use rid-x. . across the nation, millions will be waking up to subzero dangerous temperatures. already there are reports of multiple fatalities but today will also be a turning point in the weather. bill will explain. fire and ice. while much of america is in the frozen grip of mother nature, down under a completely different story is unfolding with extremes on the opposite end of the scale. shocking new revelations from special counsel robert mueller about a new effort to disrupt the investigation. apparently coming from within russia itself. to a massive fire at a new jersey landmark. firefighters braving therigidem york were warned about the smell. plus a horrific highway accident caught on camera and the miracle rescue. a couple of heroes that

followed. "early today" starts right now. good morning. hope you're waking up and putting layer after layer this morning for a lot of you. i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. the brutal cold is sweeping the country and it's been blamed for at least seven fatalities. officials believe the death of an iowa university student is weather related. he was found unresponsive behind a building just before 3:00 a.m. wednesday morning by campus police. chicago is using city buses as warming shelters to offer protection in areas popular with the homeless. temperatures have dipped to as low as negative 27 there. local media reports that chicago is literally right now. they're referring to hell, michigan. hell has frozen over. thitwednesday. >> and the northeast is feeling the arctic cold. the new york state police responded to this crash involving more than 20 vehicles. governor cuomo directed non-essential state employees in this area to stay home today. and the u.s. postal service is suspending service today in

michigan, indiana, illinois, ohio, and pennsylvania. to see if your zip code is affected by the service and the disruption there, you can view the alerts on usps.com. let's turn now to nbc meteorologist bill karins to see when this is going to come to an end. >> historic doesn't even begin to tell the story of this. negative 70 windchill yesterday in eli, minnesota. chicago had its second coldest day ever recorded in their city's history, which goes back to late 1870s. very historic stuff. today is the third day of it. yesterday was the peak. today is still bitterly cold. we're going to slowly come out of this. friday and saturday a lot of recovery. windchill warnings continue still from the dakotas all the way through the northeast. windchill advisories for all the big cities and i-95 as the cold pushed in with those snow squalls yesterday. right n tempat far and also northern portions of minnesota. green bay at negative 40. chicago, negative 39.

you probably won't even notice the difference if you head outside today. the negative numbers have arrived in new york city and also in boston. i'm going to give you the forecast windchills as we go throughout the day today. this is at 8:00 a.m. as we take you through the afternoon, notice we start to warm up. kansas city and st. louis. chicago not as bad at negative 7. single digits from boston to new york. tomorrow morning at this time, this is bearable. this is more typical of winter with single digits. none of this extreme stuff. we're almost there. >> who would have thought we'd be happy about zero? chicago there? yet here we are. extreme temperatures, they've become a major story all around the globe right now. of course here in the u.s., millions are feeling that bitter cold. but around the world, people are feeling the extreme heat. nbc's tom costello has more on this and what it means for the study of climate change. >> reporter: across the globe, the weather picture is one of fire and ice. bone-numbing record cold in the midwest. fire and record heat in australia. 120 degrees and hotter this month. >> what that really means is

that fires will be uncontrollable. they'll be fast-moving. >> reporter: and yo-yo weather cycles. after the deep freeze in the u.s., a 50 degree rebound in some cities within days. hard to believe when you're frozen like an icicle but experts say that arctic blast is further evidence of climate change. in response to president trump's skepticism, the weather experts at noaa tweeting, winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening. here's why. at the north pole, scientists say the melting sea ice and ocean temperatures have caused the walls of the jet stream or polar vortex to break open like a dam in places. that has allowed arctic air to escape, rushing south into the midwest. >> not only is greenhouse gas warming impacting the planet, but it's really beginning to kick in, and it's kicking in in the parts of the planet that are most sensitive. in particular, arctic sea ice regions and the arctic. >> reporter: all of us are feeling the effects.

still over the past decade, the u.s. has set or broken high temperature records twice as often as cold ones. phillip. >> tom costello, thank you. the political standoff in venezuela continues to inten la increasingly violent protests take place in support of the opposition leader. president trump also offering his own support on the phone. nbc's andrea mitchell has the story. >> reporter: massive crowds supporting opposition leader juan guaido calling for the ouster of venezuelan's embattled leader, nicolas maduro guaido supported by the u.s., challenging maduro, bankrolled by russia. appearing on television thanking vladimir putin. maduro even accusing president trump of ordering aquad to warn against any violence toward guaido or president trump tweeting that he called guaido and reinforced

