winter weather alert we have 150 million americans in the path of potentially dangerous and deadly wind, snow and ice. from texas to maine, authorities urging people to stay home we've got the latest storm path just ahead more post impeachment reaction on both sid of the aisle, and some new reporting on what authorities in georgia are looking into regarding former president trump's post election day > vaccinations in the u.s. e moving in the right direction, with two million shots administered in a single day as cases of covid are dropping to the lowest levels in months.

prince harry and meghan markle deliver a big announcement on valentine's day. plus, a wild after midnight finish to the daytona 500 after multiple delays. a busy monday ahead. "early today" starts right now >> good morning. i'm phillip mena. >> good to be with you i'm frances rivera we begin with over 150 million americans beginning this week facing wicked winter weather much of the deep south has been hit with a deep freeze semitrucks sliding out of control in texas and oklahoma. police confirming overnight at least one truck driver was killed in a series of crashes along interstate 20 on sunday. over 160,000 power outages have been reported across the lone star state, and just before midnight, police said they were responding to 134 crashes in houston alone. nbc's dan schenamen kicks off our coverage of this massive storm. >> reporter: bone-chilling temperatures gripping the nation, from the east coast to the west coast

in the southwest, a state of emergency has been declared in oklahoma icy road conditions blamed for mavis crash. the deep freeze also felt in texas. >> who would think it would be in texas where you wake up in the morning and see nothing but snow and it's so cold. >> reporter: heavy snow fell in lubbock and in midland in the northeast, the shore of lake erie under a thick layer of ice. and ice covered the streets and schwaubs of philadelphia to the west, up to a foot of snow blanketed the seattle area. the roadways were treacherous, but conditions were perfect on the hills and on the slopes. dan schenamen, nbc news. >> and there is more snow and ice on the way nbc meteorologist janessa webb is tracking the storm for us hi, janessa. good morning. >> good morning. good morning, everyone there is so many elements to this storm it's a historic thing that we are seeing with rare occurrence of snow and ice that's

continuing to build. and now this storm system is starting to shift east lake charles all the way into baton rouge dealing with that snow accumulation, up to 1 to 3 inches in that area already. it will continue to impact the midwest. but look how farthe stretch is from texas all the way to maine. that's over 2,000 miles where we're seeing winter storm warnings, advisory, and ice storm warnings that are currently in place now the bulk of this storm system is going to hit the midwest to the ohio valley with 6 to 8 inches. some spots up to 12 inches across northeast ohio. but the very dangerous situation that continues to be a problem for at least the next 24 hours from louisiana all the way into new york city is the ice accumulation it only takes a light glaze to really cause a dangerous situation. and guys, this is just storm number one we are tracking another storm system for tuesday across the south. >> wow what a winter this has been. all right, janessa, thank you.

this weekend the senate acquitted president trump for a second time, but the fallout from the capitol riot is far from over. the impeachment left the congress deeply divided, and now president biden is weighing in kelly o'donnell has the latest >> reporter: after a second trump acquittal, democrats are rendering their own verdict. >> it was by far the most bipartisan decision and a complete repudiation of the president's conduct. >> not guilty. >> reporter: house managers did persuade amajority of senators all 50 democrats plus seven republicans voted guilty democrats confident in what they presented but frustrated. >> we didn't need more witnesses. we needed more senators with spines >> reporter: no regrets from the seven senate republicans who voted to convict three were just re-elected themselves to six-year terms, giving them a political buffer louisiana republican bill cassidy predicts his vote to

convict will gain support over time >> i'm attempting to hold president trump accountable, and that is the trust i have from the people that elected me >> reporter: of the seven, only alaska's lisa murkowski faces reelection next year in a withering new statement, murkowski said that mr. trump swore an oath to defend america and all we hold sacred he failed to uphold that oath. late saturday night president biden released a statement where he seized on gop leader mitch mcconnell's own words, rebuking mr. trump's conduct as a -- >> disgraceful dereliction of duty >> reporter: reaching across-party to assess mr. trump the same way as -- >> practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. no question about it >> reporter: this coming week, president biden will make his first official trips as

president, having been sworn in just about a month ago, visiting wisconsin for a televised town hall on tuesday and then thursday going to michigan to tour a pfizer vaccine plant. it's certainly an opportunity for the president to reclaim some of the spotlight. francis? >> kelly, thank you. also divided over mr. trump's acquittal is the american public. but the former president's troubles are not over yet. he is also under investigation in georgia >> an atlanta area prosecutor is investigating trump's efforts to overturn the state's election results. our cori coffin spoke to voters there. good morning, cori >> francis, good morning here in the democratic stronghold of fulton county, voters tell me that although disappointed in the outcome of the impeachment, they're not surprised. but they still felt it was really important to move forward with the second impeachment of donald trump for the history books. they also say they worry what it means for the future of politics in this country and any potential violent attacks in the futum extremists i talk to them about all of

