you, we're going right across the park here on central park south, and we'll go right across the park and show you just how desolate the city is. and usually in manhattan, you can get anything you want delivered. you can get to and fro any time. amtrak is shut down here on the northeast corridor. new jersey transit shut down as well.

as well as most of the major transportation in the area. and as we're driving here we're heading towards tenth avenue and we're going to take you down to times square which is usually bustling with people tours, especially this time of year people coming because to see winter in manhattan, as we turn here looking down seventh avenue. and there right in front of us you can see times square. and it is usually lit up as it is now, but you can see it more clearly and usually there would be people out here on the streets. but again, some 60 million people affected by this. and here in new york the amount of personnel that they have put out, the mayor ordering new personnel, more ambulances out on the street more salt trucks and on and on and on. telling everybody, if you don't have to be at work you should stay home. at 11:00 p.m. eastern time which is probably about 55 minutes from now, the new york city subway which is the

largest single transportation mode in this country, will be shut down. usually you can get anywhere you want to in manhattan, any hour of the day you can go. if you want to get to the airport, you can get to the airport. if you want to go to another borough, you can. if you want to go to new jersey you can go to new jersey. right now, you cannot do any of that. so getting through manhattan, usually at this hour especially where we are on seventh avenue headed towards times square we would be stuck in traffic. sometimes you can't even get a taxi but look at it now, a virtual ghost town. we're passing rosy o'grady's here at 52nd street. it will be a couple more blocks before we head down and get into times square. but i want to show you what it's like in a city this big, when you're dealing with at first they say maybe about three feet of snow. they've dialed that back to 12 inches to 24 inches of snow. that's the difference of a foot.

let's hope that it's not that big. we're hoping for 12 inches or less here in new york city. our meteorologist has been covering this as well as our entire meteorology department here at cnn. but i cannot believe that i'm looking at new york city, the borough of manhattan right now and it's virtually shut down. another interesting fact usually broadway is dark on monday nights but there are several shows, a handful of shows, phantom and some of the big shows, especially when they have anniversaries now, they will have shows on monday nights. they don't have a show tonight. it's been shut down. and the mayor now again shutting down the subway system and they're not sure when they're going to open it back up. so some people are not sure when they're going to be able to get into work. we'll pull over here right in the middle of times square here and i'm going to walk around in front of the car and we'll show

you. here we go. middle of times square which is usually bustling right now. i'm going to get out and walk around the car. you can see, hardly anybody out. and these cars that you see right here these folks on the road pretty soon they won't be allowed on the road because again, at 11:00 p.m. eastern time every single car, except for emergency vehicles that means police officers ambulances fire trucks some members of the media. you have to be inside. you cannot be on the road including delivery people. but again, to be able to stand in the middle of seventh avenue at the cross roads of the world and 47th street is virtually unheard of. i want to go to chad myers who joins us now, cnn meteorologist, standing in the middle of columbus circle. chad this is unbelievable. >> it is. >> and the makejor time for this

is midnight to 6:00 a.m. >> for us and with significant accumulation. we talked about the models all day. we said that the one model was saying 8 to 12. and two models were saying over 24 inches. what do you possibly believe? how do you go from 24 to 8? now those models that were saying so much snow have backed off for new york but not for boston. this will be connecticut, long island boston vermont, new hampshire, and massachusetts and maine storm. we'll see tonight at least another eight inches but the problem is still going to be the wind. it always was going to be the wind. about 15 minutes ago, i was on top of this building with anderson cooper, and i was frozen. i couldn't feel my toes. i had a cap on. i had hand warmers on my hands, trying to keep them warm. now i'm out of the wind i feel 50 degrees warmer.

it is a windchill factor issue with this storm that we haven't seen like this in a long time. winds of 40 or 50 miles per hour haven't seen that with any of the latest snowstorms. it's a snow-maker yes, but it's a wind event, that will bring down power lines. i would say at least a half million people at some point during this storm will be without power. and it's a cold night, or a couple of cold nights to be without power, don. >> and, chad i've heard you call it and i've heard other experts call this life-threatening historic. why are you saying life-threatening and historic? >> i'll tell you what the governors have done a fantastic job. if you put 50,000 people on the roadways like atlanta had with the last three inch snowfall that they had, and you put them in blizzard conditions and windchills of 20 degrees below zero it would have been and still is a life-threatening

situation. it is much less life-threatening now that the governors did what they did, the mayors are doing what they're doing, the boroughs have shut things down here. this is a much less dangerous storm when people do what they're asked to do. had those warnings not gone out and the blizzard and whiteout conditions happened overnight, we would have people stranded on the roadways. now there will be nobody out there because they're not allowed to be out there. don't get me wrong. this is still going to be a big deal for boston for providence, for newhaven for all of long island just not such a significant snow-maker for new york city. five inches on the ground. another eight coming and that's 13 total, close to our estimate from earlier today. >> no vehicles on the road

except for the vehicles we just saw, some salt trucks couple moments ago. if you stay with us you'll see police vehicles. my colleagues are in connecticut, massachusetts, and also in new jersey. i want to get to brooke baldwin, standing by in boston. doing a heck of a job there reporting. brook, when last i saw you, you had gotten lots of snow. what are you seeing my friend? >> i got to hold on to my hat. it's really the wind really picking up. this is the hour this is the beginning of the real real snow. it's been coming down. we've been out here for a couple of hours. we're here in boston harbor. when you look around it's such a gorgeous city the water's over there way, if you know boston. the north end is this way. a lost people out and about, taking in some drink and some dinner for sure. but it's very, very quiet here

as well. i spy one woman walking that way in the last couple of hours that we've been here. i'm seeing a fair amount of traffic, but by now, there's one cab. got my prop here my producer. you are asking why would this be historic? 27-inch-plus snowstorm. i'm five feet. and that's where it would come up to on me. as we know this is just the beginning of really the snow beginning to pelt the city. but when you've been talking to people as we have and our crews here in boston have people here in boston so far they're just not that worried about, they know the schools are closed tomorrow they know you can't

get on the t tomorrow. so they're all hunkering down and probably some of them enjoy it -- enjoying it. the biggest thing is the travel ban. get off the roads. and we'll be here riding the storm out with you for the next couple of hours. don? >> absolutely. and thank you very much. stay right there. brooke is going to be there. and here's a concern. i'm not sure what else you can see. right now, this was fresh snow a little while ago. now it's slush, and it's going to get a lot colder here. the concern, is this is going to freeze over and people will be sliding and sliding all over the roads. i'm going to go over now to cnn's brian todd he's in asbury park new jersey. brian, i've been seeing you, the wind was whipping there and

snow -- [ inaudible ] >> reporter: don, the wind is really very devastating right now. if you want a sense of how bad it is i'll have our photo journalist point up to the light at the top of the light pole. it's really picking up getting much, much more intense. this is as much a wind event as it is a snow event. you can see, if oliver can train his camera toward that light, just how strong this wind is and what it's going to the snow here along the boardwalk in asbury park. the tide is also coming in and in less than two hours, it will be high tide. so that's fueling concerns about flooding here as well. they're saying that they're expecting maybe one to two inches per hour here. starting in less than one hour there will be a travel ban for any non-essential personnel on the streets of this region of

