homes and property are no match for matter nature as wild weather spawns deadly tornadoes in the the south. and closer to home it has been much calmer and much warmer then it usually is around christmas and feels more like spring but will it be a record breaker? that is the question. shopping days before christmas are he reduced to hours but there is still time for last minute shop tours look for those perfect gifts, so nice to get a deal, but probably day before christmas it will not happen. it is thursday, december 24th good morning i'm nicole brewer. i'm rahel solomon erika von tiehl is off. we will get started first with the check of weather. here's meteorologist katie fehlinger. >> hi guys, this weather, are you wondering whether it will

be a record breaker? we will have no problem, actually breaking the record it looks like here today. as we start off we will look and start off going out to storm scan three and as we do that we will find generally speaking just a lot of moisture here. not the a heck of a lot of wet weather at this point with you we continue to track, certainly a a lot of cloud cover, mild air and some showers that will eventually roll through. at this point those showers will have have embedded then are storms and good shot we will see a locally stronger storm out ahead of the leading edge of what has been a very, very patent cold front. we do sit in a marginal risk. in other word a very low risk for he severe weather here today. that means we could see a stronger storm, the frontal boundary rolls rolls through. scattered thunderstorms, locally heavy downpours, watch for gusty wind as well. things are pretty calm here at the local level but that will

change. let me walk you through future weather. we will see wet weather coming through somewhat scattered in nature. it is not a wall of rain that rolls through. some of this could get locally heavy and it will come through for what is our typical morning drive. we will see how that morning drive look with the holiday upon us. future weather by 10:00 a.m., heavy pockets of rain, thunderstorm and showers that rolls rolls through later today before things have a chance to begin to clear out which bode well for santa's journey here tonight. 69 degrees the the current temperature at philly international. 69 degrees already. normal highs is 43, folks. we are off to an exceptionally warm start that does mean we will have absolutely no trouble, reaching the mid 07's today and in the only does it break the record that we actually set just last year of 64 degrees, it down right shattered it. we are calling it september in december and watch for some showers and thunderstorm that could be locally strong or gusty before it is all said and done. guys, back to you. thanks very much.

we want to talk traffic. no construction on the vine street expressway this morning and early christmas prosecute might say for those traveling on our roadways today both east and westbound lanes are now opened and, free flowing this morning. here's a live look at the schuylkill expressway this morning, nice and quiet, we like to see that between montgomery drive and girard avenue. taillights are moving in the eastbound direction. reminder for those traveling on i-95 southbound the aramingo avenue ramp to 95 south is now closed until september of next year. go ahead and use girard avenue on ramp as your alternate here. lots of people will be traveling to philly international, this morning for more holiday travel, no delays as of yet, we will update you as things move forward. and devastation across the midwest and south, multiple tornadoes touched down, killing at least six people. >> at least one tar made owe in mississippi was on the ground for ten minutes damaging homes and blowing a tractor trailer off the road. strong hail caused dangerous driving conditions and

eyewitnesses say the the storms took them by surprise. >> it snapped a pine tree by my truck and i just put my seat belt on and said lord, let me survive this. >> tornado watches and warnings werish nude zero states. fourteen tornadoes touching down in mississippi. forecasters say the threat will diminish and focus is on record high temperatures, expect on the east coast. pennsylvania's budget battle could end if governor tom have wolf signs a budget bill. he is not saying when will or won't. the senate pass aid bill that cleared the house two weeks ago. the the last ditch effort to end the stalemate before christmas. the the bill does not include pension reform, or tax increase, governor wolf wanted to help boost school aid. right now holiday tradition is underway, in south philadelphia. folks are lining up for sweet goods from terminis brothers. "eyewitness news" reporter justin finch is live there with the story, good morning,

justin. >> reporter: good morning, we're live from termini brothers and we will wait in line today is day to do it. it is pretty warm. also dry as well. know rain yet. if you see there, you will see shorts on christmas eve in philadelphia are waiting for cannolis, a decade licensing tradition in south philadelphia. crowd lining up early christmas eve early christmas evening morning awaiting them inside. i want to bring in one guy. has been coming here for two decade, more than that actually. it is your seventh year of your being first, is that correct. >> six or seven. we will go with seven. >> but this may be your first time in a while wearing shorts in line. >> it might be the first time ever wearing shorts in line on christmas eve. everybody, we have got shorts every where. it is relaxed. the the a atmosphere, the the the weather, is what we want. >> reporter: no pushing, it is

pretty civil. it is just the same people every user. >> first ten, 15 people are the same people every year. we don't see them until next year. everybody gets together and they chat. >> reporter: when that door opens there is no pushing, you go in, get your order and get out. >> no, everybody has their number. >> reporter: let me ask you one more thing how much do you think you'll spend. >> 200, 250, not a problem. >> you're talking about 200. >> no, not two or dollars. >> 200, $250, no problem. >> thank you so much. you're hearing, we will in the go in there cheaply, guys, 250 bucks for one customer alone. this line, worth the wait because it is worth it as well. >> how many cannolis is he book, 200 bucks, that is incredible. >> he has a big family to feed. >> reporter: you will see him and i again, so we will tell

