to quit smoking... so you can always be there for her. good morning, it is january 23, 2016. welcome to "cbs this morning saturday." a massive blizzard slams the east coast. one-third of americans battle snow, sleet and freezing rain. and turning travel into a nightmare. see how to storm has frozen flights and stranded drivers. >> gunfire on the vegas strip.

feet from one of the hottest casinos. and major changes if t the academy awards. a restructuring that hopes to fix the oscars diversity problem. >> we begin with a look at today's eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. >> northeaster for the record books. >> thought we were going to have a mild winter. >> braced for the worst. a deadly winter storm wallops the east. >> we want people to stay inside. >> states of emergency in ten states and the district of columbia. >> 85 million plus americans in the path of a deadly winter storm. >> this is where it's really cranking in the morning, d.c. towards philly and new york city and long island. >> just learned from state police that around 3,000 motorists are trapped on 75. >> country's air traffic is practically at a standstill. >> a mass shooting in canada as the shooter opened fire in a high school in saskatchewan

into to custody. >> oscars are pledging changes after complaints for a second year about all white acting nominees. >> lot of things has to be improved. >> how do i preach this mike and make this work? >>. do it like a lady >>. dream on -- >> why am i showing you? >> all that -- >> go. >> and all that matters. >> curry frameworks half court. and it's good. he banks it in. this one's good. on "cbs this morning saturday." >> it's ten day before the iowa caucus. donald trump, he's in it to win it. he showed it this with week because he brought out sarah palin. >> negotiate deals kind of with

organizer maybe organizing a neighborhood -- >> somewhere in arizona johnny mccain is going, you should have called me, dude. and welcome to the weekend everyone. we have a packed show for you this morning, including full coverage of the monster storm that's slamming the east coast. plus speaking of snow, we'll take you to one of the world's most dangerous sporting events. it is happening today. some of the best skiers in the world will attempt to navigate the strife in austria. a race that can quickly turn ledley. >> also a conversation on rock and roll mortality. with the passing of david bowie and glenn frey, at least one is wondering if he's next. >> and a unique display at the

create incredible images of our solar system and we'll show you how it is done. our top story, a big and powerful blizzard effecting more than 70 million americans. at least nine storm-related deaths are reported. snow, sleet, freezing rains and gale forced wins, combined with high tides is battering coastal areas. one in seven americans could get at least half a foot of in snow. >> in carolinas snowplows are working but conditions are hazardous with many cars just skidding right off the road. in philadelphia not many vehicles are out making it easier for the snowplow. officials are urging residents to stay home today. philadelphia's transit system has shut down. >> here in new york the mayor is also telling people to stay home. at least a foot of snow is expected today. there are ten states along the east coast under emergency declarations this morning. as well as no, sir and

that's where chris van cleave is, good morning. >> reporter: it's been snowing about 17 hours and we have about 17 hours more of wibds and snow before the storm leaves the nation's capital. behind me, pennsylvania avenue leading up to the kaptcapitol. it is snow covered. driving is treacherous because of the blowing wind and snow drifts it is hard to get an exact sense of how much snow has fallen but as of right now we've got about 13 inches or so on the ground here if d.c. >> defiant drivers hit the streets here despite a plea from the mayor to stay home. >> we want people to hunker down and shelt in place and stay you have to roads. >> wind gusts 55 miles per hour and snow falling at 2-3 inches an hour, conditions are getting worse. plow trucks struggled co-to keep up

the ground by the time it is all over. >> this a 36 hour storm with expected dangerous winds. >> commuters are finding themselves on lockdown as well. the d.c. metro suspended service late last night and won't be up and running again until monday o. >> to close it down inside is just kind of ridiculous. because there are people that have to get to work at hospitals and other places that do not shut down. >> we came to have dinner with our neighbors, with our friends. we thought we would walk. because that was the better option. >> while kids went sledding down capitol hill friday evening, the first dog got to play in the snow at the white house. but the scene wasn't quite as pretty friday afternoon when daniel made rounds in his snowplow. >> how important is it for people to get you have to roads tonight? >> very. i just don't want people to be in the street, me personally. because of time.

is going to be a hard time fighting to get back on top. >> there is great concern after about an inch of snow wednesday gridlocked the city for hours. are running the storm's response. >> our first concern really are the residents. one of the major monikers of success for me personally is to make sure we don't lose anybody. that is first and foremost. >> forecasters have been warning about this monster storm for days but some waited until the snow started falling to stock up. >> what are you able to get? >> we only got 1078 snacks like potato chips and popcorn and stuff to eat around at night. that's all we got. so everything's gone. >> now, d.c. has asked surrounding states to bring if extra snow removal equipment as they expect the dig out to last for several days. the lingering concern here particularly as the snow keeps

because that can bring downpour lines. it is well below freezing here so there are concerns of people being without power potentially for days. so far power outages have been limited anthony but we have a little more to go before the storm is done. >> krist van cleave. in washington. i went to school in d.c. they do not deal with snow very well there usually and that is a lot of snow. all right. the big storm first slammed parts of the south with snow and ice. that caused major problems on the road. good morning. >> reporter: the head line here really is those power outages. thousands of people are waking dark. but the storm also brought other kinds of wintry misery. around lexington, kentucky a series of car and truck accidents has closed i-75 for 35 miles both ways.

stranded in their cars. no time line when the highway should reopen. nine people were killed in car crashes during the storm in four southern states. parts of kentucky got more than a foot. tennessee and arkansas eight inches. in raleigh the issue is power. they report about 135,000 are currently without power. the utility has 6800 workers across the system restoring it. now here is the good news. temperatures here are supposed to stay above freezing most of the day. that means less of a chance of icy build up that topples trees and power lines ss and vinita that should give this area a nice day to recover from the worst of winter so far. >> certainly what they need. mark, thank you to much. one of the biggest dangers from the storm is the threat of severe coastal flooding. one place on edge is new jersey which was hit hard by superstorm sandy. chris christie did not issue

some shore communicates did advise residents to get out before the storm hits. meg baker has more. >> reporter: the blizzard has hid the jersey shore and hit hard. the big story now are the winds. and we've been warned about flooding. take a look behind me. this is the inlet. the water already coming up over the bulk head. this is the fist high tide of the day and this is powered by the full moon. so it is a dangerous combination of these very strong winds mixed with this lunar high tide that is going to cause major issues here and down the shore. over to this side there is the beech front where these houses basically sit on the beach front and there is only a three foot berm of sand protecting those homes from the impact of the storm. we're expecting waves up to 12 feet high that could really create more damage along the coastline. the winds are really whipping down here.

on the jetty behind me. governor christie has issued a state of emergency. that means no one should be on these roads. you can see very low visibility here. it is awfully slippery. it is freezing and as we go through the day this flooding is only sure to get worse. >> meg baker in manasqaun new jersey. even those in the in the direct path are being effected. canceling thousands of flights and creating problems for rails traffic to. >> reporter: we're talking about blowing snow here in philadelphia, to give you an idea driving to our live shot this morning it looked like a snow tornado rolling right in front of the vehicle. so much so it was setting off the sensors on the front bumper because the vehicle throughout there was an object in front of it. air traffic has been frozen, snarled and amtrack, cl the

look at the snow blowing. the aktrack station near us is still rolling. they will modify schedule they say but it will not stop it. here is what's expected. from yesterday through sunday what's expected is we're talking 82 hundred flights that have been canceled and more than 3300 delayed in and out of the u.s. for the same time period, american airlines will be canceling over 2 thousand flights. southwest just over a thousand and united just under a thousand. the most wide spread cancellations are from charlotte to philadelphia. bwu, which is in maryland. reagan national. washington. the dulles international airport. mass cancellations. airports will be empty because there will be no flights in or out. but many airlines are allowing travelers to make changes for free. so if you had a trip planned and

let you do it and there shouldn't be much of a hassle. as for the drivers on the road, aaa says a dangerous winter storm and bad weather is always factor for about a half million crashes and about 2 thousand road deaths every winter. if you don't have to be out in it today, please do not. back here in philadelphia they believe they got about a foot of snow overnight. and they think they will get another foot over the next 12 hours. it is in the mid 20s. they have clocked wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour. and you saw the blowing snow earlier. anybody who thought this storm was overrated was wrong. >> we appreciate you being out in all of that david begnaud in philadelphia this morning thank you. so what is next for the storm? for that we turn now to lonnie quinn in new york. is the worst over? >> no. >> i think today is going to be just as bad as the previous days we have had in terms of wintry weather.