new jersey. actually throughout the entire state of engineer there's a travel ban in less than one hour. this is causing whiteout conditions this wind. that's the real concern. the lack of visibility with whiteout conditions just fueled by this gale force wind that's over 30 miles an hour. it feels like it's a lot stronger now don and and we're told inland the snow is being blown off the boardwalk. you can see the boardwalk. that's not the case a few feet inland where the side roads are really really bad. we just talked to a police officer, he said they'll not get to plow these roads until 4:00 in the morning because the snow is really accumulating on every side road here in asbury park new jersey. don? >> all right, brian todd asbury park new jersey. brian, stay safe out there. again, as i've been saying we have reporters covering this story all up and down the east coast. i'm actually in a mobile weather vehicle now, our blizzard

vehicle here at cnn, and as we're going through the streets of manhattan, making our way through times square now. as you can see right here in front of me one of the snowplows right there and that's pretty much all we've been seeing. people in emergency vehicles some tourists out and about, most of them heading home now. and again, not even a delivery person on a bicycle. the governor as well as the mayor of new york saying the same thing. broadway, dark tonight. it's usually dark on monday nights except for a handful of shows. even though shows are not playing tonight. and then it could be a repeat for tomorrow night. and when if ever have you heard of the new york city subway system being shut down. and the last time that happened was during hurricane sandy and that was a couple years ago. i want to go to cnn's ana cabrera, she's on the tip of long island out in montauk. usually people go out there for the summer because their beach homes are out there, but now

it's bearing the brunt of the storm, ana? >> that's right. there are residents who live here year-round. this is a very big fishing community. so we have talked to residents who say they are preparing tonight to hunker down to be in their homes for days before they're able to get out. some people attaching snowplows to the front of their trucks so they can get out of their house. when we see the two to three foot of snow by the end of this storm. here along main street you can see it's pretty quiet out here. we've seen multiple passes of the snowplows coming and going. the department of transportation has about 600 snowplows on long island alone, with 1,300 personnel working around the clock to try to keep the roadways open and passable. of course that's in this far out region from new york it's only a couple of hours outside of the big apple, it is a little bit more removed. so they have fewer resources out

here. and power outages is one of the main concerns out here. because we saw during superstorm sandy, this is an area that lost power for weeks. we understand there have been improvements since then so they're hoping that power outages do not become the main story. but again, the wind gusts have just been brutal and continuing to pick up over the last few hours that we've been experiencing this storm with the snow coming down harder and harder. we'll see perhaps 70 moup winds in this area it could be the strongest of the entire region along with coastal flooding a huge concern. you can see why, it's that wind that's going to push the water into the rest of the inland area where they're expecting to to four feet above tide level for the general water level and then some waves up to 15 feet can be crashing upon shore and cause

some beach erosion. so that's really the gamut of the concerns that the folks here are facing moving forward here don. >> ana cabrera out of montauk. usually the hamptons are desirable, but certainly not right now with a major blizzard rolling through. ana, thank you very much. we'll get back to you. i've been watching people trying to get taxi cabs not going to happen. it's not going to happen. you were warned by the governor by the mayor, by cnn, by the national weather service to get off the streets of new york city because you won't have any services and that's what's happening right now. i'm seeing people on corners coming up from times square we're headed up eighth avenue back towards the time warner center where cnn is and towards central park. and the people out here they have to find their way home as best they could. probably going to have to walk

at this point. don't go anywhere. we have the best storm coverage on television right now. we're going to take you all over manhattan, to massachusetts, to new jersey as well. also pennsylvania wherever the storm is happening, cnn is all over it. we're back right after a very quick break.

how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40 $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ ♪

i have great credit. how do you know? duh. try credit karma. it's free and you can see what your score is right now . i just got my free credit score! credit karma. really free. you used to sleep like a champ. then boom... what happened? stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what? let's build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiqtm technology. it tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. the difference? try adjusting up or down. you'll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. only at a sleep number store where you'll find the best buy rated mattress with sleepiq technology. know better sleep with sleep number.

>> you're watching cnn tonight and cnn's special coverage of the blizzard of 2015. i'm don lemon. i'm out in a roving vehicle out in the blizzard in manhattan. we're going up eighth avenue -- up broadway. we're on the upper west side. you can see these are the salt trucks and the sanders that are out here on the roads. and they've been out through the city the entire city. and according to the office of emergency management and the mayor, what they're going to do is judge by the elevation of your street and whether or not your street is curved or flat or what have you, as to how much sand and how many trucks come onto the street. it's done by that. this between midnight and 6:00 a.m. according to our meteorologist, should be the brunt of the storm coming through. again, as we are rolling through with the vehicles you can see the trucks in front of us as they spread salt. they're not doing a lot of it

right now, because the snow isn't coming on that heavy. but what has happened though it is becoming slushy. and they don't want it to freeze over because then people will be slipping and sliding. 2,300 vehicles out on the street now, trying to get all of this under control. and the interesting part is, there won't be that many vehicles out on the street because the mayor has asked that everybody get off the street except for emergency vehicles. i want to go now to chad myers, our meteorologist. i understand that we're getting new information in every second. what are the models showing you now? >> earlier today, we had two models that said 24 inches for new york city and 30 for boston. we went wow. then the new model, the new gfs with brand new dat a brand new computer that was saying about 11 inches. so try not to get into dividing it and see what you get.

the forecast is 10 to 14 inches with the possibility of a whole lot more if it exploded like the two older models did. now the older models are coming back into line with the new and improved saying a good eight more inches here in new york but this is not going to be a 30-inch snowfall here for the city. probably not even a 20 inch snowfall for the city. those big -- that foot foot and a half two feet that will be east of the city probably about 30 miles. from west port up into connecticut and central massachusetts, all the way through new england. that's where the 20 to 30 inch snowfall totals. one to two and a half foot snowfall totals will be. not here in the city. great news for the city. it can handle another eight inches. already got about five on the ground total of 13. that's a pretty good number where the models were earlier

today. we can take a big sigh of relief when we wake up tomorrow it will be windy and cold but not two and a half feet of snow to move off the sidewalk don. >> chad i have a quick question for you. as i've noticed earlier when i was out, it was very fluffy it wasn't slushy. now it's slushy. is that because of the temperature or what they're putting on the streets? what's going on? >> it's because it hasn't snowed a lot for a while. yes, earlier today when it was snowing inch and a half an hour for a little while, that's when we started to see that stuff get stuck to the roadways it's still here around columbus circle. they didn't clear it out yet. that's how we know it's about five inches. some areas around eight. but now because the snow haven't been coming down hard for a while, it's started to just melt. yesterday, i walked up here to

the fairway market on 74th street. when i got into town, it was 42 degrees and sunny. the ground is just a little bit warm and now it's melting underneath from that residual heat. >> chad myers, thank you very much. we're out in the storm. chad myers is with us. back at time warner center. he's covering things there. we've got a lot of people in the field for you, i'm in manhattan and i'm going to show you what's happening with the storm in realtime as it happens. we'll take a quick break and be back here on cnn in just a moment. don't go anywhere.

startup-ny. it's working for new york state. already 55 companies are investing over $98 million dollars and creating over 2100 jobs. from long island to all across upstate new york, more businesses are coming to new york. they are paying no property taxes no corporate taxes no sales taxes. and with over 300 locations, and 3.7 million square feet available, there's a place that's right for your business. see if startup-ny can work for you. go to startup.ny.gov. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come.

meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more.

