the nfc championship game. we are live in charlotte with highlights and reaction. plus two teams killed in hit- and-run overnight. we are live with the latest on the search for the driver. and we will preview tonight's democratic debate here on wnc in. good evening i am maggie newland thanks for joining us. what a day today in charlotte. pact panthers will -- panthers will host nfc championship game after beating the seahawks 31- 24 todd gibson joins us from bank of america stadium with highlights. >> reporter: maggie when things got dicey in the second half. my son texted me on the phone this. and no i said son they will hold on for the win and they did hold on for the win. # 1-2 the final and now carolina moves on to the nfc champion game and knobbing off the two-time super bowl he par test pay thing seahawks. let's hoe you what happened.

fans rolling in and on the very first place pray great start very first play stewart goes 59 yards before he is dragged down he would score #-0 and on seattle -- 7-0 and on seattle's first possession ball flutters and kuechly picks it and 14-0 carolina. and still in the first half, stewart up and over for the touchdown. making it 21-carolina and the the cats are off and rolling seat. then -- seattle. then cam newton to greg olsen caps the highlights spectacular pass for the the touchdown. seattle scored 24 points in the second half and makes things interesting, carolina would go on for the win, 31-24 carolina with the win. and moving off to the nfc championship game. in the locker room after the game post game locky room happy. here's what they had to say. >> we want to start the game

starting the game with an attitude going at them. and couldn't have started any bet another it feels good i won't lie and it's awesome. it's a great feeling you know. it's everything you strive for and work for as part of the vision. we have not accomplished what we want yet. >> you better be on your game if you you -- if you are going to play us and to win in front of our crowd at home knowing we will host again next week, it's going to be a special week here in the carolinas. >> reporter: 16-1 can you believe that panthers are 16-1 after today's 31-24 win over seattle. carolina will go on to the nfc championship game and host cardinals here next week. that will start at 6:40 here at bank of america stadium. fans celebrating on the -- in the street as we stand outside of the stadium. carolina heading off to the nfc championship game. >> congrats to the panthers. it was a noise day in charlotte. the sun barely came out around here.

bill predicted with snow. the video was taken roxboro that you are watching in person countych the snow stuck to grs and cars there it was too warm to stick to the roads. some of the people we spoke to say they are ready for it. >> i love it. it's a little late but i feel like i am at home so i welcome all cold and i like the cold weather you know i can't stand the summers. but, this is rhode island in a little bag. >> i think it's extremely late. you know, everybody wants snow around christmas time. but i guess it's better late than never. >> it sure was pretty to watch. meteorologist bill reh here anymore snow. >> not in the immediate future people say it's late. the normally snowiest month of the year is february. late january and february. so, i don't know meteorologically it may not be late i wanted to show you thereview. by 12:30 or so everything was

you will see starting around 9:00 this morning ace put it in motion you see snow and snow up in roxboro and it got intense right around the franklin county area and warren county and they picked up on grass about an inch there in halifax and roxboro a half inch. where you see the blue that's where flakes were reported. it was a trace in the triangle. and rocky mount a 10th of an inch. it was here and it's gone and gone now. temperatures are getting cold. it's down to freezing south hill virginia and roxboro. 35 degrees in raleigh and pulling out, the precipitation we had this morning moving well up to the north snow in new york city and we have dry air moving in. and so for the evening hours, temperatures will just continue to fall through the 30s and skies will clear out a little bit and overnight tonight, it's a holiday for folks tomorrow so hopefully you won't head out in the 20 degree readings. but we will see teens when you head back to work or school on tuesday morning. we will talk about that coming

