i recommend it highly to all of you. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. you can follow us on twitter. you can tweet the show at cnn. we'll see you begin tomorrow in "the situation room." you can always watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. erin burnett outfront starts right now. breaking news. major flooding in parts of new england. this historic blizzard makes it was out east we're live in boston. up to 13,000 people without power. wind chill temperatures could dip into the single digits. new york city shut down by predictions of up to three feet of snow. how did some forecasters get it so terribly wrong. let's go outfront.

good evening. as you can see still extremely snowy, blizzard is still happening in boston. massive flooding along the massachusetts coast near where we are this hour. the historic blizzard making its way up the northeast coast. more than two feet snow blanket blanketing boston. 18.5" have fallen just today. it's still snowing as you can see with the gusts coming down around me at this hour. this blizzard is far from over. we're still many the middle of a winter storm. >> the mayor will be my guest out front tonight. across the state and region high winds filled storm surges that flooded many coastal cities. seawalls broken and breached. sea water mixing with ice and

snow to make treacherous roads impassable. snowfall totals approaching feet three. snaul towns like framingham, massachusetts west of boston hip dip. as much as 30" of snow there. the storm slowly heading north to maine where it's been snowing all day and should keep going through the night. as it's gusting where i am with the snow let shees you this blizzard from every angle. alexander field is south of boston where sea water has broken bringing flood waters on top of the snow. chad meyers is in new york with the latest forecasts. appreciate all of you braving this storm to be with us. that is where the town is dealing with severe flooding. how bad is the flooding as you're seeing it right now?

thst there's deep flooding. the seawall is up the stree from where i am just about a block away. it filled in through the yards. it has up as high as the fence. people say they are used to flooding. they haven't seen this volume of water. they have flood water four, five feet high. the big concern is when the high tide came back through here. i went just down the street right before the high tide came in. we saw the waves just pushing up over the wall. you could feel the high wind speeds.

there are some roads and police didn't want anyone out there. the water did not fill in the same way this morning. people still have a lot of flood water they are dealing with in their yards and basement and the bottom of their houses. >> we want to ms. how very cold it is. it's totnot just the snow is gusting don it's the temperatures and wind chill are making this. this is a storm that's been pounding this region for nearly 48 hours. it's affected about 60 million americans. a massive effort is under way to not only dig out but protect homes from the rising flood waters. >> the roads are horrible. very very icy. even with this thing very bad.

>> the storm approached historic levels. we saw a travel ban on the state's main highway and here in boston more than 24" of sthoenow covered the streets. >> the weather got worse. by the time we got where we are now close to boston it's pretty much like a white out condition. >> to the west towns were hit harder. snow totals there approaching three feet. win gusts up to 78 miles an hour above hurricane force slammed nantucket. at its height almost 13,000 people were without pow perp the storm turned deadly on new york's long island. a 17-year-old boy died in a snow tubing accident monday night. a man found frozen to death if his backyard lying in the snow. parts of the island were covered

by more than two feet snow. new york city closed its roads and subway. the mayor told cnn it was better to be safe than sorry. sf two feet of snow would have paralyzed this city. >> connecticut's governor credited a travel ban with keeping state roads safe. >> we have only hat 15 accidents on our state roads. that is remarkable. >> the storm isn't over yet as the system moves north portland maine has almost 18" of snow and it's expected to continue snowing all night long. the 645,000 residents that t extremely dangerous out there. i know this has been busy and stressful 48 hours for you. driving up here today, i expected it to get a lot worse, and it did.

there was no one on roads but it was amazing how easy it was to get around because people were obeying the rules. >> people were great in boston and the state when the government declare a snow emergency for the state. people really obeyed it. it was grateful for that. >> some of the drifts are incredibly high. sg still going. >> still plowing. it's still snowing. >> it's hard to get it off the ground. >> when will people will allowed out again. when will be bands end. people able to drive. >> we're going to keep the parking ban in boston going through tomorrow and make a decision. schools off for tomorrow in boston. we'll see what happens. i think people start to go back to work tomorrow. city hall is close.