you. >> sound good, thanks very much. right now, shopping days until christmas are now down to the shopping hours, the the merchants are pulling out all of the stops for last minute buyers. kohl's, including this view at hill view shopping center in cherry hill has been opened around the clock since december 17th, staying opened 170 hours straight. chain is grabbing shop tours find those hours more convenient. >> i find it to be the most fun, i find good deals, i find people that run around and don't want to be involve with the crowd. pick and choose what i want to get. i am stressed out if i want to shop and i still even up with the same thing. >> kohl's is opened until 6:00 . well, thanks to your generosity and our joy of sharing toy fest this will be a merry christmas for a lot of children. the the salvation army of philadelphia families pick out toys collect from the toy fest and other charities. organization will give away clothes to 20,000 toys to close to 8,000 families, this

holiday season. and santa came a little early for dozens of children in germantown. former nfl player and tell am alumni ra him brook organized a toy drive. more than 07 kid were surprised with toys. brook says he remembers struggling while growing up in philadelphia now he just want to give back to his community. >> i want to do the same thing, you know, when i was young, i didn't get that many gifts. i know how it feels. so when you are struggling and you cannot get stuff for your kid so i try to give back as much as possible. >> drive was put together by the the brook foundation which helps inner city children. >> so nice for those kid to be like that. >> 4:38. much more to come on cbs-3 "eyewitness news", a week after fire destroys a wilmington church the congregation gives it a temporary home. facing desean jackson what are his former eagles teammates saying about taking him on when they face washington the saturday night.

we're back in two

fire rips through a rehome in west philadelphia, it happened in the 5800 block of adams street shortly before 3:30. all resident made it out safely. the causes under investigation. police are investigating a deadly shooting in east mt. airy, investigators say a man in his 30's was shot in the stomach while sitting in his car. it happened in the 400 block of vernon road around 11:00 last night. police say the unidentified man then drove two blocks and crashed into two parked vehicles inn was rush to the hospital where he died from his injuries. police are also investigating a deadly shooting in abington, montgomery county. sources tell "eyewitness news" an argument got out of control when a man pulled out a gun and shot and killed seven three-year old richard duncan on his front porch. it happened on the 1700 block of prospect avenue, the the gun man was later cornered by police where he pulled out a

gun and shot himself. >> next thing i thought he committed suicide, when i heard gunshots but that wasn't it. >> the alleged gunman is in police custody and fighting for his life. leaders of the wilmington church are promised to go rebuild what a fire destroyed. last wednesday, flames reduced, missionary baptist church to ashes. the congregation has found a temporary home in the ymca and will hold christmas services there as well. church leaders say the church isn't the building but it is in their hearts. >> you are born in the hospital, born in the manger, but tomorrow we will see sunlight. >> great reminder. cause of the the fire is under investigation. right now, it is 4:42. katie has a quick check have of weather. >> talk about this crazy weather. >> it is nuts, just nuts. >> mid 70's. >> we're flirting with 70 right now. >> i can't believe walking out of the house i could not believe it. >> it feels like septembery don't know whether to love it

or hate it because it is christmas eve, but i don't want to cast it off either. >> i told you here, i think people are like i cannot decide do i love it, hate it? you want that little bit of the chill in the air, more festive nature when you have that kind of a forecast but will just not happen. way too warm. temperatures proving that as we walk outside, we will start off with just a quick view of sky scan three. you can see cloud break up. we will throw current conditions overtop of it. there you have it folks, 69 degrees right now and that is a sign of what the warm front that came through has been able to do. southerly component to the wind flow. that is where this mild air comes from, all that warmth building in advance of the cold front. that is why wind creeping up us here a little bit and with that said look at this just line of showers and thunderstorms that extend all the way from upstate new york, western pennsylvania, and straight off the map to the

southwest. this line of thunderstorms was responsible for a lot have of severe wet's cross mid mississippi valley, tennessee valley and now it is appearing as though we may be in for gustier thunderstorms ourselves before this front crosses through complete thely. that is what we have to watch out for. in the meantime other huge head line is obviously this warmth and even as we look ahead to the new year at this point, guys, east of the rockies basically you are still talking in the just above average but substantially so and that is where we check the the box much above average. the trend in other word looking forward in the forecast there will be ebb and flow. you will see cooler shot of air, that comes in but it will take a lot of cold pulses, quickly to have our actual trend drop off, into, for one thing, average territory but in the below average territories. the it takes time. the in the meantime we smash the record. in fact we have already done it. we are at 69. the the record is 64.