back now here i'm don lemon in the blizzard mobile cnn's blizzard mobile and we are showing you manhattan live as it happens. i want to show you this this emergency alert just came over on the cell phone, and it says all non-emergency vehicles must be off all roads in nyc at 11:00

p.m. until further notice. so people are getting those knowledge messages. we're at 84th and columbus now. here comes an ambulance out front you can see. that ambulance is supposed to be out. the car behind it in about 30 minutes will be breaking the law because they're not supposed to be out. as you can see, people are walking their dogs. there's a sanitation department car passing right now. but just to let you know new york city subway which is virtually always working, shut down at 11:00 p.m. metro north, shut down. the long island railroad shut down. nta bus service suspended at 11:00 p.m. everything again tonight. this is just the beginning of this because it's supposed to get worse between maybe now and 6:00 a.m. if the models of the

forecast is right. you can see drifts starting to pile up now where they've been shoveling some of the snow. i want to get now to cnn's rene marsh, who has been at laguardia airport. there's been 7,000 flights canceled all over the country. laguardia probably leading the way with cancellations and delays. what do you have right now for us? >> well take a look behind me. you can see it's deserted. the same story inside. and i can tell you, at many of the country's busiest airports it looks a lot like this we're talking about thousands and thousands of cancellations today because of this terrible storm. and unfortunately, it's going to get worse before it gets better because tomorrow we're talking about thousands of cancellations again. already we're seeing more than 4,000 canceled flights and also cancellations start to stack up for wednesday. so it's a bad deal if you are

trying to get someplace by plane. i can tell you that most of the major airlines they tell us that they have suspended flights into their northeast hubs because of this weather. and you know i spoke with a lot of people inside here at laguardia today who say, i had my flight canceled and rebooked and canceled then rebooked and canceled again. they're so frustrated that they said well maybe i should opt for the train. well, bad news there too. because on amtrak they're seeing cancellations as well. specifically on the trains going from new york to those northeastern regions like boston. don? >> yeah it's tough out there, no matter if you're on a plane, a train, or an automobile. thank you very much renee marsh. and cnn correspondents reporters and producers are

stationed all over the northeast from maine all the way down to jersey. and really way out in long island. i'm going to get to my colleague ana cabrera in just a moment. what you're looking at now is central park west. usually this is my route home. usually i take the subway in and central park west in a taxi back home at night. and usually this is filled with people coming from the theater, may have gone to the museum or what have you. because by 11:00 p.m. that's when people are off, the broadway shows are letting out and this is virtually desolate right now. and again, as the emergency officials have been telling people to stay off the roads and it looks like people are heeding the warning. and if they don't, again, a $300 fine for anyone who is out on two wheels or four anywhere between 2 or 4. if you shouldn't be out on the street you're going to get a fine you're going to get ticketed. speaking of the tip of long

island and parts as far as this storm is going to reach, i want to get now to ana cabrera on the tip of long island in montauk and she's got new information for us. what do you have ana? >> well don, this is one of the areas expected to be hardest hit. and of course we've seen the snow already starting to pile up here. we're expecting two to three feet of additional accumulation before the storm is over. i want to step over and bring in a guest who is with me who happened to pop on by our live shot. this is steve lynch, the superintendent of highways for the town of east hampton, which includes montauk. thanks so much for braving this cold weather and wruftblustery condition to talk with me. >> what are you anticipating and how have you prepared? >> we started yesterday. we got 70 guys plowing and we're just going to stay up with it.

hopefully the weather forecast is a little bit wrong and we don't get as much as they say. but we're just going to keep at it all night and see how it plays out. >> what is your biggest concern at this point? >> the drifting. you know, we're out here in montauk, and that stretch, we get a lot of drifting. so the big thing is to keep that open so if any emergency vehicles have to get out there. the whole thing is we're available. all the fire departments and ambulance personnel, they have our telephone numbers. they can get us on radio. if there's any calls, we escort them. got to make sure they can get to where they can go. >> thanks so much for joining us. really appreciate your time. don, back to you. >> all right, thank you very much. i appreciate it. i want the people on twitter to know i am wearing a seat belt,

so it's here relax. thank you very much for that. we're going to go through the park here and show you what's happening in central park. again, we're in the cnn blizzard mobile. we're driving through manhattan where it's no one on the road right now. because at 11:00 p.m., it will be illegal to do what we're doing, unless you're an emergency vehicle or a member of the media. we have permission to do this. you will face a fine. again, as we go here through manhattan, we'll continue to cover this. you're watching cnn, i'm don lemon in the blizzard mobile here on cnn. the best coverage we're taking you through it all up and down the east coast. don't go anywhere. we're back after this short break. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves

you. ♪ ♪ (son) oh no... can you fix it, dad? yeah, i can fix that. (dad) i wanted a car that could handle anything. i fixed it! (dad) that's why i got a subaru legacy. (vo) symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 36 mpg. i gotta break more toys. (vo) introducing the all-new subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. female vo: i actually have a whole lot of unused vacation days, but where am i gonna go? i just don't have the money to travel right now. i usually just go back home to see my parents so i can't exactly go globe-trotting. if i had friends to go with i'd go but i don't want to travel by myself. someday. male vo: there are no more excuses. find the hotel you want, and the flight you want, and we'll find the savings to get you there.

[ high-pitched ] nailed it! [ normal voice ] you're right, that was really easy. i know, i told you so. on progressive.com you can compare our progressive direct rates with our competitors' rates, so shopping is easy. you don't sound like flo. [high-pitched] yeah, i do. [ clears throat ] who you talking to? [ normal voice ] what? what's on your hand? noth-- my wedding ring. [chuckles] symbol of our love and understanding. comparing rates for you. now that's progressive. [ high-pitched ] nailed it!

all right, back now here on cnn, i'm inside the blizzard mobile and i'm going around manhattan and we're showing you what is happening right now. we're at the transverse going through the park which means we're going across the park and not down. anyway but we're going from east to west rather than north to south here. there's a lot of equipment out on the road. this looks beautiful, but it can be very dangerous, as we're watching people walking home. i don't know if you could see those people. they can't get a taxi. and we saw someone zooming by just a moment ago, probably trying to get out of manhattan

and home -- or out of new york city and home before the 11:00 curfew. the mayor says 1,800 snowplows, 2,300 vehicles ready to go. they added 40% more ambulances. the fire department added 500 staff members to duty tonight. nyc, 6,000 miles of street to cover. again, if you're on the road a $300 fine. so now we've gone from the west side to the east side we're at fifth avenue and where are we? 84th? fifth avenue and now -- speaking of all that equipment and all the sand and all the salt and all of that i want to go to the sanitation department the hub of all of this making sure that the streets stay as passable. miguel marquez, what do you have? >> we left that location where there were many trucks going from there.

they had several hundred thousand tons of salt to spread over the city. we're at 23rd and broadway. i want to show you the streets here which are becoming a ghost town. the city that never sleeps is stopped in tonight. there are a few people on the street but for the most part the only vehicles out here are snowplows. the sanitation workers who are the heroes of the city so far. you can see the roads are fairly clean, we drove all over the city. the main thorough fares are clean. the side streets are more packed with snow. but we're starting to feel some of those winds on occasion now. and we expect that as the night wears on the snow will get heavier and by morning, there will be more snow. it seems at this point, we have missed the brunt of this big storm. don? miguel marquez, thank you very much.

again, i said -- we're on 79th street actually. we saw an ambulance pass here. and we're out in the cnn blizzard mobile as we're calling it because that's exactly what it is. it's a blizzard and we're out in it. and we have been watching the streets get really calmer and calmer and more desolate as the moments go by. what you're looking at now is interesting, because usually this is a beautiful shot down park avenue looking straight down to grand central station, and usually you can see all the beautiful buildings, but you can't really see it right now because of the snow and the lights are off. not much is happening in the city of manhattan right now. again, we are covering this from maine to new jersey all over the northeast wherever this storm is happening. we'll keep you covered. and the brunt of the storm is supposed to happen overnight. we'll be on the air and bring it to you.