>> there was the issue of the forecasts in new york some of them being wrong. the city was slammed here in boston. a few years back people say new york and boston are used to this. now you have it's kind of a different world. there's bans. you're not allowed to drive. the airports get closed. it's sort of do we need all this? >> it's a lot different removing snow too. we're using metrics and data more as far as getting people around and getting snow off the grounds. part of the reason a lot of forecasts were inaccurate is because there was so little warning of the storm. nobody knew it was coming. >> we were planning on it a few

days. we start talking about how we're going to fix i and work with the storm. thank god we did that. we were prepared in city of boston. for the most part they did an incredible job. you're looking at two days loafer began being closed. >> it won't be open until tomorrow afternoon. we have transportation shut down in the city as well. it will be shut down until tomorrow morning. it's goipgs to have basic affect on public transportation and on our schools. it's a lot of snow. >> if you're already 26, 27 and looking at another three to six,

you're possibly looking at the record books. >> usually we get a lot of snow but not one shot like this. we're trying to stay ahead of it. obviously you reported earlier they are taking the brunt of this a little worse with the ocean. here in boston it's about snow on the ground. >> i guess everyone should know this is the temperature at which a football deflates a couple of pounds. that's what they say. thank you. i appreciate it. i trip to boston was not an easy one. the roads were completely deserted. we left around 11:00 in the morning. for most of the drive i was the only car on the road besides the plows and a few trucks. luckily i have a truck to drive because there was none available to rent in new york city at the time we called. only one lane of traffic was open. snow continued to fall most of the way up. hard to see white out conditions at times. along the highway the snow was

piled high. now could see it getting higher and hire. the white out conditions as we got 30 40 mile outside of boston. we went through a toll booth. this is one of those moments. it felt like a nuclear event o wha the roads would be like. there was nothing, no sign of life. at the toll booths were were the only car. the only car at the toll booth. once we made it into the city the roads were completely covered with snow. not a lot of people out at all. a few cars on the road. brooke baldwin is out front. you've been here for a couple of days. >> welcome to boston. >> this is trial by fire. you've been around various areas outside the city. you've seen a lot of different places. how bad has it gotten? >> this is the worse i've seen it so far. i've been here for the weekend.

it only started yesterday. it just started picking up. >> i remember you were showing it. >> it's about two feet. it's a record. the city did you want want to break the 2003 mark of above 27". i think it might happen. sfw they are saying another three to six and close to 26 now. >> obviously, they will. >> something else i talked to the fire commissioner earlier today. i know we're freezing but it's a good thing. when you look at the snow it's very light and fluffy. one of the huge concerns was power outages. when you have that thick snow that's what weighs down on the lines. that hasn't been as huge an

ordeal as they thought it would be. >> that is good news. it's beautiful snow. >> it is. >> i hope some people feel sorry for how could we are now. long island has been getting hit. more than two feet of snow in some areas. as you saw that ban, new york city was okay but on the other side you have another 15" of snow threatened by major flooding. we'll go there live for you. nantucket with a power outage affecting nearly 13,000 people. the science of forecasting. so many predictions were wrong. some of them were right. a lot of them were way off the mark. how did that happen? as we go to break, here is a look at some of the cities in massachusetts with the highest snow totals so far according to national weather service estimate. it's still snowing. auburn with 35" as we're looking at the record books across this state.