we're already breaking a record as we speak. dropping to 58 at worse tonight. it will still be balmy for santa's ride and we will have a shower out there too. fifty-nine is what we're shooting for friday, a record breaking christmas day, perhaps some rain moving in by that night. nicole, back to you. >> katie, thank you. sixers are off on a holiday road trip and extending their long losing streak away from home. it was a rough night in milwaukee. sixers were down ten to nothing and down 19 points at half time. bucks cruised to 113-100 win, sixers 12th straight loss and their 18th straight on the road. sixers are one-30 on the season and they are in phoenix saturday night. eagles take on washington, on cbs-3 with the spot in the playoffs on the line. >> important game. >> washington stars is former eagle desean jackson three time pro bowler was exiled by chip kelly before the the 2014 season. he scored a touchdown in four of washington's last five games and he is tough test for

the birds. >> it is something you have to pay attention to on the defense although he is in the the number one target they have, every time he is targeted. he can be explosive. he can change the game quicker then all of their threats. you have to know where he is at all times, his built to stretch the field is something to be respected and we will treat it accordingly. >> that is for sure. >> biggest game of the season for eagles and here on cbs 36789 win and bird could win the nfc east, lose and they are out of contention. join don bell, leslie van arsdal, pat gallon, merrill reese and more when we get you ready for pregame a at 7:00, game starts at 8:25 again right here on cbs-3. i will be watching. i'm sure you will be too. >> i will be right here. >> that should be fun, right here for those eagles. still ahead for "eyewitness news" this morning beatles let it be, for streaming. but first here's what is coming up tonight on cbs-3.

time for a check of business news. >> henna daniels joins us live from the new york stock exchange. >> good morning, henna. >> good morning, ladies. hackers breached its computer system and may have obtain customer credit card numbers and other sensitive information. mal wear was discovered last month but they are in the saying why they waited three weeks to report this incident. high at is latest of several major hotel chains who have been hacked this year. the beatles said, let it be, so starting this morning their music is available on some of the most popular streaming services around the world. the beatles were hold outs to the digital area out of concern that selling individual songs would devalue their valuable song catalogue, nicole and rahel. >> thanks very much, we will check in just a bit here we will get another check of

weather and traffic.

it is 4:53, let's check on the weather this morning. >> but the big story continues to be, actually two, we will continue to trap and now dealing with the potential, but for strong thunderstorm before it is all said and done. a very fall-like pattern right the now. storm scan just building up on moisture. we will zoom it out one time and see heavy pockets of the rain over central portions of virginia heading our way and does appear to be right up i-95 and all point south east you could end up here over the next say hour and a half to two hours with heavier rain not embedded nasty thunderstorms rolling in there. we will keep an eye on that radar. we will do that for you. christmas eve record are as such. these are numbers we would have to hit in order to have a record tie. however, we're already flirting with 70 in the city

of philadelphia, so no problem. we're breaking record already as we speak. lets talk about football too. we have a big game coming up on saturday. fifty-one is our expect kick off temperature but we are expect to go be milder then that, throughout the the course of the day. it is cooler by comparison from friday to saturday and still well above average. the coolest day, comes up on monday. look at difference between sunday and monday. big drop off behind yet another front but 49 degrees is still above average. so you get the idea, warmth is the story in the meantime watch for nasty thunderstorms today. the guys, back to you. and here's a live look at i-95 southbound, coming around cottman avenue curve, looking nice and opened at this hour. >> here's a shot of the the blue route south of the pennsylvania turnpike on this christmas eve, taillights are heading in the southbound direction. we have one accident we want to tell but this morning the route 30 bypass in

middletown is closed at boyd's corner road, if you are traveling in this area seek an alternate. coming up in the next half an hour of "eyewitness news" we will show you line outside termini but another sweet treat tradition getting underway, intense demand for pound cake in port richmond. and a lunch lady with serious holiday spirit her surprise to student is going viral. but first a special holiday performance from the students at mount st. joseph's academy, we will be back at the top of the hour. ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

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wicked storms, rage through the south and midwest, death toll is likely to climb after an out break of deadly tornadoes and severe storms. here in our area we are shattering record this christmas eve, warm weather and drying out from a day of rain, how high will temperatures get for the holiday, katie will tell us coming up. rush is on to grab cannolis in christmas where a holiday tradition is underway, i love this tradition in south philadelphia. it is thursday, test 24th good morning thanks so much for being here i'm nicole brewer. >> i'm rahel solomon. erika von tiehl is off today. we will start with weather. the katie fehlinger is keeping an eye on things this morning, good morning, katie.

>> this warmth is unreal. >> mother nature has gone nuts. >> we said she's having a mid life crisis. >> yeah. >> exactly. we have already got a new record, already a new record and sun has not come up yet. we will only climb from here once it finally does but it does mean we will be warming up. we have to track wet weather along the way. so with that said lots to cover here. still a very active pattern in the the tri-state area let look first and foremost at temperatures. record warmth, right. seventy-four is the spec high. that doesn't just break the record which we just set last year but it down ride smashes it. sixty-four is the current record and we have already surpassed that today. the christmas day we have upped our expectations, 69 is what we are shooting for so for both christmas eve and christmas day are likely to be record breaking days. we are halfway there storm scan three, that is starting to build up with a activity here. we just talk about some very nasty severe wet's crossee