we'll be right back after this quick break. don't go anywhere. l of heroes and titans. for respawn, building the best interactive entertainment begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud. thanks for the ride around norfolk! and i just wanted to say geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years! roger that. captain's waiting to give you a tour of the wisconsin now. could've parked a little bit closer... it's gonna be dark by the time i get there. geico. proudly serving the military for over 75 years.

we're back now with the special live coverage of the blizzard of 2015. i'm don lemon in the blizzard mobile for cnn. we're keeping you covered on that. we have a lot to talk about. susan candiotti is in rhode island doing double duty for us. she'll tell us about the weather there and also trial coverage for aaron hernandez. susan, what's the weather there like first? >> well it's a mess here tonight. the snow is blowing in every direction. the streets are barren here. and like i said those flakes are coming down relentlessly. it's a wet snow. it's not terribly cold. of course i'm wearing a million layers under this. but there's going to be a lot of clean-up because there's no end in sight. and we've seen the street cleaners out trying to do the best they can, don, here in providence in rhode island, to keep the streets clear. and the reason we are here tonight instead of fall river, massachusetts, where the trial of aaron hernandez is just getting under way is because the

roads are simply too treacherous to have driven back there tonight. as a matter of fact that courthouse in fall river is closing for the next two days. so that is putting the trial at a standstill right now. don? >> so the trial is at a standstill but as far as new information, or anything coming in is there anything behind the scenes that you can tell us how they're trying to work this case about aaron hernandez? any sort of strategy with the prosecution or the defense? >> a few things actually. today they made some head way. a jury was finally selected. this was a process that's been going on for quite some time. we can tell you that 18 people have been selected including 12 jurors and six alternates. 13 of the jurors are women, and five are men. there is one black male gentleman on the panel.

and we can tell you not much more because in the state of massachusetts, all the jurors are questioned at side bar. in other words, only by the judge and prosecutors listening in as well as defense attorneys and aaron hernandez. so everything they say is really a secret and will be kept a secret until possibly when the trial is over. so we don't know the usual details about what people do for a living. now, opening statements are scheduled to begin this thursday weather permitting. but again because the roads are so bad, they don't know whether the opening statements will begin on thursday. when they do we understand that one of the first witnesses will be once the state begins its case will be the mother of murder victim odin lloyd. aaron hernandez has pleaded not guilty in this case. and, don, we also learned something else. among the people on the state's witness list there are about 300 people listed.

we don't know how many of them will actually come to the witness stand, but they include the patriots' owner, bob kraft, and bill belichick, the head coach. will they actually take the stand? i don't know. but we've learned they do have crucial information according to a law enforcement source about conversations they had face to face with aaron hernandez just a few days after the body of odin lloyd was found. and according to our source the coach and the owner said that hernandez flatly denied that he had anything at all to do with odin lloyd's murder. don? >> susan kandcandiotti, thank you very much. i want to get to my expert panel, radio hosts and two former nfl players. thanks all of you. there's a bit of a delay. so please bear with me keep your comments brief, that way i

can get everyone in. michael, i'll start with you. robert kraft spoke at a press conference in arizona. we're talking about deflate gate the patriots and football. listen to this press conference and then we'll talk. >> is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs. i would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team and in particular coach belichick and tom brady for what they have had to endure this past week. i am disappointed in the way this entire matter has been handled and reported upon. so michael, kraft said that he's also confident that this investigation will get to the bottom and uncover the science of how footballs react to changes in the environment.

what's your reaction? >> well, two quick things, don. two important things. number one, this is what a lot of people in new england wanted to hear from bob kraft. he had been very silent up to this point. he released a pretty bland corporate-sounding statement last week. this is a very impassioned, very real bob kraft. and the second thing, this is a little different than the bob kraft, roger goodell relationship. sherman of the seahawks called kraft out for being cozy with roger goodell. he was talking about the league and that seems to be a veiled shot at roger goodell. >> so i have to ask you, fox sports is reporting tonight that a locker room attendant has been identified as a person of interest in deflating these balls, deflate gate.

what's your reaction? >> i think a lot of investigation is taking place right now. i think we're hearing bits and pieces as time goes on. that remains to be seen. i don't know if that's actually factual just yet. but if it is true that's concerning if the balls were taken into another room before being taken to the field. this is a serious allegation. i know kraft said in his interview about the nfl taking too much time on this and wanting an apology. but these are serious allegations. we're talking about allegations going in before the super bowl. so we're talking about potentially rules being broken. so it remains to be seen but i'm really interested in knowing more about it and knowing more about the details. >> michael, do you think that a locker room attendant would do something like this like deflate a football without being told to do so? >> without being told to do so absolutely not. so it really would have to come

down to somebody telling that locker room attendant to do it. and that goes against what robert kraft was saying today about belichick and tom brady. so i don't know what happened. i just want to point out that fox report said the balls were taken into a bathroom or a closet. if they went into a bathroom, how long was he in the bathroom? was he doing something sinister in there? that's what we got to find out. >> dante, it's not a good look to have someone like a locker room attendant take the fall for all of this let's be honest. >> i think, at the end of the day, i think a locker room attendant could also be a part of the ball boys that are associated with the team on game days. there are not enough equipment personnel guys to go around. so they have locker room attendants that are shuffling the balls in and out of the locker room to the field. but the thing also to point out,

how much time before he was supposed to hit the field did he leave from the referees after they weighed the balls? there's a lot that's going into this thing that we don't know. so i think everyone should reserve judgment for now until the nfl comes up with their investigation and we'll make conclusions once they do that. >> gentlemen, i thank all of you for coming in. going to have to be brief because of the breaking news. but we'll have you all back. appreciate it all very much. when we come back more on our breaking news. we're covering the storm that's happening here on the east coast. the blizzard really of 2015. it's being called dangerous by experts, and many cities across the region have been put on emergency mode under states of emergency. we'll take you deeper into new england to show you exactly what's happening with this storm. we'll do it live as it's happening in real time. we'll do it from the blizzard mobile right here in new york.

eee financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise

push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come. i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i better take something. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms plus your runny nose. oh, what a relief it is.

>> this is cnn breaking news. >> i'm don lemon. the breaking news here on cnn, the blizzard of 2015 it is battering the city of new york.

it is battering the whole entire eastern seaboard -- pretty much northeastern seaboard all the way from maine to new jersey. we've got you covered. let me tell you what's happening in major cities across the northeast. states of emergency in major cities including here in new york city. at this hour if you are on the street in new york city and you are not an emergency vehicle, you are breaking the law. everyone has been asked to get off the streets except for emergency vehicles and certain members of the media. in this city that never sleeps and never shuts down there's no subway service, there's no bus service, no cabs and pretty much nobody out on the streets. if you're looking live at our camera now here from our blizzard mobile you're looking right here at park avenue in front of grand central. you can see emergency workers in the middle of park avenue. a few salt trucks and emergency vehicles. the mayor has told everyone to get off the streets. if you're on the streets here in a car, on a bicycle in any

way after 11:00 p.m. which is right now, you face a $300 fine if not worse, if you cause an accident or some sort of emergency. more than 7,000 flights were canceled between today and tomorrow. so if you're in the airport, traveling, you better call your carrier, because chances are, you're going to have some issues. amtrak has been suspended. service between new york and boston. and just right now, this city and other cities across the northeast are really on lockdown. and boston, only trucks can be out on the road and emergency vehicles. if you're carrying a haul and you must get to where you have to go, you can be on the streets. but no one can do it beyond that. and again, this city of manhattan has shut down. no subway service. no subway service at 11:00 p.m. usually you can get anywhere here from the subway from a bus, or from amtrak or from any sort of transportation. not right now.