will be gone tomorrow. let's take a peek at 77 million people who are effected in some way, shape or form. blizzard warning right now. new york city, philadelphia. you saw all the wind blowing around david. and this big swath of blue, that is not rain or snow. that is moisture. this storm is drawing moisture from the caribbean. it is not going to fade away. not today. there is just too much moisture available. it will be gone by sunday morning 10:00 a.m. you are measuring the stow more a lot of folks in feet. this is pretty general. it will be less than a foot for the areas in blue. that includes boston and the cape. but then 1-2 feet. the pink shading from new york city, philadelphia, into west virginia, virginia. here your sweet spot. if you call snow sweet. two feet or more and that is the 81 corridor in virginia. it is piling up.

ground, i think 19 inches. and they will pick up another ten. it could be the biggest storm in d.c.'s history. >> thanks so much. a deadly school shooting in the canadian province of saskatchewan is under investigation. it happened in la loche about 400 miles north or calgary. at least 4 people were killed and two were critically wounded in the attack friday. the suspected shooter is custody. >> police opened fire on a man waving a gun as he walked in the middle of traffic in las vegas. last night from front of the bellagio on the strip. at times he pointed the gun at people. orders. the man was not hit by the gunfire but two bystanders were

as the intermural fight between donald trump and start ted cruz continues. the latest poll from fox news shows trump in the lead nationwide with 34%. cruz 14 percentage points, rubio at 11% and everyone else in single digits. >> the donald trump/ted cruz rivalry hit a new high friday with both candidates unleashing duelling attack ads. as they barrel towards the iowa caucuses, donald trump depicted the texas senator as flip-flopping on immigration. >> what it doesn't mean that i supported the other aspects of the bill -- >> reporter: cruz hit trump for supporting and profiting from eminent domain laws, which allow the government to seize private property. >> it made him rich, like when trump colluded with atlantic

home of an elderly widow. >> trump took to twitter once again raising questions about whether canadian born cruz is eligible to be president. and he fired back at the national review for publishing a series of essays making a case runner. while trump once called the magazine a true conservative voice, he tweeted in response very few read the national review because it only knows how to criticize but not how to lead lead. in ab interview with abc cruz dismissed trump's twitter tirades and said he'd steer clear of personal attacks in favor of policy. >> indishable from bernie sanders. >> politics is not a soap opera. it is not a baseball game. >> sanders didn't mention cruz

where he's leading in the polls making clinton supporters neshs. to fight back clinton has been aggressively taking on sanders' record on guns, healthcare and financial regulation, while emphasizing her experience. >> we need a prosecuteesident who can do all aspects of the job. >> for "cbs this morning saturday," julianna goldman in washington. >> there's been another highway death. the tents caused by a defective air bag maidde by the japanese manufacture takata. dimarco morgan has more. >> 52-year-old joe knight was driving this ford ranger when a his car struck a cow in the road.

air bag killing him. the spokesperson for the national highway traffic administration. >> this is a national safety crisis and precipitated by the tact that they manufactured millions of defective inflaters and then provided incomplete, mislead on inaccurate information to nista the public. >> some deploy with excessive force shattering the metal inflater and sending shrapnel flying into the vehicle. as much as 24 million vehicles are now involved. stephanie was injured when her air bag exbloeded in 2013. >> instant blindness followed by gushing blood. it was terrifying. >> takata vehicle manufacturers are struggling to make enough air bags for millions of

and tens of millions more may still need to be recalled in the future. for "cbs this morning saturday"." >> if to check if your car or truck is being recalled find an updated list on cbs news.com. >> time to show you some of the mornings head lines. the new york city "new york times" reports he details with the missing consultant robert lechbsen. iran maintains it did not know of lechbsen's where abouts during recent negotiations that. led to a prisoner swap between the u.s. and iran. >> >> announcer: detroit free press say answer e expert in legionnaires is connecting the disease to the city's water condition problems. it is a reasonable link.

health officials say 70% of the people who contracted legionnaires during the recent spike in cases were exposed to flint water two weeks before their symptoms began. a listeria outbreak from dole packaged salads killed one in michigan while sending others to the hospital. the outbreak rigid t at a packaging plant in spring field ohio. outbreaks in six states. the plant has been shut down. the independent of london reports the man convicted of murdering meredith kurcher say ss he was trying to sell her something before she died. knox was convicted and eventually cleared of kercher's

>> and a new jersey animal rights group spared the life of a cow. the group heard about the cow which bolted from a slaughter house only to be rounded up by police. freddy will apparently now go do a farm. reportedly named after freddy mercury thank you anthony. we are loving that cow story. not loving this. this is one of our cameras in the city and you can barely see anything because the wind is whipping and the snow is flying. 25 miles per hour winds gusting to 30 miles per hour. we are going to be back with the live coverage real soon but want to let you know it's over tomorrow. l asking for a political campaign contribution, look out. your money may not be going where you think.

the diversity problem. we'll break down the new system. also we continue to monitor the first major blizzard of the year. we'll have updates from the affected areas ahead.

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a live look from the top of the empire state building. you can see the snow blowing heavy winds and snow bands causing white out conditions. >> and let's take a look at the jersey shore. zero visibility out there and coastal flooding is a major concern this morning. >> and a state of emergency is in effect and if you need a proof of how bad it is take a look at pictures from the garden state parkway in new jersey. cars are getting stuck out there. everyone being urged to stay off the roads and watch us on t.v. for the next few hours as we

blizzard of 2016. good morning everyone. i'm chris wragge. >> good morning everybody. head over to our sister station at t.v. 1055. we have live team coverage throughout the tristate area this morning. >> all of our reporters are dispatched across the state. john elliot in the weather center, give us the latest on this forecast. >> the forecast is right on target. it's the snow, wind accumulating snow blowing and drifting and ocean concerns as well. in the city can't see much. 25 degrees. winds out of the northeast gusting to 35. wind gusts on average between 25 and 40 miles per hour. earlier this morning ocean county, sussex county 55 miles per hour wind gusts. parts of ocean actually closer to 60. when you do the math it feels like 11 degrees. clearly cold enough for snow and lots of it. starting to see light snow fill

city more snow for rockland, westchester. it's interesting. a bit of a breakup into parts of morris but these brighter white colors through sussex down through the city and the bronx and north shore we are seeing those one inch per hour snow fall rates. this morning peak rate was two inches an hour in newark. the storm was well to our south. there has been a little bit of convection closer to the center and minuting to the south that could effect parts of south jersey but in our area we hang onto the cold so with all of the availability moisture looking at numbers like this. eight to twelve so parts of rockland westchester flirting with a foot if not 12 to 18 good part of the city. that line could push right through manhattan into the north shore so you could see an excess of 18-inches of snow for staten island and south brooklyn. there is going to be a graduation effect as you head

still being off to the south and west. the blizzard warning in effect until tomorrow morning. a blizzard warning three hours of 35 plus miles per hour winds. well hour one is done. so blizzard conditions are definitely occurring. winter between means winter driving conditions and accumulating snow less to the north. along the coast it's about the coastal flooding the big waves and winds and beach erosion as well and over the next few days after we wrap this up i tell you what it's a quick recovery sunday afternoon bright and then monday even warmer chance of rain on tuesday. but you know what? take chris' advice. stay right here and stay warm and safe. send it right now right back to chris and mary. >> lots of coverage for you this morning. long island bracing for the worst. >> they have white out conditions. ilana good morning. >> good morning mary. the snow is really coming down here in long beach.

