on our broadcast tonight, twisters, the terrifying scene in texas as it unfolded on live television. tornados sweep across dallas/ft. worth, tossing trucks into the air. and raising the question, what is going on with our weather. moment of crisis. chilling new details now about what happened inside thateadly school shooting. decision day in three battlegrounds. can romney put santorum away? and the president decides to name names in going after the gop. a way of measuring obesity which may change the rules and surprise a lot of women. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. we got a chance to witness a rare sight today and an awesome one at that. a tornado rolling in over a major metropolitan area. as we watched it happen live, as it was captured by television news helicopters, here's what it looked like this afternoon in dallas/ft. worth, those large flying projectiles are 18-wheeler truck trailers from a trucking company yard south of dallas. it web with the on from there to hit numerous neighborhoods in the dallas metro area. then the second wave of storms came along behind it. and at the sprawling american airlines hub at dfw airport, that was shut down, passengers sheltered inside, kept away from windows, while dozens of jet aircraft exposed on the tarmac had to be inspected for hail damage. well, it's where we begin tonight. nbc's gabe gutierrez is with us

from lancaster, texas. a mess remains on the ground in lancaster. gabe, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. dallas area residents were alerted earlier this afternoon that tornados might be possible. no one expected this, two monster storms leaving behind all this damage. look at those up ended cars behind me. unbelievably, no injuries have been reported. >> i can't believe this. >> reporter: the massive funnel clouds sent debris. >> it's throwing 18-wheelers. >> reporter: trailers and sparks f flying. >> just crossed over i-20 northbound. there's lots of 18-wheelers this is something i've never seen before. >> reporter: dallas/ft. worth shut down. with airlines serving dfw reporting 120 aircrafts sustained some form of damage from the hail. news cameras were on high as

they captured the tornado. >> i heard a thump, turned around and here was this truck. that's when i turned around and thought, i'm not going anywhere. >> i thought, oh, god about it picked us up and slammed us down. i really feel this little ledge saved our lives. >> reporter: the two tornados missed the city dallas, but cut a destructive path across the metropolitan area. >> it was coming toward me. >> reporter: wes was on his way to a meeting. >> i wasn't going to be able to back up. i couldn't outrun it. fortunately it went straight across the road and i took off. after i was driving off. i looked over and could see the transformers exploding, and the green lights shooting up in the air. it looked like it tore some shingles off some roofs. i didn't see any houses it destroyed or anything. but it twisted up an exit sign

on the side of the road. >> reporter: schools, nursing home as cross the region were shut down due to the storms. staff and guests were evacuated into tunnels below ground. and schneider national trucking, the company that owned those orange trailers, they're trying to come to grips with what they say is a devastating loss. dfw with airport has reopened, but thousands of passengers are stranded tonight. because hundreds of flights were cancelled and many hotels and businesses are still without power. it appears it's going to be a very long night here. >> gabe gutierrez starting our coverage tonight. dr. greg forbes is the severe weather specialist at the weather channel. he's been on the air all day covering these storms from their atlanta headquarters. we've been watching your coverage all afternoon and evening. when people see this, they ask the same question, what's going on with our weather? how common is not only an early

april tornado in tem as, but an outbreak of them in the major metropolitan area. >> certainly in the metro area, that's really the odd thing today. it's been so localized. on this date, april 3rd, 1974, we had the original super outbreak, 148 tornados in 24 hours. early april can have these kind of tornados. i do have a graphic that shows why it was so much just texas today. a big spinning upper air low and its cold pocket pushing this edge eastbound. it's mainly this red and blue stationery front. those are often the focal point, that ran right through dallas. that's why all the storms that were basically producing tornados were right in the dallas/ft. worth metroplex and have pushed further off toward the north and east. they're focused right along the frontal area. >> in watching your coverage today. you seem to say there was good news. all the sirens sounded. notification worked.