as we pass grand central, you can see it's a virtual ghost town in manhattan. the storm is worst right now and probably going to be worse for the folks in new england, particularly the boston area. brooke what are you seeing there? >> don, i'm still hanging on to my hat. it's actually your hat, so thanks so much. this is the kind of night where i need this kind of hat. definitely we've been out here now, i think this is hour 4. it's really started to come down wind whipping all kinds of ways. this is one way to tell we've gotten quite a bit of snow. this was a sidewalk and you wouldn't know it because it's entirely covered. we're watching all of this we've been hanging out in the harbor and i made some friends. so let me just walk over here. >> woo! >> for people who are wondering and worried about the storm, clearly my new friends are not, at least not so much. they're all from massachusetts.

they've been -- they've seen this movie before. your name? >> andy. >> chelsea. >> mike. >> jimbo. >> karen. >> so they're all stuck with me tonight. because they all have to work tomorrow. so we all know there's a statewide ban. so no driving in an hour. you won't be driving, you won't be hopping the t. you have to go to work tomorrow. so they're putting you in a hotel? >> correct. we're staying at the hotel so we can walk to work. they didn't want us to risk getting in tomorrow. and we live in new england, so we're used to this. this is nothing new for us. >> that's the thing. when you hear the predictions and they're saying potentially two to three feet. i know a lot of people remember the blizzard of 2003 -- >> i don't think we'll get that much show. but that's the way it goes. we're prepared no matter what. >> final thoughts snow is -- >> snow angels!

woo! >> we're going for it. >> so this is happening. obviously, this is boston and they're enjoying the snow. maybe i'll join them later. don lemon back to you in the blizzard mobile. >> woo! >> hey, listen it's good that they are taking it in stride brooke and i'm glad you are as well. because we could be reporting on major catastrophes. right now, we're reporting that it is coming and people are taking it in stride. some facts from massachusetts, they're saying the snowfall there could be as much as three feet. they may be dialing that back a little bit. state of emergency declared by the governor. issued a travel ban effective at midnight for non-essential motor vehicle travel. the governor is anticipating an historic top five storms. he warned people to be prepared for prolonged power outages. and the mayor of boston has 700 pieces of equipment, 35,000 tons of salt ready and the mvta

closed on tuesday. randy kay is in connecticut. how are people faring there with this blizzard randy? >> i think they're faring okay don. they're pretty smart. most of them are staying inside. we are out here dealing with the elements and it has gotten quite a bit worse just in the last hour. the flurries have gotten stronger larger. it's turning almost into ice pellets. and the wind has kicked up as well. a lot of our crew is turning our backs to it because it's getting pretty strong. they're expecting about two feet of snow where we are. it's falling one to two inches per hour. the windchill is about 14 degrees. we brought this handy dandy thermometer outside, it still says 38 degrees. so i'm done with this thing, because it doesn't work. so we're done with that. but you can tell it's accumulating here if you look on the ground. when we first got out here there was nothing, like a little bit of light dusting on ground.

now you can see there's several inches already. so it's definitely coming down and starting to stick on us and on the ground. we talked to some neighbors here who are smart. they're staying inside but they're a little concerned about power outages because a lot of the cables and wires here are above ground. so if the snow gets too weight and heavy, then they are going to lose power. they say here that maybe as many as 120,000 customers could lose power, but the neighbors tried to get a generator, don, right after the storm was announced, because it came on pretty quickly. they said they couldn't get a generator, couldn't get water, couldn't get milk no salt for their driveway. they have their heat cranked and one of their fathers lives a couple of blocks down so they can go there and warm up. but the whiteout conditions are coming to new london, connecticut, and the wind is starting to kick up don. >> all right randi kaye thank

you very much. stand by, randi, and brooke baldwin baldwin. i want to get to the commissioner of the office of emergency management oem, in new york city. it was expected that the worst would happen between midnight and 6:00 a.m. it appears that new york city may be dodging as brutal a storm or nor'easter as we thought. what's going on? do you have it under control and do you agree with that? >> do we have it under control? that's nature's call. nature will decide how much snow they're going to put on us. as of right now, the snow's not bad. but again, it wasn't supposed to really kick in until now or an hour or so from now, through the night. that's going to be the critical time. from now until 8:00 in the morning, we could see, you know over a foot of snow coming. so i don't want people to have a false sense of security. looking out their window and saying this ain't that bad. still have the potential for a

major storm here. >> and commissioner just about, what is it just about eight minutes ago was the curfew for people to get off the roads, unless you're essential emergency personnel and also members of the media. we're out here and we're not seeing many people. it appears that people are abiding by the rules and they're taking this warning from city officials. >> yeah we hope so. it's only ten minutes into the curfew and i've been riding around. i just got back to the office and it seems lighter than usual. so hopefully the folks are listening to what the mayor and the governor have put out. >> is there anything you can tell us about, are there any outages, any accidents to report at this moment? >> right now, you've got about 400 families city wide 400 customers city wide that are out of power. you know minor interruptions of

electricity, but that's normal for a storm of this size. so we hope it doesn't get worse. we think it has the potential to get much worse. we have plans in place if it does in fact wind up with some power outages, but 400 customers is not unreasonable at this time for this type of storm. >> and i'm not sure if you were able to see cnn right now, but we are on sixth avenue avenue of the americas in front of radio city music hall right now. usually around this time if there are shows going on usually broadway's dark on monday but there are some shows. but if there's anything going on this would be a bustling time here. but again, it appears people are heeding the warnings and staying off of the streets. do you know how long -- the mayor said the subway would be closed. i know you're not with the mta, but they said the subway would be closed from 11:00 p.m. tonight and most of the transit in new york city indefinitely. do we know when it's going to

start back up again, or is that determined by the length of the storm? >> that's exactly right. it will depend on how severe the storm is. we took an action to pre-emptive pre-emptively stop the trains and the buses and traffic also. we think that was the most prudent thing to do at this point. but as far as coming back it will depend on the severity of the storm and how fast we can clear the roads and the train tracks. >> that was the biggest question we had, commissioner from people saying listen i know at 11:00 p.m. i'm not supposed to be out, but my boss is expecting me tomorrow. i know the mayor is saying don't go to work tomorrow but i've got to pay the rent and the mortgage and put food on the table. people are sort of in limbo, is there anything that you can tell them? >> you got to have common sense. if you get up at 6, 7:00 and you have two and a half three

feet of snow, you call your boss and say, i can't get in. no buses, no trains we don't want you driving. so unless you live around the block from where you work there's a good chance you're not going to make it in. we hope the employers will have a sense of commitment to their employees and take it into consideration. >> you said earlier, i was watching cnn, you said your biggest concern was quite frankly getting the snow off the roads and plowing the streets. same big concern right now? >> well yes, that's what's going to get us back to normal. the faster we can clear the roadways hopefully folks will be shoveling their side walks. as fast as we can do that that's how fast the city gets back to normal. >> commissioner esposito thank you very much. we appreciate your advice. we know that you're busy right now. if you get any new information, get back with us. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> again, we're on sixth avenue

in manhattan -- you're quite welcome. -- approaching the west side -- approaching central park heading back towards columbus circumstancele and central park. and again, when we first started this broadcast at 10:00 p.m. eastern, there were still some people out on the roads, still some people in times square looking for cabs, but pretty much no one out right now. you see some of the flashing lights in front of us and emergency vehicles on the road. and the streets are pretty clear and pretty passable right now. the concern was that the slush that had been on the streets might start freezing up. but it looks like it's passable right now at the moment. but the worst of this storm has not happened right now. we're not even in the time period for it. that should happen in about 45 minutes, at least the initial forecast said sometime between midnight and 6:00 a.m. is when the brunt of the storm would be upon us. we'll continue to cover this

from the blizzard mobile here at cnn. we're covering the blizzard of 2015. we're back right after a very quick break. recently, a 1954 mercedes-benz grand prix race car made history when it sold for a record price of just under $30 million. and now, another mercedes-benz makes history selling at just over $30,000. and to think this one actually has a surround-sound stereo. the 2015 cla. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. cnn. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ ♪ the traffic jam. scourge of 20th century city life. raiser of blood pressure. disrupter of supply chains.

