good monday morning. coming up on "early today" a large, dangerous storm paralyzing a large part of the country. what's next for your holiday travels. a key deadline today for obamacare. and a new milestone reached. denver quarterback peyton manning breaks an all-time record that tom brady held before. plus, a commercial airliner runs into an office building. beyonce's generous holiday surprise. justin timberlake, jimmy fallon, bring it all down. it is monday, december 23rd. "early today" starts right now. very good morning to you. i'm richard lui. the start of winter is bringing

snow, ice, record warmth with two days to go. the weather channel's mike seidel starts us off. >> reporter: an emergency declared in parts of new england and upstate new york. thick ice, freezing rain and high winds prompted the governor of new york to activate the state emergency center. more than 1,000 plows deployed to clear roads of up to two inches of ice. downed power lines knocked out electricity to more than 300,000 customers in michigan. and tens of thousands more in new york, maine and vermont. >> about 2:30 this morning, we woke to the house shaking, transformers exploding, the skies lighting up, the branches crackling and trees falling. >> reporter: the storm stretches north to toronto. hundreds of thousands of residents remain without power. utility companies there describe the damage as catastrophic, the highest emergency level situation. back in new york city, a very different scene.

visitors at rockefeller center shed heavy coats on this springlike sunday. across the region, record high temperatures, new york city, a balmy 71, breaking its old record of 63 degrees. in philadelphia, 68 degrees up from 66 degrees, the previous record. augusta, georgia, 79 degrees. the same storm produced powerful tornadoes and straight line winds. in hughes, arkansas, severe structural damage. just south of louisville, kentucky, falling power lines sparked a fire, nine cars ablaze, forcing a highway to be shut down. in indiana, rain fell hard and fast, flooding streets and homes. while snow in parts of the midwest guarantees a white christmas. >> all right. the weather channel's mike seidel for us. dylan dreyer will join us later with more. today is a key obama health care deadline. if you want coverage by january 1st today is the last day to sign up through the affordable care act. the administration having a goal of 7 million enrolled by march

and as of friday they weren't close to that number. danielle leigh has that and more from us in washington. how crucial is this date for the white house today? >> richard, good morning. it's crucial in that after today, we will know how many americans are going to be getting insurance starting january 1st. that's going to affect premiums. the administration says that the website can handle any last-minute demands but to be sure they've brought on hundreds of new workers to work call centers and handle any problems that may come up. early this morning the healthcare.gov website was warning users high demand could cause delays. >> thank you for calling healthing link. your estimated wait time is 105 minutes. >> reporter: consumers calling in for coverage have reported a nearly two-hour wait at times. many others are finding success like oliver mitch whole lives in maryland. >> i got a call yesterday saying that i was approved. >> reporter: for the hundreds of thousands of americans whose insurance policies were

canceled, today is not a deadline. they can opt out of coverage in 2014 without penalty. analysts worry the ongoing changing are impact the law's credibility. >> trust is a lot easier to establish than it is to recover once you've lost it. that's something they're going to have to work on. >> reporter: lawmakers are continuing the debate. >> obama care right now causes people to spend more money, have less choice, have a higher deductible and have less freedom. >> the bottom line is, there are a lot of good things in obama care that people like and the more people see that, the more positive it's going to be. >> reporter: more than 1 million and counting have signed up for health care. >> this is filling a real need in the society. >> reporter: analysts believe that need is what will ultimately save this law. americans who don't sign up for coverage by the end of today won't have it at the start of the new year. but they do have until the end of march to sign up and avoid getting that penalty. richard? >> nbc's danielle leigh, thank

you so much for that. there are fears of a full-blown civil war in south sudan. the world's newest country. escalating battles between government and rebel forces prompted the evacuation of americans sunday. the state department says about 380 u.s. officials and citizens have been evacuated. president obama says he may take turts further action to protect americans. gunfire wounded four u.s. service members saturday and last week the u.n. says at least two peacekeepers and 11 civilians were killed. tens of thousands are seeking refuge with the u.s. mission there. jpmorgan chase taking action. it affects customers who shop at the store between november 22nd and december 15th. those chase customers can now only spend $300 on any one day and can only withdraw $100 in cash per day. the bank says it's a precaution as many as 40 million accounts were compromised in this breach.

nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer is here with the forecast. good morning to you, dylan. >> good morning, richard. we are looking at some pretty decent weather on the west coast up and down california but it is still extremely dry. through the pacific northwest that's where we have our rain right now. the good news is it's not going to last through the christmas holiday. heavy rain from bellingham, washington, just moving east of seattle stretching into olympia washington, too, and oregon we're seeing a couple lighter showers, but we are looking for some improvements through the week. about 50 degrees today with some rain through seattle, but as we go into tomorrow, the sun returns, about 45 degrees and we should stay in the mid 40s through christmas and more rain really isn't in the forecast until beyond next weekend. once we get through today we will see some improvements. temperatures, though, look pretty average for this time of year. about 59 in san francisco, 73 in los angeles, las vegas about 59 degrees and then as we go into tomorrow we are looking for some of the milder temperatures to stick around. again, for right now, it is on

the cooler side this morning. that's a look at the weather real nice, lots of sunshine with highs in the 60s. so we are going to see the rain come to an end in the pacific northwest so it looks good for travelers anywhere on this holiday -- upcoming holiday weekend, richard. >> looking good for folks. moderate weather in the west. thank you. coming up which retailers are pulling all nighters into the christmas home stretch? plus a situation at an oklahoma city mall brings new meaning to the term buyer beware