and the wind out here is absolutely brutal. it's difficult to stand. it's difficult to see and the snow is just pelting us in the face. we are seeing about five inches of snow here and flooding is also a huge concern. we had high tide. you can see how high the waves are and there are sand barriers to prevent all of the water from flooding the nearby properties. we also want to show you video from our drive here on beach street. it was very slow going. roads were packed with snow and even though plows are on the streets they are very slick. this morning we've seen a few drivers on long beach heading

here's what one of them had to say. take a listen. >> was it more than you expected? >> a lot more. a lot of my employees right now getting them out and they are out there getting it done so i got to be there with my team. >> are you worried about the drive there? >> i am. it's a little slippery out but as long as i drive safe it's about ten miles so i should be okay. >> and power outages also a big concern on long beach. so far we haven't heard any word of any outages but this could definitely change as the day goes on as conditions get even worse. back live here where you can see conditions are definitely not ideal. there is so much blowing snow and again this could get much worse as the day goes on so my advice to everyone in this area stay indoors unless it's critical to go outside. we are live on long beach ilana gold cbs 2 news. >> thank you. coastal flooding is a major

>> voluntary evacuations were issued. meg baker is there live this morning. meg? >> chris and mary good morning. it is brutal out here with these winds. that's really powering the storm where we are already seeing flooding here. this is the inlet that you are watching. the ocean meets the bay and we knew this was coming. high tide happened around 6:48 this morning and up over the bulk head these waves come and it's only going to get worse. the next high tide is at 7 tonight. the mayor warning people do not come outside. in the case it is no longer voluntary and he wants people to get out of here because of the flood waters police will be going door-to-door to assist people. there's someone outside here which maybe shouldn't be on the roads. harold you come here every morning right? >> i come to the 7-eleven here every morning every day. >> to watch the sunrise? >> no i enjoy the area.

i've been living here for a little over 40 years. i used to live on the water. >> why are you outside? this is pretty dangerous right now. >> i'm used to this. this is normal for this area. >> okay. well you better get home safe all right. get home safe. >> stay warm. >> we also spoke to the mayor and he has a message for residents. >> water is coming up on the sidewalk so almost to the top of the bulk head that runs the length of the inlet. probably get up another foot before high tide and then two to three feet with the real high tide tonight and saturday morning. stay off the roads if you possibly can. we have emergency vehicles available if you have an emergency call and we'll be able to get you out but we would rather you stay off the roads because you are creating more problems and making it more difficult for us to do our job. >> it's really getting wild down here.

because these waves keep coming over the bulk head. on the beach there's a three foot berm put in place. they moved to protect the beach front homes. we'll check out the ocean in a bit for you. >> it's tough conditions out there but can you and your cameraman pan is it a ghost town? >> sure. let me walk this way. this is first avenue here and it's pretty low lying. a lot of these houses not built up. they haven't been lifted yet ever since sandy many houses of course lifted to protect against the floodwaters. but here many houses low lying and most of the people didn't get out. pretty much a ghost town around here. >> the coastline from ilana and what you see with meg they really get hit the worst. >> and the winds causing problems. sanitation workers have their

we are taking a live future tomorrow you. >> we have catherine on the phone. if you can give us a quick update on where we stand right now at least in new york city as far as are you ahead of the game at this point. >> so this is going to be an extremely difficult storm fight it is coming in faster and heavier than the forecast. we have 2500 pieces of equipment on the roads right now but we are seeing accumulations of at least an inch an hour across the five burroughs and so with white out conditions we are on everything. but you are going to see significant snow on the streets as we move through the day. because even if we've been there you are going to have another two to four inches before we are back. >> commissioner an inch an hour are you confident you can keep up with that. >> an inch an hour i'm confident we could keep up with. the challenge that we are going

of three inches per hour which is intense. when we get to heavier accumulations we will be deploying some additional resources in terms of using our plows and our front end loaders. we are not there yet but we are prepping to do that. >> have you gotten any word from any of the burroughs that they need to be tended to now before it gets worse due to the historical standpoint of where areas have been hit hard before worse than others? >> we have deployed those resources and they will be ready to gossibs those areas get to those intensities. we can't do it ahead of certain accumulation levels because they are not effective. on staten island we have everything on the roads at this hour. >> commissioner just getting word from john elliot that

possibility in this storm. what happens in that case? >> the real challenge for us is that we slow down. and that's why we've been out with all of our spreaders and all of our plows since about 5:00 a.m. this morning when we deployed across the city. we are going to make sure that we are keeping things passible on all of the roads because we do not want to have any of the streets end up with 20-inches before we see them. so we are moving resources around to make sure that we are making passes on all of the roads in the city. this is setting up to look like 1996. >> yeah. >> so we are anticipating a very intense storm. >> and let me ask you this because you've known all week this was coming because you have your crews in place the salt spreaders and plows and the numbers may be a little bit higher. how much of an adjustment have you and your people had to make

>> to be quite honest with you we were planning for the high end hoping for the lower end but planning for the high end. the only adjustment we made which was not difficult because we brought people in early is we rolled our spreaders probably around 9:30 last night which was far earlier than we anticipated but we had people in starting at 7 and we were ready to handle that. >> and before we let you go let you heed the warning if you could say something to the people that are thinking about going out on the roads what would you tell them? >> we've seen a lot of cars on the road and even cars that are not four wheel drive. if you are blocking a plow we are going to tow you. i want to be very clear. we need to make sure that we can stay on our routes and be effective. it's white out conditions even if there's not human accumulation on the--huge accumulation on the road you

where you are going. >> commissioner catherine garcia with new york city sanitation a very busy day ahead we thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. so preparing for the worst here john. what are we looking at on the intensity of this storm and the track of it at this hour. >> catherine talking about the potential for three inch per hour snow fall rates. this morning we had a brief period of two inches an hour in newark. crews have to pace themselves to astay ahead of it. at home you have to pace yourself too. you can't wait too long but you also have to bet out there prematurely as well. checking with the weather watchers great they are inside and watching the weather. look at this john on the jersey shore winds gusting to 50 miles per hour so just like meg it's unrelenting wind. and again high tide cycle for the morning has passed for the jersey shore but it is still just brutally cold.

blowing snow. i like his advice to stay safe and inside. numbers are lower as far as temperatures to the north. we are not seeing as much snow but we are starting to get some great pictures sent in. this is from tammie and tell you what this is a while ago and you can already see about three to four inches of snow right there. and then this is from carommen sending this. it's the visibility. that's impacting that. you can barely see anything. let's run through the stats and future cast as well. in the city right now it's blowing and whipping you can't see a thing. 25 degrees wind screaming out of the northeast at 35 miles per hour. so doing the math for you wind chills in the teens if that. walden it feels like 8 right now and in madison. a big composite radar shows not much snow but the brighter white bands for westchester county into rockland. this is interesting a bit of a

farther to the south we are actually turning it off for a bit and mixing down around atlantic city. the brighter white for nassau and sussex county it's coming down and winds screaming out of the east and northeast impacting visibility right through the city into staten island and over into summer set and middlesex counties as well. here's the center of the storm pulling in with cold air and mixing with ice through maryland and the rain snow line flirting with south jersey and the cold air is in place so what we have is the intense wind, the cold air for snow and with lift in this we actually had thunder snow around d.c. that's when you could see those greater intensity rates per hour. so let's look at the high end of the projection. this is by sunday morning when it's all said and done. pushing the four to eight inch line all the way up into parts of the hudson valley. eight to twelve just north of

central westchester to see close to a foot of snow. it's a pretty good bet we'll see readings around a foot to a foot plus for the bronx into south westchester. the city, nassau, sussex through queens and brooklyn you could see well in excess of a foot. staten island 18 plus and then those numbers around 20 to 24 in summerset and middlesex county and numbers retreat a bit but dealing with coastal concerns along the coast. it's a blizzard warning until sunday morning for limited visibility and as we time it out the bright blue is where you see those intense snow fall rates. there's a line around one to two this afternoon through parts of monmouth county. that heavy snow through this afternoon. a little bit of a break but even as late as 9 or 10 you

going to push through sunday morning. so we've got to do with this all day seven inches of snow still coming down in a big way. vanessa murdock has been at midland beach and as she's there right now i'm almost afraid to look. hi vanessa. >> i'm afraid to look because you might get snow in my eyeballs. we are on highland boulevard on staten island and it's pretty busy for a snowy saturday morning. we are under that visibility reduced. plenty of people driving around. no major spin outs and people are taking it at a moderate pace here. staten island as far as the city goes will be one of the hardest hit areas anticipating a foot and a half to two inches

we've got seven inches on the ground. one that i don't think is enjoyable. i look forward to enjoying the snow tomorrow once the winds settle down but in the meantime many people are choosing to be out and about in this weather. so far so good. no word of major issues. we've seen plenty of plows around. we saw them earlier plowing the boardwalk in case of emergencies there with regards to coastal flooding but that didn't look to be an issue and tonight we could look out for that again. seven inches with many more to go. we could see as much as two feet.

