very beneficial for one of the warmest olympics ever. winter olympics. >> thanks for joining us. brian williams is next. we'll see you back here at 6:00. >> bye bye. on our broadcast tonight, whiteout, a blockbuster storm living up to all the warnings and hype up and down the eastern seaboard. tonight, a huge mess for over 100 million people across 14 states with now the second stage of this same storm on the way. plus, the polar opposite. here in sochi, close to 70 degrees. people here went to the beach. skiers competed in t-shirt and at the games, a big scare on the bobsled track and a shocker on the ice. and high hopes for an extraordinary young american. tonight, what his parents now say were the clues early on that he was going on to do something special. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. it has been 11 days now since the real groundhog day, and yes, it feels like groundhog day with as many nights as we have had to come on the air and report the latest severe winter storm. lashing some part of our country. and yet right now, tonight, as we stand here in the mild weather in russia, this storm, which when viewed from space just continued to explode today as it made its way north and east, this storm has caused real suffering. 100 million americans in its path in 14 separate states. a million air travelers affected in all. for a time today the number of people without electricity hovered near three-quarters of a million. we have the big mess of it covered from the north and the south, starting with tom costello in a city virtually shut down all day, washington,

d.c., getting what is hoped the last of the snow. tom, good evening. >> reporter: well, i hope so. brian, good evening to you. this is the most snow that we've seen in d.c. since snowmageddon back in 2010. we have 10 to 15 inches on the ground in metro d.c. double that as you get to the north and to the west of us. and guess what? it is snowing again. we're in for another 2 to 4 inches tonight. yet again this winter, washington is shut down. but this one you can blame on a wintry blast, turning the city into a virtual ghost town, the biggest snowstorm to hit the midatlantic in years, with more in the suburbs. at 7:00 a.m., many were finding the highways very dangerous. >> we slide all over the roads, so as big as these trucks are and we're sliding, i'm pretty sure no one has this kind of truck at home. >> reporter: before it is all saided a done, this massive storm will have dumped snow and ice along a huge stretch, from mississippi to maine. so far at least 18 deaths blamed on the storm. in virginia, tragedy before sunrise when a highway worker

was hit and killed by a dot dump truck. all morning, up and down the east coast, the big dig-out was under way. so this is what i woke up to this morning. 15 inches of snow in my driveway. and then sleet. just clearing all of this has taken me the better part of 90 minutes. but digging out does not come without risks. >> we can sort of size it for you a little bit. >> reporter: in the e.r. here at the medical center today they were treating snow-related injuries, including a woman who had slipped and broken her leg. and in this e.r., more snow-related injuries than they had ever seen. >> broken arms, legs, ankles, we've seen some folks who took a bad fall and struck their head. they had bleeding into the head. >> reporter: and this kind of snow has a nickname. heart attack snow. i know because i did this earlier today. this is wet, heavy snow. >> it is, it is. and i heard you're not supposed to lift it. but i don't know how you get it

out of the way without lifting it. >> reporter: the thick, wet snow forced the closure of both washington airports today, reagan and dulles. system-wide, more than 6500 flights canceled, many airport terminals deserted. >> we haven't gotten out yet, but if we do i'll have a nice drink on the plane to celebrate. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, where george washington once spent a rough winter, today, the home depot was under attack. >> right now sold out shovels, sold out salt. >> reporter: for kids across much of the midatlantic, a celebrated day off school, and just enough snow to keep many of them out on friday too. pennsylvania has now broken a 140-year record. they have now had at least four snowfalls of six inches or more. brian, in parts of pennsylvania there are now up to 50 inches of snow for the season. and by the way, in delaware and pennsylvania, the national guard now called out. back to you. >> and tom, you have more shoveling to do i'm afraid when you get home.

thanks for being out in it all day to report our lead story. tom costello in d.c. and now we turn our focus to the south. you will remember just as we came on the air last night they were getting clobbered. and as we saw hundreds of people had to abandon their cars on highways covered in snow and ice. nbc's peter alexander is in charlotte, north carolina again tonight. hey, peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. the snow didn't stop falling here until late this afternoon. in total, this was the worst winter storm to hit charlotte in a decade. nearly 9 inches falling all evening long. crews across the city are going to be picking up snow and trying to drop it off at dump sites like this. in raleigh, as you noted today, hundreds of drivers abandoned their cars in the peak of the storm today came back to try to find them. the state troopers and national guardsmen went door-to-door to make sure nobody was stranded so they could plow through. in atlanta things are slowly thawing there after the second major storm to hit the area in

two weeks. and brian, back here, the real concern is that snow is going to melt and refreeze overnight, causing significant black ice. >> peter alexander in north carolina in charlotte again tonight. peter, thank you. and let's go into the weather center. meteorologist janice huff is at the map. janice, what an incredible difference in this storm from north to southern tip. >> i know, brian. it's been a rough 48 hours from the southeast to the midatlantic to the northeast. and this storm is still not done. so far we've seen anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow from roanoke to d.c. to new york city. but there have been some ice-related amounts as tom costello reported, from 16 to 15 inches. and it is snowing again in d.c., and that's moving up the eastern seaboard. we'll track it for you. here comes more snow tonight on the back edge of the system. a little more energy and plenty of moisture to work with. it moves up the east coast for the rest of this evening and into tonight.

