wheall i can think abouthit, is getting relief. only nicorette mini has a patented fast-dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. i never know when i'll need relief. that's why i only choose nicorette mini. good morning, everyone. here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. this is our continuing coverage. we're standing by for a press conference by officials in new york, philadelphia and washington, d.c. we're going to bring you all of that straight ahead once they get under way. the massive winter storm that has already taken a dangerous toll on the nation's roads. at least ten deaths are blamed on the storm. in eastern kentucky in the city london near lexington, around 3,000 cars were marooned for hours on a snow covered i-75.

state troopers have been called in to help motorists get to a nearby church and middle schools that are being used as makeshift shelters for the time being. in washington, d.c., they're expecting up to 2 feet of snow and snowdrifts more than 4 feet high. much of this city is at a standstill with motorists urged to stay off the roads in the city's metro subway system has now been closed. new york city is expecting much more snow than originally forecast. more than two feet in some areas by some estimates. across the eastern part of the country, more than 200,000 people are currently without power right now and more than 8,000 flights have been canceled since friday. we take you right now to new york city where officials are providing the latest details on that massive winter storm impacting the city. take a listen. >> forecasters got it right this time. not that they don't always get it right, but there is a blizzard. it's come up the coast. and it is prepared to hit new york. it is now hitting new york.

the eye of the storm is supposed to hit at 11:00. i have declared a state of emergency, given the conditions that have been presented. the state of emergencies for new york city, nassau suffolk, westchester, putnam counties, rockland and orange counties. what a state of emergency does is it gives the governor power to do certain contracting abilities, close roads, close systems, et cetera, if the conditions dictate. anyone who has looked out the window understands the conditions. the snowfall is forecasted up to 24 inches. the snow is combined with very high gusts of wind, which makes traveling and the road situation dangerous and difficult. we are keeping an eye on what i

consider the worst of mother nature's wrath, which are flooding conditions. new york city and along long island. the flooding is probably the most problematic situation. it poses a real safety consideration. it does tremendous damage in its aftermath. so we're keeping an eye on that. in terms of what we have done in respon response, we are fully deployed. the national guard. we have hundreds of pieces of equipment that have been moved down from the department of transportation, the state polich the metro area. so everything that can be done has been done in terms of deployment of resources from homeland security and every state agency that is responsive. the roads are open. but that is a deceptive

statement. we have not closed the roads. however, as i've said before, and i can't say it forcefully enough, unless there is an emergency situation or a critical need, you should not be on the roads. i have been on the roads all through the metro area this morning. they are incredibly dangerous. i don't care how superb a driver, how big a four wheel drive vehicle you have, the roads are barely passable. and what is always happens in these situations is it's one thing to deal with mother nature. our own citizens can create the greatest issues. you go out on the road, all it takes is one car to get stuck and now that road is not passable and the plows can't

plow that road and the situation quickly descends into chaos. we have seen this time and time again. where we have said don't be on the road unless you need to be on the road. people go out on the roads and the situation gets dangerous. i've seen situations where people get stranded in cars overnight. and the situation gets frightening very quickly. so the roads are technically open. but if you really do not need to leave your house, i can't stress enough, you should not leave your house. the mta is operating. we'll hear from president of new york city transit authority about some particulars. we have issues on train routes, what's called exterior train routes, train routes that are

exposed to the weather as opposed to the underground train routes. we have some equipment issues, signals, et cetera. and we have issues that are developing for the buses on the roads because the buses are having difficulty and the buses are getting stuck and he will speak to that. the airlines actually i think acted responsibly by canceling the flights ahead of schedule which kept people off the roads and kept people from getting stranded in the airports. in terms of power outages, we have several thousand power outages. primarily on long island. that sounds like a lot in a situation like this. actually, that's not overly p problemat problematic. and the utility companies have been good about get to the power

outages and correcting them so that's good news. as i mentioned before, we are fully deployed in terms of assets and resources. we moved assets from upstate to the metropolitan area and that has basically been completed and they are in place. so silver lining is unfortunately this is probably the fifth, sixth or seventh type of situation that we've dealt with. so we have experience in going through this. also, especially in the metropolitan area, this is a different metropolitan area then we had when super storm sandy hit. we've made a lot of improvements. the physical infrastructure has been changed. the shoreline has been changed. there were more berms. there were more barriers to high

floods. also, we have additional equipment. the airports are in a different position than they were. there's more pumps. more machinery to move water more quickly. we actually have more emergency response equipment than we've had in the past. so once the storm finishes, we'll be in a better position to clean up after the storm. this is not a short storm. they're talking about two full days weather. but once that clears, we'll be in a better position to clean up as quickly as possible. we're in full coordination with all our governmental partners. i spoke to governor christie last night. we're in communication this morning. if we decide to close roads, for

example, in new york state, if the roads are open in new jersey, that creates problems or vice versa, we've been speaking to our local government partners. mayor deblaujo, nassau county executive for suffolk rochester new engla long island to get their best input. we are concerned about long island. the long island expressway is a critical road that we've had issues before. long island railroad has specific issues that he will speak to. and of course flooding is a primary concern on long island. we've experienced that before. as i mentioned that is probably the best curveball mother nature

can throw is the flooding conditions, especially long island. first, the update on what we're dealing with with the subways and buses. >> as you've noted there are deteriorating weather conditions. safety is our top priority. there is very poor visibility outside. therefore, we think it is prudent to suspend all mta and mta new york city transit bus service. the bus service at noon this morning. we will be suspending all bus service at noon until further notice. we encourage all our customers, all mta service customers, to go to mta.info for real-time travel information and updates on the services we're providing. let me note on the subway side, weather continues to be a

concern around the maintenance of our above ground, our exterior subway service. we are watching that very carefully and will provide any updates. mtainfo is the best place for real-time travel information. thank you. >> thanks. we will go to commissioner matt directi drixle who is the commissioner of transportation for the state who will give us an update on the roads. >> currently, we have all assets out plowing attacking the storm. 510 plows, 8 loaders and 6 tow plows with over 587 personnel. with the increased totals expected north in the westchester region, we're currently shifting an additional 40 plows and trucks to that region along with 88 personnel. i want to follow bhwhat the governor said. we are strongly urging all

motorists to stay off the roads. please let our plow operators do their job safely. >> great. joseph juliettea, who is the president of the metro north railroad and tom pendergast is out for a couple of days attending to a health issue, nothing serious but something he had to attend to and mr. ju llia is presiding in his absence. >> our crews have all shown up, they're continuing to operate a saturday service with -- >> all right, you are listening to that press conference being held by new york officials. the governor, all the officials warning residents of both new york city and surrounding counties to stay on the roads. perhaps the most significant development, you heard from the president of the mta, saying

that as of 12:00 noon this afternoon, the mta will suspend all bus services in and around new york city. that is expected to take place in about an hour and 45 minutes from now. so they're saying the conditions are so bad, visibility is so poor, they're going to be suspending all bus services. subways are still running. but the key out of that press conference, again, urging folks to really stay off the roads for the next several hours. they expect this storm to last two full days. they have deployed additional resources. still, the situation is at very best a tenuous one as this storm continues to blow through the entire northeast. meteorologist bill karins has been tracking the storm for us around the clock. he joins me now with the very latest on those conditions. bill, give us an update on what we're seeing happen. >> the most significant damage has been taking place along the jersey shore and delaware coastline. our high tide was expected to be very high, in the major category. in some cases, now we've gone

past major to record-breaking territory. the odds of this storm becoming a $1 billion weather disaster have increased greatly. when you start to see pictures like this with water into the businesses along the seashore. this looks like a popular bar and restaurant and that water's going underneath that door into that restaurant. all of those businesses along the street there. there's another picture. a family dollar store in north wildwood. that water looks to be a foot to two feet up on the cars in the parking lot. it looks pretty flat. that water's going right through the stores, probably into that family dollar and also the cvs pharmacy. you get the picture. that's what's happening now. that water will slowly go down. we peaked in most areas on the coast. the weather level is higher even than it was for hurricane sandy. hurricane sandy was a storm of record for a lot areas.