>> two things to take away from seeing those shots. a, the people on the roads are doing it with four wheel drive and you can still see a little black top for the time being on the roads. >> staten island drivers are great. they know how to maneuver this.

stay with us. in our back yard. these are pictures from the jersey shore for you right now. and of course we want to find out continuing conditions down there in the jersey shore area. coastal flooding a major issue. not only the snow and white out conditions. >> director michael thanks so much for taking time to talk to us. can you give us the latest on the conditions there? >> in ocean county we have four who have totally active. oem has been here all night long and we are dealing with heavy snow conditions in the western and northern part of the county. check with chief boyd in sea

to the boardwalk but there were no breeches from the ocean at high tide. >> any areas where you are hearing there is flooding? we are seeing parts of atlantic city are having issues and other warts of the jersey shore where the water has encroached some of the streets in those areas. what are you hearing? >> we are not getting reports of that at this time. however we have a call coming up within the hour with our directors sending them an e- mail now to get a status. right now we have reports of wires, minor outages, nothing major at this time in the county. and we've been busy with numerous sheriff's officers and fire marshalls out there giving people rides to the hospital and emergency people. we can't caution you enough we even are getting our sheriff's vehicles stuck and they are four wheel drive. so please stay home and we'll be here to assist anybody and be prepared the best we can be.

concerns as the intensity picks up in the next few hours. >> well in ocean county we have 600 square miles. we stretch from long beach island along the coast worried about flooding and the next tide on the back bay we have three tides we have to be concerned with. and we also have many senior communities we have to worry about and atlantic city electric and right now everything is holding it's own but it's a concern that we have. >> michael how have your preparations changed since sandy a few years back? i'm not comparing the two here but as far as your man power and ability to respond how has that changed over the last few years? >> well that's on my list as chief of tom's river and came over here to the sheriff's office and i can tell you certainly from that experience we learn from it, technology we are light years ahead of where

free holders and we have better communication i think than ever before. and we'll continue to do that. and we can only do what we can do. but i think the whole jersey shore and all of new jersey for that matter is presandy and post sandy people look at

>> michael with the and now i spoke to the mayor earlier and he was explaining the berm on the beach is supposed to protect the houses from the impact of the waves, 12-foot waves.

these houses here? >> it's getting pretty high on the berm and we've lost a good portion of the beach already so the second high tide this afternoon could be dicey. >> you are not sure how many people have evacuated and many houses are not raised. >> right but a lot of them were so there's not a lot of people down here to begin with. >> for emergency services vehicles to respond. >> so let everyone stay safe out there. we'll go back over here and show you what's going on right here. the water coming up over the bulk head. this is where the ocean meets

see back bay flooding powered by the full moon and we are going to see this all afternoon. let's get a check on what to expect in that area. >> you know it's interesting because it will flow during the course of the day but it's this unrelenting wind and that's why the bays are hit so hard. even when the water should retreat it can't. you hit the high tide cycle. >> it's going to be a problem and approach the evening high tide cycle as well. this is practice patricia. very poor visibility.

where it started to snow and it's light snow. ed though has got 1.5-inches an hour falling right now. those kind of rates race through the area and get a break to retreat and get another band then the future cast would pick up on that as far as intensity. in the city right now it's pretty intense. i mean because you can't even see the city. obviously blowing snow low clouds and wind. 25 and some fog. how can you have fog. there's so much moisture in the atmosphere. when you do the math the 25 feels like 11 so it is cold. this i'm talking about the brighter white all the way out to the twin forks all the way out them a bit of a break. orange county buddy george in sparta light rain light notch.

about four inches anticipating well over ten. winds right notch at 15 miles per hour for--now at 15 miles per hour for sussex county. that snow really filling in. essex county, union county. it's pretty significant snow approaching one inch per hour snow fall rates. there is a little bit of a break to the south but we are going to see mixing further to the south where we could actually see a little bit of icing with sleet. don't forget that blizzard warning speaks to the wind. we are going to be dealing with gusty winds intensifying into the middle part of the day. let's see what's going on at the desk. >> john thanks so much. we have plenty more coverage

this morning. good morning. as we welcome you back to cbs 2 news this morning here's straight up at 8:00 a.m. 25 degrees out there and i'll tell you these blustery conditions effecting the entire area right now. >> they are looking at a massive amount of snow when this is over. john elliot has a track on the storm and how much snow we are going to get. >> 12 to 18 pretty common around the area.

you with barely see the end of your nose. 25 winds out of the northeast to 35. wind chills in the teens if you are lucky. single digits north and west. this is interesting a little bit of a slow down of sorts through warren and sussex county. mixing for south jersey indicating heavier rain through fairfield, west port and greenwich. down through the bronx more so in queens right notch than brooklyn. the center of the storm is still down here. thunder snow? what's that mean? lightning and occasional lift and bands of stronger snow fall rates or higher. speaking of things that are high watch out beach erosion a possibility during the course of the day, gusts stronger during the middle part of the day so coastal flooding a concern. power problems? potentially yes.

weighs down the power lines and of course vulnerable trees. thankfully they are not in full leaf and i hope you trimmed them. the kids want to get out and play. very important they layer up. they'll fight you but you need to layer them up. they need to take breaks and hydrate. please watch out. kids have fun but there will still be traffic out there and in periods of higher wind that reduces visibility for the motorists so if they are playing on streets never a good idea but just make sure that you are watching out for the kids. future cast it is snowing all the way through the day into the evening where it is snowing right now and blowing right now staten island where we could see pretty significant totals. want to send things over to the snow swept vanessa murdock. what's going on? you got company. >> i do. i do. she told me she's really cold and she's got her green over

dry as you mentioned layering up essential today out here. we've got numerous layers. we are standing in the duncan hill section of staten island and people are out on the roads some of them very noisy if you just heard. regardless it's been a busy morning along the stretch of highland boulevard many people passing by not staying off the roads but the good news is we haven't seen any spin outs. we've seen people slip and slide just a bit. the roads still very well covered and this is one of the main drags so the secondary roads looking a lot worse than this. one of our big concerns this morning on staten island along the shoreline was coastal flooding but i just spoke with a gentleman who said his home has flooded in the past and this morning they had no issues. that's a very good sign because this morning's high tide would be an indicator half to expect later on.

be a little bit elevated comparatively this morning. so we may still see coastal flooding here on staten island later today but this morning's high tide a good indication of what to expect this evening. as far as the snow goes the roads covered, the sidewalks are covered. plenty of plows around but the snow continues to pile up and this one of the places we anticipate seeing some of the most impressive snow fall totals. about a foot and a half to two feet possible here on staten island and we did speak to quite a few people who are really looking forward to the snow. many of them saying they plan to get out and play in the snow. we've got good and obviously this is not the safest snow to be out playing in today especially close to the roadways but none the less it is going to be significant snow fall here on staten island one to continue to watch piling up and keep you posted on throughout the morning. chris and mary back to you.