>> all right we will check back bill. tonight troopers are investigating a deadly hit-and- run. two teens were killed and another is in critical condition. investigators are now asking for the public's help to find the driver. wncn lauren haviland is live with the latest. lauren. >> reporter: the teenagers were walking along this stretch of highway behind me. it's u.s. 4 # 1 in harnett county. they had -- they had less than a mile to walk between gas homes. >> she loved doing makeup and we did each other's makeup yesterday rushes after doing makeup yes cay -- yesterday. >> reporter: after doing makeup jessyk cana and her sister went to the convenience store on 421 with their friends kyle street and 14-year-old steven daniels. >> we were going to get candy and on the way back the truck

and ran down three of my friend and kept going and never stopped and stomped on the gas and kept going. >> reporter: troopers say jennifer and kyle were killed. steven is critically injured. jessyka was unharmed in she is 13 years old a prime of her life and something like this happens and we just thought a lot of her and she was sweet and kind. >> thee was a goof ball and she loved being loud and making annoying noises and she was really great. kyle was a really good friend of mine. he was loud and funny just like jennifer. >> reporter: while multiple families are in mourning, they have a message for the driver. >> turn yourself in because it's going to be worse in the end. there's lot of people upset. >> i wish they would turn themselves in and man up and the family would be at ease and i believe he would be more at ease. >> i wish it hadn't happened. >> reporter: now again, the

and-run and they need the public's help at this point. they need help in identifying the car and the driver of this deadly hit-and-run. if you have any information that can help investigators, you need to call the highway patrol. live in harnett county lauren haviland wncn news now. a man is dead after being head by a vehicle while ridinghis motorcycle. it happened yesterday evening about 5:30 on gillespie. police say 26-year-old justin dunlap of hope mills crossed the center median and veered into oncoming traffic and crashed into a 2015 harley davidson. driver 47-year-old lynn edward ratley died. dunlap faces charges of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and careless and reckless driving and he is in the cumberland county detention center with $100,000 bond. a house was damaged this afternoon after a fire broke out just before 3. the one story home on parkland drive was heavily damaged on at least

fortunately no injuries were reported. no word on the cause of the fire. turning to politics now tonight in charleston south carolina, a democratic debate drama. hillary clinton and bernie sanders are ramping up rhetoric as the polls tighten in iowa. and gun control is one of the mayne issues of contention. brian mooar has the story from washington. >> reporter: in the battleground state of south carolina, thestage is set for the last democratic debate of the preprimary season and hillary clinton is in attack mode. >> that center-- senator sanders has for years vote on behalf of the nra gun lobby. >> reporter: she said she was for protecting gun sellers and makers before he was against it. >> he flip-flopped last night and said that he would sign onto a bill. >> reporter: tonight's debate takes place a block from the charleston church where 9 people were gunned down last june. but sanders says clinton's taking off the gloves because of a very different issue.

gaining in iowa and leading in new hampshire. >> secretary clinton and her campaign understand that you know he, they are losing ground. >> reporter: and sanders promises to hit clinton on issues from health care to. >> a corrupt campaign finance system where people like secretary clinton can raise millions of dollars through super packs. those are kind of the issues they don't want to discuss. >> reporter: for the third candidate on the staig former maryland governor omalyea simpler mission -- o'malley, geta simpler mission get a word in edgewise. clinton and sand airs gee both predict a spirited debate -- sanders agree on one thing, both pretake the spirited debate. eye ran's president says the nuclear deal was 6 world powers is a win-win for everyone. three americans freed in a prisoner exchange with iran traveled to europe today. we have a report from tehran on the state of diplomatic relations between the u.s. and iran.

>> reporter: at least of the three prisoners left country. this is the culmination of a long diplomatic process between america and iran diplomatic process that started with the the nuclear deal. >> in the nuclear deal no party has beaten another party. the iranian nation has won. nobody was beaten in the nuclear deal neither inside the country nor among the countries that negotiated with us. >> a few years ago it would have been unthinkable for iran and america to be talking directly to each other. but the direct talks resulted in nuclear deal release of american iranian priss fleers and voiding of -- prisoners and avoiding of high seas or another hostage situation where u.s. navy sailors drifted into iranian territorial waters. this is a long process since the nuclear negotiations started. the two sides have warmed relation but we have to be cautious of the fact iran and america have different strategic interests in the

they don't see eye to eye on many issues but they have started to talk. a step in the right direction but stale long way to go. as we have seen today, president obama imposed new sanctions on iran over the missile program something not to go down well with the ruling establishment. iran and america may be enemies but at least they are enemies talking instead of fighting. nbc news, tehran. the panthers just keep pounding as they now will host the nfc championship game next week. coming up, we will head back to charlotte and hear from some of the fans at today's game against the seahawks. plus, why thousands of students are in raleigh this weekend to play video games. >> and good evening i am meteorologist bill reh.