this, ranging issues between the impeachment acquittal as well as the investigation moving for ward here in the state of georgia. listen to what they have to say. >> it might have been the closest to impeachment, but it's the egregious example of what it's takes to impeople peach >> if they crime, they should convict him. the reason they didn't do it is he is a civilian now so he should be treated like a regular citizen and charged for those types of things. >> i think that people are going to remember january 6. and he may run again, but i don't think he'd have a successful campaign. >> reporter: and voters tell me that's really what they're looking at moving forward is the criminal investigation near the state of georgia to hold trump the citizen accountable. when it comes to that investigation, fulton county district attorney fanny willis opened up the second investigation into that january 2nd phone call she said it's not just going to include that phone call but also a november call between lindsey graham and raffensperger

involving ballots. the district attorney from the refused to go along with claims of fraudulent activity as well as false claims from rudy giuliani that he allegedly made during the legislative sessions that he testified before. >> thanks pour the update. not over yet a bright spot we have amid this deadly pandemic the spread of the coronavirus seems to be slowing as the number of daily new cases in the u.s. is dropping dramatically. new cases have dipped below 100,000 in recent days, and there is also an increase of americans getting vaccinated and children could be soon up next to get their shots as oxford university has announced it will test the impact of its covid-19 vaccine on children between 6 and 17 years old >> but the nation's fight against coronavirus is far from over a new study has reportedly identified seven u.s. virus variants with the same worrying mutation as the south african and uk varnts.

>> reporter: francis, good morning. some good news on the pandemic front. numbers nationwide are trending in the right direction but some troubling new information about those emerging variants vaccinations are on the rise >> i'm really excited to be getting a second dose. >> reporter: on friday, a single day record of more than two million shots. >> as of yesterday we hit the 50 million vaccinations into arms. >> reporter: the nation is trending in the right direction. take a look at this chart from the cdc that shows daily case totals are falling from over 300,000 in january to fewer than 100,000 now. hospitalizations have dropped by nearly half in the last month. while progress is steady, so are the issues the nation's largest vaccination site at dodger stadium still empty. they ran out of vials three days ago. >> that sun acceptable i want to be clear los angeles needs more doses. >> reporter: the dose shortage impacting four other l.a. locations now temporarily closed

too, and the weather snow and ice storms are forcing mass vaccination sites to close from oregon to texas and into the northeast. and the threat of more contagious variants remains. so far over a thousand cases detected in more than 39 states, including the south african strain that reinfected a patient in france. it's the first known case. >> which tells us that prior infection does not protect you against reinfection, at least with this particular variant >> reporter: and news the uk strain could be deadlier, according to research out of britain. >> that means we're likely to have more cases and more deaths from this. we can't let our guard down. we have to continue wearing masks. >> reporter: this comes as safeties are easing restrictions from lifting mask mandates. montana is the latest. >> we need to get our communities back to some normal functioning before we can start

thinking up our mitigation strategies. >> many municipalities across the nation say when it comes to shipment of the vaccines it's day to day city officials in los angeles say they have secured enough doses to reopen dodger stadium on tuesday, but they can only offer second doses they say they can't offer first shots to people until they get more vaccine francis? >> thank you >> janessa is back with a look at today's dangerous weather hello again, janessa >> you know what is allowing the storm to come together is a deep freeze it's a dip in the jet stream, and it flows all the way down to the deep south we've been talking about this chill for the last seven day, and we'll go another seven days with the cold temperatures sitting in place across the central u.s. now look at our highs today. our air temperature right now 7 below, sitting at a goose egg for chicago. but the windchills down to negative 20.midwest.

the chill is starting to slide to the east across the great lakes. grand rapids today air temperature of 14. and this entire storm system is headed to the northeast. we'll talk about that coming up. >> nonstop all right, janessa we'll hear than later. thank you. after long delays, nascar wrapped up the daytona 500 in the wee hours of the morning the race was delayed nearly six hours due to rain, and a massive crash involving leader joey logano brought a caution flag. making it the first win of his nascar career. >> smoky "early today" is back in two with the uproar of a valentine's day photo at the lapd. d ana man gets popped for popping the question why his proposal ran afoul of

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leading the news, the los angeles police department says it has launched an internal investigation after allegations that officers shared a valentine's day image of george floyd with the caption "you take my breath away." according to "the los angeles times," an officer filed the complaint about the image and will be interviewed by officials today. the department will also look into whether the image was created by a police employee the police chief told "the times" that if these allegations are substantiated, people will find my wrath. in a tweet the department said in part, it will have zero tolerance for this type of behavior the father of rapper nicki minaj has been killed in a hit-and-run accident police say 64-year-old was walking friday evening when he was struck by a car that ended up fleeing the scene he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead saturday. the incident is under

investigation. a spokesperson for minaj confirmed the death of her father to nbc news, but declined to further comment now to a valentine's day story of a much different kind a man in florida is wanted for arrest for an indecent proposal. police in orange city, florida say joseph davis is accused of stealing an engagement ring from his girlfriend and using them to propose to another woman the sheriff said both of the women helped detectives identify davis. he had never given either of them his real name the woman davis proposed to said he disappeared along with her laptop and jewelry. >> i can imagine it was two women. still to come, a league of its own. the first preview for the super cut of justice league. and a royal rpsesuri the little bundle of joy on the way for prince harry and meghan markle heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula

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ran randolph >> thursday on nbc i need warriors. i'm building an alliance to defend ourselves >> how do you know your team's strong enough? >> if you can't bring down the charging bull, then don't wave the red cape at it >> trending this morning, hbo max released a full trail forefor zack snyder cut of "justice league" showing off new villains dark side now to news from

precipitation harry and meghan markle the royal couple announcing a new addition to their family news of baby number two making a splash back home in the uk with a stunning black and white photo hitting several front pages there. but what will this mean for them as transplants living in the united states? our matt bradley joins us from london matt, good morning >> good morning francis. as you said, this is another kind of valentine's day story. more of the fairy tale royal variety. so as you mentioned, harry and meghan sharing that photo of them sitting on the grass with harry kind of cuddling meghan's head and you can see that baby bump she is showing off there so far we han'hearved of a due date of the gender of the child. but that information is probably going to be forthcoming very, very quickly whatever gender this he or she is going to be eighth in line for the throne and will be the tenth or 11th grade grandchild of the sitting queen elizabeth

and her husband. not entitled to be called a lord or a lady. he or she is going to get a regular mr. or misses here in britain. that's unrelated to the fact that harry and meghan had stepped down back in march 2020, essentially distancing themselves from the foreign royal duties that would have -- >> oh, no. wish we could hear more about it it's going to be so intriguing to see the royal protocol, how they're going to go about it >> what if the kid is born here in the united states how does that work american >> all new all new stuff. janessa is up next for us. she has a look at the frigid temperatures ahead of us plus, the amazing stories of couples who met and fell in love, all during covid

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made with plants? plants it's delicious and i'm a kid so if i like it... mmmm. morning star farms, america's favorites made from plants. and try incogmeato. hi, everyone this storm really continues going into tonight we could see heavy snow across the midwest, but this pink, this is ice accumulation forecasting right now a tenth of an inch it's very light glaze that could form across i-95 to new york city-boston area i do think rain starts to win out with this storm system and flows in by tomorrow morning guys >> all right, janessa, thank you. how love conquers all, even in a pandemic, next.

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meeting that special someone can be tricky, even in the best of times and in the pandemic, it's even harder, but not impossible here is jose diaz-balart >> reporter: even in a pandemic, love finds a way >> i've got us an immediate connection. >> our fairy tale love stores, we've seen each other every day. >> reporter: nancy and herb met at work. when the pandemic hit, they started talking and dating over facetime >> one day he said you know, i'd like to marry ou >> reporter: seven weeks later they were engaged, at a wedding

and down old route 66. >> what's the best part of this? >> everything. >> the best is we're together. and we're alive. and real >> reporter: when mike and anju met online, they lived in two different states after hours chatting virtually, they flipped a coin and she picked up her life and moved 500 miles to him. >> from day 65 we be together. if one of our kids did this, we'd probably be pretty upset with them. and here we are at our age doing something really, really crazy. >> reporter: manuela was studying abroad in spain ryan was at home in pennsylvania when they met online and then the travel ban went into place. >> we're here in the middle of a pandemic life is on pause and i still manage to find somebody who i think is everything i would have asked for in a partner >> reporter: griffin and nile are both students at michigan state. but because of covid, their

relationship gagnon line and apart. >> i'm so happy that we're together in the same city and not long distance, because that was difficult. especially with covid. >> reporter: and it wasn't just new love that flourished valerie and michael divorced in 2016. >> we spent a significant couple of years away from each other. >> reporter: in 2020, the lockdowns brought them back together. >> we picked up where we left off. i do think the pandemic made us appreciate what's under our nose. >> reporter: cedric was set to propose to his girlfriend julia in jamaica, but then international travel was shut down covid kind of chained everything. >> it brought us home and helped us to really settle down and focus on family and eacho he pa mu mural for her and popped the question. >> you don't know what's going happen tomorrow. you can't wait another day. >> reporter: what's the lesson here on love, even during difficult times? >> no matter how crazy the world is, we still have to find the things that we care about.

>> thanks for that story love in the time of covid. >> for many of us, love is the only thing getting us through these crazy times. >> we thank you for starting your week with "early today. hope it's full of lo

kicking off a new week with dangerous weather stretching from texas to maine. janessa is tracking the storms in the wake and aftermath of impeachment, donald trump charts his course as gibraltar takes on gun control with a powerful new plan covid shots are up new cases are down we ask vaccinated doctors just how soon we can get back to a sense of normal, and their answers are very personal. stars under fire apologies. stepping away and managing dicey controversies. our blayne alexander reports a new week begins and "early today" starts right