stealer of bedtime stories. polluter. frustrater. time thief. [cars honking] and one day soon we'll see the last one ever. cisco is building the internet of everything for connected cities today, that will confine the traffic jam to yesterday. cisco... ...tomorrow starts here. sir, we're going to need you on the runway later don't let a severe cold hold you back. get theraflu. it has the power of three medicines to take on your worst pain and fever, cough and nasal congestion. theraflu breaks you free from your toughest cold and flu symptoms. so you never miss a day. theraflu. serious power.

[ male announcer ] after john huntsman was diagnosed with cancer, he founded huntsman cancer institute. to fight cancer in new and different ways like combining 300 years of family histories with health records to treat, predict and in many cases, prevent, cancer. with the vital understanding that cancer moves fast. and we have to move faster.

to learn more or support the cause, go to huntsmancancer.org. >> we're out of the blizzard

mobile. almost 60 million people in the northeast are really in the path of this blizzard. i want to go now to cnn's alexandra fields. what do you have for us alexandra? >> hey there, don. we're up here in boston watching the roads become progressively worse and we're coming up on the time when the travel ban will go into effect that's midnight. we have some empty buses and a couple other buses are filling up making their last runs because people know they need to be off the roads in the next 40 45 minutes. the governor was very clear. there are no officials ready to say when the travel ban could be lifted. got to wake up in the morning, assess what's going on and wait to hear from the state and local authorities. but what we are seeing so many people are trying to get out and clear the snow already. you'll see snow blowers next to me. people with shovels. the snow really started to stick around 8:00 tonight.

it isn't exactly keeping people inside here in boston even though they need to be off the roads. we are seeing a lot of people walking around outside. a lot of people who are running home with groceries and this is boston they deal with snow so we've seen a number of restaurants and bars that are still open. plenty of people who have nothing else to do but hole up tonight and hit a spot in their neighborhood and walk home. we've seen someone on a bicycle. probably not a great idea. we've seen a lot of joggers who are trying to get in a final run, because they know they may be in their houses for the next day or so. officials warning people in the area that they will see the effects of this blizzard throughout the day tomorrow into wednesday. all day long we've been driving around and seeing those electronic road signs and digital bill boards warning people getting the message out, the blizzard is coming plan ahead, stay off of the roads.

public transportation shutting down. no bus service. schools have been canceled. people know this is their last 45 minutes to get out and find a place to get inside. >> thank you very much alexandra. i want to go now to george howe who joins us from providence rhode island with the latest on what's happening there. george what do you have? >> don, a lot of snow on the ground here. there was already snow when we arrived, but we've seen the snow fall at times heavy. take a look here. i mean this is snow that's really been pushed up by the plows. but if you step over here you can kind of see the accumulation here. it's expected here in providence. they're expecting anywhere from two feet possibly three feet of snow. not nearly as intense as people thought right now, but we're early in this multi-day event. don, the other concern in this area is along the coastline. we know the winds could get up

to 60, 70 miles per hour. there's low-lying areas that could be flooded as the high tide sets in. they're something else we're watching here. but again, flooding is a concern. power outages are a concern. and really we're waiting to see whether providence really gets hit hard with the snow accumulation. >> all right george howe joining us from providence rhode island. again, we're following breaking news here on cnn, the blizzard of 2015. new england is really getting the brunt of the storm right now and it's supposed to come in really the brunt of it between midnight and 6:00 a.m. at least that's according to early models. i want to go to our meteorologist who joins us from in front of the time warner center. >> braving the weather together. >> i know. it's been interesting to be on the roads and watching people and watch as it got closer to 11:00 p.m. the streets become more desolate. >> very quiet. >> so what's the deal because it appears for now, that new york city may have dodged a bullet.

but do we know that yet? >> we've been monitoring that closely. we're expecting snowfall totals from an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow for new york city but the real snow-maker is going to be boston. providence into rhode island connecticut, parts of massachusetts and along the atlantic coast of maine. so that's where we're focusing the highest totals. one to two feet up to three feet still a possibility. >> i didn't get to ask, there's some concern about coastal flooding. what's the concern level there? >> basically we've just come off low tide and are working our way towards high tide which will be around 2:00 in the morning. so we'll see an extra surge of moisture and water coming up on shore, talking anywhere between two and four even possibly three to five feet above normal. some of the sand will get moved around and it's potential for coastal flooding. >> i've been hearing, especially from the folks in boston that

this is really the perfect storm. what all came together to make this such a big snow-maker and wind as well? >> is it started out as a clipper coming down from canada and then moved to the east coast. do you remember in december when we had that huge snow effect the lake-effect snow in buffalo, new york? >> right. >> this is the same concept. it's low pressure forming off the east coast of the united states picking up all that moisture and creating these bands of extremely heavy snowfall and that is exactly where the heavy bands set up still questionable but we're already seeing several inches of snow. >> it's unbelievable how big this is. because it's been winter storm warnings from maryland through maine and into canada. >> that's right. we're talking about up to 60 million people under the threat of winter storm warning or blizzard warning. but remember for a blizzard to be in effect we have to meet two criteria sustained winds of 55 miles per hour for at least three hours.

and i think we'll see that in new york overnight and certainly into boston and connecticut. >> it's really cold out here. >> it is. >> at first, i was like it's not so bad. but in the car, in the blizzard mobile -- >> i love that. where are you off to next? >> some people wanted me to take them home. but we've been watching twitter and people have been talking about the blizzard mobile but that's what it is. we're mobile out in the storm. and i think it's interesting to show people in realtime what is happening, especially in a city as big as new york city when they have said everybody off the streets, when they close down the subway system in new york city -- >> yeah. >> -- it's a big, big deal. >> walking up broadway, no cars something i've never seen before. >> right. we'll continue our coverage on the other side of this break. take you further into new england and show you where the storm is hitting now. our coverage will continue in just a moment here on cnn. don't go anywhere.

♪ ♪ ♪ you're only young once. unless you have a subaru. (announcer) the subaru xv crosstrek. symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 34 mpg. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. e financial noise financial noise

financial noise financial noise you only know in a fire to get out, to escape and now ok you are outside and you are safe but what do you do now and that's where the red cross came in... . we ran out of the house just wearing our pajamas. at that point just to even have a toothbrush that i could call my own was so important... . ...you know it just makes you feel like a person again. every 8 minutes the american red cross responds to a home fire or other emergency.

you can help. please donate now.

breaking news tonight here on cnn. the blizzard that has shut down new york city and is really taking aim at much of new england. we're standing here at columbus circle right outside of where cnn broadcasts. and you can see folks are out here putting sand out on the sidewalk and salt. and this city is virtually shut down now. eerily quiet. by 11:00 p.m. it was ordered by the mayor that everyone should be off the streets unless you were a member of the media and are emergency management. i want to go now to new jersey new jersey transit shut down around 10:00 p.m. travelers will have to take it in stride because many airports are reporting cancellations or delays. brian todd was on the boardwalk in asbury park. now he's out and about on the streets. brian, what are you seeing?