will get cold to panthers fever is take over the carolinas as the panthers advance to the nfc championship game. wncn photo journalist michael bernard caught up with fans ahead of the win. >> go panthers. >> oh. >> go panthers. >> it was a great season. great. it was going to get better. >> go panthers. >> you can't beat it. it's the best experience.

neighbor and it's just great. >> this is great for the city. the city of charlotte is growing and the excitement and you feel the energy i mean look around at the people out early in the morning and i mean it's a great feeling for up and coming city like charlotte. >> seahawks. >> on friday so spent the day uptown and what great time so far. you must be torn about who to root for russell william -- wilson or cam. >> i can proudly say i am a chartol ean. i can -- charlotte teean and i am glad and i am so excited. >> it might be seahawk weather but it's carolina country so the panthers will prowl today. >> 24-20 panth anothers we willing to keep pounding and to pill over the seahawks. that's a rivalry now to us so, we should win this game i know we are going to win it.

happy fans there. a very different type of competition today in raleigh as hundreds of local college students stayed inside and played video games. about a thousand students from a dozen col neglects north and south caroline gathered at nc state for the clash of the carolinas. organizers call it the largest college video gaming competition to date on the east coast. it was pulled together by the carolina collegiate east boards commito and nonprofit called operation supply drop which delivers games and consouls to combat zones and bases around the world. >> you can meet other gameers in your area and network and things like that but also it breeds competitiveness and see who you are competing against in the area and hopefully step up the game. >> veterans who have just gotten out of the military one of the first stops is college and that is great way for us to connect with the veterans and say hello, and kind of meet and greet. >> this was the first year for the free event and organizers hope to make it an annual competition. check out this video of the

through southwest florida overnight. two people were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed as an ef2 tornado hit man tee county. governor scott says the state is working to do whatever is needed to recover from the storms. >> i know where i live, i mean it was so loud last night it was really or early this morning was -- i will be going up there whatever the state you know needs to do we will be doing our part but i know the city ace -- cities and counties are doing their part. >> florida power and lights lost power. unbelievable pictures out of there. tornadoes here. >> yeah we get exciteed about snow but it's nothing compared to what they had down in florida and unfortunately they had a couple deaths. >> very serious. >> yeah that's the warm air ran into cold air up here and we had look at flakes giant flakes that looks like from clayton a picture sent in to send it send your pictures at sendit@wcnc.com and we good little bid of video from some of the snow that was falling.

so we had enough moisture aloft it did come down as snow but most melted although came down pretty heavy at times that it did accumulate in few spots. not in chapel hill. chapel hill this is looking down franklin street the afternoon after the rain and a little snowflakes left chapel hill. took a while the sun came out and turns out to be a beautiful sunset and now it's nighttime right. here's map again and the snow reports. if you see blue that's where flakes were reported a trace rdu. and then some areas were kind of surged it surged in the late in the morning to around lunchtime around franklin county and warren and halifax county and an inch of snow around grassy surfaces in isolated spots but we got the reported into us but it's fun to watch and now we have to deal with the cold temperatures. that's the big news. this is going tie text you more than getting exciteed about seeing a few flakes in the morning -- going to get you excited more than get excited about a few flakes in the

it's going to be the coldest night of the year since winter started last year this is going to be very, very cold especially tuesday and wednesday mornings. we are talking teens. 32 right now is cold in roxboro and louisburg. 35 in raleigh and 39 in fayetteville. 37 in wilson. and the snow departs goes up to new york city and boston and a few snow showers in the mownins and there's clearing skies trying to occur and a wedge of clear skies there. and that's going to work the way in as a matter of fact winds will be out of the west tonight and that will really dry us out. and we have got some dry weather coming our way. but brilliant sunshine race of sunshine. >> 10. >> there it is for tomorrow is is a 10. it doesn't get brighter than that. so let's talk about a few partly cloudy skies giving way to mostly clear skies overnight. 35 at 9, and 31 at 3 a.m. and we are into the 20s when you get up in the morning but the blue numbers are the wind chill. it will feel like it's below