we'll be talking with the governor and mayor and we'll bring that to you live as well. but first let's head out to long beach on long island. >> ilana gold let's get right to you. white out conditions out there this morning. yes definitely white out conditions we are dealing with. a lot of blowing snow here on belong beach and conditions have gotten much worse in the last hour or so but i can tell you the wind is really the biggest problem. the gusts are so fierce it's difficult to stand out here. at times it's been impossible to see and keep our eyes open. the snow is just pelting us in the face. right notch we are standing on the boardwalk and we want to show you conditions off in the distance the snow is flying everywhere. very dangerous and windy out here and you can see not many people around this area. as far as the accumulation goes here on the boardwalk not seeing too much. maybe an inch or two but the

i have photographer evan point out here to the beach. you can see the accumulation there. about five inches so far and this is just beginning. conditions could get much worse as the day goes on. remember just a few seconds ago i told you how brutal it is out here. it is cold and windy. you can barely see but just a few minutes ago we actually saw a man running on the boardwalk. take a listen to what he has to say. >> what do you think of this weather. >> a little rough out here but not too bad. good day to get in a run. >> how long have you been running? >> about 45 minutes. i'm missing my friends who didn't care to join me this morning. >> lots of snow. >> it's really not that bad. you got to get your work out in. real simple right? >> thank you so much. >> not that difficult. thanks guys. >> thank you have a good one. >> definitely a brave man running out here in these

now flooding is also a big concern on long beach. take a look at these waves. they are massive and giant. the town put up these giant sand dunes trying to protect the boardwalk and nearby homes. so far we have not seen any issues but conditions could get much worse as the day goes on. live on long beach ilana gold cbs 2 news. >> thanks so much. in new jersey people bracing for heavy flooding there. >> voluntary evacuation notices were issued in a number of communities. let's take a live look at cbs 2's meg balker who is there this--baker who is there this morning. looks brutal. >> it is and it's powered by the winds bringing these waters up onto the street here on riverside drive. over to our left there is a plow going down first avenue but most of the cars have been removed. we just talked to the fire chief who said most people were

so they wouldn't get wrecked by the floodwaters. the fire department chief was also on the beach which is further this way and the three foot berm that is in place will hopefully protect the beach front homes but there is massive beach erosion expecting 12-foot waves in the area. we are seeing pretty big waves come over here. high tide around 7:00 a.m. this morning expected again around 7:00 p.m. and the issue here is there's a lunar high tide and with that these flood waters that now are coming up on us will get stuck inland and cause back bay flooding. the river also isn't too far off here so these homes most people were told get out yesterday because you can see at this point it may be too late to leave. but if they are told they do need to evacuate immediately the fire department and police will come around and go door-to- door. chris and mary? >> thank you so much.

check on the conditions there. >> hazel sanchez joins us live from a rest stop there with more on those conditions. >> yeah we are at the grover cleveland travel plaza and if you are familiar with this area you know that this travel stop is normally bustling with drivers especially truck drivers but as you can see behind me it's pretty much dead here. no one--not a lot of cars here probably because people are heeding the warning to stay off the roads. and trust me that is not where you want to be is on the road. we have been on the road since 3: 30 this morning and travel conditions have gotten worse. what you are seeing right here is the garden state parkway. not a lot of people on the highway right notch. i would say though to be quite honest with you probably within the last hour it's improved a little bit. the visibility is a little bit better than it was about an hour ago where it was practically zero visibility. quite frightening not just the visibility causing an issue but

packed on the highway that it was so slippery and then add to that the wind we were sliding all over the road so we decided to come here and play it safe and stay at this travel plaza. you can see again nobody on the highway. i'm going to spin you around here. i think that some of the plows are taking a break since it's slowed down a little bit. and this is the place to be for them right notch. you can see some of these other plows now pulling into this rest stop to take a much needed break because the worst may be to come. that's the latest here live from this traffic stop, hazel sanchez. send it back to you. >> thanks so much. now we are joined by the governor telling us about the state's response. thanks so much for talking to us this morning. i know it's been a busy 24 hours for you. >> it sure has. i earned my pay this 24 hours. [laughter] >> governor chris wragge and mary calvi on cbs 2 news this

so far what you have seen not only the state's response but the city's response to what's going on. i know it's the early stage of the storm but give us a progress report in your estimation so far. >> well i declared a state of emergency this morning. the forecasters have been right. we have been hit by the blizzard. they have actually upped the forecast 16 to 24-inches. i've been all through the metropolitan area this morning. westchester. i'm headed out to long island now. i've been on the roads. the roads are really dangerous. and we have everything open right now. the roads are open. the mta subway buses are operating. but the eye of the storm has not yet hit us. it hits us at 11 and it's going to get worse. we have done everything we can do to be prepared. wewe have the national guard, hundreds of pieces of equipment

the one element that we really want to stress is citizens have an obligation in this also. and you can get one person in a car, one accident, one stranded vehicle and it causes chaos because it backs up the roads and makes the situation really dangerous right away. there is no reason to be on the roads today unless it is a real emergency. i don't care how tough we are as new yorkers. i don't care how big the four wheel drive vehicle. the roads are really dangerous worse. so people really shouldn't be on the roads. and there's a chance that if the situation continues to deteriorate we close the roads or we close the bridges and then people could get stranded where they were. so my message is really stay home.

and we get through a lot of tough things. but today really is the day to stay home and stay off the roads. >> governor can we talk about the status of mass transit? we understand the mta has deployed hundreds of people to maintain subway operating. what do you expect in the next few hours in regards to that schedule? >> well we are seeing some delays. we are seeing some problems with signals and equipment especially on the rock away line. we have everything open right we have the buses open and the subways operating on weekend schedule. we are trying to stay ahead of the snow. we'll watch the situation as we go through the day. and if there's any changes that we have to make we will. we put away about 300 trains last night. so that we wouldn't be covered with snow and there wouldn't be any equipment problems with those trains.

how it goes and as the situation continues if there are more and more problems and it becomes a public safety issue then we'll make a different determination. but we try to keep things open as long as possible as long as we can do it safely. >> governor i'm sure-- >> people need to go to work. >> so sorry about that. i know people who are watching are expressing exactly what you were just getting to there. there are some people who do need to get to work and essential employees other people that may just want to venture out today we've had it in the past where we had to close things down completely. do you foresee knowing what you know now with the forecast and elevated snow totals do you sense that's maybe where we are heading? >> right now no. but that situation could change. we are seeing an increasing number of equipment issues this morning.

people need to move around. this is new york. and it's one of the busiest areas on the planet so we are going to do everything we can to keep it running. at this point i would not say we are going to close anything entirely. that could change. we may curtail some service. buses are having problems operating. and situations like that. but i'll know more in a couple of hours when we get full reports from the mta. >> i know you are having a later news conference but i wanted to ask you about flooding and concerns about breeches. anything that you've seen or your oems have seen and are you concerned about that going forward here? >> well you know, mary, my number one concern is flooding. snow we can deal with.

the flooding is the nightmare scenario from my point of view. and we've been through this before. storm i reason, storm lee, super storm sandy, the flooding is the worst. it's the worst danger and it does the most damage and the areas that we are talking about today especially long island they are vulnerable to flooding. it's very hard to evacuation long island as you know. so that's what we are keeping an eye on. we are moving national guard towards long island just in case that becomes a real problem. we haven't seen it yet. but we haven't had high tide yet either. so keeping our fingers crossed we expect some flooding but i hope that it's nothing significant. >> and governor last question before we let you go where are you headed now? i know you are going to be traveling all over the area checking on conditions but where's your next stop? >> i'm going to do a briefing

out to long island because we as we just said the flooding on long island is my number one concern from a public safety point of view right now. after that it's leaving roads open and people getting stranded on roads. as we chatted before you want to keep the roads open. the flip side is people get stranded. we've had this issue before. we had it on the long island expressway. i was saying all day stay home people came out and filled up the long island expressway got stuck on the expressway and then they wound up stuck on the expressway for the better part of a day. so that's the second concern. so between the flooding roads, long island expressway, et cetera that's what i'll be focusing on after the 10:00 briefing. the 10:00 briefing we want to

port authority about the airport situation which luckily the airlines canceled most of the flights yesterday. >> yup. >> so we don't have a lot of stranding at the airports but we'll have a full briefing at 10. >> governor thank you. we kept you out in the cold for a few minutes here so thank you so much for talking to us this morning. we'll see you in a little bit at the briefing. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you governor. safe travels out there. and of course we'll hear from him again for the briefing. we'll carry that live. we will carry that live for you as well. with all of the things we are talking about not even really mentioning the airport easement the airlines doing such a great job of that strike of canceling thousands of flights. >> he was talking about the national guard troops they've been sending to long island. 600 are available in the down strait region. we learned that number because flooding is the nightmare scenario according to the governor.