and this is worse. so as far as the snow goes, it's still snowing gangbusters here. on i-95, northward into new york city. over here, the center of the storm is located off the maryland delaware coastline. band of heavy snow is trying to inch up toward you there. they're on the cape cod area. we'll watch that development during the day. coastal areas of connecticut, rhode island. the worst of this storm is now going to be beginning for you and will continue right through this evening and areas right along the coast. so how are we doing snowfall totals? we have one location so far that has entered the the two foot club. that's preston, west virginia, 28 inches of snow. these are the 7:00 a.m. updates. we'll probably add another couple inches to that especially around new york city. blizzard warnings from new york down i-95. they'll be up with us through the night tonight and then be dropped as we go through tomorrow morning. sunday, looks like a day of

clean-up. as far as the winds go, right now, we're in the 40 mile per hour range. just had a gust of 43. so that snow is light, it's fluffy. the temperatures are cool. that's beginning to blow around a lot. look at the windchill values. 12, 13, even as far south as richmond, windchill of 14. so even southern cities, everyone's in the same ball game. people out there shoveling in this. it's like 15, 20 minutes. you start feeling your fingers going numb, even in a good pair of gloves. as we go through this evening, the heavy snow moves into southern new england for the first time. then the heavy snow band still periodically over new york city. one of our recent computer models still puts an additional foot place in new york. this could end up being a top five all time snowfall for washington, d.c. and new york city. will it be a blizzard or not?

you have to have three hours straight of 35 plus mile per hour winds and visibility less than a quarter mile an hour. as of now, this is just a very strong nor'easter we've been watching on coast. so just kind of went through all of that. also, the d.c. area. here's some other snowfall totals. bethesda, 16. baltimore international airport right around 12. in the d.c. area, still some light snow over you. heaviest snow to the north. hagers town to german town, that borderline between pennsylvania and maryland's the hardest hit. here's the additional snowfall from this region. another 10 inches possible. d.c., another 8 inches, baltimore. it's amazing we already talked about a top ten snowstorm and we could have that much more. i wasn't even going to show this map but i snauk it in here. it's possible, one computer is saying another 23 inches in new york city atop of the 6 to 10 we've already had. we'll probably add more like close to a foot to foot and a half.

other areas are paralyzed. we want to avoid scenes like that pennsylvania one and also kentucky, in southern new england and northern new jersey. those are areas that maybe weren't forecasted to be as bad yesterday. maybe people think they can go drive to a destination, that's what we need to tell people. don't go out on the highways, you risk getting stum. >> a lot of people may not necessarily associate flooding when we hear the word blizzard or snowstorm. we're looking at some of these images. the water really -- we looked at the new york officials -- are extremely worried about. saying that aspect is not just the costliest but also perhaps the most dangerous. walk us a little bit through the flooding. what is causing that flooding right now. and are we expecting to see the water leaves rise as the storm continues? >> i'll walk by the weather center, queue up one of the maps. coastal floods is notoriously

very difficult to predict. it's one of the hardest things to predict. it all depends so much on water levels and the direction and what the winds are at the time of high tide. high tide this morning was, you know, about -- between 9 and 11:00 a.m. now, the full moon happened to coincide with this. this tide was about a foot and a half higher than normal. we already added a foot and a half on top of that. when these winds are at the peak, 50 miles an hour on the coast, that water is piling up. we get a storm surge just like you would with a hurricane. has been anywhere between 2 to 5 feet. so we got our high tide. we got a foot and a half because of the moon. then another five feet on top of that. these tieds were 8 feet higher than normal. then we get wave action on top of that at the coast too.

that water's hitting the dunes. sooner or later, some of those dunes give way and the water rushes into these towns. all of those areas are getting just slammed by this high tide cycle. that was predicted to be major and in some cases it turned into record breaking. >> a very dangerous situation unfolding. bill karins, thank you very much for that update. heavy snow continues to puddle the east coast. as we've been hearing, a potentially record breaking storm. the very latest straight ahead. e rheumatoid arthritis like me... and you're talking to a rheumatologist about a biologic, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contrubutes to ra symptoms.

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60 months plus $2,000 dollars trade-assist cash. only at your local ford dealer. a winter storm has left drivers in pennsylvania stranded on the p.a. turnpike since 8:00 p.m. last night. due to disabled tractor trailers

blocking other cars on the road according to the pennsylvania state police. police have been able to move some disabled vehicles but others continue to get stuck. the state police are not speculating on exactly how many people are trapped on the highway. they have been checking on motorists and so far do not believe anyone is in danger. joining us now is jim ferry, head coach of the duquesne men's basketball team. he and the team have been stuck since 9:00 last night. he joins us on the phone. good to have you with us, coach. let's start off by telling us about the team spirit. how many's everybody holding up? >> everybody's doing great. we got a bunch of good guys here. everybody's doing well, you know. when it first happened, you know, guys are having a good time, goofing around, laughing, playing games. then it just, you know, hours turn into hours and guys get tired, try to sleep. we got some big guys so it is tough sleeping on a bus. we have a great group. we've been through a lot of the

program. we have two cancer survivors on our team. my assistant coach john rhodes is battling cancer. and our point guard derek colter battled cancer last year. so we got a tough-minded group here that's been through a lot. so getting stuck in the snow overnight, i don't think it's going to change us too much, i think we can handle it. >> seem like the team has not been without its challenges. going through what they've gone through. talk to us about the course of the past 12 hours, making it through that night where temperatures, very low for the folks on that bus, were you guys able to keep the bus running? are you at all worried or concerned you may not have resources to make it through the next couple of hours in terms of food, water, electricity? >> we were actually pretty fortunate. the game was supposed to be played today and it got moved up to friday at 2:00. we were playing down in the virginia d.c. area, george mason. so played the game at 2:00.

we tracked the storm all the way through which is supposed to be a lot worse obviously in the d.c. area. got on the road around 4:30. plenty of food and drink. we also made another stop about halfway. at a sheets, at a convenient store, got more food, more stuff to drink. we were doing really well. then at 9:15, we come to a complete stop. we think it's just going to give it some time and we'll get moving again. we've not moved an inch since 9:15 last night. >> do you have a sense of why you were unable to move? is that snow continuing to pile up around you guys? it's making it more of a sense of being trapped? >> we stopped at 9:15. the snow wasn't that bad. we figured it was just an accident somewhere ahead and we would get moving soon. then we didn't. then all of a sudden, we have two feet surrounding us now. we have a great experienced bus driver that's been with us all the time. we've got plenty of gas. he's been able to keep the bus

idling. so the bus has been warm. we've had some food and water. that stuff is running low right now. but, you know, guys kept in good spirits and just dealing with it. >> the guys are in good spirits. certainly being in a team, all that adversity you guys have gone through, that's going to help you guys out. are you going to see around you? are there stranded motorists, individuals in their own cars? have you thought about trying to bring anybody on the bus with you? >> to be honest, what we're doing right now, you know, there's all buses and trucks that we see surrounding us, okay. there's a bus right next to us and a one just came over, it's filled with a bunch of eighth grade boys and they were just watching espn on their phones and saw that we was the bus right next to them. so we just sent over a couple of coaches and our players to go talk with the kids and, you know, spend some time with those kids, try to settle them down a little bit. trying to take advantage to help some other people out.