. welcome back. new york police are investigating a tragic custody dispute. investigators say a 3-year-old boy died after his father threw

him off the roof of a high rise apartment building. the dad then jumped to his own death. reports say the man and the boy's mother had recently separated. big news for same-sex marriages today in utah. a judge is expected to rule on whether to halt marriages while state officials appeal last week's ruling alugds them to go forward. a appeals court rejected a request for a stay. two female members of an all russian band have left jail. the group received a 2 year prison sentence for proy testing in a church against vladimir putin. a british airways 747 jet was on it ways from south africa to london. didn't get too far as you can see here. the wing running into a building at the johannesburg airport before takeoff. the airport management company says four employees in the building suffered minor injuries. all 182 passengers got off safely. oklahoma shoppers got quite the surprise over the weekend.

lots of falling ice. some of the pieces were as long as five feet. no reports of any injuries. and beyonce stopped by a massachusetts walmart friday fight after she did a little holiday shopping for herself, she got on the store's loud speaker, she said the first $50 of every shopper's holiday gifts on her. lot of people smiling. we turn to jackie deanne gel his. good morning. >> good morning. more fallout from the massive data breach at target. customer growth partners estimating customer transactions fell 3 to 4% this weekend versus the final weekend before christmas last year. target offered a 10% discount to all customers in an effort to limit the damage. bargain hungry shoppers may have spent less this weekend and the firm saying despite heavy promotions sales likely fell by mid single digits at brick and mortar stores. this doesn't include on-line sales which have been strong. drivers getting a little

stocking stuffer, cheaper gas. the latest industry survey finding the national average for regular unleaded dropped 2 cents over the past two weeks to $3.26 a gallon. richard, back to you. >> every cent counts there. thank you, jackie. when your holiday delivery arrives, you can bet it's been through a massive information and tracking system that gathers every detail about that package. well, fedex has designed a more environmentally friendly business that tracks data and better than ever before. nbc's leanne greg reports from colorado springs. >> reporter: this holiday season a purchase is never more than a click away. before it gets to a hub like this for scanning and sorting, everything about the package, its size, origination, desty fashion, the best way to get it there, moves through a complex information highway. data center. >> this is the enterprise data center for fedex. >> reporter: a mothership of information, servers connected by miles of fiber optics and manages it requires a unique approach. servers get hot and are costly

to cool. of the company's 16 data centers around the world this is the newest, described as a model for the future of efficiency. >> we're taking advantage of the latest technology which means we're able to do a whole lot more for a whole lot less. >> reporter: the same processing capability as the data center it replaced about a quarter to a third less infrastructure resulting in lower energy costs. >> almost all of the power and energy that this facility consumes was designed to provide power to the servers themselves. >> reporter: one of the reasons the data center is located here in colorado springs, the climate. it offers more than 270 days a year of free cooling. by building design, dry cool air outside helps control the climate inside. >> these are our air cooling towers. >> reporter: the towers use ambient air to cool water used for air conditioning in the building. they require three times less energy than traditional coolers. an elaborate system moves heat generated by the servers through a ventilation system and back

outside. >> saving money and saving resources, they go hand in hand. if this operating efficiently and sustainably, then we hit the bull's eye. >> reporter: an important target when managing tens of millions of packages a day and billions of pieces of information. leanne greg, nbc news, colorado springs, colorado. >> and just ahead, the nfl playoff standings for you and move over tom brady, peyton manning breaks another record. plus, dress like santa and you get free lift tickets. we'll tell you where.

♪ roll out let's wrap you up ♪ with some diamonds in it make a big bow for the benz with windows tinted ♪ ♪ what is in the bag what you got in that bag ♪ ? >> did someone say bag? ♪ roll out roll out roll out ♪ roll out >> bring it all down to wrapping town. >> best buds doing it right right there on "snl." latest in sports for you, it's all about the playoffs but first, the eagles honoring former cheerleader lieutenant rachel washburn.