long island to see how they are doing the next few hours and talk to john elliot as well. >> you remember what happened with the lie with that snow storm. i was on mobile two and you talk about a situation out there with cars just stranded with literally no lanes passible so you have to stay off the roads especially now as our snow totals are ramping up. john is going to have that for you in a few moments but these numbers now going higher than what we were talking about yesterday so stay with us as we keep you up to date on everything. new york city seeing it's share of this blast of course. >> diane macedo is on a white upper west side. good morning to you. >> that's an under statement. we are here on 72nd and amsterdam. it's emptier than it would be but hardly deserted. we've seen buses and cars come through and pedestrians walking around.

a lot but the sidewalks are not plowed so be careful as you walk around. xavier is making his way to the upper west side. talk to me about what it's like walking through here right now. >> it's not see bad right notch because it's still soft but maybe later on it will get worse. >> what was it like for you? you worked the overnight shift. when you went into work it was okay and when you come out it's all of this. >> i didn't think it would be like this at all. even though they said a storm i wasn't expecting it. >> a lot of people are talking about bundling up, being prepared. what's your advice? >> yeah bundle up but if you can stay indoors. >> what's your plan for the rest of the day. >> netflix and chill baby. >> where are you headed right now? you are planning to hunker down and stay indoors. >> i'm going to stay indoors, eat dinner for breakfast, chill, that's it. take it easy. >> those of us that work the early mornings totally

breakfast and you are not that bundled. i don't understand how you are not colder. what's your advice for people if they do have to trek it out. >> make sure you bundle up. don't pull a me. make sure you are wearing boots not sneakers but if you can handle it do it like me but if not then take care. >> thank you so much. we appreciate you talking to us. can you tell us a little bit about what it's like to be out here today? >> it's crazy out here. it is really crazy. oh my god. i can't even see. can't even see. >> your eye lashes look like they are frozen. >> yeah they are. >> what brought you out here today. >> i'm at work. i worked last night so luckily my relief came in and i'm trying to get home. >> where is home for you? >> brooklyn. >> how are you planning to get there? >> by train. >> at least you'll be warm. >> i can't wait to get home. >> are you glad to know the subways and buses are still running.

>> any advice about getting outside? >> please stay inside. don't come out. don't. >> what's your plan for the rest of the day? >> stay home. get a warm coffee or hot chocolate with my little girl and be in bed and listen to the news. >> did you do any special preparations knowing you were going to have to come out for work. >> yes i did. i went shopping and have my emergency kits and everything i need. >> describe what it looks like for people who are at home tucked away. >> i don't think you want to be out here. it's a mess. i can't even see. my eye brows are frozen. the visibility is zero. if you don't have anything to do outside stay indoors. >> good advice. thank you so much. stay safe and get home. >> you too. be warm. >> thank you. you heard it she's competitiving great advice as you've been hearing all morning if you don't have to be outside stay home, stay safe, stay warm. but if you do have to be

does look pretty out here. on the upper west side live diane macedo cbs 2 news. >> as long as you are not driving. >> on the phone with us new jersey governor chris christie back from new hampshire. you came back in the nick of time. what are your thoughts so far from what you have seen or heard from the state of new jersey? >> it's about what we expected, chris. we are seeing a little bit more of snow fall on the northern part of the state than we originally anticipated but the roadways are passible. we don't want anybody out driving but they are passible for emergency vehicles. we seem to be able to move the snow fairly quickly and we are continuing to watch power outages. we have about 80,000 power outages so far. those are restricted mostly to the southern part of new jersey. a little bit in the central but mostly in the southern part of new jersey. and on the coastline we haven't

have in other places this is no comparison to superstorm sandy and people shouldn't be mentioning it and frightening people that way. we expect a little bit of street flooding at the jersey shore maybe at the high tide tonight but we don't expect having to do any evacuations and as you remember from sandy we evacuated the entire new jersey shore 48 hours before sandy. so we expect some minor flooding in the back bay areas but at this point nothing major. people should stay home. stay inside. stay warm. and last thing. if you lose your power and you are cold there's a shelter to go to with friends or family and we have them in every county. call local law enforcement if you need help to get there and they'll help you. >> when you talk about those numbers 80,000 power outages such a concern for people who are home and difficult to get out in all of this with seven to ten john elliot is saying already in new jersey. how is the state trying to help

>> it is and when you have trouble traveling yourself to shelter some place that's warm call local law enforcement to help you get to where you need to get to if you are elderly or infirmed in some way but i don't want people staying in very cold houses because they will get cold quickly and that's a health risk for you too. so the biggest thing because of the winds is significant power outages across the state but as soon as the winds die down a bit we'll be able to get bucket trucks out there with the utility companies and get the power beginning to be restored but right now it wouldn't be safe to try to work on wires right now. >> we just spoke with governor cuomo. his primary concern was flooding. is that your biggest concern or is it more snow related or roads? what's your number one concern? >> our number one concern is always flooding because of how destructive it could be

we are going to be okay in that regard. it does not seem like it's going to be anything that will cause any type of significant property damage and certainly not at the moment any type of evacuation. and so we feel pretty good about where we are at the moment from the flooding perspective but it's always something to keep an eye on because if it starts to happen it can be destructive but we expect people at the jersey shore will be okay today. just street flooding which is another good reason, don't go on the streets. >> and governor you've had many crews on stand by thousands of personnel ready to take action. what do you expect in the next few hours and what are the areas of biggest concern that they are trying to tackle right now. >> the crews are trying to tackle getting the snow off the roadways. we have 3800 pieces of equipment deployed throughout the state. our workers one of the state of the emergency allows you to do

place so they don't go back home. they sleep on the job and after they've done their shift then get back to their next shift which allows us to stay as close as we can to on top of the storm from a snow removal perspective. we have ten different armories that are activated from the national guard so if we need help, we don't yet, but if we do they are there and ready to go. so we feel very prepared. this is my 17th snow emergency in six years as governor so we know how this works. we know how to do it and we are getting it done for the people of the state. as long as they stay inside i think we'll be fine. >> you are saying you've had practice. >> just a bit, chris. just a bit. >> one final question for you as far as the rest of your day do you have a press conference scheduled? when can the people of new jersey get another update on the situation in your home state? >> yes we do. we'll be heading down to do a

headquarters down in wood bridge, new jersey. and then another event about 11: 15 this morning down in sayerville, new jersey. middlesex county town at the cross roads of the turnpike and parkway to get an idea of how the major roadways are doing as well. >> we know it's been busy so thank you so much for taking time to talk to us this morning. >> thank you and thanks for what you are doing keeping everybody informed it's a great help. and people of new jersey do not use the word super storm sandy and jonas in the same sentence. don't be concerned. it's under control and stay inside and be safe. >> we will emphasize that. thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you chris. time is now 8:28. we will continue to follow the forecast here.

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taking a live look for you as we continue our live team coverage. this is a live picture. heavy winds rough surf out there as well and the storm is just pounding as snow totals are really increasing and we have a number of news conferences coming up in the

governor cuomo will be speaking at 10:00 and the mayor at 11:00 a.m. >> and then governor christie in new jersey at 11: 15 so those stocked up for you coming up within the next couple of hours to get you updated on everything. let's get over to john elliot on an update on the forecast as we continue to see the snow fall. >> it's the snow and wind and waves and governor christie makes a good point. this is not superstorm sandy. we have already seen winds of 50 so legitimate serious concerns along the coast but it's a different kind of dynamic and the south shore as well. rudy just chimed in 29 degrees in blue point and his peak wind has been 26 miles per hour but that is going to go up as the center of the storm approaches and takes over. this was an interesting shot from richard in bell harbor. 28 degrees and look at this picture. it all depends on which way the

got a little drift outside his back door and you can see the icing on the window as well. so yeah i mean we are seeing some serious issues with this storm. and folks have the meters out. adam heater at middle town has a lonely shovel still waiting. parts of the hudson valley will tap into this as well. what we normally do is take a picture of the city and then put statistics on top of it. you can barely see the city. it's blowing and falling. 25 degrees we are looking down into a cloud here. wind out of the northeast gusts to 35. wind chill at 11. we are starting to see a little bit more intense snow filling in and notice this is filling in. watch what happens with the three hour loop and the snow fills back in. that is going to happen to the north as well. now we are seeing more snow fill into parts of sussex and westchester and that steady snow is why a lot of weather watchers saying visibility really poor for parts of long island and the center of the storm is still to the south.

