no snow in the upstate, it will be confined to the north carolina mountains. even the foothills and all the way over to rally, where they had - - all the way over to raleigh-durham, where they had flurries. it will get colder. now back to you. gabrielle: now back to western north carolina, where snow caused a short day of school for a lot of students. wyff news 4's mike mccormick is live and local in haywood county. mike, show us what it is like the right now. mike: the wind john was talking about is no joke. we are getting nailed by man-made snow coming from tube world in maggie valley. you can see the snow going up from the man-made cannons. the natural stuff that came down today didn't hurt things for these businesses. you can see some of the man-made snow accumulated up there. blue skies right now in maggie valley. the roads are doing fine. on the grass, a few patches of snow here and there.

today, madison, yancey, and haywood counties sent students home early because of snow in the higher elevations, and of course to keep students , off the roads. in haywood county, we saw heavy flurries at times, with snow blowing around on the road. at cataloochee ski area, the snow there is thick. it's hard to believe on friday, the ski area was bare down to the grass. they've been making their own snow since then. that, combined with 19-degree weather and the continuous flurries, made it look like winter for the first time this season. and the look is what makes for great business there. >> it builds a lot of interest. the snow, it makes it look pretty, and it certainly makes people think winter, which is something we've been missing this season so far. mike: and back here in maggie valley live, stray flurries

the roads are ok. a little accumulation on the grass. tube world is making people feel like it is time to go tubing. a taste of winter, a taste of what is to come. mike mccormick, wyff news 4, live in western north carolina. nigel: thanks, mike. things were very nerve-racking today on wall street. new tensions in the middle east, and economic issueuein china, sent the markets into a dive on this, the very first day of trading in the new year. up. the dow ended up down over 200 points, almost 300. 400. the day. there is no question, the price at the pump is a welcome sight. >> i love the gas prices. it's staying under $2.00 a gallon, and it's making my pocketbook feel real good. nigel: according to estimates

from aaa, gas should remain a bargain this year. >> i think they are pretty cheap. nigel: aaa estimates that the annual average price of gas in 2016 will be between $2.25 and $2.45 per gallon. that would be cheaper, or at least comparable to, the 2015 average of $2.40 per gallon. in south carolina, often the cheapest in the nation, the number is well below $2.00. >> i'm enjoying it. i always have to get premium in my car, so i have to make sure it's as cheap as possible so i can keep driving. nigel: oftentimes, the prices at the pump reflect global tensions and economic strength. with saudi arabia announcing this weekend it's cutting all ties with iran, and issues with the chinese markets today, the dow at one time was down

market watchers fear we may have seen a bottom in the price of oil. >> i hope not. i hope not. i know we have a lot of reserves of oil in the united states, and i should hope they tap that, if the oil prices on a barrel of oil go up. nigel: in part, she may be right. even with global issues, today, oil producing companies say production will increase. meaning, the price here will continue to fall. the good news is, oil did trade lower at the end of the day. prices will continue to go down at the pump, but back to wall street, today did mark the worst opening day in 84 years. today is the last day for south carolinians to apply for fema assistance, after historic flooding devastated parts of the state in october. fema aid is available in 24 counties across the state, inclcling greenville, spartanburg, and greenwood counties. again, this deadline is for damage from october's record flooding,

not the damage caused by last week's heavy rain. gabrielle: just into the newsroom, a state judge approved bond for michael slater, the -- slager. he will have to pay $50,000 to get out of custody. last year, cell phone video showed slager firing eight times,s,s scott ran from a -- as walter scott ran from a traffictop. his attorneys say they could be ready for trial in the spring, but prosecutor scarlett wilson says she won't be ready until november at the earliest. she's also trying the case of dylann roof, the accused shooter in the deadly charleston church shootings. that case is scheduled for july. nigel: in pickens county, a woman is facing charges after authorities say she stabbed her husband in the back. this, during an argument about his drinking. mary ann hopkins is facing multiple charges, including domestic violence. anderson county deputies say the man was dropped off at a relative's home in anderson county. gabrielle: firefighters are

investigating an early morning mobile home fire in greenville county. officials say the fire broke out just before 5:00 a.m., on the corner of west bramlett and wood street in parker. when crews showed up, flames were coming out of the home. officials say one person was inside the home at the time of the fire, and was able to make it out safely. nigel: the oklahoma highway patrol says the body of a missing country singer from arkansas has been recovered. troopers say craig strickland was reportrt missing on december 27th. officials say he disappeared during a severe storm that hit the area. his body was recovered from an oklahoma lake. strickland is the lead singer of the arkansas-based country-rock band backroad anthem. gabrielle: take a look at this video out of raleigh. police say a man lost control of his car went airborne, and , crashed into a house. investigators say the man was trapped in the car, and was rescued. the house is vacant, so no one else was hurt.

