way out of the marina and back to deep sea where it belongs. >> tammy: could you imagine seeing that in the water? >> larry: no. well a kidnapping . >> tammy: news 13 at 5:30 starts now. >> jason: no rest for the weary. i'll show you when the heaviest rain is coming and how much. >> reporter: what is this crazy spring-like weather doing to the flowers and crops. i'll tell you on news 13. >> larry: next, how the season for refunds is well underway. now from western north carolina's news leader, this is news 13 at 5:30.

weather has local farmers concerned. chief meteorologist jason boyer joins us. how long is it going to stick around? >> jason: i think around midnight a lot of this is going to move out. here's some of the heaviest rain south and west. and it's coming down pretty good now. macon county, jackson county, cherokee, and swain county. already adding up to nearly 4/10 of an inch. shy of 1/10 of an inch in asheville. you've had plenty of rain so far today. almost to half an inch. upstate. look at this, 60s and 70s of here. boone and greensboro. that's the warm front, folks. certainly warmer for us the next

but of course wet tonight. a lot of rain is going to fall. temperatures holding around 60 degrees. could be a little more of course in the upstate. your temps will be in the mid 60s. i'll show you the bigger changes by new year's, stick around for that. >> frank: there are real concerns it could lead to problems with flowers and farms. ashlea surles joins us live. >> anchor: ashlea, this is crazy. there are apple trees there growing buds right now? >> ashlea: that's right, hope. you can see some of the buds here. they're tightly packed cocoons. they are surprising to see this time of year. but folks at the orchard said they're really not that worried. the time to worry would be when

these things started to turn in to flowers. 60s and raining in december? it's muggy, it's damp. it sure feels like spring. these days, even the dandelions and daffodils. >> they're not going to get the flowers they typically have. >> ashlea: if plants grow buds right now, it's no problem. but if those buds bloom, the plants likely won't flower again until 2017. but agricultural agent cliff boone says he's not worried yet. >> if we don't see any cold weather in january, yeah, there might be problems then.

it's actually not a big worry for us. it's actually a good thing because the pruners can go out there and prune the trees. >> ashlea: they've got extra time right now to make sure it's healthy. to yield a strong crop, most apple varieties need temperatures below 45 degrees every winter and there's still plenty of time for that to happen. >> it would be nice to get cold weather and make it seem like it's winter here. >> ashlea: you can compare of these buds to the tops of leaves already. it shouldn't mean any long-term damage to flowers. it just might mean a less colorful spring for you in your yard. >> hope: days of extreme weather have been wreaking havoc across the country. at least 16 people drowned in

missouri as historically heavy rains produced flash floods. tornados swept through texas over the weekend killing 11 people. michigan are in the path of a winter storm. >> reporter: i'm jennifer reporting in yukon, oklahoma. one of the hardest hit areas after a storm hit over the weekend. you can see here, about an inch of ice covering the roadways. and this ice is also covering power lines. some of them coming down, crashing to the ground. and right now in yukon, there's 15,000 customers without power. i'm here in amarillo where heavy snow and strong winds came through the area causing damage to the panhandle. the root of a medical office complex blown right off. several vehicles still stuck in

some residents required to stay in their car for several hours. >> reporter: the ice is falling steadily here. right now we are on the highway. it is slick. just the first few hours of this storm, police have responded to several crashes and slide-off. much of southwest michigan is under a warning until tuesday morning. the sleet and snow expected to continue and will transition in to freezing rain. some areas could see up to a half an inch of ice. because of the dangerous conditions, governor rick snyder has ordered offices to be closed this afternoon. at this point police are telling people if you do not have anywhere to be, just stay off the roads.

michigan, i'm britney gray. >> frank: new developments in a case that began with an amber alerd. one of four suspects, trena weaver of asheville had her court appearance this afternoon. alleged kidnapping of three-year-old harlee and one-year-old elijah joyner. >> i didn't see the children leave. but we saw the children being taken in. >> by the woman? >> mm-hmm. >> frank: belinda says trena was taken a few is hundred feet from where williams lives. an asheville man indicted on multiple child felony sex

offenses. antwon miller was granted a court appointed attorney. >> hope: we have a traffic alert for drivers taking i-26 towards hendersonville soon. >> frank: there's a crash, jaclyn. >> jaclyn: frank, all the way back up to patton avenue. it's a good idea to avoid that stretch of i-26 if you can. heads up for drivers over in candler. the fire department is on scene directing traffic in the area. that's a look at your on time traffic report brought to you by debruhl's. >> frank: after christmas, many of us seek out a

'tis the season for returns. john, they handled hundreds of returns at that location alone today. >> john: that's right. for many, it's the perfect time to give back. >> thank you for calling the ups store, this is olivia, how can i help you? >> john: tim is just another face in the crowd. >> i actually expected to see more people here returning some pants that my wife bought me for christmas. and i need a different size. i'm going to send them back. >> john: in the same boat, we meet jim. >> some pants that weren't quite right. >> john: a common theme today. >> yes, i'm sure. >> john: the south asheville ups store expected returns. >> today we've had a lot of people coming in with pre-paid return labels. >> john: watch how quick. just like that.