>> coach, duquesne men's basketball team, thank you very much for joining us. we wish you and your team a safe journey back to pittsburgh. new york is getting more snow than originally forecast. as much as two feet in some areas. msnbc's adam reese is out in central park. adam, what are those conditions right now where you are? >> good morning to you. the hemi snow continues in central park. blizzard-like conditions off and on all morning long. we've had about an inch of snow every hour. it started earlier than expected at about 10:00 last night. we expect by the end of all this, by this evening, we could see two feet of snow. and that is not keeping anybody out of central park. we've seen bikers, we've seen runners, we've seen sledders. joining me now here, bruce, with his two sons andrew and alex. i got to ask you first what brings you out in this heavy snowstorm? >> we like the snow. our big complaint is, you know,

this thing called media hype. sometimes these storms are supposed to be a big deal but this one's really a big deal. these guys have just one complain, why is it saturday? it could be monday and they could miss school. >> what do you make of this? have you ever seen snow like this before? >> i don't know, i think it's humongously big. >> and deep, right? where are your sleds? >> we're going sledding later. >> later? you looking forward to it? >> yeah. >> there's some really good hills here in central park. all right, guys, thank you very much. on a more serious side, the mayor of new york has declared an emergency for today. that means they're on high alert, all agencies. they want people to stay off the streets. if you want to enjoy the snow, that's one thing, but try to stay off the streets. they've got 6,000 miles of streets to plow. 2,400 plows and salt spreaders

out there. 300,000 tons of salt they have at their disposal. as you heard governor cuomo say, they have big issues with flooding not only here in new york but in new jersey, governor christie declaring a state of emergency. governor cuomo also declaring a state of emergency. for him, the focus will be brooklyn, south of here in manhattan along the battery and of course long island's south shore, keeping an close eye on possible flooding there, back to you. >> all right, thank you for that. incredible to see how so many different people are experiencing this from the young kids enjoying it to the coach there stranded on the pennsylvania turnpike. very different accounts. appreciate that. up next, the nation's capital is already under 13 inches of snow and expecting ten more over the course of the day. i've been called a control freak... i like to think of myself as more of a control... enthusiast. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national.

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officials warning in about 30 minutes the eye of the storm is expected to hit here in new york city. as of noon today, metro transit authority officials plan on suspending bus service throughout new york city. we've heard from new york state officials we are expecting new jersey governor chris christie. he's going to be giving a press conference about 30 minutes from now, giving us an update on conditions across new jersey and what officials there, how they are respond to the ongoing storm. we'll head to washington, d.c. and speak to our own luke russert, we'll have all that straight ahead. be good. text mom. boys have been really good today. send. let's get mark his own cell phone. nice. send. brad could use a new bike. send. [siri:] message. you decide. they're your kids. why are you guys texting grandma? it was him. it was him.

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d.c., nbc news correspondent luke russert. luke, give us the situation report if you can on the conditions there. not just in terms of the weather but are people actually abiding by officials warning to stay off the street? >> yeah, hey there, amman, this has been a steady snowfall since yesterday afternoon going all through the night and the wind was picking up in the early morning hours. it has since died down. when the mayor asked everyone to get off the street yesterday, people took that advice and they listened. if you see behind me, ordinarily, you couldn't see the capital. you really can't right now. it's disappeared behind that blizzard. you see a few people out there shoveling on the street. a few folks walking. really the only vehicles walking are plows or emergency service vehicles. we have seen a few, shall i say, not wise individuals attempt to get around in their compact cars. we've seen a few, thankfully not

a lot. really do stay home because the mayor's asking everyone, stay home. even stay off the street. because this storm is still ongoing. it's going to continue to hit in the early evening. i want you to check out this car. this is why, if you're going to go out, use an suv. i think this say prius, a yoda here, a yoda prius. this guy is going to have a lot of fun getting out of his parking spot that he left his car there yesterday. and expect that to only get worse throughout the course of today. and into tomorrow a little bit. so people are listening, i think, for the most part. granted, a few are probably waking up now after having a spirited evening last night. we'll see if that keeps up. the mayor really said, look, even if you want to go out, we don't need you walking down the middle of the street. the pedestrians we have seen, they've been on the middle of the street. let the plows do their job. one last thing, the big worry we had in washington, a lot of

trees in the city, a lot of suburbs built around the trees. a lot of apartment buildings are built around the trees. a lot of above ground power lines. not what the big fear was, this snow is light and fluffy, hence, people are keeping their power on. so you might be stuck at home. watch your tv, watch everything on msnbc, nbc, comcast, xfinity, you've got it, own it, work it. back to you. >> all right, nbc's luke russert in washington, d.c. stay warm, my friend. we want to now move a little bit further north. msnbc's jacob rascon. 15 inches have already fallen. i can see a slightly very different background from what we were just looking at in washington, d.c., jacob, how are conditions where you are right now? >> the city officials just held a press conference and said they measured 17.1 inches of snow at

9:00 this morning. significant because in total we were expecting 18 inches here. we're only 12 hours into the storm. we still have 12 hours more of snow. we're going to go way beyond that. likely into the two feet or above. behind me, the river looks more like a choppy ocean at this point. the visibility is down to a fourth of a mile or less. and then the winds are up in the mid-30s, 30-mile-per-hour range. so we're at blizzard conditions. the snow has been going sideways now for many hours. it's supposed to continue through night, not stopping until midnight here. of course going on into new york city. new york city's totals going up as well. the winds are supposed to hit their peak around midday. we'll see winds with gusts up to 40, 50, miles an hour, up until the noon area, until it's just

as miserable or more miserable than we thought it would be. people are paying attention to city officials who said stay off the roads. the snowplows having a difficult time. they're doing the primary streets but as soon as they get done with one main road, they have to turn around and do it again because of the wind. they're not getting to the secondary streets or residential streets at all. so all the neighborhoods, where you have a foot and a half of snow or so, there's no plow to help out. >> we were speaking to the head coach of the duquesne men's basketball team. they're trying to get back to pittsburgh. he was telling us there were a lot of cars on the highways, on the pennsylvania turnpike. have you gotten a sense from pennsylvania officials, even philadelphia city officials what efforts are being taken to try and get some of that traffic moving? i mean, they're really in a race against time with some of the supplies and resources they have to stay warm and make it through the next 12 hours. >> right, a couple of hours ago,

i heard -- we've been watching the affiliate. it was a conversation with one of the drivers who said he'd been stuck there since 8:00 last night. he was just starting to move. i'm not sure why, but the cars we think are now moving on the turnpike finally after being stuck overnight. if you can imagine. we just learned about that later this morning. not even the affiliate was aware of that until early this morning and we know now that the cars are moving. beyond that, we're still looking into it. >> we're going to be speaking to some of those stranded motor it'ses as well and see what kind of progress, if any, they're making on the roads. nbc's jacob rascon live for us in philadelphia. up next, thousands of flights in the skies are being canceled as a result of this storm. we're going to have the very latest from la guardia in queens new york, stay with us.

