rockefeller perhaps, but for a liar who is also a killer, maybe good morning on this memorial day. coming up on "early today," president obama tours the devastation in storm ravaged oklahoma as residents begin rebuilding their lives. >> i want folks affected throughout oklahoma to know that we're going to be with you every step of the way. a weekend of weather extremes across the country from deadly downpours and flash floods in southern texas to unseasonable snow in parts of the northeast. plus a bizarre camera mishap halts a nascar race and the rare dance of the planets and a dance party reunion you do not want to miss. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, may 27th. good morning, everyone, on this memorial day. i'm betty nguyen.

today is the unofficial start of summer, but it is also a day to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and this morning president obama will begin the holiday with a visit to arlington national cemetery. number's tracie potts is in washington with a preview. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: hi, betty, good morning, everyone. today is a day of remembrance all over the country and the focus in waulg typically begins at arlington. the president to visit as he did last year to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown to commemorate the fallen soldiers in wars from the past. with flag at every grave this morning, president obama heads to arlington cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. looking ahead, america faces new threats, al qaeda dismental, but not destroyed. the president wants to scale back our use or of force against

terrorists. >> not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al qaeda will pose a credible threat to the united states. >> republicans accused him of going soft on the enemy. >> the idea that we can't have a counter terrorism footprint to respond to the future bin ladens in the word, i think that's dangerous. >> at a time when it's need today most, we're sounding retreat. ♪ god bless america >> today, a time of mourning and celebration. last night's memorial day concert reminds us of america's bonds in the of war even when that war is changing. now, today, in addition to what's happening at arlington, we've got ceremonies all along the national mall honoring specific groups like world war ii veterans, vietnam veterans and women who have given their lives and service to this country. >> it is an important day to remember. all right. thank you, tricie. turning now to the recovery in moore, oklahoma.

president obama spent sunday touring the damage and pledging federal support in the wake of the ef-5 tornado that killed 24 people including ten children. nbc's jay gray reports from moore, oklahoma. >> reporter: from the chaos and intensity of the strike, to the rush of first responders, and the rumble of the gruelling cleanup and recovery. ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ sunday night for the first time in almost a week -- >> god is our refuge and strength. >> reporter: moore paused for a memorial service. ♪ we came out of nowhere to reflect, remember, and reaffirm their determination. ♪ and dropped like a stone >> we may be knocked down for a short time, but we will be right back up, stronger than ever, and we will rise up again as a state.

>> reporter: earlier in the day -- >> how long was this thing on the ground? >> reporter: -- carrying the prayers and support of a nation, president obama spent time with the victims and first responders. >> when we say that we have your back, i promise you we keep our word. >> reporter: as he toured the devastation, he talked about the overwhelming scope of this tragedy, but also told survivors the country sees much more than twisted metal and splintered wood here. >> from the forecasters that issued the warnings to the first responders who dug through the rubble to the teachers who shielded with their own bodies their students, oklahomans have inspired us with their love and their courage and their fellowship. >> reporter: a courage and strength that despite so much being splintered and scattered for miles here has actually kept this community together. >> we survive together, we fight together and we build together. >> reporter: a bond they will continue to lean on through a long and difficult recovery. jay gray, nbc news, moore, oklahoma.

a tragic turn in the search for a teenage boy swept away by raging floodwaters in texas. rescue teams found his body sunday, bringing the death toll from flooding in san antonio to three. the bodies of two women were found saturday after floodwaters up to ten feet trapped them inside their cars. 130 others were rescued in that storm which dumped more than a foot of rain in a 24-hour period. it is record rainfall for san antonio in may. the storm was so strong it swept cars and even a city bus off the streets. while memorial day usually marks the beginning of the beach season, in some parts of the country, it actually looked like the beginning of winter. a new york state ski mountain was blanketed by 36 inches of fresh powder. in this video you can see how the blizzard-like conditions turned the roads into a one-lane mess. in new hampshire, santa's village amusement park was forced to close because of too much snow.

can you believe it. >> where was rudolph? >> exactly. we're sure some kids were upset about the closure. hopefully the irony of it all wasn't lost on that snowman. i can't believe it closed because of too much snow. who would have thought? nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with a look at this. what is going on with in weather inspect it's supposed to be the unofficial start of summer. >> the snow in the northeast is very strange for this late in the year. for a lot of those areas, the ski resorts say they were opened and offering free skiing for whoever wants to trek up that way. unfortunately for our friends on the west coast, a new storm has moved in overnight and the rain along with it. the green is areas of rain. it's raining pretty good now in all of northern coastal california and is trying to push i-5 at this time. if you're up there, eureka, redding, you will have to deal with red as we go throughout your memorial day. further to the north, we get a bit of a break.

it's not steady around eugene yet, but steady in your forecast, on and off showers especially for the first half of today. for the portland area, the wet weather is moving in as we speak. here is a look at your gloomy memorial day forecast. seattle, late rain for you. northern california through oregon, and eventually some of this will try to work its way into san francisco. we will be at least dry in areas of southern california, much of central california and southern nevada around vegas, phoenix, still holding on the summer weather there. but even you will have increasing clouds later on today. keeping you out of the hundreds, kwafter to a half inch mostly up in northern california and oregon.