up to 34 at 3. and noontime we should be around freeze and here are the highs raleigh 35 durham 34 and fayetteville 39 but as you saw with the wind chills fielding colder than that. front comes through with the arctic air and for futurecast pretty simple here. it's clear and clear, clear and this high brings in northwesterly flow and we just stay well below normal. now tuesday morning when you head back to work or school after the martin luther king holiday teens for lows and we might stay at or below freeing in many spots on tuesday -- freezing in many spots on tuesday. snow in the midwest with the low. going up to the north we will have a few clouds on wednesday partly sunny but i am going keep it dry in here until friday and we will is have a good decent shot of rain. sunny and cold tomorrow. after our lows in the 20s and low 30s in the sand hills and northwest wind 5 to 10 and it's going to be 39 in fort bragg and rayford -- raeford. 35 wilson and 36 smithfield and 35 rocky mount.

35 cary and 31 in roxboro so on monday some folks along the virginia border will stay below freezing. i have an official high of 32 on tuesday and that's when we will get into that because you will be out to work and at the bus stop. wind chills around 10 and 18 degrees actual air temperature after a low of 17 and it will be freezing all day long. look at those lows. 17 and 19. a few clouds on wednesday but dry. and now on friday, we will see some rain and it's setting up now it will be mainly a rain event but i won't rule out a few flakes if it starts early enough and ends late enough that could end as slight snow showers early saturday morning. so we will keep ion on that. but -- an eye on that but plan on friday being a wet day. until then dry but cold. the high today, 42 and the forecast high was 42 so duke home care and hospice 100 dollars to buy heat. because you will need it. tomorrow's high is only 35.

>> yeah and 32 tuesday and it's going to be cold. all the coats and. >> yeah. >> jackets you didn't need in keys you need them -- december you need them. the government is spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to save a bird. coming up next, the battle

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government restrictions to save the bird's habitat make it harder for them to make a living. >> you stop grazeers and energy development and you are stopping all the spin-off that is go with that the people who have jobs and live in the areas. >> reporter: a million sage grouse have dwindled to a few hundred,000. the new federal budget prevents them from beinglessed as endangered prompting more rules ranches argue regulations in the works will be just as restrictive. >> you will draw up to a 2 mile radius around it and you can't do grazing within the area and you are driving them out of business. >> reporter: environmentalist say more is at stake. >> 350 species of birds and wildlife that depend on the future of the ego system and that's big part of what he at stake not the one bird. >> reporter: local officials and ranchers and conservationist say washington should bow out and let them decide how the bird and

tracie thets nbc news. -- tracie pottsn beech c news. >> we will -- potts nbc now is. >> coming up on nightly news a southern showdown ona lot on the line for hillary clinton and bernie sanders as the race tightens in the early voting states. also an nbc news investigation into claims of new problems in cars already involved in a massive recall. and an idea that seems to defy logic. why some schools decided to give their students more recess. all that hey buddy, let's get these dayquil liquid gels and go. but these liquid gels are new. mucinex fast max. it's the same difference. these are multi-symptom. well so are these. this one is max strength and fights mucus. that one doesn't.

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check this out a car smashed into a gas station nearly hitting a woman inside. woman disappears from sight as the car flies into the convenience store and it appears she is hit fortunately the car just missed her. store workers dragged the two people inside the car out to safety and they were taken to the hospital for treatment and no word on what caused the crashcredible she survived. >> yeah -- incredible shesurvived. >> yeah. she is looky and the drivers. you are lucky if you have your carve -- scarf gloves and tomorrow 35 and look at the lows in the teens. tuesday and wednesday morning rain by friday.

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