there might even be a bit of thundersnow, yes, thunder and lightning with the snow squalls as they come through. by 6:00 a.m., it's moving out of new york city, but then it lifts northward towards boston and new york city. with parts of maine seeing up to 6 inches as well. and then it comes through on saturday morning clipping new york city on saturday night. it should be a much lighter storm, though, as it moves into new england on saturday night, sunday morning. they're hoping for an early spring around here, brian, but i hear that's where you are in sochi. it's there with 60 degrees temperatures. >> and there you go talking about our next storm, meteorologist janice huff, thank you. and if you're among the millions of people who have been in the path of this huge storm or any of the others, you may be seeing its big economic impact firsthand. our friends over at cnbc have their own term for it. frozenomics. nbc's katy tur is in ridgewood,

new jersey, with more on that. katy, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. 12 inches, that's what they have had. bergen county has run out of salt. in fact they had to mix it with gravel just to spread it for this storm. $750,000 worth of salt for january alone, and that is just a microcosm for how this weather is affecting businesses nationwide. >> so something for your wife and something for your daughter. >> reporter: in ridgewood, new jersey, making the trek to work wasn't a choice. >> are you looking for us to deliver tomorrow? >> reporter: on the eve of valentine's day, one of the biggest business days of the year, the little flower shop was open. >> if you were not able to come, in how much money would the shop be losing? >> thousands of dollars if we don't do it. this is how we make our money. >> reporter: record snowfall and freezing temperatures have put pressure on businesses north to south. the economic impact, $50 billion and 80,000 jobs. take this map. a year ago today, 43% of the country was covered in snow. right now it's 60%. cnbc calls it frozenomics.

>> people staying home from work, those are lost hours. people not going to the malls, those are lost sales. houses that could have been built, all sorts of things, economic activity that might have happened that because it's been too cold and too snowy is not getting done. >> reporter: at virginia's largest outlet mall, snow filled parking lots instead of shoppers, and at car dealers. transportation has taken the biggest hit. weather backups at airports have cost passengers $2.5 billion. the food industry is also hurting where restaurant owners can only keep their fingers crossed. >> when the weather comes in like this, it's probably a good 75% of the business for the day is shot. so we just open up and hopefully we'll pick up something. >> reporter: in new york city, school was canceled midday, and parents had no choice but to cut

their losses. >> i have to leave work early. so i lost half a day. >> reporter: but back in ridgewood, neither snow nor sleet nor hail could keep the florists from delivering. >> my goodness! >> happy valentine's day. >> reporter: brian, with all this snow it must feel like mother nature is going through some terrible breakup. it's not just the flower deliveries that they're worried about, but thousands of reservations. cancellations when people don't want to get out on the roads. brian? >> katy tur, thank you. alongside a snowbank in new jersey. and here in sochi again even though we are at the foot of snow-capped mountains, no other way to put it. it was beach weather here today. extremely warm, warm enough to present big challenges to these games. for the american athletes here in sochi it was another big day. and fair warning here, we know there is sensitivity. we like to watch the olympics too. we're not going to give away any results that haven't already

been widely reported today. nbc's chris jansing has our report tonight. >> reporter: it all happened so fast. a bobsled barreling down the track to test conditions hit a worker who was grooming the ice. he was taken away on a stretch were two broken legs. >> the track is busy. a lot of responsibility out here. it's extremely warm, which i think might add to more track workers dealing with the conditions. >> reporter: the unseasonably warm temperatures had the officials scrambling to keep ahead of the mountain snow. and more than a ton of salt mixture was put down on the cross country course today. >> when the snow is wet you put salt. it hardens the snow, because of the abrasion. >> reporter: women's cross country athletes competed in t-shirts, even a tank top. fans were sans some clothing too. at ski slopestyle, no jackets, and a rare medal sweep for the u.s. men. we won't give away the placement. but one of them was gus kenworthy, who is getting a lot of attention for tweets about stray dogs.