but again you are looking at the possibility of a foot of snow for westchester county. if we can get the dry air in here the 12 to 18 may slide down into more of manhattan but likely we see more snow in staten island and brooklyn and queens. that's the way the storm is going to work. it's a pin wheel depending on if the line goes further to the north or retreats. the bulls eye off to the south parts of our area flirting with two feet of snow. we are being battered by the wind. worst itself along the coast. blizzard warning until tomorrow morning at least a three hour period of 35 plus. coastal flood warnings through our entire area. important reminders talking about a lot of snow and drifting and when you plow it through you maybe see your tailpipe get covered so make sure you check it before you take off tomorrow and your

don't use an oven or candle to heat and use space heaters carefully. don't even use a liquid filled heater in the garage. that's just not safe and if you do lose power i hope you don't but unplug the expensive computer and audio and video equipment because when it comes back on occasionally a surge can cause damage to your gear. governor cuomo talking about the next kind of band so let's talk about the band between now and 11 we'll see the snow fill in and likely more snow fall rates approach two inches an hour for a brief period. it won't be hours of that but that's the middle part of the day. there's another band right around 4: 00 that pushes through and watch the top of your t.v. screen as we work our way into the evening hours. it's still snowing at 10 but by 3: 00 tomorrow morning you start to see it exit and that is going to be good news. by sunday afternoon you are going to see the sun and it feels pretty good and temperatures are actually going

today if we get through it the kids are going to love tomorrow and they'll be at school monday. you'll love that and numbers are warm. there could be wet weather sloppy with rain on top of left over snow on tuesday. it's sloppy enough right now. it's snowing and blowing and piling up on staten island and that's where vanessa murdock has been hanging out all morning. what's going on now vanessa? >> hey john. it is still quiet along the sidewalks and people who are passing don't want to be stopped to talk. the roadways have been relatively steady with traffic and people are moving along at a good clip despite the fact that the roadways are completely covered here. as john mentioned this will be one of the places we see the most impressive snow totals across the city and a lot of snow can get interesting right? but here we go.

steadily for quite some time now and the official measurement in a place where the wind hasn't had significant impact because we are blocked by a building just to my right here so as for present snow fall totals here on staten inch mark. if you are doing it legitimately you should measure in three places and take the average. will continue. see the snow steadily falling and blowing as john mentioned we could see thunder snow this afternoon. and that would mean those totals stack up even more impressively in a short period of time. so a lot going on here but generally we see a stray person here or there. you see that guy in the yellow? he was walking backwards in our direction just a few minutes earlier so it is not easy to walk around on these streets and you should not be driving out here either but many people choosing to do so. i see somebody walking by. would you be willing to chat

>> let's face the wind so everybody can see how happy or miserable you are. how are you feeling? >> mixed reviews. i'm happy because i waited and hour and a half for the bus. i can't feel my toes anymore. >> you were heading home? >> i was going to work. i waited an hour and a half for the bus so i'm going to go home and relax. >> did you call in sick? >> i had to. i had no other choice. if you can't get to work what are you supposed to do? they canceled one of the bus services and the other bus that goes to the ferry hasn't come in an hour and a half so i tried my best. >> yeah obviously if you waited for a half hour that's very impressive so you have plans to go and enjoy the snow. what about tomorrow morning? you think they'll be ready to go? >> i think we'll be all right tomorrow. the mta is usually not too bad. no one loves them that much but they get us where we have to go

not coming an hour and a half is a little bit extreme. >> that is extreme. wow so you are pretty much frozen solid. you didn't grab a hot cup of coffee to go. >> i don't drink coffee. i'll make tea probably. >> i didn't get your name probably. >> andrew. >> we wish you all the best. >> stay warm. >> thanks for stopping. obviously not pleasant but it can be pretty from the warmth inside your home. live on staten island right now back to you. >> all right vanessa you waited an hour and a half for the bus there. >> the governor said there was equipment issues and the buses were on the top of the list. >> as i was driving in the buses are really difficult and really slow. >> the other thing that should be said too you saw the gentleman that vanessa referenced wearing a wind

colors on but to be walking on the road is dangerous but a lot of these cars don't have control. stay off to the side if you can. let's get to brooklyn find out what's happening there. checking in the conditions. andrea grymes is live in brooklyn heights. that wind is really whipping this morning andrea. >> got to tell you it's not easy to stand out here. we are in brooklyn heights. let me step out of the way. a lot more people out this morning than we would have anticipated. they are already snow blowing what they can. the clarks restaurant on the corner is open so people have been filing in there to get some hot coffee or hot chocolate or something. but it really is the wisheds as you can see. it's really difficult to talk. but we do have a couple people here with us. this is jonathan from arkansas, travis from louisiana. you are visiting brooklyn. what is it like and why are you

>> it's cold out here is what it is. we are going to get a bagel. that's what we are after. >> a bagel. what are you used to? >> not at all this is my first time seeing a snow storm like this. >> what do you think? >> it's pretty wild. extremely cold. >> it's cold. >> how would you describe it to your friends and family back home. >> we get snow in arkansas but not like this. this is unreal. this is unbelievable. man. so wow. >> yeah how would you describe coming out here when you first stepped outside. >> extremely cold, wet and nasty. >> are you dressed appropriately here? >> i don't know. [laughter] what is appropriately? >> like a million layers. >> i'm layered up. it's not bad. >> you are visiting for a couple weeks? what are your impressions of brooklyn here? >> i love it. it's beautiful. love all of the shops and places to eat.

>> and now you got a snow storm to tell people about. >> what a deal. >> you like it? >> yeah you bet. it's great. >> what about you? >> great experience to take back to the family and tell them about it. >> a lot of new yorkers were dreading the snow storm batboy we got a couple tourists really excited to be in it. >> having a great time. >> they waited several minutes to be on t.v. so we really appreciate it you guys. >> you bet. >> be safe. thank you so much. chris and mary my face is all wet from the snow pelting me in the face but in terms of snow totals here let's show you so far the streets at least here maybe a plow got down here once it was pretty bad driving along the west side highway. a lot more cars on the roads especially the west side highway than we would have anticipated. we are like where is everybody going here? but again it's the wind. so let me send it back to you guys in the studio.

get warmed up in the truck but live in brooklyn heights andrea grymes. >> unbridal joy out there. we love to see it the look on your face if we could capture that moment. it's so good to see. >> no let her go. let her go. >> so good to see a reporter enjoying their jobs like this. we all need have that type of approach. those hats we have, the news standard 2 we are going to have to get a couple for our way home at some point. >> andrea is dealing with serious conditions. everybody is going out and cleaning in shifts. >> you saw the snow blowers in the background. >> and hearing are twitter and facebook too. join the conversation. >> the governor said earlier it's everybody's responsibility out here and if you can get out there and shovel or help somebody out do it because there are people that are older or younger. get out there and earn a couple extra bucks or do it for free which would be the nice thing to do. >> get out and see how

diane it looked gorgeous out there. how are people dealing with it now. >> it does look kind of like a winter wonderland but if you are looking into the wind the snow is pelting you in the face. it's hard to appreciate it in that direction but there's a lot of people out. i want to give you a panned view of what we are looking at. still cars on the road traveling fairly slowly of course trying to be careful. the plows are coming through but the snow is falling quickly and the wind is picking it up and moving it around. a lot of pedestrians around here and james made me laugh. can you demonstrate what you looked like when i saw you walking around. this is how james bundles up. how are you doing in there? >> i'm doing great in here. it blocks the wind and the snow. >> it look like you are smiling. >> i'm pretty happy. >> show us more of your face now and tell us what brings you out today? >> work.