>> don, the roads here in asbury park new jersey are getting worse by the hour. we did hear from a police officer not long ago that they're not going to be able to get plows on the road until about 4:00 a.m. but we did see a train of snowplows on this road ahead of us. we'll try to catch up to it. but they've gotten considerably far ahead of us. so they are getting some plows out on the roads. and there's still a few vehicles on the roads, private vehicles on the roads even though there's a travel ban in place in new jersey. it's been in place now for at least a half hour for all vehicles and all private vehicles in the entire state. they think the snow will come down at a rate of one to two inches per hour here. the wind as you saw in the live shots earlier, from the boardwalk. the wind is a huge factor. they're worried the wind is going to cause whiteout conditions in the overnight hours. telling people please stay inside. new jersey we're told has about 3,700 vehicles that have been deployed throughout the

state, just going all over the place. we'll pull over and show you some capabilities of our vehicle here. we switched the camera to the front of the vehicle here as you can see. the dash cam. we're going to get out, i'll show you what our camera can do. i'll talk to the dash cam for a second while our photo journalist gets his camera ready. what we're told by new jersey state officials, if you have to go out, don't go out for more than a few minutes at a time. but right now, with the travel ban in effect they don't want people on the roads. when they were talking to us earlier about people moving around in this stuff, they were saying don't leave your vehicle anywhere on the side of the road. do not leave it on an interstate. it will get towed. it's hindering the ability of the spreaders and the plows to do their job. we're out now in the elements and the wind it's not as bad inland here a couple of blocks from the boardwalk, as it was where we were on the boardwalk,

just a couple of blocks away from here where the wind was really severe. but it's still a factor here and this is what they're concerned about. if oliver can come down this street you can see a vehicle, might be stranded there down the road to the left. you can see some of the plows way up ahead here, just trying to make their way around. but the wind is causing whiteout conditions here starting to overnight. they're worried it's going to get worse in the overnight hours. the snow is coming down faster than they can plow it. that's what happens when you have a severe snowstorm that's dumping so much snow so fast on a wide range of areas. as we said the state has about 3,700 vehicles plows, spreaders and others ready to deploy and fan out throughout the state. but they may have to wait this out for the next several hours, don. brian todd doing a great job out there. thank you very much. i want to get to brooke baldwin, who is covering this blizzard for us in boston. boston is supposed to get hit

hard by this. what's it like right now? >> it's that part of the night where i'm starting to lose feeling in my face and my mouth. so i apologize if i trip over my words. it's cold. but we wanted to move over here because we wanted to show you what boston streets look like. we're half an hour away from the statewide travel ban. as you can see, the streets are definitely snow-covered. there's some traffic. we've seen really primarily government vehicles a number of plows. you know this could be a private car coming up which is perfectly legal for the next half hour. [ horn honking ] hello there. so there are people out and about, but it's definitely picked up. it's very, very very cold. we knew from the mayor here in boston that as of 6:00 this afternoon, you couldn't have your car parked on one of the major thorough fares, charles avenue comave you had to have

your car moved or it would be towed. here you see a plow. somebody standing here trying to shovel what they can before we see the bulk of it. i'm hanging on to my hand warmers as i talk to you. but let me walk out, with no cars at the moment. you can see, oh there's the street. just a little bit more than a dusting, but not too bad so far. but here it's really supposed to be one of the spots, don, where it gets hit by the snow. it's really picking up now and into the overnight hours. we could see, again, what's forecast and what's reality. talking to a number of people here in boston they know snow and how to handle it. the biggest worry is power outages. that's a huge concern and making sure you stay off of those roads, so emergency personnel, the good people who work at hospitals, medical personnel, they can get into work and do their crucial job come tomorrow and the next couple days. >> hey brooke you're out and

about and i don't want to put you on the spot, when i spoke to the commissioner he said it was about 460 families without power. they were working to restore that. i don't know if you're able to, in the boston area if you're able to talk to any officials there. because as you say, that's a big concern, losing power. >> yeah i haven't seen numbers yet. have you seen any power outage numbers? i'm just talking to my producer. no we haven't seen any numbers yet. just listening to mayor marty walsh on cnn about two hours ago. that's one of his concerns. i don't have numbers. when we get them i'll pass them along. but i think that will be the story come tomorrow morning. >> and right now, that may be good news that you haven't heard. not to say that it's not an issue, but maybe not right now. >> let's hope. >> i want to get to derek van damme. we talked about power outages the weight of the ice on power lines. when we spoke to the emergency

management commissioner here he said there were couple hundred families here without power. we wouldn't be seeing major outages this early into the storm, right? >> right. the wind is still picking up the winds which were clocked at 59 miles per hour in nantucket. we are expecting up to 74 miles per hour. so any kind of snow that weighs down the branches they'll be blowing over easily. we'll see more power outages. >> the brunt of the storm wasn't supposed to happen until midnight and then beyond. so i'm going to ask, and i don't know if you'll be able to answer this but just from the models have we dodged a bullet here in new york city or in the new york area too early to tell? >> i think we already have six inches on the ground. so it's still a sizeable threat to the city.

an additional four to eight inches expected here. but we've brought down the totals hooere in new york city. we're thinking between new york city and the hudson river we'll see that very western edge of this particular storm. and then the further east you get, massachusetts, and connecticut -- >> and new england still going to get the brunt of it. listen it's better to be prepared. it's better to be overprepared than not at all. >> without a doubt. i think they made the right call to close down the city and the roads here. it's better to be prepared than not to be prepared at all. so we need this stuff. >> i'mappreciate that. >> we have producers, and crews all over the northeast. we're covering this storm for you here on cnn, we'll have the latest right after a quick break.

ugh... ...heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm... amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. just tell us your budget and the "name your price" tool helps you find a whole range of coverages. no one else gives you options like that. [voice echoing] no one at all! no one at all! no one. wake up! [gasp] oh! you okay, buddy? i just had a dream that progressive had this thing called... the "name your price" tool... it isn't a dream is it? nope. sorry! you know that thing freaks me out. he can hear you. he didn't mean that, kevin. kevin: yes, he did! keeping our competitors up at night. now, that's progressive.

>> i'm don lemon. we're back now with our breaking news. almost 60 million people in the path of the blizzard of 2015.

cnn reporters are all over the storm zone. i want to begin with cnn's miguel marquez. what are you seeing in manhattan, miguel? >> well the snow's picking up again after a long lull in the snow. we had about seven hours of straight snowfall. and then we had a long lull of several hours. now the wind and the snow are starting to pick up again. you can see the empire state building. it is starting to become obscured by the snow. but look down 23rd street here. nothing but snowplows at the moment. and the sanitation department doing a bang-up job of getting the snow off the streets so far. it remains to be seen whether or not once we get this other band of snow coming through here if they can keep up. across the way, people have come out to enjoy the snow and see some of the sites and some of

the excitement here. look down this way, if you could, this is broadway a place that will be teeming with activity and today and tonight it's barren of any vehicles whatsoever. we have some of the plows coming down here but check this out. they haven't been down here in about 20 minutes. and very quickly, the snow begins to accumulate and the slush begins to accumulate on the streets. so they will come through here in twos and threes and fours and try to get the streets clean. they will be at this 24 hours a day until it's done. don? >> all right, miguel stand by. i'm having a little trouble with my microphone here. thank you. i hope you guys can hear me. miguel thank you very much for that. i want to get now to cnn's randi kaye she's joining us covering this blizzard for us in connecticut. randi, what's going on? >> well don, i don't know how