they weren't as severe as the tuscaloosa sized storms we've seen. you said these were with moving slowly, about 25 miles an hour over land. and that can make a storm dwell over an area? >> yeah, in a can make the winds linger longer. it's amazing how the tractor-trailers twirling around in the air -- i had never seen video like that. very, very lucky, if we get through this without serious injuries or fatalities, considering the kind of upward motion. and must have been pretty strong horizontal motion today. >> dr. forbes is the man to watch when there is severe weather. thank you very much for being with us tonight. now to the shooting we told about you last night in oakland, california. we learned more today about the alleged gunman and what might have motivated him to open fire. police say the seven people k l killed and three wounded may simply have been in the wrong

place at the wrong time. our report from nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: instead of students today, crime scene investigators filled oikos university. searching for clues in what police are calling a calculated cold blooded execution by an expelled student. >> just walk in the room and tell them everybody against the wall. i'll take care of you guys today, and they pulled a gun and started shooting. >> reporter: police say it was a massacre that 43-year-old suspect one goh may have been planning for months. >> we know he was obsessed at administrators at the school. we know he was upset with several students here because of the way he was treated when he was enrolled here two months ago. >> reporter: the former student was targeting a female administrator at the school. he asked for her, but when she wasn't there -- >> he went through the entire building, systematically, randomly shooting victims. >> units be advised we have live

fire. >> reporter: six women and one man were killed. one was a school secretary the rest students. their ages range in age from 21 to 40. most studying nursing at the small christian college. >> the victims are from various countries including korea, nigeria, nepal and the philippines. >> reporter: in goh's native korea, the shooting was front page news. the south korean government expresses regret. police continue to search for the murder weapon, believed to be a semiautomatic handgun ah, cording to police, purchased legally six weeks ago, by the man they say is cooperating, but showing little remorse. goh is scheduled to have his first court appearance here in oakland tomorrow. meantime, a memorial will be held for the victims tonight, brian? >> kristen dahlgren in oakland,

california. now to the race for president playing out tonight on multiple fronts in three gop primaries. and what is called a full frontal assault today by the president on the republicans. our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd with us from our d.c. newsroom tonight. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: with mitt romney on the verge of wrapping up this republican nomination, possibly as early as tonight, president obama decided today was the day to step into the fray in a big way. as mitt romney spent this primary day in wisconsin campaigning with paul ryan, the architect of the gop's budget proposal, president obama took to a washington d.c. hotel ballroom filled with america's newspaper editors to eadvice rate the ryan plan. >> an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. thinly vailed social darwinism. >> reporter: and the president used rhetoric and sarcasm, not just to attack the budget plan,

but romney personally for supporting it. >> and he even called it marvelous, which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget. it's a word you don't often hear generally. >> reporter: even tried to capitalize on the divisive republican primary campaign. >> renowned liberal newt gingrich, first called the original version of the budget radical, and said it would contribute to right wing social engineering. >> reporter: the entire speech was a verbal blueprint of how the president this election year will attempt to paint the entire republican party as out of the mainstream. >> if we had been having this discussion 20 years ago or even 15 years ago would have been considered squarely centrist positions. what's changes is the center of the republican party. >> reporter: ryan compared the

speech to what he called the president's reckless budgets, adding was as revealing as it is disappointing. and romney said the president was unwilling to take responsibility for his own mistakes. >> and so today, instead of standing up and saying, as the president's policies have not worked, he will look for someone else to blame. >> reporter: late today, newt gingrich said the president took his criticisms of ryan out context. big picture for a second, let's remember what this fight is about for the two parties, whether a big chunk of deficit reduction money will come from tax increases on the wealthiest or existing government programs. >> since the president threw down over the word marvelous. our political department did a search and found three uses from him on the word. >> romney's campaign is defiantly saying even if they

lose tonight, it's on to pennsylvania on april 24th. does he want to risk losing his home state the next three days, he loses tonight? could be tough ones for rick santorum and he could be thinking a lot of things. >> our political director chuck todd from our d.c. newsroom tonight. thanks as always. we have a quick update on former vice president dick cheney. he's back home tonight, released earlier today from a virginia hospital, just ten days after receiving a heart transplant from an anonymous donor. cheney, who is seen here with his wife lynn is 71 years old. this photo showing the fit mr. cheney was put out on twitter today by daughter liz cheney. still ahead as "nightly news" continues. does this woman look obese? the surprising new face of an epidemic. what millions of american women may not know about their own weight. and later, state of the art. masterpieces and places a lot of

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there is news tonight on this nation's growing weight problem. a problem that is getting worse because of how we measure it, especially when it comes to women. >> reporter: it's no surprise that americans are getting fatter, but a new study finds the obesity epidemic could be a lot worse than anyone thought.