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i am live here in boston

tonight. it's pretty much one of the hardest hit places. the northeast still getting slammed. live pictures of plum island that we just showed you. 30" of snow. it's still falling in places across this state. the mayor thinks they will get another three inches. if they get the three to six inches it will be record breaking. she was there before it started snowing, during the storm and now she's there as it's finally starting to see how much havoc it brought. you were there during the brunt of it. how much snow have you gotten? >> reporter: the snow has accumulated greatly. here we go again. still snowing, still blowing. the waves still crashing ashore. the waves recorded at 16 feet high earlier this afternoon. the snow is piling up.

around 28" that are reported over across the bay in orient and down the road in south hampton. 28" recorded this afternoon. those are the official snow totals. we're about knee deep as the snow continues to fall. the big issue for a lot of people in this area has been the wind. we've seen sustained winds still this afternoon and into the evening at around 20 miles an hour with wind gusts up to 30. at the height of the storm overnight, in fact we saw wind gusts as high as 60 miles per hour. we talked with the keeper of the lighthouse who stayed there all alone overnight. it's the cold temperatures that are proving really dangerous here tonight. one man froze to death in the

snow. an 83-year-old man who suffers from dementia. his wife found him in the snow. this storm continues to have a grip here on the long island area. we did see a few brave soul who is decided to enjoy the waves. i want to show you quick video of that. we heard the waves were up to 16 feet high in some places. five of them decided to go out in the cold temperatures to get the ride of their life and how they described it was epic erin. >> i'm sure it was. all right. thanks so much to you. pretty incredible pictures. the entire island of nantucket is without power due to incredibly high winds. nearly 13,000 residents are in the dark now. greg, thank you for being with us. i know you don't have power.

you don't have a lot of time to talk to us with your phone bat ray. have you had any indication of when you'll be back with your power or heat? >> i'm happy to report as of just a few minutes ago we have power. watching on social media seems like my neighbors and friends are gradually flickering back to life. that's the good news. >> that is good news. some of the bad news has been for you, has been the winds. you've been living there for 14 winds. you've seen hurricane gusts before. you're looblgking at sustained winds. >> our peak last night was about 78 miles an hour. we were getting gusting to 65. it's been constant. we've seen winds but not this long and difficult.

>> how how high did the water get? >> it was really more low tide. there was still water. you can see where the high tide mark from earlier in the morning shows water that had been really a couple of feet higher. some of the doors were pushed open. >> people can see just how low it was with the white out conditions. have you seen it quite like that before in your 14 years? >> no.

this was pretty good blow. the road there are several places where this wide open conservation land and coastal planes to where some of our bigger roads. we had drifts. they just couldn't keep up with the plowing. five or six feet on either side of the road. it was pretty rough. it got worse throughout the day. >> i know obviously as it is here could be a few more inches coming your way. i'm glad the power is back on. i hope it is for everyone else. thank you so much. >> thank you. our meteorologist chad meyers joins me now. he's in new york. these winds, you just heard him saying these are not gusts. some are more sustained than he ever seen before. >> we were talking about hurricane strength. 17 hours in a row.

it gets better from here as the storm pulls away but nantucket, block island the south end of the cape really got pounded by this. by tomorrow morning it will be down to 27 miles an hour. i'm not sure how they got the power back on. you can't put power crews on poles in bucket trucks. >> you have to be hoping it can't a momentary fake out for them. it's still snowing and we could get another 3 to 6". how much longer will the storm go on? >> i think you still have four to five more hours because there's an arm that's backlashing around the low pressure right here. if you look at there area right

through here hard for you the see, but the viewers at home can see this. it finally dries out enough. you can zoom in. there's a lot of snow coming down to boston. we're talking another inch an hour and five hours okay. that's the record. it's blast through the record. doesn't just break. you're breaking it by four and a half inches or so. >> that's amazing. it's like little ice crystals that are flying down here nonstop. thank you. we'll see chad later in the hour. next we're live in boston as the historic blizzard continues. if the forecast holds over the next four or five hours it will blow through the record books. three feet of snow falling in some storms. how did some predictions nail

the snow totals while others were wrong by a foot or more. we'll be right back live from boston.