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all right, we're tracking the first major winter storm of 2016. parts of new york could get up to 2 feet of snow. that's much more than forecasters were originally expecting about 10 minutes or so. the eye of the storm expected to travel right through new york city. the storm, as you can imagine, impacting travel across the country. more than 8,000 flights already canceled. nbc's kristin dolgren. >> the people i've spoken to, most of them are from outside the u.s., so some of it got a little bit lost in translation. they showed up here. and they're now stuck trying to figure out what they're going to do because, take a look behind

me, as you can see, nobody standing in line here to check in or change their flights, just a lot of the workers here with not much to do because no flight's going in or out. take a look down this way. you can see that security completely shut down. the gate is down. nobody getting down to the gates. if you go a little further this way, you can see the food court and these are the unlucky souls who showed up for their flights this morning and they're now just trying to figure out what to do. i spoke with one woman and she said she's been told she's not getting out until tuesday and she's going to stay here the entire time so she plans on sleeping here. she says she has her ipad and is playing some games and has some books to read. a waiting game for the next few days. more than 4,000 flights canceled for today. about 4,200, almost 4, 300. the worst airports here in the new york area, so we've got jfk

with almost 900 flights canceled today. also new york and la guardia. philadelphia shut down. charlotte, they are expecting to get back up and running after being shut down yesterday. it takes a while for the equipment all to get in the right place. because while we're all waiting around in here out on the runways, they are clearing, trying to keep things cleared, so tomorrow, they'll be able to get things up and running. i talkeded to american airlines, they hope by noon tomorrow to be running flights in and out of here. but a lot to do before then. and they they moved all the planes out here because you can imagine how difficult it would be if those planes got covered in snow and snowed in to dug out. all the equipment has to be brought back into place. it really could take a few days to get things back to normal. >> having traveled to that airport many times myself, i have never seen it that quiet or that empty. good to see that the food court is at least providing some comfort to some of those folks that are stranded there.

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all right, here's the very latest on the monster storm we've been covering. forecasters saying the worst is yet to come with strong winds and heavy snow expected to produce, quote, life threatening blizzard conditions throughout the day. more than a foot of snow has already fallen in cities like washington, d.c., philadelphia, and parts of maryland. well, joining us now is calipery, msnbc senior editor of digital and video content. he's been tracking this storm for us online with all of the social and digital reaction. what are you seeing out there? >> lots of stuff coming in. what we're worried about is the flooding. it's this coastline here. new jersey and maryland. we're talking about atlantic city. we're talking about ocean city.

we're talking about rohoboth beach. this just in from the police in varnaget, new jersey. this will give you an idea of how bad they're worried it could be. they want people to evacuate. if you've been told to evacuate, if you're under a mandatory evacuate, this is why. a lot of the police departments are taking to twitter to show people how bad it can be. people shouldn't think that the worst is over. some of the more light-hearted reactions on twitter. scott kelly from the space station has been prolific with his photos of the storm, the size of the storm, obviously massive. now spanning more than 8, 9 states with hundreds of thousands of people without power. my anchor man moment, the panda. some things you don't really need to talk over. this is in the national zoo this morning. this is my ron burgundy moment. i'm going to let this play. i don't have a lot to say. there's not a lot one can say.

it's nice to see that there is somebody out there enjoying all of the snow. >> that's it. this is the one that i expect to go viral. what do you want me to say? i got nothing. >> that panda video is expected -- i'm sure it's going to go viral. let's talk about some other images. plarply the flooding one. that's a very serious video. >> let me show you another one too. this is ocean city, maryland, i mentioned. just north of rohoboth beach. icebergs in the front yard. this is what we're worried about. this is now the more serious stuff. people need to beware, it's the water that's dangerous. high tide is still half an hour away it the ice is obviously a problem. the concern from police departments, especially along the coastline, is if these power lines go down into that water, don't go anywhere near it. that's where that danger lies. >> i was going to ask, are you getting any sense from at least online if folks are stranded, if they need some help?

has there been an influx of calls? >> the three spots, kentucky, pennsylvania turnpike and particularly in kentucky, the i-75 corridor. if you're able to interview somebody on that bus that coach. in virginia, literally almost 1,000 accidents it the latest count i heard was somewhere 8,000, 9,000 accidents. 66, the beltway in d.c. you heard from luke, don't go on the highway. the state police are also responding to emergency calls in many of these townships that are not on these major roads and they don't want to have to worry about these major highways. if you don't have to go anywhere and there's not an emergency, just don't do it. >> social media playing an important role in getting some of these images out. police are using that to remind folks these are the conditions so do not risk it, stay at home, stay off the roads. in some of these cases, we know the secondary roads are not even open yet. they're still trying to work on opening some of the my pressure

ways. thank you very much for that. cal perry. we'll have a lot more during the course of the next hour. we'll bring you the very latest. the storm show nothing signs of letting up and could affect upwards of 85 million americans throughout this day. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

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jersey on the impact of this storm here. we're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens. right now, the storm is blamed for at least 10 deaths across the northeast. more than 200,000 people are without power and more than 8,000 flights have already been canceled, being canceled, really, since late friday. the storm has made for some treacherous driving. many motorists were stranded for hours on the pennsylvania turnpike after a tractor trailer got stuck in the snow. in eastern kentucky, motorists there are beginning to move after some were stranded for hours on a snow covered interstate 75. state troopers and the highway patrol were called in to help get some of those motorists to safety. it's an ongoing operation. in parts of new york city, they're getting much more snow than originally forecast. public bus service is expected to be suspended at the top of the hour. in washington, d.c., they're expecting up to 2 feet of snow and snowdrifts more than 4 feet high.

much of the city is at a standstill. with motorists urged to stay off the road in the city's metro system now closed. nbc's bill karins is monitoring the storm for us. let's get a quick update. >> let's kind of reset and see where we stand with the storm. i think we passed the halfway point on the storm. we'll probably get up to two-thirds through the storm. a lot of monetary damage has already been done. with the ice storm yesterday in the carolinas. with the high tide cycle, we're just finishing up with. still blizzard warnings from the coastal areas of rhode island back down through connecticut and right down i-95 true d.c. that hasn't changed. that will continue through tomorrow morning. we can't even call this a blizzard yet. we haven't had any single location meet the criteria for a blizzard. this is what you need to have happen. for three hours in a row, sustained winds, 35 miles per hour. we've had that in the coastal

areas. with it, you need the snow, heavy snow, quarter mile visibility or less. that's the criteria we have met both of those in other locations but not combined. so right now, this is just a big old nor'easter that caused a lot of problems. preston, west virginia, all of our big cities, are now over a foot, except new york city, that hasn't been updated in a couple hours. we're waiting for that measurement. we'll give you that new number shortly. it's still snowing hard. areas of white is snow. areas of the blue inside of it, that's intense snow. that's when you can get thundersnow. that blue band, one is starting to move through coastal examination co connecticut. this one's been sitting here too. and that one is probably unplowable right now. the plows can't keep up with the snowfall rates we've been dealing with there. that's going to continue. the winds have been strong. but as i mentioned, interior cities who have had the heavy

snow haven't seen the sustained winds above 35. yes, we've had gusts but these gusts are only -- you say only but it's not all that horrible. we haven't had those really high gusts into populated cities that are away from the coast. windchill values are brutal. we're in the 15, the 14 range. so it's a rough day of shoveling out there for anyone who has to be out there. think of those police officers and first responders that are trying to rescue some people too. it's just brutal to be sitting out in the winds like that. as we time it out, the heavier snow in d.c. will slowly taper off. the blue bands show you. this is 8:00 p.m. the storm begins to push away. still high impact southern new england, philly, and beginning to watch the storm diminish. by midnight, the storm really pulls out in a hurry. boston, still possibly a little bit of snow. down towards the cape, you could get a couple inches. as far as the impacts on the coast, we've seen 50, 60. one spot had an 80 mile wind gust.