the new face of obesity could actually look more like this. this is barbara, she's now at a healthy weight but a year ago, doctors determined she was obese. even though her body mass index indicated she was normal. >> when i saw the results it was utterly shocking. >> bmi estimates a person's body fat based on hight and weight alone. the widely used method is overly simplistic and underestimates the prevalence of obesity. >> it doesn't tell you how much fat you have. that is the predictor of heart disease, cancer, stroke, gallbladder, fertility problems, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, et cetera. >> reporter: the study looked at 1393 adults. 48% of women were with misclassified as obese due to

bmi. dr. braver man says april commonly used test to check for bone density is more accurate because it measures bone, muscle and fat. it also costs several hundred dollars. another approach is a simple blood test for leptin. a hormone associated with obesity. >> that is costing the country a fortune for not measuring it. a dollar blood test and doing our bone density scans is going to pay off enormously. >> reporter: barbara now says she's a new person, and has the proof inside and out. the fact that the bmi was introduced as a measure of obesity almost 200 years ago, just adds fuel to the fire that it's really outdated and truth be told. the same way americans got used to measuring ldl and hdl as part of a cholesterol measuring, it's

time we get used to dexascans. americans are back in the car market, apparently in a big way. and the high cost gas may have a lot to do with it. most carmakers had their best month of march since '07. chrysler sales up 34%. gm up 12%. ford up 5%. the rising cost of gas along with with low interest rates is a big part of what's driving people into showrooms to replace the aging cars they've been hanging on to during this downed economy. up next here tonight, the ghost ship we told about you from the tsunami in japan. tonight there's an update, and an amazing story of a grandmother who had to take control of an aircraft midnight. the problem was she didn't know how to fly. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china,

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it was a beautiful early spring day in northern wisconsin yesterday. and as a small plane prepared to land at a local airport, no one looking on could have imagined the drama that was playing out in the sky. kevin tibbles has the story. >> reporter: the nose gear collapsed on landing, but that landing was nothing short of miraculous. john and helen were returning to sturgeon bay, wisconsin with from florida, when john lost consciousness and died while at the controls. >> she does not know anything about flying whatsoever. >> helen had been flying with her husband for decades. while she had some flight training years ago, she wasn't at all familiar with the controls of the cessna. she ended up using her cell phone from the air to call 911. >> hopefully she doesn't crash. >> a pilot then took off from sturgeon bay flying alongside

the cessna to talk her down. >> i was able to monitor what she was doing in her aircraft by what was happening with with my aircraft. >> reporter: helen brought the plane in for a hard landing. it bounced some 30 feet before coming down again. >> reporter: it was only then when the pilot realized he lost one friend and saved another. >> happy event at the same time -- we move on. >> reporter: 80-year-old helen is being treated for injuries, while everyone involved with the flight marvels at her courage. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. >> amazing story. we also have an update tonight on that so-called ghost shift that's been adrift making its way across the pacific since it being unmoored by the tsunami in japan. the coast guard was able to catch it on video while they dropped a tracking buoy alongside. it's a shrimping vessel.

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finally tonight, at a time when schools are culting back on funding for arts education, there's some good news. google is stepping into the breach with a project that is part google earth and part museum of art. but it's meant to bring art to us. the story from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: holly's third graders are on a field trip visiting a museum 5,000 mile as way in amsterdam. >> you kind of see a lot of different textures. >> reporter: google art project founder never had access to the world's great art. >> there are a lot of american school children who will never come to the museum of modern art in new york. >> well with, soon they'll be able to go to brazil, russia. >> reporter: google has been mapping the world's museums after dark, 140 collections in

40 countries are online tonight. from greece to brazil. let's say you missed jackie kennedy's famous white house tour. now you can cruise by the famous picture of george washington with just a click. remember the scene from "ferris buehler's day off"? you get a better view than cameron ever did. >> when we do it over here, zoom in here and just, you know, really quickly move to that exact same area, you start seeing the cracks and the brush -- >> despite how big the google art project is now, there are limits. this whole gallery is on the virtual tour, but right around the corner a room full of picassos you won't see online. moma hopes putting part of the collection online spurs more

people to visit. >> there's something that happens to you when you're in the presence of a real work of art. >> even state of the art art is no substitute for the real thing. kate snow, nbc news, new york. >> that's our broadcast on a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us, as always, i'm brian williams, we hope to see h ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at southwest airlines, we're always looking for new ways to make you happy. and we know what really makes you happy are new places to fly. now you can fly southwest airlines' new nonstop service from bwi airport to atlanta. book all of our destinations only at southwest.com.