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. breaking news. a historic blizzard is bearing down on new england, including where we are this boston. i'm live in boston. 23 to 24" so far. we'll get the latest totals in a moment. it could get another few inches which could completely blast through the records. thousands are without power. the storm has been turning up powerful and damaging waves across the seaboard. the waves flooding homes with up the five feet of water. we're talking with temperatures in the single digits with the wind chill. officials cutting the power there to prevent any possible fires. on the island of nantucket more than 12,000 people are stranded and braving below temperatures without power. we heard in one case one

person's power was coming on. the question is whether that will hold. the high tide flooding homes and streets. on my drive up this afternoon, you realize a very quickly that this area is very much in the middle of this blizzard. the snow is coming down at rate of up to 4" as hour. as we were driving what's amazing is you'll see six-lane highways completely empty. people stayed home as cities and towns were buried under three feet snow. i want to go to portland maine. that's where george howell is as the storm is bearing down there. i know you just got there. you're right in the thick of it. how is it? >> reporter: take a look around. there's the temperature over there. you see it? we see the time. 18 degrees. let's walk down the street here. this is a lot of snow.

i know that they are expecting possibly another 7" of snow tonight. that's on top of what they already have. not terribly uncommon. we are talking about the northeast. they get a lot of snow. not terribly uncommon for them. what we're seeing now we've seen several plowed coming through. they're doing their best to keep the streets clear. >> as the storm is bearing down there in portland we're having difficulty with the transmission there with george's image and his shot. when we get that back we'll go back to him. when the winds starts picking up, that's what's been happening. i want to go to massachusetts. that's near where we are. there's been a lot of flooding there and incredible amount of rain. incredible amount of flooding

and wind. 30 miles to the south. bryan todd is there. how are residents protecting themselves from floods? i know not only do you still have the snow coming but the flooding is the double whammy that's terrifying when you take into account these temperatures. >> reporter: it was a terrifying situation here erin. what residents are doing is vacateing the area where that seawall was breechached. we got there as high tide was coming back at about 5:00 eastern time. it was a violent situation. the we'veaves were immense. the storm surge was strong. it was crashing against the seawall. the residents there, most of them right along the seawall. the houses just a couple of feet from it. the houses were still being very much threatened and flooded by the second wave of the high tide coming in at 5:00. it was a very dangerous situation when we were out there

shooting video between the flooding and the storm surge. we almost got taken out a couple of times when we were out there. that was a very perilous situation. most of the residents have gotten out. most have had to be rescued earlier today when trapped in there or had other difficulty getting out. the fire department, the national guard helped them get out right along the seawall. 11 homes had some damage. some of them had to be condemned. that's another issue they were facing. if you look out here where we are it's pretty much a situation where there are white out conditions. the wind is just driving. that's what made the storm surge so violent. now it's creating white out conditions that are hampering the efforts by first responders to try to get through some of this mess and try to actually sea where they are going, trying to help people who need to get out of their homes and help people maybe dig out somewhere. this is just very difficult. some of the first responders are deployed over here behind me.

some of them can get around but it's exceedingly difficult to get around this town right now because of the wind and the driving snowstorm that's still hitting this area. a very dangerous situation here in marshville. the storm is not passing through here. it's not going to be done here for at least several more hours. >> i know. that's the thing opinion now they're saying another four or five hours here. another inch an hour. it's still coming down. parts of connecticut have gotten more than 30" of snow as well. as you drove north more and more and more piled up on the side of the roads. ran i know you just got back from driving around to see how much snow they have gotten. what did you see? >> i wasn't sure we were going to get out. it took us us my photographer

today, he was kind enough to dig out his own car. what do you think we found? we found everybody else trying to dig out as well. the snow was piled up. there were snow drifts everywhere. we talked to one guy, a former department of transportation worker who said he thought it was challenge to dig out his own car. we talked to a woman who has been digging out her car because it's on street parking. she's been doing this alone for 16 years digging out her own car. another guy we talked to said it's the worst storm he's seen since he has lived here and he's been here since 1977 or before that. the worst, the last bad storm was 1977. a lot of people trying to dig out. the roads weren't all clear. some were pretty slick. we had trouble getting around some areas. you can see the wind is still blowing. it's in the low 20s. 22 23 miles an hour or so. it's about 19 degrees still