strong united states support. all the credit belongs to the venezuelan people. >> thanks to andrea mitchell for that report. major developments in the alleged attack of "empire" star jussie smollett. after poring through hours of surveillance footage, chicago police are looking for two potential persons of interest. nbc's ron mott has the latest from their investigation. >> reporter: chicago police say detectives have spotted potential persons of interest in the alleged assault of "empire" actor jussie smollett. this after poring through hundreds of hours of surveillance video. smollett says he was the victim of an attack early tuesday morning. police confirm the actor was captured on video inside asubwa apartment before he was attacked. police were called to the apartment 40 minutes after the alleged attack. when the officers responded, the actor was still wearing a thin rope he says was used in the assault. according to the authorities, he had light cuts and a scratch on

his face. police say officers arrived with their body cameras rolling. as is procedure, they asked smollett if he wanted them to stop recording and that he told them yes. they confirmed they're expanding the search of the city's surveillance network, one of the most extensive in the u.s. smollett has not responded to our request for comment. a search for potential persons of interest wanted for questioning in a now high profile alleged assault. ron mott, nbc news, chicago. president trump is opening up about how he plans to handle the russia probe. in an interview with the daily caller, the president was asked whether he'll sign off on the final report. he said, quote, they'll have to make their decision within the justice department, adding, i've chosen to stay out of it. meanwhile, there is a revelation from special counsel robert mueller about a new effort to disrupt the investigation. apparently coming from within russia itself. for more we go to nbc's tracie potts in d.c. >> reporter: good morning. this is all coming out in federal court with robert

mueller, the special counsel, asking a judge to protect sensitive information in this case because nonsensitive information that was turned over to one of the defendants landed on twitter. this all came out at a hearing yesterday with the federal judge being asked now to take a close look at how this happened. and a lot of observers wondering if the motive here may have been to discredit the investigation. >> mueller has been fighting turning over sensitive discovery. they turned over nonsensitive information to themnd a protective order. it was supposed to stay only with the attorneys and other people in the company. it showed up on twitter in a russian disinformation campaign along with fabricated materials, making clear that all of this information he's turning over to the lawyers is going to the russian government and being us. >> reporter: now, in this information that was filed in court yesterday, the mueller team says that at least one person has admitted stealing the

information and posting it on twitter. although the company itself thas influence on the elecon company, concord management, says they were not hacked. the fbi says they weren't either. frances. >> wow, another nugget to consider with all of this. tracie, thank you. a massive fire broke out at the landmark marcal paper plant in new jersey, bringing down its iconic sign. the plants has been around since the 1940s. plumes of smoke and flames could be seen for miles along route 80. at least 150 firefighters battled that fire in frigid temperatures too. the smoke got so bad, officials had to shut down an exit on the highway, and people living in the surrounding area had to be evacuated. luckily, nobody was hurt. a truck driver is lucky to be alive after officials say the bridge they were traveling on collapsed, causing the semi to fall into a river. the accident happened in arkansas around 8:00 p.m. a local sheriff says the 18-wheeler was on dale bend bridge when it gave way and that

the bridge was, quote, not fit for a truck of that size. several agencies including emergency services and the fire department had to rescue the driver, who was not hurt. >> back to the brutal cold and bill karins joining us again. >> we only have a couple hours left to see if we can break the all time record cold in chicago. we're at negative 20 right now. we'd have to drop to negative 27. yesterday by the way was negative 23. it ended up tying for the fifth coldest low temperature they've ever had. the daytime high was so cold, it ended up being the second coldest daytime high. a lot of records were broken. this morning we're at 5 in morning city. chicago, negative 20. still at negative 38 in international falls in northern minnesota. for today, nice warm-up. the whole southern half of the country looks beautiful. unfortunately still bitterly cold, even some snow showers in the forecast in chicago with

today. look at that temperature recovery today. heading almost near 50 in wichita. the story of the weekend is going to be the big warm-up. the nice thaw into february. >> more reason to get excited for the weekend. bill, thank you. in today's quick hits, the u.s. navy will honor its first female fighter jet pilot at a funeral with a first all female piloted flyover in tennessee. she died last week of ovarian cancer at the age of 65. ben affleck is hanging up his batman suit. affleck will not star in the upcoming movie, the batman, which will focus on a younger bruce wayne. and the lord of the rings director peter jackson is planning a documentary about th audio of the fab four as they recorded the album let it be in 1969. hilton.com, and i get all the great perks.