that high tide cycle is coming to an end. beginning to now reset. they're about to come down. so d.c., we're still waiting for you. reagan national at 14. we're going to wait and see if we get up to the 20 inch mark question hasn't happened in 94 years. >> let's talk about the flooding. we heard new york state officials say they're very worried about the flooding situation. that eastern coast, particularly new jersey, as well as some parts of long island, going to be really as even new york state officials said, the eye of the storm is going to be passing through here right about now. what can you tell us about the flooding, the conditions, that are making it so dangerous for authorities, officials that are out there? >> southern new england was fortunate with this. they had winds parallel to the coast. also, as we went through areas of long island, they were fortunate, too. the water really didn't pile up there. the areas that were the worst is where they had strong northeast winds. i'll come over and show you some of these images. they had the northeast winds really kicking in. that's where we had a lot of the worst problems. jersey shore to the delaware

area. that's kind of how it materialized. let me throw some images up on my computer here. sea isle city was the first one, then wildwood, then all the way to lewis, delaware. this is the first one that really got our attention to how bad of a situation we had. because this was about an eighth to a quarter mile away from the ocean. that means if the water rushed right through the town. there's a lot of cars flooded out. north wildwood new jersey, a bar and a restaurant that probably had about a foot of water right through it. all these poor people, they saw a similar scene when they had to deal with hurricane sandy too. those vehicles have probably -- those vehicles are done. the good news is the high tide cycle as we go through 7:00 p.m., it will still be high but it won't be this. worst of the damage is already done at the coast. >> especially with that ice

floati floating there. >> when you get a hurricane, you just see the water. >> absolutely. it's going to be interesting to see the clean-up efforts. we did hear from the new york governor cuomo saying new york and others ever since superstorm sandy have much better resources at the clean-up level in terms of the ininfrastructure. >> it will be interesting to see since most of the snow will be over about midnight tonight. it will be interesting to see what sections of the mid-atlantic can get their kids ander back to school and work on monday. forget about sunday because it's a big clean-up day. they'll be schools closed on monday because of this storm. >> bill karins, thanks for that update. snow and ice are not the only threats. the problem is flooding. nbc's rehema ellis joins us. flooding a major concern for officials. what are you seeing? >> there's a lot of concern about it but i have to tell you we haven't seen it just yet.

what i want to do is see if my cameraman can take a shot away from me so you can focus on the ocean. the very angry ocean. it is rolling up. we heard one report where the waves may be up to about 4 feet high. they've been crashing on to the shore. and what we have is wind. so that's blowing water from the atlantic ocean. here on to the shore. where i'm standing at point pleasant, this place really took a pounding during hurricane sandy. in fact this particular building did not withstand the storm. this is a brand-new building. now build to hurricane codes. we have high expectations that this is going to weather this storm. where i step just a little bit further, you can begin to see just how powerful these winds are because it starts brewing a lot more. what we're getting is a lot of that drifting sand. we heard from one county, ocean county, about 6,000 people without power. i should say mon mouth county, about 6,000 people without power

and ocean county, maybe upward to 3,000 people without power. so that makes weathering this storm all the more difficult. people being encouraged to stay inside as much as they can. has declared an emergency for this area. the new jersey transit rail system has not been operating since late last night, into today, until they can make certain it is safe to use those rails. in addition, you're telling everybody the word is that you're hearing everywhere, if you can stay inside, do that. no need to company out here. because it just endangered your safety. if you get in trouble, it makes it difficult for the rescue workers who have to come out here and get you out of trouble. the one thing i want to tell you, you see the seas here, the ocean here. what i have not seen is the water come up as high as we feared it would. in fact, it seemed to be receding a little bit because we're past that high tide point.

we mentioned there will be another high tide this evening so everybody will be watching to see what that brings and whether it leads to flooding into some of the neighborhoods. we took a ride not so long ago out into the streets of the neighbor neighborhoods. the power lines are in jeopardy in some places because the wind out here is really fierce. aym ayman. >> nbc's rehema ellis live for us. a dangerous situation continues to unfold all across the eastern shore. snow accumulation could continue. could even reach two feet in baltimore alone and surrounding areas. the forecast calls for snow to continue to fall through late tonight, possibly even into sunday morning. the snow continues to intensify with some reports around baltimore of thundersnow, the weather condition created when a snowstorm also produces thunder

and lightning. a very dangerous combination. a blizzard warning in effect through 6:00 a.m. sunday. the city remains under a state of emergency declared yesterday by maryland governor larry hogan. a separate statewide emergency plan restricting travel and parking on all state roads designated as snow emergency routes. joining me now by phone is baltimore mayor stephanie raulings blake. good to have you with us. >> good to be here. >> what is the most pressing concern for you now as both the city and the state level in your region? >> the most pressing concern for me is just to make sure we can continue to stay on top of it. we have a lot of people that are out on the street. a lot of crews on the street. a lot of equipment. we want to make sure our equipment stays active. and we don't lose too much equipment. so we can stay on top of this. i'm grateful people have heeded our warnings and are staying off the road. the emergency, the emts, the

firefighters, all of these, we're working better together this go-around, this storm. >> what measures are you taking to ensure everyone's safety? can you spell some of those out for us? >> absolutely. you know, we have prepositioned some police officers. we've done everything from robo calls to seniors to make sure they know what resources are out there for them. we really try to do what we can to encourage people to reach out to people that are living with disabilities that live in their communities so we can all take care of each other and get through this. there's not too many reasons to come outside. we want people to stay safe and have fond memories of this storm. >> there's a lot of questions about going forward in terms of the recovery. when do you expect the streets in bald more to be possible again after the storm? does it work in your advantage that it's the weekend so people are off the streets, but that means that people have a lot

more work to get ready for monday and tuesday next week, to get up and running again? >> having the storm come in on the weekend is an advantage. we don't have to deal with rush hour traffic in the morning and the evening. we've been, again, putting a lot more equipment. in 2010, it was clear we needed more contractors on duty. so we have between our crews and contractors about 500. well, more than 500 pieces of equipment. we're plowing the neighborhood streets. at the same time, we're doing the main streets, which is a good thing. so that many cuts down on the time to when we can get back to normal. >> mayor stephanie raulings blake, thank you. good luck to you and everyone out there. >> thanks. >> all right, stay right there. 23 inches of snow is expected in philadelphia today. we're to go live to philadelphia for the very latest. plaque psoriasis... ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through?