here. it feels more like three degrees. i got stuck in the snow walking through it today. it's still difficult conditions. the good news is it's supposed to be clear and sunny tomorrow. the travel ban is lifted. the governor and the mayor say here in new london that we're going to have some sense of normalcy back tomorrow. >> thank you very much. our meteorologist jennifer gray is here with me in boston. you've been looking at the latest total. if it goes as they expect it's going to be an easy record but we're not there yet. >> we have about 23.3 at the airport. that's where the official readings are kept. it's the number one snowiest january storm. that has already broken a record. we haven't made it into the top five all time worse snowstorms. we get about an inch and a half we will. we need about three more inches to be at number one. it's going to continue to come down for the next four or five

hours. >> i know there are these gusts but an inp ch an hour. is that possible like the mayor was saying. it's definitely coming down. it's a little misleading because we have such powerful wind gusts. some of this is knowsnow on the ground. it's about an inch an hour. we have that swath down into portions of connecticut that's still getting bit of snow. that's continue to continue for the next two to three, four hours between ten and mitt night. that's where we will start to see it taper off. it will pull out. by 6:00 tomorrow morning, we won't see anymore snowfalling.

>> this started coming down this heavily about 6:00 7:00 yesterday. light snow at lunchtime yesterday. it's not stopped. we're going on over 24 hours of this continuous snow fall like this. >> it is incredible. thank you very much. next one weather man at the national weather service actually came out today and apologized to people who got less snow than predicted. maybe because all those people were forced to stay home and banned from doing anything. how did some forecasters get it so wrong? why did chad meyers get praised? the strange things that some adults do with their snow ban.

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all right. you're looking at live pictures right now of plum island. a popular beach destination. now getting clobbered by this

looks like it's going be for the record books, blizzard. it could still break records tonight where we are in boston. the mayor saying they expect another 3 to 6" which would put it well in the record books if they achieve that. record books not the case for new york city and new jersey. residents were warned of a epic storm of historic proportions. >> this is nothing to take lightly. it could be a matter of life and death. >> this literally could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city. >> okay. the reality. new york city got about 11" and for new york city that's pretty measly. in new jersey they got as many as 10". i saw him on twitter very early this morning apologizing saying quote, my deepest apologies to

many key decision makers and so many members of the general public. you made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn't. once again, i'm sorry sorry. chad meyers here again. a lot of people are looking at forecast and in reality they are calling it the busted blizzard and people in new york are very angry as they want to do. what happened? >> they got the day off for free. no. what happened erin. >> there is a positive. there is a silver lining. >> the two models both typically very accurate were agreeing that new york city would have 24. our new very good now, brand new gfs model that we didn't know was good because we hadn't really taken it out for a test drive just slammed it.

got boston right. they all got boston. what didn't happen is the snow back out here. the snow did not wrap around hard enough an get back to new york city because the storm moved 100 miles farther east than the two inaccurate models predicted. it's garbage in garbage out. we didn't know what to believe. we have to say that. we can't underforecast and be blown out bay 30" snow fall and it was wrong. >> right. they were wrong. as you said it was a new model. i know those old models have gotten hurricane sandy right. i want to talk more about you in a moment. you were specifically praised by head of the national weather service today. harry, first of all, the difficulty here in predicting. there's so many people that are mad because we seem know everything about the weather now. you can look at the doppler affect.