whether your gift was order online or from a brick and mortar store like target, the lines could be daunting. >> i didn't realize the line was going to be this long. target does not usually take returns unless you have a store receipt. >> john: you have 90 days for most things. 30 days for electronics. sometimes it's complicated just like the reason for the return. >> it didn't take long at all. it was not a bad gift it's just i wanted a different gift. >> john: most haven't lost their holiday cheer realizing returns come with the territory. >> we'll get it all taped up and out of here. >> john: and here at this ups store alone, they handled about 300 returns today. and by the way, the national

retail federation says about 35% of returns are actually fraudulent. that includes folks who return stolen merchandise or use them and then return them for a refund. live in asheville, john le, news 13. >> frank: a local grocery store opens up an expansion. how many jobs the new edition is bringing.

holid >> frank: markets drop slightly at the start of a short holiday week on wall street. the dow was off 23 points finishing at 17,528. the nasdaq down 7 ending at 5040. >> hope: the owners of a local grocery store are hiring with the opening of their new expansion tomorrow. >> frank: inviting the public to check out the new edition to their downtown asheville store. the expansion includes specialty areas like coffee, ice cream, sandwich and butcher shops. apply for more than 30 positions within these new shops. >> definitely put in your application.

tell us what you love to do. tell us why you love food. why you love this community. tell us a little about yourself. and let's grow in to a nice amazing team. >> frank: the owners tell us they expect the other editions, including a pizza parlor and bar to open in the coming months. >> hope: customers have until thursday, december 31st to claim refunds for unauthorize messages. they were buried if bills. that activity is known as cramming. wireless carriers agreed to pay settle claims with the government. >> frank: overall spending rose nearly 8% from last year. the report shows that online spending was up 20%.

shopping at physical stores still accounts for the majority of spending. warm weather this fall pushed back the need for warmer clothing >> hope: i actually just bought myself a new winter hat, a beanie and i feel like i'm not going to need it. >> jason: famous last words, though, hope. we are certainly going to get our snow. i believe it. 66 degrees for the high temperature. it wasn't a record. you have to go back to 1989 for the high. it was a goose egg for the record home. 56 degrees. another record low this morning. just shy of 7 inches for surplus this year in terms of rain. flood watches out. more mid-week rain and a cold new year.

happy holidays. now your news 13 skywatch weather. >> jason: well the rain has arrived in jackson county. here's our view from our leicester carpet sales news13 sky cam network. a time lapse of several hours at western carolina university. 66 and a balmy degrees. there's nobody walking around there on the quad, i'm sure. rain chances in asheville, very high tonight. brief break and right b bk up to 80%. likely going to find more widespread rain on thursday. no rain expected new year's day, nor saturday in to the weekend. that is great news. i think we'll start a decent, prolonged, if you will, dry spell in the new year. dew .59 degrees.

probably around late may for a dew point temperature. not this time of the year. warmer in the upstate. 66 degrees for the dew point. that is one juiced up atmosphere. raining down heavy in those areas south. we set a record warm low. the warmest morning temperature ever recorded christmas eve morning, christmas day morning, saturday morning, sunday morning, and this morning. five days in a row. the forecast low is warmer than the record warmest low temperature for tomorrow morning. so we could have six in a row. unbelievable. you never see that, folks. i'm telling you. here comes the cold front moving slowly surely. tuesday before the next system comes up from the gulf. and it's all rain again lasting

wednesday's rainfall will be just a little less. it may not be as much. rain heavv and steady going east. by day break, a lot of us already drying out. we get in to sunshine in the afternoon. depending on how much sunshine we get, we can get to 70 degrees. forecast high is 68. future cast in to wednesday afternoon. there it is. rain spreading over the entire rea. a few over midnight. monday, we've seen our rain already. tuesday, half an inch. wednesday, another half an inch. adding it all up, it could be two inches. 50s and 60s across the area with th rain, again, likely. high temperatures tomorrow should get in to the 60s and 70s. closer to 70s in asheville. there's your 7 day.

headed in to the new year. we're going for 55 new year's eve. if you're out in the festivities new year's eve night, expect it in the 30s and 40s. >> frank: setting records for all the wrong reasons. time to check out the "see it, shoot it, send it." white oak mountain. >> hope: at least she escaped some of that rain. log on to wlos.com or e-mail them to pics@wlos.com. >> frank: a new sports documentary has peyton manning all fired up.

wit >> frank: peyton manning is firing back against the blockbuster report accusing him of using enhanced substance. >> hope: human growth hormone when he recovered from an injury. >> of course it's a very nice achievement. >> reporter: nfl star peyton manning furious and fighting back after this aljazeera made allegations against him.

the documentary called the dark side. assisting manning and other pro athletes to get performance enhancing drugs. he helped the super bowl champ rehab. claims manning was sent human growth hormone, a performance enhancing drug banned by the nfl under his wife's name. >> a growth hormone everywhere. florida. it would never be under peyton manning. it would always be under her name. >> it's completely fabricated. it's sick that it brings ashley in to it. >> reporter: he's fully recanting the story claiming he was testing the reporter. >> absoluting false.

>> this guy insinuated i cut corners and broke nfl rules. it's a joke. it's a freakin' joke. >> reporter: a time when manning was no longer being treated. and aljazeera investigative reporter discussed that the dates and how much was spent on the drugs. elizabeth hur, abc news, new york. >> frank: it's been a year of meeting great people. leading up to 2015's person of the year. coming up at 6, one of the

the other mile. >> anchor: a family spends christmas eve in the hospital after a serious car wreck involving the mayor's wife. tonight, police investigate if

alcohol was involved.