nigel: let's take another live look outside at our woodruff road skycam. we are over 385 near the woodruff road exit, where there was a major back of earlier this morning. wings are moving smoothly -- things are moving smoothly now. if you were in this area, you will not forget what it looked like. accidents in both lanes caused backups for wyff news 4's hours. allyson powell was there, and has more on the cause. allyson: now, these are just some of the cars involved in this morning's accidents, and tow truck drivers tell us, it's unusual that they would have to tow this many cars from a scene. >> this is very unusual to have that many. we have before, but not that often. usually, you have a 5-car accident, one or two have to be towed. it's unusual that 5 cars are towed. allyson: larry batson owns b & b towing. he says five of his wreckers were called to this morning's accidents on i-385. >> looks like it's a back-up. someone slowed down, and someone

reaction. allyson: a total of five accidents in the north and southbound lanes of i-385 slowed the morning commute around woodruff road for hours. >> the traffic was backed up. it took a good while for the trucks to get around. my truck is a little smaller, so we got around on the shoulder pretty quick, but these other big trucks, took them a while to get there. allyson: most drivers, heading to their first day of work or school for the year. batson says they knew it would be busy on the roads. >> this day, we knew would be busy this morning. school started back, people going back to work. in a hurry, not watching. allyson: batson says they see it too often, and he believes it's mostly because drivers aren't paying attention, leaving these words of advice. >> please, please stay off those cell phones, and texting on those phones. allyson: now, we spoke with corproal bill rhyne with south carolina highway patrol, and he says, no serious injuries in any of these accidents this morning. there may have been injuries, but nothing serious.

greenville. nigel: the department of natural resources has raised money for a new observation deck in the sassafras mountain. there, you can find the tallest point in south carolina, at 3,553 feet above sea level. officials say they've raised about $600,000 to build a 12-foot platform. they say the next step is to bid -- the bidding process. construction is slated to start in april and may. gabrielle: a special inspection is scheduled for the oconee nuclear station tomorrow, after degraded power cables were discovered there. tomorrow, the nuclear regulatory committee will examine startup transformers for two of the plant's three units. officials had determined that cables linked to one of the units were in a degraded condition. all of the cables have now been repaired, and the transformers are available for use if needed. the on-site portion of the inspection will take several days. nigel: a greenville county councilwoman is in the hospital, recovering from a stroke. the council chairman told wyff

news 4 that lottie gibson was hospitalized sunday. we are told she is stable. the family is waiting to hear from the doctor with more. it's too early to tell whether gibson will be able to perform her duties on the council. the next meeting is tomorrow night. gabrielle: coming up, a man walks into a north carolina church, armed with a rifle. what the pastor did may -- that potentially saved many lives. nigel: and, president obama is finalizing the executive actions he can take to tighten gun laws. >> i think, mostly to remind evangelicals that their votes are important. gabrielle: the son of billy graham is kicking off a 50-state tour this week, urging conservative christians to vote. but franklin graham has left the republican party. so what could this tour mean for the presidential candidates? john: a live shot looking down clemson boulevard in anderson, plenty of sunshine but it is cold. 41 degrees.

a northeast wind gusting as high as 22 miles per hour making it feel like the low 30's. i will be right back. gabrielle: thanks, john. now, here are your winning midday numbers in the south carolina education lottery, pick three, 7, 9, 2.