you're saying the atmosphere has an infinite number of levels that have to be measured in order to get something right. the chances of getting something completely right that's this big are pretty hard right? >> that's exactly right. the fact of the matter is, i can tell kwluyou what the weather is but to forecast the weather going into the future you need to be able to measure the different levels of the atmosphere and then calculate what that's telling you. the fact of the matter is if you get one little thing wrong you can throw everything off. here in this situation you saw that with the european and you saw that with an it was real disaster. >> chad the director of the national weather service singled you out specifically for praise today. i wanted to play what he said. >> i'm like to commend cnn chad meyers for his efforts to move the national conversation away from a clear cut scenario to

explain what a shift in the western boundary of the predicted snowfall could mean for this storm. >> that's the first time i heard that. >> last night when you and i were standing outside you were doing this explainer where you were doing this thing with your arm and saying it's out here now and has to curve back. right now at that time we're speaking we were in this lull period and it was going to maybe curve back. you're explaining maybe it will and maybe it won't. that seemed to knock it through a lot of forecasters. >> all i said was here's where they're getting the forecast from but here's what's possible. here's what the new model is saying. i appreciate the words there. that's the first time i've heard them. all i was saying is the different scenarios that there was more than just one possible outcome for this storm. >> all right. thanks very much to both you have. next the lighter side.

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this hour is in portland maine. i want to go back to george howe in portland maine. i know it was getting bad. we lost the transmission. has to feel that way with the wind and the snow. >> reporter: erin right on. you see the wind coming through. plenty of snow coming through. walking around on the streets, no one on the streets. keep in mind never been a travel ban in this state. but what we're seeing people deciding hey, i'm going to stay inside instead of going out here. jordan pan over to the businesses. you can see the storefronts there. a lot of snow fell here. some 16 to 18 inches. erin they're expecting another 7 before the snow passes on over the night. >> another 77. as we said here they're saying 3 to 6. we'll see if it happens. it would be a big record here as well. george howell thank you very much. live throughout the evening in portland. for many the snowstorm was no

snowmageddon snowmageddon. it was a blizzard of bloopers. here's jeanne moos. >> amazing grace ♪ ♪ how sweet the sound ♪ actually it was the lack of sound that was amazing with new york city streets shut down. one guy laid down in times square. nbc's matt lauer was able to get down in the middle of fifth avenue. >> and do snow angels. >> reporters beware not of snowdrifts but of cars -- >> only time will tell. reporting live from nassau county. >> 16 miles an hour gusts here in stony brook. >> crashing a live shot doing doughnuts. storms don't deter dumb criminals. new york city police arrested a suspect who broke rule number one. don't break into cars during snowstorm leaving your tracks. there was no trace left behind of this garden gnome.

a reporter for the salem news posted this time lapse video. in new york and new jersey the blizzard that fizzled was mocked. a trace of snow on the lawn. we will rebuild. god help us all. >> a few meteorologists one saying this forecast was deflated as much as new england patriots footballs. there was nothing deflated about the tourists. >> where are you from? >> we never see snow. >> ever? >> no wonder they were impressed with the blizzard. but even a few inches can be treacherous as cnn's brian stelter discovered entering the subway. >> hurricane most recently -- >> whoa. >> careful. >> managed to right himself. but -- your shot is upside down. >> you thought you were walking on the roof. >> maybe we should let dogs give the forecast. >> about 11 inches.

>> took off this mountain dog forecasting icy conditions even before the storm hit. jeanne moos cnn, new york. always moments like that. we'll be right back. more with our live coverage from here in boston. major: here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. new ensure active heart health supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. ensure, take life in. 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.

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welcome back to boston where

nearly 2 feet of snow has fallen so far. it's expected to tip for the next several hours. that of course would blow through the record books if it happens. much of massachusetts experiencing one of the top snowfalls of all-time. anderson is next. he's covering the storm from new york. anderson what does it take to get you in a hat? you need a hat. you must be freezing. >> it's not that bad. i just got out here shall erin. >> thanks for joining us. the blizzard of 2015 might not has been as bad. it was worse in some places than anyone feared. >> here it is. this water over the seawall right now. >> we're still a half an hour from high tide. >> terrible flooding in boston. the worst may not be over yet. what you see here this weather system is still dumping snow. still whipping up waves, downing power lines and stranding travelers.