we got away with a couple nice days over the weekend in the northwest. >> look at arizona, almost triple digits already, right? >> you're trying to spin it. >> i am. >> you have a picnic planned and it's raining. i look like a picnic. an apple and two melons go turned hammer and you will fought believe how much they fetched. plus, there were some extra bright lights in the sky this weekend. did you see it? we're going to show you what they were when "early today" continues in two minutes.

welcome back to "early today." here's stories making news. more bad news for the cruising industry. royal caribbean says there was a fire this morning aboard grandeur of the seas. it has been extinguished. one prominent senator wants the white house to get the okay from a judge before it asks news organizations to reveal confidential sources. chuck schumer says he'll

assemble a bipartisan group of senators to write the legislation. the obama administration is coming under fire for the recent seizure of phone records from the associated press. a 22-year-old man was arrested overnight in the u.k. in connection with the killing of a british soldier. officials say the suspect was taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. new this morning, an aunt of actress angelina jolie has died of breast cancer. this comes less than two weeks after the actress revealed she had a double mastectomy to avoid the disease. if you missed a rare space show this weekend, we have your back. jupiter, venus and mercury were all visible to the naked eye in an event known as the dance of the planets. some night, isn't it? the three planets shined in a triangle formation to form what scientists call a conjunction. your next shot at this rare site is not until 2015. u.s. markets are closed for memorial day, but when trading resumes tuesday morning, the dow

will open at just over 15,300 after losing 51 points last week. the good news, the dow has gone up every tuesday for the last 19 weeks. in asia today, the nikkei index fell more than 3%. for beach goers, looking for the best sunscreen this memorial day, listen up. consumer reports rated generic walmart and target brands as the best. ger eric brands won out. yahoo! is bidding to buy hulo depending on how much control they have over content and the length of the licensing rights. nbc's parent company, comcast, is part-owner of hulu. the federal government is investigating about 400,000 ford f-150 pickups with ecoboost engines, this after drivers reported the engines lost power during acceleration. japan's all nippon airways resumed commercial flights of boeing's 787 dreamliners on

sunday. these planes were grounded worldwide in january because of battery fires. one of only six surviving original 1976 apple 1 computers still in working order was sold at auction in germany on sunday. an unknown telephone bidder bought it for a world record price of -- get this -- more than $671,000. for an out computer. and at an auction in gentleman want, two rare jabari melons sold for nearly $16,000. that is $6,000 higher than those sold last year. got to try those. sports is straight ahead with the man who finally won the indy 500. plus, a hardy welcome for one of the newest members of the toronto blue japs. we'll tell you about it when "early today" returns.

welcome back to "early today." in sports, lebron james scored 22 points and duane wade added 18 as the miami heat crushed the indiana pacers 114-96. miami now leads the series two games to one. look at that. in hockey, joe thornton scored a power-play goal in the first period and t.j.galliardi added one in the second to help the san jose sharks force the

decisive seventh game with a 2-1 victory over the defended stanley cup champions los angeles kings. 35 runners not able to cross the finish line at the boston marathon got their chance before the indy 500 on sunday. in the race, tony kanaan stole the show. winning the checkered flag and getting the celebratory milk bath. rutgers athletic director is under fire, julie herman is her name. she is facing abuse allegations relating to her former job at the head coach of the tennessee women's volleyball team 16 years ago. herman was hired in may to replace tim pernetti who resigned after video surfaced of the former head coach physically and verbally abusing players during practice. several new jersey officials including two state senators have already called for her firing in the wake of this report. notre dame quarterback has been suspended by the university for poor academic judgment. golson started 11 games for the fighting irish last season.

senior tomny reese is expected to run the offense for the irish in 2013. in nascar, ten fans were injured and several cars were damaged during the coca-cola 600 when a rope cable from a television sky cam fell over the track and the grandstands. robby rogers became the first openly gay male athlete to take the field in major u.s. sport when he took the soccer field for the l.a. galaxy last night. this accomplishment comes less than two months after nba player jason collins came out. a brewers sideline reporter should count her lucky stars. you see why there. i got tongue tied over it. while reporting during a brewers/pirates game this weekend she came so close to being struck by a foul ball. the ball knocked down her microphone. you saw that there. she played like a champ and kept on reporting. good for her. in toronto, the blue jace kawasaki smashed a double with two outs in the ninth for a walk-off win over the orioles. kawasaki's postgame interview

was a memorable one. he is learning english and came to the interview excited and prepared with note cards. >> what do you have to say for yourself? >> my name is munenori kawasaki. i from japan. i'm japanese! >> all right. he proceed to get pelted with a pie in the face and doused with gatorade. not a bad introduction to the big leagues. >> announcer: "early today" sports is brought to you by new just for men autostop. gray is over. just ahead, it was a battle of sequels at the weekend box office. we'll show you who came in first. "law and order svu" is coming back for its 15th season. will one of its biggest stars be in the lineup? find out. you're watching "early today."

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a deadly memorial day weekend in san jose, a pair of shootees kills three people. now officers are on the hunt for the triggerman. plus a crash involving a party bus on the highway kills a burlesque star the suspicious circumstances surrounding the crash. and a look at the bay bridge on this monday, this is memorial day. this is "today in the bay." good morning, it's 4:30. >> lots to get to this morning. let's check the