clear your picture is there from new york city but here in new london, you can tell the winds have definitely picked up. earlier when i spoke to you, they were about 29 to 32 miles per hour. they were telling us. but now they are really kicking. it's hard to actually look towards the camera and look at the wind and the snow is turning a little bit into ice pellets. so it actually hurts to look this way. but it's definitely coming down at a pretty good clip here. if you take a look here you can see it's really starting to gather on the side walks here. this was completely clear when we showed up here hours ago. it's falling, we were told as much as four inches per hour. again, that wind is really kicking up. we are seeing some whiteout conditions here. but believe it or not, there's still people walking on the streets, walking their dogs. don't see too many people in vehicles so they are listening to the travel ban that went in at 9:00 p.m. but a lot of folks are concerned

about losing power. they cut a lot of the trees, trimmed them back in this park where we're standing because they didn't want the snow to get too heavy on them and risk the branches coming down because a lot of the cables are exposed. but a lot of folks, it seems like, are staying inside. we talked to a plow driver a few minutes ago. he said they're working through the night, on crazy shift, trying to keep the roads clean, maybe till as late as thursday. so it's getting pretty bad here in new london. >> governor malloy said stay home and stay safe. do you know when the roads will be opened back up there again? >> we don't know. we took just a little drive around this street here and they're pretty slick. so i don't know when they're going to be open but the plow drivers, as i was saying they said they'll be out probably still as late as thursday on these crazy shifts just trying to work every hour of the day to

keep them clean. the area where we are is sort of they call it priority streets. they're trying to keep them plowed because it's a pretty busy area trying to get people on the move as quickly as possible. but no way of knowing. they're expecting two feet in new london overnight. we'll have to see what we wake up to tomorrow. >> my goodness up to 100,000 people could lose power in connecticut and it could last for days. randi, thank you very much. out to montauk now, tip of long island i want to get to cnn's ana cabrera, she's been covering this and speaking to officials. ana, what's the situation there? >> don, it's as bad as we've seen since we've been here the past eight, nine hours now. in fact it's getting difficult to look straight ahead at the camera because the wind is in a constant swirl blowing that snow all across the roadways. as you can see, near whiteout conditions where we are. we've now recorded wind gusts out here up to 47 miles per hour according to the national

weather service. i want to show you some of the drifting snow that's happening because it's getting deeper and deeper and deeper. you can see it's really piling up here. it's a good probably a foot that's accumulated on the corner here just along the sidewalk's edge. the worst is still coming expected to hit this area between 1:00 in the morning and 7:00 a.m. here is when we're anticipating the very brunt of the storm. so we'll continue to monitor conditions out here. power outages, a big concern. as this is an area that's suffered from power outages in prior storms like superstorm sandy. so with the heavy snow and wind toppling trees, could knock out the power to residents in this area. we're also monitoring the storm surge, expected to be worst at high tide with waves up to 15

feet thrashing upon the shore, possibly creating some beach erosion. so these are all dangers and potential devastation that the community here is bracing for. we know people are really preparing to the best of their abilities by getting extra supplies earlier today. and including gas for generators in case they lose power and in case they don't get it back any time soon don. >> all right, my goodness. thank you very much ana cabrera, and all of our correspondents who are stationed throughout the region. i'm don lemon. this is breaking news the blizzard of 2015. we'll have more extensive coverage just on the other side of this break. female vo: i actually have a whole lot of unused vacation days, but where am i gonna go? i just don't have the money to travel right now. i usually just go back home to see my parents so i can't exactly go globe-trotting. if i had friends to go with i'd go

but i don't want to travel by myself. someday. male vo: there are no more excuses. find the hotel you want, and the flight you want, and we'll find the savings to get you there. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. talk to your doctor about your symptoms and learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. don't let non-24 get in the way of your pursuit of happiness.

[ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ ♪ the lightest or nothing. the smartest or nothing. the quietest or nothing. the sleekest... ...sexiest ...baddest ...safest, ...tightest, ...quickest... ...harshest... ...or nothing. at mercedes-benz, we do things one way or we don't do them at all. introducing the all-new c-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. sir, we're going to need you on the

runway later don't let a severe cold hold you back. get theraflu. it has the power of three medicines to take on your worst pain and fever, cough and nasal congestion. theraflu breaks you free from your toughest cold and flu symptoms. so you never miss a day. theraflu. serious power. next. ♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels

when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. vo: we put members first... join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ welcome back everyone. our breaking news tonight, the blizzard of 2015. where will it strike next? back with me cnn's severe weather expert derek van damme. i'm told by producers 62 miles

an hour wind gusts which is off the coast of the cape. >> a great indication that the storm is intensifying. the strongest winds are now starting to pick up. that's tropical storm force, teetering on hurricane force, category one. >> that's what i wanted to ask you. ana cabrera, randi kaye even in massachusetts and new jersey where brian todd is we talked about flooding. and i don't hear much about, very rarely do you hear about flooding with a snowstorm. >> yeah it's not something you typically associate with a snowstorm. but when it forms off the coast, dropping 24 mill bars in 24 hours, it's so strong -- >> 24 mill bars? >> that's pressure. indicator for the meteorologists that the storm continues to strengthen. when it strengthens off the east coast, we got the compounding effect of the strong wind that

pushes up the waves and causes that coastal storm surge. >> i asked you earlier about a confluence of events that caused this to be the perfect storm. it's wind it's the amount of precipitation precipitation, and it's what else? >> it's moisture. so it's now moved off the east coast and the entire atlantic ocean is its moisture source. just like in december when buffalo, new york got hammered with that heavy band of lake-effect snow from lake erie and ontario, pulling the moisture off the atlantic and depositing the snow on the coast. >> it would be snowing in chicago and not the surrounding areas. so ocean effect can have the same sort of thing? >> absolutely. this is what we're experiencing here in times square and columbus circle, this banding effect around this low pressure that i keep talking about. snow and lake-effect it will

drm where the heaviest amounts of snow are going to take place. i really believe the hudson river, near new york city, is going to be the western periphery of the heaviest of snowfall. boston connecticut, nantucket, rhode island that's where the major snowfall will be. >> as we get closer to the midnight hour that's what the meteorologists have been saying that it would pick up. so not out of the woods yet? >> not out of the woods. the worst is yet to come. the heavier snow is still moving on store and the storm is still strengthening. we'll see winds pick up and the snow intensity pick up. >> all right, thank you very much. our live coverage continues. stay with us right after this. go! go! go! he's challenging the very fabric of society. in a post cannonball world! was it grilled cheese? guilty! the aquatic delinquency is a larger issue to this ♪

you did it again, didn't you? yup. ♪ e financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise thanks. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ ♪

cut it out. >>see you tomorrow. ♪ ♪

it is midnight on the east coast. i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm don lemon, and we are live with the very latest on the blizzard of 2015. the storm has virtually shut down new york city. no buses, no cabs only emergency vehicles are allowed out on the roads. more than 7,000 flights into and out of the region's airports are canceled. and new york's bridges and

tunnels closed right now. something that any new yorker will tell you hardly ever happens, but it has happened tonight. cnn's reporters are all out in the storm zone all out in the region. i'm going to start with ana cabrera. she is out on the east end. >> reporter: hey there. i'm out here all by myself. it is certainly desolate blustery. and we are expecting 2 to 3 feet of snow here on the end of long island. you can't see too far down the road. and it's starting to create some snowdrifts as well. now we've been talking with folks earlier tonight who tell us they went and got extra gas for their generators. they went and loaded up on food and wate