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a florida man back at it again, taking this video after he says his car somehow shifted into gear and started in a miami parking garage. then it plummeted nine stories down an elevator and burst into flames. it happened when he called an attendant to move his acura to the ground floor after work. the garage has no ramps, only elevators. his vehicle broke through one of the safety gates. fortunately nobody was inside but the owner says he will never be able to replace his prized possession. leading the news this morning, shocking video from new hampshire. it shows this fiery head-on collision and the miracle rescue by father and son good samaritans. watch this kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: no one saw it coming. >> they were going about 50 miles an hour into the wall of fire. >> reporter: 18-year-old sam le chance was headed back to college in new hampshire when his jeep veered off course and into a tractor-trailer, all captured on mark cramer's dash

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things can go wrong with catastrophic results. but all that can be done to assure perfection has been done. the moment is at hand. the countdown reaches zero. >> on this day in 1958, the u.s. entered the space age with its first successful launch of a satellite. it was used to detect cosmic rays but was only operational for about four months, until the batteries died. it was an emotional day for tom hanks as he puts woody on the shelf for good. the actor shared this photo on twitter, recording his final line as woody for toy story 4, signing off with "we rode like the wind to infinity and beyond." hanks has played the toy cowboy since the franchise began in 1995. the fourth installment comes out this june and will be the final toy story film. it's going to be emotional. toy story 3 was kind of emotional even for parents. so can you imagine toy story 4 finally putting it to an end? >> it's a whole generation. it's been in our lives for 24

years now. calling all cheese lovers now. kfc is teaming up with cheetos and calling this the ultimate sa spokesperson, the fried chicken chain is testing out a dangerously cheesy sandwich, but only in a few select states. the sands witch will reportedly cost $4.79. it's an extra crispy chicken filet topped with a layer of cheetos and doused in a cheetos sauce. they put it between a toasted bun. the company is testing it in select locations in north carolina, virginia, and georgia. cardiologists there will be busy. >> if they're doing that, why don't they just smashup the cheetos and then dip it in the batter so you've just got some fried chicken right there. then ultimately it's going to be orange finger lickin' good. >> they sde next year. remember. you said it first. just ahead, nfl commissioner

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fiona the hippo felt differently ab the zoo said it's too cold for these ladies so they are enjoying their indoor heated living luxe. >> hippo hot tub. >> we could all use a little bit of that. >> this is the big warm-up. all the pacific air is going to replace the arctic air. the warming highs are going to be dramatic, especially in the middle of the country. remember we were at negative 23 in chicago. by the time we get to saturday, we should be looking at temperatures jumping into the 30s. by super bowl sunday, we should be watching temperatures jumping up into the mid and upper 40s. that's like shorts and barbecue weather compared to how cold it's been. big storms will all be in the west this weekend. >> their turn. thanks. just ahead, the northwest measles outbreak spreads. plus can you guess what this is here? here's a hint. it's been called a girl's best friend. these great perks. i got to select my room from the floor plan... how do you know all of this?

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with just three days left until super bowl liii, nfl commissioner roger goodell is finally addressing the dark cloud hanging over the big game. he broke his silence about the infamous missed call that may have cost the saints a date with the patriots in atlanta. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> pass is incomplete. >> reporter: days after the refs decided not to call this pass interference penalty, dashing the super bowl dreams of the new orleans saints, commissioner roger goodell finally broke his silence, saying he never considered changing the outcome of the nfc championship game. >> should the saints be here and is this game tainted? >> the game of football is played on the field, and they're playedy officiated by humans. we understand the disappointment of the saints fans, the organization and the players. reporter: fans so outraged, some have sued. goodell's comments not

satisfying matt baughers who has bought several billboards to make it clear he thinks the saints were robbed. >> it was devastating. it's insulting to me that roger goodell would somehow insinuate he understands how we feel. >> reporter: the saints head coach saying he's trying to get past it. >> eat jenny's ice cream and watch netflix for three straight days. >> reporter: the nfl is also taking heat for canceling maroon 5's pregame press conference. the band drawing criticism after agreeing to perform at the super bowl halftime show in the wake of protests by former player colin kaepernick. goodell says the band simply wanted to reach out to its fans through social media. phillip. >> gabe gutierrez at the super bowl, thank you. our top stories, a measles outbreak is alarming health officials across the country after reports people infected had traveled to oregon and hawaii after being exposed. as of last check, there have been no chases of measles in hawaii, but in georgia, health officials have confirmed three cases. those cases, however, are

unrelated. the northwest now has 40 confirmed cases. mazele mazele the largest diamond ever found in north america at 552 carats is only display at a new york auction house. the egg sized dime was unearthed in canada. it's ranked number 25 on the list of the world's largest rough diamonds. a mining company spokesperson also noted the diamond's value is unclear right now because it hasn't been cut or polished yet. but, fellas, valentine's day. >> get a ring on it. thanks for starting your day with us. i'mrive. check out these colorful lanterns in china as cities across the country celebrate the lunar new year. your news continues right here on nbc and our nbc stations. on nbc and our nbc stations. have a great one. (smelling) air wick knows life moves too fast to chase odors.

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ad lib live picture san jose and radar. stormranger working hard this morning tracking the rain. good morning and thank you for joining us. i )m laura garcia. storm tracking working hard. it was comings town on my commute. an joining us. i'm lawyeringalk about theth night. >> it's been coming down for parts of the bay area. as wets a look at storm ranger, not all of the bay area seeing it. either mostly hitting the peninsula and s