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everyone. we'll take you right now to new york city where mayor bill de blasio is providing the latest. >> 1 to 2 inches per hour should be assumed which is a very fast accuse accumulation. expect very rapid accumulation, more than in any other storms. given those obvious facts and given we expect that kind of clip to go on, even as late as 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. tonight, it's quite clear the math speaks for itself. this storm will surpass 20 inches accumulation, new york city. when that happens, that will put this in the top five snowstorms in the history of new york city. if it goes past 20 inches, it will be in the top five of accumulation. literally in our recorded history goes back to i think 1969. at this point, national weather

service, we certainly agree, think it is almost a foregone conclusion that we will pass that 20 inch mark. that says that people have to take very seriously what's going on here. and recognize there's a lot of danger because of this storm. we're still in the winter emergency status that started at 8:00 a.m. this morning. we are seriously considering a full travel ban. we've not made that decision yesterday. we're work closely with the state of new york on. just spoke to governor cuomo. we're coordinating closely. we'll make that decision in the near term on a travel ban. so expect to hear an update even as early as the next hour. given what we're seeing, it is imperative that people get off the roads. anyone who has taken their car to work really should close down their work and get home now. anyone who's come into the city from the suburbs should turn

around and go back. this is very, very fast being an accumulation. if people linger, they will get stuck. it won't be in anyone's interest. we're going to tow any vehicle that is blocking our snowplow. so the smart thing to do, if you have taken your car out for any reason, turn around and go home right now. it's as simple as that. because this is bad and it is getting worse rapidly. let me go over some of the other facts. also want to emphasize, very windy. wind gusts up to 50-plus miles per hour. very windy situation. given that fast, fast accumulation of snow, expect whiteout conditions on the road. incredibly dangerous. literally means the driver cannot see, has no idea what they're about to go into. that's a reason why people want to get their cars home immediately.

wherever you park, get out of the way of emergency vehicles, snowplows, park in a place that will not obstruct them. the winter emergency continues until at least midnight. at this point, we think the snow will go almost up to that point in terms of very forceful snow. want to emphasize these decisions are going to be made step by step as we get more information. as you heard from the governor, mta buses suspended at noon, so that's coming right up. another indication this storm is worsening in terms of its impact on us. so as we said, i talked to some media earlier today and emphasized, really, as we got more information, it's clearer and clear why people should be off the streets entirely. even mass transit, although it is still running in terms of the subways, doesn't make sense to take mass transit, unless you have an absolutely urgent

reason. because there will be lots of delays inevitably. best thing to do is stay home. just want to offer a point to my fellow parents. when i was on some of the shows earlier today. what should parents do about kids who want to go outside? i understand that fully. little time-out in the snow is not necessarily a bad thing. but parents please be very, very careful. it's really difficult out there. the wind, the iciness, the fast accumulating snow. don't just let your kids go out and spend time unattended. stay with them. don't go out for long. take very seriously how fast this storm is moving. again, i understand fully kids clamoring for fun in the snow but my best advice is either don't go out or go out very briefly and keep a very close eye on their kids. right now, this is a fast moving

intensifying storm and it should be treated with that respect. another update, we can now say for sure that alternate side parking will be canceled monday. obviously alternate side parking is canceled today, saturday. will definitely be canceled monday. that's going to be a helpful decision in terms of are drivers knowing that you can park and not have to worry about moving your car on monday. couple other updates. on the coastal flooding concerns, we continue to monitor closely. so far, thank god, the estimates we've gotten from the national weather service, which are fairly modest, are holding. so we do not see a major uptick in terms of the flooding. as we said yesterday, the major precautions that were put in place to reinforce dunes and other preventive measures, those are working. we have all the fdny and nypd capacity out to address anything that happens. sanitation, again, doing

extraordinary job. you'll hear from the commissioner in a moment. want to emphasize you'll hear from several of the commissioners. one of the things i really want to emphasize, given this fast accumulation of snow, we talked about the problem of fire hydrants. again, i am a homeowner too so i say to my fellow homeowners, if you have a fire hydrant in front of your house, get out there and keep it clear. it is really important for the whole city but for your own self-interest. keep that fire hydrant clear. god forbid the fire department needs to use it, they have to have it clear. we continue with very strong outreach efforts. looking for anyone who might be in distress. nypd out in full force. all of our homeless outreach out in full force. we're continuing those efforts. couple words in spanish and then i want you to hear from some our commissioners who are doing a great job coordinating this response.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> again, there's any problems with heat and hot water, please call 311. it's going to be hard to get repairs made today to say the

least, but we do need to know if people are not getting heat and hot water so we can respond as quickly as possible. like you to hear from some of the folks leading the response effort. the first, the commissioner of the office of emergency management. >> thank you, mr. mayor -- >> all right, you are listening to the conditions in new york city, saying this is a bad situation that is getting worse rapidly. describing the conditions as whiteout conditions. saying new york city conditions are in close contact with the state level. considering a full travel ban. as of 12:00 this afternoon, the bus services will be suspended in new york city. we understand they're now considering a full travel ban to be implemented across new york city if, in fact that does happen, we'll certainly have all of the details for you about that. still, very much described as an historic condition. they're saying they're expecting more than 20 inches of snow by the end of the day today. this can go on well into 9:00

p.m. local time here in new york. if, in fact that does happen, if it surpasses 20 inches of accumulated snow, this would be one of the top five snowstorms in recorded history. that is what is being described by new york city officials as well as state officials. some advice there from the mayor to parents who want to take their kids out. this is a very fast moving snowstorm. still, warning folks out there to be careful. windy, very icy and a lot of accumulating snow. don't let your kids out alone for the time being. saying these plenty of time to play in the snow in the coming days. a dangerous situation developing throughout the course of the day. up next, we're going to talk about what this record breaking storm means across the region. stay with us. i'm billy, and i quit smoking with chantix. i had a lot of doubts going in. i was a smoker. hands down, it was... that's who i was. after one week of chantix,

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from new york city mayor bill de blasio that new york is expecting up to 20 inches of snow by the time this storm passes through. obviously had some warnings for the folks out there, for the folks who want to take their kids. a, give us a sense of the conditions. b, is anybody heeding the advice of the mayor to stay indoors? >> the heavy snow continues. blizza blizzard-like conditions. we're seeing the snow accumulation, at least an inch an hour. by the end of the day, as you heard, the mayor just say upwards of more than two feet of snow. that is not keeping people away from central park. we've seen people with snowshoes. people actually riding their bikes here in central park. joining me now, beth and joe. they are sisters. they live here in manhattan. what brought you ladies out? the mayor just spoke. he said he wants people to be very careful. he's got a lot of concerns about

this fast-moving snowstorm. >> i'm not concerned. it's beautiful. it's not that blizzardy, it's snowing. it's fun, it's beautiful. >> yeah, we love it. we've been waiting, waiting for the snow. >> we haven't seen a storm like this in a long time. >> right. >> it's so beautiful, it's like what winter's about. you just have to bundle up. >> you're walking your dog. what have you seen out here? >> once you're inside the park, it's a lot less windy. on the streets, it's magical here. >> just bundle up. and put on your snowshoes. >> it really is a winter wonderland. it's picturesque. we do need to be careful about the streets. all right. enjoy. >> yes, amazing. >> i want to point out, ayman, you just heard the governor speak. the mayor has a winter weather emergency in effect. they are on high alert. they want people off the streets. again, this is a fast moving

storm. the snow accumulates unpredictably. they have 6,000 miles of streets to plow, including here in central park. you may see people having fun. this is a serious storm. another big concern, ayman, flooding. the governor of new jersey back in new jersey, keeping an eye on that. declaring a state of emergency. watching the coastal line along the coast of new jersey. here in new york, the governor saying he is more concerned about flooding than snow. he'll be keeping an eye on the coast of long island, brooklyn, even here in man hadden. again, back here in central park, people are enjoying it, bringing their kids out to sled, snowshoes, skiing. we've seen people riding their bikes, if you can believe that, ayman. >> absolutely incredible to see that. i can tell you, from hearing these women, really suggests they are new yorkers for sure. appreciate that update.