she served two tours in afghanistan and earned a bronze star medal. in the game, the eagles dominate chicago leading 21-0 in the first quarter. eagles go on to win that one 54-11 setting up a win or go home game for both teams next week. tony romo, hero this week. in the last minute, scrambles, connects, dallas beating the redskins 24-23 with that beauty. saving grace pierre garcon breaks the franchise season record 107 receptions. hey, how about peyton manning? now, all-time season record holder with his 51st touchdown against the texans. the broncos win 37-13. manning breaking tom brady's '07 season of 50 tds. to the snowball shall we call it? steelers and packers. a cameraman, watch this. right where it hurts. hit by a packers' pass. it does hurt the packers, though. steelers win it, 38-31. it wasn't real pretty for

cam newton statistically but carolina down by three against the saints, pretty enough, with that pass right there. panthers win 17-13. now, headed to the postseason. arizona, does the unthinkable. they beat the seattle seahawks at home. snapping a 14-game winning streak at home, 17-10. washington state representative joe fitzgill bon did not take the loss well. he tweeted this and then deleted it. losing a football game sucks. losing to a desert racist wasteland sucks a lot, end quote. he tweeted had he shouldn't have combined those two thoughts. yeah. here's the playoff picture. afc, pats, bengals, colts, broncos, chiefs in the postseason. seahawks and panthers in the play ha playoffs. 11 are still in the hunt. and let's finish with this, santa on the slopes at japan's town resort.

over 100 santas got free lift tickets for that christmas couture they put on. the deal goes on until christmas eve. entertainment just ahead including charlie sheen's number of choice words for "duck dynasty." you're watching "early today."

all right. justin and jimmy, you saw a little earlier. they brought in the holidays with one of the best "saturday

night live"s of the season. ♪ have yourself a merry little christmas ♪ >> jimmy fallon. >> so great. so great. celebrities playing games. so fun. >> for the holidays, kanye and i made this video christmas card. enjoy, you guys. >> rudolph. ♪ >> even with all the prereleased hype "anchorman 2" came in second. 26.8. "the hob bit" held its top spot. charlie sheen on the twitter rant when responding to phil robertson's recent comments on gay. saying, quote, when gators and egrets kick you out of their hovel you need to make serious amends to those you have radically offended. congrats to rachel zoe and her hubby who wamd the birth of

their second baby boy over the weekend along with the photo last seen paul walker and vin diesel, announcing the newest "fast and furious" released on april 10th, 2015, saying, quote, he would want you to know first referring to walker. congrats to miami heat player dwyane wade and grab brie yell union who got inganlds with an 8.5 carat stunner over the weekend. after five years of dating. i'm richard lui. we hope it's your first stop of the day, right here on nbc.

leading the news on nbcnews.com. colorado high school shooting victim claire davis dies. the 17-year-old senior was in a coma after being shot point blank at a colorado high school on december 13th. in the "washington post," covert action in coluombia. sources say the cia has helped forces kill two dozen leaders of the farc. and the nsa provided substantial evesdropping help. the program was authorized by former president george bush and continued under president obama. if you want health insurance coverage by january 1st today is the deadline to sign up under the affordable care act. for hundreds of thousands of americans whose insurance policies were canceled today is not a deadline. they can opt out of coverage in

2014 without penalty. jpmorgan chase taking action in the wake of target's security breach. chase customers impacted can now only spend $300 on any given day. today a utah judge is expected to rule on whether to halt same-sex marriages while state officials appeal last week's ruling allowing them to go forward. sunday a federal appeals court rejected a request for a stay. former arkansas governor mike huckabee is apparently still interested in the white house. he now says there's a 50/50 chance he'll make another run for president in 2016. but he'll jump into a crowd of gop field. on sunday david vitter said his state's governor bobby jindal is laying the groundwork for a run of his own. both are far find new jersey governor chris christie in primary polling. freezing cold temperatures, icy waters, it's polar plunge season, right? in alaska over 1,000 folks, many in custom, diving into a 25 foot wide five foot deep hole in a

frozen lake. frozen lake. despite the cold, participants weren't cold hearted here. the fifth annual polar plunge raised over $400,000 for special olympics alaska. time for a look ahead and back. a massachusetts, aaron hernandez is due in court for a pretrial hearing. the former new england patriots tight end pled not guilty to murder in the death of semi pro football player owe done lloyd. the federal reserve system turns 100 years old today. on this day in 1913 president woodrow wilson signed the federal reserve act which created the u.s. central banking system. happy birthday to pearl jam front man eddie vetter 49, soap star susan lieuically 67, harry sheer from "the simpsons" 70. ryan o'neal speaks out about his legal tug of war over the warhol painting and farrah fawcett. keep it here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lui along with dylan dreyer. have a great monday.

a puppy severely injured and found in a bay area dump, now the search is on for the person who hurt the dog. the latest on the investigation next. >> plus, days after fining pg&e hundreds of thousands for failure to monitor a gas pipe line the public utilities commission returns the check. we'll tell you what's behind the refund next. >> it's bittersweet. >> fans and players reminisce. the 49ers get ready to play their final regular season game at the stick. >> taking a live look outside now. you can see looking like a good start to this monday, december 23rd. this is "today in the bay."