a mother and four puppies he hopes to bring home along with his medal. there were medals for some excited american women in the halfpipe too. bronze for kelly clark, and a stunner was kaitlyn farrington. the last snowboarder named to the team won gold. her overjoyed parents had financed her training and travel by selling livestock. >> by the time i moved out of the house, there was no cows left. they put everything they had into this. so now it's really paid off, i think. >> reporter: and another stunner. >> nicely landed. >> reporter: skating superstar evgeny plyushchenko, who helped the russians win team gold, pulled out of the singles competition because of injury. >> i was shocked because i've competed with him and known him for enough years to know he is very tough. >> reporter: it was that kind of day, to expect the unexpected at the winter games. >> it's fantastic. summer. i'm in shorts. >> the sun is out. that's all you can ask for. so yeah, it is like california for sure. >> reporter: including 66 degree

temperatures at the beach. also due to the weather the men's aerial practice today was cancelled. a ski race tomorrow moved to earlier to avoid the mid-day sun. and tomorrow's forecast, brian is for more unseasonably warm weather. >> just another surreal day here in the mountains in russia. chris jansing, thank you. and still ahead for us tonight. the fallout from a controversial new study about the effectiveness of mammograms after so many questions from viewers, dr. nancy snyderman is back again tonight with some answers.

we knew this would happen and we heard from a lot of viewers on our report last night on the large study on the questions on the value of mammograms. the research in this case found they don't necessarily save lives. and many of our viewers found it hard to believe it did nothing, i'll put hit the way, to help the confusion over mammograms. as expected we heard a lot from people like lisa jones who wrote, a mammogram saved my life at 39. in september, i'll be five years cancer-free.

so dr. nancy snyderman is back with us. and let's try to personalize this. should women continue to get mammograms? and what would you advise your own daughter? >> mammography is not going away. and based on one study, brian, i would not advise my daughter based on that study. it's the cumulative stuff that we're talking about. but nonetheless, it has caused a lot of confusion among women, and the study has been criticized by leading doctors in the food for the methodology. so for every woman out there here is the one thing you need to hear. you need to personalize this, figure out your risk factors and sit down with your doctor, and then figure out your risks for breast cancer and whether or not you should be screened. and here are some of the risk factors to consider. does breast cancer run in your family? and include in that cancer of the ovary also. do you smoke? independent risk factor. how old are you? that is probably the biggest risk factor for breast cancer.

what is your ethnicity? if you are black or white, you can get a different kind of cancer. and yes, if you are overweight, you are also at risk. now, all of these things might change the questions that can be answered but your doctor, but increasingly we'll see more answers and i hope, less confusion. but more of the conversation about routine screening and we'll really get a lot more answers as we crack open dna and we can really say you and your sister and your neighbor may in fact by different people. >> we hope that helps. >> different cancers and different risks. >> as always for coming back. >> you bet. >> we have dr. nancy snyderman here with us. we'll be right back in a moment with news close to home with the mega merger that affects tens of millions of cable tv customers. [ sports announcer ] here's another one, alyson dudek.

hales corners, wisconsin. nice pass by alyson dudek. can she hang on to that spot? and she does! [ male announcer ] with the u-verse wireless receiver, your tv goes where you take it, allowing inspiration to follow. ♪ [ dad ] looks pretty good, right? [ girl ] yeah. [ male announcer ] switch to u-verse and add a wireless receiver today. ♪ our employers were in the news today after buying nbc universal from g.e. just a few years back. comcast has now reached a deal to acquire time warner cable in

a $45 billion all stock transaction. it would make our parent company by far the largest u.s. cable provider, promising their 30 million plus customers faster internet, more choices, more portable technology. but as david faber from cnbc pointed out today, that's if this passes review from the federal regulators. >> there are going to be consumer advocacy groups who oppose the deal, that say it simply puts too much power in the hands of one company, this being comcast, our parent company, to control prices and to control to a certain extent content. that remains to be seen whether the u.s. government will agree. >> and for his part, comcast chairman brian roberts said today, quote, we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think we could get it approved. there is new fallout from the edward snowden revelations. according to a memo obtained by nbc news, snowden was able to access classified information because a civilian nsa employee

allowed snowden to use his private login credentials and snow 10 was later able to capture the employee's password. our national correspondent michael isikoff first broke the news exclusively on nbcnews.com. that civilian employee recently resigned from the nsa after being stripped of his security clearance. the memo provides the first real official account of the nsa's sweeping internal investigation into what happened. our full report on it is on our website tonight. o

nbc bay area news starts now. lights flash and sirens blare, an emergency awaits immediate response. documents reveal san jose firefigfir firefighters aren't moving fast enough. we learn about a possible solution. >> a request for help today from santa clara county. the county is asking another ambulance company to get san jose's fire response team up to speed. >> it comes one week after we uncovered internal documents and

e-mails that shows san jose's response times were worse than previously reported. >> the county is reaching out asking an ambulance company to help san jose improve emergency response time. they already have a contract with the county but are now being ask the to provide even more service to help san jose get to calls faster. county executive jeff smith writes that he hopes this teaming will help the city attain consistent first responder time until a person nents solution can be developed. they are to be at emergency calls in less than 8 minutes, 90% of the time. internal documents reveal it may never have met