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the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. all right, welcome back. bill karins has been tracking this storm all morning for us. let's talk about these conditions and the forecast and what it might mean if a full travel ban is is imposed by new york state and city officials. >> i think hopefully the word's out there. they're just trying to prevent situations like what we've already have happen in pennsylvania overnight and areas of kentucky yesterday. so that's what they want to prevent because they want to be able to clean up. if they get everything all cleaned up in time, they want everyone to return to school and work back on monday. we have a brand-new leader as far as the snow totals go. the areas of virginia, we thought would be targeted up in the mountains would be the highest totals. that's 2 1/2 feet in winchester,

virginia. a couple other locations are in the 20 inch range. as far as our big cities go, we're waiting for a lot of these to update. they usually do about every four to five hours. we still have our coastal flood warnings in effect. i just checked all the tidal games. they're all beginning to recede. most of them going down a foot. the dramatic pictures we showed you. they're not going to look like that anymore. the homeowners will get a chance to evaluate. that's going to be a lot of sad scenes, people walking into their places of business and homes and seeing, you know, maybe 1 to 2 feet of water. up to that point, wasn't even convinced this was going to end up being a billion dollar weather disaster. when you add in the fact of the damage in the carolinas and now all the water damage, especially from the jersey shore, down the maryland, delaware shoreline this will most likely turn into a billion dollar weather disaster. have yet to answer the quote of whether it will be a blizzard or not. as time goes by, it's looking

more unlikely that the winds are strong enough on shore with the heavy snow. even though there's blizzard warnings out there, we may end up calling this the nor'easter of '16 in the memory books. we're past the first cycle and the water's going down. here's the high tides this evening. in some cases, the water will still be very high. that should be just fine, ayman. >> let me ask you this, we're talking about 85 -- >> want to bring in al, he's doing his rockerthon. >> good to have you with us. are you at all surprised we're seeing 85 million people are going to be affected by this, that some of the power outages we're seeing are around 200,000 so far and not much higher? >> i am surprised. i thought it was going to be much worse. >> i would put about a million

or so. >> i think the fluffy snow helped. >> we were talking with sarah dallof down in charlotte. they didn't get as much freezing rain. so that kept trees out. kept the numbers down. again, there are some silver linings. >> for all the parents sitting in their homes with kids. trust me, they're happy to have power. >> for cable or netflix. >> yes. a bunch of it. what was your -- you came in this morning. >> yes. >> what was your experience? >> my experience was okay. i came down fifth avenue. they had plowed. i shoveled my sidewalk before i left. and before i was done, it was already covered again. i treated it with some ice melt but it's coming down like crazy. got in, no problems. but you look, you go into some of the outer boroughs and those secondary roads haven't been hit. so it's going to be a while before -- because they're really -- understandably --

putting all their efforts into the main roads. >> it was a smart call to take the buses off the roads because now we start to get into the heavier stuff. get a couple buses stuck and then you get the problems piling up. >> yes, we saw video of a connecticut transit bus that slid off the road and closed the road. you multiply that by numbers of buses and that's a mess. >> we heard from mayor. if anybody knows the terminology. he said they're considering a full travel ban. what might that actually entail for folks out there the? >> well, i'm guessing that would take no -- other than emergency vehicles, nobody's on the roads. you're off the roads. i haven't heard that would mean no buses. i'm guessing they may be thinking about shutting down the subway. there's no travel, there's no travel. down in washington, d.c., they shut the metro down, all the airports are closed. they will not start the metro.

they're talking about maybe bringing back service late sunday, possibly. which means probably everybody's off on monday, down in washington, and that may be the case in new york. >>cy was thinking about two-thirds of the way through this event. we've already had the ice. what are you watching for the snow the rest of this afternoon? what's your key on? >> i think we've got another good six hours at least here. maybe a little bit more. philadelphia as well. washington. it was interesting, we were just talking about luke russert. we had seen him an hour earlier. you couldn't see the capital in the background. now you can see a little bit of the dome. hopefully, they're coming out of the heaviest stuff. you can see, there's a little bit a dry slot. but then there's stuff right behind him. >> the 20 inch mark. that's like the magic number, right? d.c., if we do that, first time in 94 years. new york city, i think we heard earlier, has had five snowstorms in its history. >> look at some of this blue

coming in here. those heavier bands. i think yeah, i do think we will probably set a record in new york city. if not a record, we'll be in the top three. >> i saw a picture going around from the blizzard of '96 with you and janice and chris, the weather people for the new york team here. what's your memories of that storm? >> you know, it seemed -- the wind seemed a little more ferocious. and it was colder. this, not quite so bad. we're in the upper 20s. mid-20s. windchills make it feel worse. but we were hunkered down for a longer period of time. look, this is going to be a fast mover. but we'll be dealing with its aftermath, you know, into next week. >> plus, this one hit on the weekend. that makes such a big difference. if this had been in the middle of the week, double the impact, double the monetary cost and everything else. >> my son is so upset. >> he wasted it, right? >> dad, we could have had a snow day, maybe two. i said, that's the way it goes.

>> you get some lucky breaks. unfortunately, they didn't get it this time. we'll see what happens monday and tuesday. a long climb out of this one. thank you very much for joining us this hour. following it throughout the day and checking in with you both as well. we're still waiting, that press conference from new jersey governor christie. we'll bring that to you as well. much more when we come back. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future, we're here for you. we're legalzoom, and for over 10 years we've helped families just like yours with wills and living trusts. so when you're ready, start with us. doing the right thing has never been easier. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabetic nerve pain. and my biggest reason to walk calls me grandpa. ask your doctor about lyrica. the east coast is still getting walloped by this storm. we're going to go right now to msnbc's luke russert who's joining us live from there. luke, we heard al there describe the conditions. the capital was a little more visible. it doesn't seem so now just in the last couple of minutes. >> no, but it is improving, i

would say, ever so slightly. i don't know, you can make out the shadow behind me. it's a little bit of a snowdrift going on right now. >> yeah. >> ayman, this has been a slow and steady storm since about 4:00 yesterday. the mayor imploring people yesterday to stay off the roads. a lot of people have taken her advice. we have not seen too many cars on the roads, with the exception, the plows and emergency personnel vehicles and a few suvs. those who choose to try and brave this compact car, you're going to get stuck, it's unsafe. just do not do it. as far as people coming out on to the street, you have a few kids with their parents making snowmen. i saw one guy cross country skiing. most folks are staying inside. that's a really good thing. what's been the surprising thing, and it's been very beneficial, and you were just talking about it with al roker and bill karins, we were worried about a significant power outage in washington. a lot of older trees around the residential neighborhoods,

around the suburbs. thankfully, those trees did not crack. the branches did not. because this snow is very soft and fluffy. it's not the type of heavy snow that can cause that significant-type of damage. so if there are no power outages, or at least significant ones, makes this storm a lot safer. >> all right, it ems we've lost luke there. we'll touch base with him once we get him back up. let's move a little further north to jacob rascon in philadelphia for us and see what the conditions have been out where you are, jacob. have we seen any kind of improvement? i could tell by speaking to you last hour, it seems at least from what we can see the snow has slowed down a little bit. >> it has, but it's deceiving, because it's maybe five minutes ago, it was just as it was an hour ago. so it will come and go. we were just out on the roads just to check out how much people were venturing out. we saw hardly nobody, we saw

maybe three or four cars and a random person walking in the middle of the street. the snowplows are out in force. it doesn't seem that way because on the main roads, you still have many inches of snow. they go down one primary road. by the time they get to the end, they have to turn around because so much snow is dumped. the city has said they're not even going to try to go into the residential areas. they just don't have the manpower to do that. also, another update, the city officials just said they've added another 5 inches of snow since they measured in the morning. if you'll remember, they measured 17 inches in the morn. that takes them above 20. which is pretty astonishing considering that yesterday the forecast initially was to get 18 inches of snow in philadelphia when it was all said and done. we still have another 10 or so hours of snow to go. the winds are coming and going as you've seen over the hours. right now, they're not as powerful as they were before. lastly, you can see a little bit

more than you could last hour. the delaware river still looking more like an ocean though. really choppy. and we're expecting the winds to pick up one more time with a big gust before midday. ayman. >> all right, nbc's jacob rascon live for us in philadelphia. up next, we're going to show you some of the most incredible photos so far of the major blizzard or nor'easter if you want to call it that that is hitting the east coast, that's next, stay with us. this is how lenders saw me. in my 20s, i was super irresponsible with credit cards. shopping, going out all the time... i knew it was time for experian. they gave me tools to see what helps and hurts my fico score. so i could finally get serious about managing my credit. now lenders see me for who i really am. someone who would never rack up a lot of debt. and... someone who would never follow a band on tour. get serious about your credit. get experian. go to experian.com and start your credit tracker trial membership today.