>> where is that? >> equinox. >> the gym is still open. >> we are always open during storms. people like to come and work out from the neighborhood. you get cabin fever and then go back home and have wine and watch movies. >> this is actually a pretty good day for business for you right? >> absolutely. >> what was your commute like from east harlem. >> it's crazy there. the snow is higher and you can't tell where the sidewalk and street meet so you have to be very careful. >> people have to be careful driving on the roadways. people have to be careful walking too. >> absolutely. i almost sprained my knee when i was trying to find the sidewalk to get to the bus but i made it. >> that aside you feel pretty warm under there. what kind of layers are we talking about. >> two layers underneath and a pair of shorts and my pants and two layers under a sweater and my big coat. i'm good. >> a lot of layers. the last guy we spoke to wasn't even wearing gloves but wasn't

>> as long as i have on the right attire i'm good. >> any advice for people who do or do not have to come out. >> if you do not have to come out stay home. i would have stayed home. >> what about those of you and me who have to work today. >> bundle up and be safe. >> great advice thank you so much. we hope you stay warm today as you are working and get home safe when you are done with the day. >> thank you very much. >> thank you james. take care. that's the theme we are seeing. tell us about what you are wearing today? >> he's determined to get where he's going and it's hard to blame him but the snow the gets higher and higher. i'm wearing snow boots but my feet are covered and no plows on the sidewalk at the moment. we are seeing a snow blower going across the street right notch but it's the first snow blower we've seen on the sidewalk so far and may be hard to see it on the camera because they are running around but for the most part the sidewalks are

are walking in really deep snow it's sometimes hard to see where the sidewalk starts and where the street ends so it's easy to trip, slip and step down unexpectedly. talk to us about what it's like to walk around in this weather. >> it's really gross. >> what are you doing out here. >> i have to go to work unfortunately. >> where is work? >> so hoe. hopefully,--dsoho. >> how does it feel outside here. >> awful right now. >> do you think it looks pretty at least? are you appreciating it or are you trying to get out of here. >> it looks pretty but i have to go to work. >> where are you from. >> i'm frank from mexico. >> how does this contrast. what was it like for you to come outside and see all of this. >> i went to sleep stand was nothing and when i opened my

>> do you feel like the umbrella is helping you. >> not really, no. don't do this people. don't use umbrella. >> this is the warning of what not to do. is the wind effecting you at all? >> yeah look at my face. i'm all wet already and i just left my house. >> for people who are driving on the roadways today we've been seeing the plows coming through. have you seen any kind of sidewalk clean up for pedestrians at all? >> nothing is clean yet at all. at least not today. i don't think they are going to clean today because the storm is going to go on all day so there is nothing clean. >> any advice for people watching from home? >> stay home. >> that's it. stay home. >> yeah stay home. >> thank you so much. we hope you get to work safely. >> stay safe guys. >> there you have it again the snow is really coming down hard right now. you can probably see it in the shot. the winds are coming and going. sometimes it seems calm and peaceful and other times you get hit with a really hard draft so for people who are walking around as well as

bundle up and layer up if you do have to come outside. live on the upper west side diane macedo cbs 2 news. >> she did not get the queue two questions in let me go to work. >> so our viewers--[laughter] our viewers are up early as you can see and they've been moving through our area. >> over in jersey diane took this picture. >> we have a facebook page in north bergen at this hour. >> roman posted this picture in sheeps head bay brooklyn. drivers heeding warnings and staying off the road. nice shot in the middle of the street. >> how about the effect from scars dale where they are blanketed with snow really coming down there. we want to see what you are doing during the storm. send us your pictures at facebook.com/cbs new york or tweet us.

tweeting just add cbs new york to the tweets so we can get them on the air as well. we want to get the updates on the situations. get back over to john and find out where we stand with the forecast. >> the good news is we are hearing from people so they are hunkered down enjoying the storm. let's see what our weather watchers are up to. patricia has a 29. i'm hoping this is richard and i had reports of some flooding along long beach. trying to get these new reports in. 32 at thomas smith and manchester township and he's reporting as of 8 he has 13- inches and definitely in the 12 to 18 plus. parts of monmouth and ocean could see over 18-inches. new numbers coming in in just a second. here's a snap shot of the city from our camera. yeah high atop the city as we look down into the wind and the

of 35 feels like 11. so neptune is reporting officially 10-inches of snow. laguardia an official report of 9-inches. newark 6.5. central park 6-inches from the national weather service. as you go out and measure the snow you have to average because there's a lot of drifting going on so you are going to get the staggering numbers from a drift and pulled from somewhere else artificially low so the best bet is to find an open area nolte close to a structure if you can. it's uncomfortable to be out there so i understand that. we are watching a few things. watch the green line. it dissipated because there is cold air. a little bit of dry air trying to take over but the dry air in south jersey has filled back in. we have another band right there you see through parts of west chesser and fairfield county.

hour snow fall rate falling so that is where we are seeing very intense snow and see this right there? that's andrea where that white is pushing through. it's the wind and the snow for warts for parts of brooklyn- -parts of brooklyn. watch out you are going to see that in nassau county as well. you get a sense of the storm. just got a tweet from mike on camera two. he's building a snow man in waiting river and he's thrilled. so are the kids so have fun. make sure they get breaks because they are hardy but they still need to take breaks. here's that 12 to 18 to the north. getting reports of monmouth county, middlesex too, 13- inches now, 18 to 24 doable for you. it all depends on how much of a pivot we see with that system coming on board and there is going to be an issue with wind.

between now and say noon we could see more 40 to 50 miles per hour winds fill in and 48 miles per hour winds for long island. some localized flooding but it's more pronounced and problematic because it's a northeast wind so really slams into the jersey shore. of course we are watching that as well. so you know what, you keep watching. stay there and stay safe. right now we are going to send it back to chris and mary. >> johnny thanks so much. we want to talk with shreveport mayor robert kennedy right now. give us an update on the situation in your area right now. >> well i'm down on the mile and i'm wishing it was sunny and the mile is packed but unfortunately about an eighth of a mile visibility. we have real high winds in free port, 10 to 12-inches but thank god there was no flooding today. high tide was at 7:38 and beginning to recede now. streets are not flooded. >> that's really good news

concern. >> yeah so we've in the last few years we've had many back flow preventers to prevent the tides from coming in and if it's not breeching we've been fortunate. today is a great day of what they can do and the streets is where it would happen. >> i know you've got another high tide coming up around 7:30 tonight with the brunt of the storm not over top of us just yet are there any concerns moving forward today? >> we are watching the storm. the winds are exceptionally high out here coming from the east so not going to be good to let the tides go back out but we are watching it now. we are going to watch the predictions from the weather forecast. but hopefully we get through this without too much damage other than accumulations of snow. >> mayor kennedy we know it's a tough one for you. you are trying to keep up with the snow coming down so thanks so much for taking time to talk

let us know how things go as the storm continues throughout today. we'll be with you through it. a live look for you as we take a moment our eye on the storm

after this. is.

back just hearing we are now officially in blizzard territory. in new jersey people living along the shoreline bracing for heavy flooding down there. >> let's talk about voluntary evacuation noticed issues in a number of communities. we find meg baker who has been there live through the morning dealing with the winds blustering and blowing this meg good morning to you. worried about the waves behind you too. >> yes i'm going to have to watch my back here but the real story is the winds. they continue to pick up here. also feels like the temperature has really dropped but the snow now turning to sleet making it awfully slippery out here. these waves are coming up over the bulk head behind me. this was expected the mayor knew this was coming and spoke to us about this. this is caused from the high tide that came in around 7:00 a.m. expected to stay with us throughout the day and could

these waves have caused by the back bay flooding and powered by the full moon. that's the real concern in this area and keep you posted down here for the rest of the day. chris and mary? >> meg thanks. be careful out there. let's get over to john to get an update on where we stand with this storm at this hour. johnny? >> looking at nine inches already being reported in the city. i just got an vacation observation from gilbert in tom's river. there was a brief time where they lost power and when the flakes hit the wind child it is melting so you just heard meg talk about mixing going on along the shore. it's slightly warmer there with 35. numbers for the weather watchers again a lot of folks in the 20s but we are picking up more readings in the 30s along the shore. just got a few new pictures in. this is tim.

jersey so you can obviously see