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when you're on hold, your business is on hold. that's why comcast business doesn't leave you there. when you call, a small business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. no annoying hold music. just a real person, real fast. whenever you need them. so your business can get back to business. sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. all right. we have been talking about the condition on the roads all morning long and let h's get a check on the weather conditions with dylan dryer who has been on the roads s is in delaware. how bad is it, and how much progress have you made? >> well, ayman, we left d.c. around 7:00, and we are now just

through wilmington, delaware, and traveling i-95, and about to get on the delaware memorial bridge, and considering how high the wind gusts have been, i am not looking forward to crossing the bridge right now, but if you can see the road conditions, themselves are okay, and the plows have come through, and several road crews, and not many road vehicles on the road, and the crews have been doing their best at clearing a away a lot of the snow. so it is looking like the road conditions are good going over the bridge p but the winds are so gusty with the storm. we have had gusts in virginia and delaware up to 65 miles per hour, and 75 miles per hour. so, there, i would imagine, some kros wi crosswinds as we cross off. if you want to pull up a map and go from i-95 through wilmington and philadelphia a little bit, and just to the the north of 95 here, that is where the heaviest snow is. where we are, we are right on the cutoff and to the southeast

of us, that is where there is not a lot of snow, and dry slot worked in, and we are in amazing conditions considering how intense and how powerful this storm is, but if we were to jog a little bit to the north and the west, that is where we would be running into the tough conditions, but right now, we are about to go over to the delaware memorial bridge, and they have cleared away any snow from this and ice isn't an issue either. >> dylan, we will have to interrupt you and allow you t c toic -- to make it across that bridge. and now, we are going to go to new jersey where the governor chris christie is making a statement. >> and this is a bad time, and i have been out there for a couple of hours, and people off of the road and not moving off of the exit ramps, and i don't care if you have a four-wheel drive vehicle or not, it is just slippery out there, and snow is difficult.

the visibility is no more than a quarter of a mile. so for anybody out there, and at home right now thinking that this is a good time the go out on the northern part of the state, it is not, so please don't. in the southern part of the state, we are seeing continued accumulations of snow, and i think that we can wind nup that part of the state getting at least two feet of snow, and feel good. i was just at the department of transportation control center in woodbridge. the roads are being cleared. they are passable for the emergency vehicles, but please don't put more vehicles out there, and i saw couple of snowplows out thereon interstate 287 stopped because they were blocked by vehicles stuck. this damages our ability to clear out the roads. we declared a state of emergency last night, and we are asking you you to stay off of the roads, and please, stay off of the roads. we are getting the roads cleared not only here, but in the southern part of the state. and at the the jersey shore, we have made it through the first high tide at 6:35 this morning,

and most of the shore in good shape. minor street flooding on a minor part of the shore. and the only place where we are having significant flooding is cape may county, and sea isle city and cape harbor, and significant street flooding there. but that water is receding and the information from the national weather service as of now is that the high tide tonight is going to be less significant than the one this morning, and the one tomorrow morning is less significant than that. so for the folks in cape may county, i would say to all of you, we are in as bad of shape as it is going to be, and get better as the day goes on, and we will monitor it, and the d.p. dr director has been on the phone all morning to make sure we are communicating. i had a phone conference with all of the mayors of the state who wanted to sign on to the call, and we had a close to 300

mayor, and we gave them a full briefing of the status at 8:30 this morning, and if we need to have another one of those calls as circumstances change marketedly, we will do that. and we have about 95,000 outages acro across the state. and most of those are focussed in the southern and is central part of the state. the electric is reporting about 50,000 outages, and jpc ae&l ha about 40,000 outage, and we anticipate those will go up as the day goes on. first, because of the heavy nature of the trees, and it will lean on the e trees, and the trees lean on the wires and they come down. and secondly, the significantly high winds. not as high as they were forecasting earlier, but the significant winds with the heavy snow will take down some of the wires. and the third reason is that we

are having some substation failures in the atlanta city e electric area, which is good news for those folks, because we can get those fixed much more quickly than the individual pole-to-pole work and wire work that we can't do until the winds subside, because it is unsafe to put the folks up there in the bucket trucks, but at the substations we can do that for 10 to 12,000 of those people without power in cape may county, that is a substation problem, and we hope to have atlantic power getting that fixed hopefully relatively soon and by the end of the day. and for the folks who lose power, please, given how cold the weather is, go the shelter in the home of a friend or family member, and don't stay in the cold. if you don't have a friend or family member near, we have shelters in every county of the state, and they will keep you

warm and fed and all of the rest. so if you have trouble getting to one of the shelters, call your local police department, and they will work with you, and coordinate to get you to one of the shelters if you need to be sheltered because of the cold. this is my 17th snow emergency in six years. so we know how to do this. i have been if constant contact with governor cuomo, and we are making the decisions regarding the roadways in the northern part of the state that lead into new york city in conjunction with the governor. i just got off of the phone with him, and we will continue to evaluate it. maybe there is a time to close the hudson river crossings because of the wind and the snow accumulation on both sides of the crossings, both in the northern new jersey side and new york city, but it is a decision that the governor cuomo andly make over the course of the day, and be assured that i have spoken to andrew three times today, and we are continuing to talk to the each other on a regular basis and comparing notes and making sure that if there is any action taken be i the port authority of new jersey

and new york, we will be cooperative as we always have. and we will make briefings available to the leadership of the legislature, and the senate and the speaker and the president in the last 24 hours, so they are aware of what we are doing as well, and we are obviously available to deal with those folks on as-needed basis. and i would lastly say to everybody, try not to buy into the some of the hype or the talk that goes on at times around this stuff. if you stay inside and stay warm, you will be fine. if you lose your power, we have a place for you the go if you don't have a place to go, but the biggest way to get yourself in trouble is to go out there today and try the brave it yourself. then we have to get the tow trucks to get you out of the snowbanks, and it is very, very dangerous and slippery out there. please, refrain from doing that, and if you can, and if you do, this whole thing will be over by late this evening in the north,

and early this evening in the south, and then we are looking for the good weather tomorrow. clearer weather, and sunny weather to help to melt some of the snow, and in fact, give us an opportunity to get everything cleaned up to be ready by monday. and also, i forgot to mention the new jersey transit obviously is closed. it is closed as of 2:00 a.m. last night, and that is predominantly to get the plows on the trains to clear the snow awe of the train tracks to get a head start for getting ahead of the monday commute. we can't make any guarantees yet, because we have not seen the full extent of the storm, but i would hope that new jersey transit is up and ready to go for the people hoping to make their commute monday morning. so i will stop there, and take any questions from the media here. i want to thank the mayor for hosting us, and i will be continuing to travel all over the state today. >> i know that you said at 7:00