2, 2. gabrielle: the site of the san bernardino shooting rampage, that left 14 people dead and 21

injured last month, reopened today. there is tighter security as the inland regional center's 600 employees returned to work. the center has been closed since december 2nd. that is when killers syed rizwan farook and his wife, tashfeen malik, started their shooting rampage. both were killed later in a shootout with police. nigel: a tense situation continues to unfold in rural oregon. armed protesters are occupying buildings on a federal wildlife refuge, for a third day. the issue is, who has control over federal lands. the protesters claim the federal government is abusing its power. they say they are unfairly prosecuting ranchers who refuse to sell their land. while there is no police presence at this time, the fbi says they want a peaceful resolution. ammon bundy, the group's leader, defended the anti-government protest today. he says the group has no intentions of being violent, unless the government intervenes. >> we're actually not demanding anything other than, basically,

constitution. we're just asking them to, or basically, standing because of the egregious actions that they have taken upon the people of this county. nigel: schools in the county have been closed due to the armed occupation. ammon bundy is the son of nevada rancher cliven bundy. back in 2014, cliven had his own standoff with the federal government over grazing rights. gabrielle: in fayetteville, north carolina, a pastor says he protected his congregation from a man who walked into the church with a rifle. pastor larry wright is also a member of the city council . he says he walked up to the man and asked if he could help. , the pastor says he took the gun and hugged the man, who then committed his life to jesus. the pastor says the man told him that he wanted to hurt someone that day, but felt compelled to ask the church for help. police took the man to a mental health facility. nigel: president obama says he willypass congress and take

gabrielle: this follows a year of mass shootings. sally kidd has more from our washington newsroom. sally: the president says the changes are consistent with the second amendment. critics of the move say he is abusing his powers. the president says he is considering a list of recommendations from the attorney general, measures that would strengthen the nation's gun laws. >> make sure criminals, people who are mentally unstable, those who could pose a danger to themselves or others, are less likely to get a gun. sally: he is taking action without congress's approval. >> it is possible that we could prevent one or two incidents. then, we will eagerly implement those executive actions. sally: the initiatives are expected to include expanding background checks, clolo the gun

>> if we can potentially savee lives. sally: after the sandy hook shooting, major gun legislation failed to pass congress. after the attacks last year, the president vowed to act alone. >> we view this as lawless. he is circumventing congress and the constitution to restrict the rights of law-abiding americans. sally: gun rights advocates and republicans blasted the move. >> he is obsessed with undermining the second amendment. >> abusing executive power. in every way, shape, and form. sally: whatever the president does is likely to be challenged in court. sally kidd, wyff news 4. >> now, your live super doppler 4 hd weather forecast. john: we finished 2015 with unseasonably warm temperatures across the eastern part of the country. as expected, on new year's day,

the cooling trend began. it went through the weekend and now, we are cold. even flurries as far south as raleigh. a different story. in the mountains, it is not that unusual for early january. but it is unusual for raleigh. flurries getting closer, heading down to north of wellington. the flurries and snow showers will taper off to the mountains of north carolina as we go ththugh this evening. things are starting to lighten up. most of the snow showers are confined along the north carolina-tennessee line. notice around marshall and in madison county, off and on the recent snow showers. mars hill, let's take a look at the video we shot this afternoon. you can see flurries and snow showers coming down in mars hill. some of it stuck to the trees, kind of a wet snow. visibility was cut to about a quarter of a mile to half a mile at times. for the most part, fairly light

snow showers continuing. the roads remain decent. especially the bridges and overpasses might ice up later this evening and overnight. watch out for that. off as expected. and so will the snow. we'll still be flurries. a live shot from asheville as the sun goes down, we will squeeze out flurries and snow showers. we have had off and on larry's and snow showers in downtown asheville. the first trace of snow at the asheville airport so far this winter. 31 in hendersonville, 29 in asheville, 23 in boone. look how cold. 38 in greenville, 37 in spartanburg, 43 in toccoa. in the mountains, cold temperatures.

23 in waynesville, 28 in sylva, 31 in brevard, hendersonville, and bryson city. 32 in franklin. cold temperatures across the area. we still have the winds out of the north-northwest at 10-20 miles per hour and gusty him time to time givingg us a windchill of 11 in boone, 18 in asheville, a wind chill of 29 in greenville. it is cold out there. it makes it feel colder when you are dealing with unseasonably warm weather the last month or so. when you get a cold snap, it is tough. 39 in raleigh. they had a few flurries earlier. even flurries going on right now. once the snow showers end, there will be lake effect snow, the first time this year. nine degrees in michigan, 21 in cleveland. 23 in boston. tonight, clear, diminishing winds except for greenville county with the north wind at

the mountains, low in the teens. tomorrow, light winds, bright sunshine, cold. high 42 in the mountains. we will keep it cold, gradually warming up in time for the next storm system. thursday night late in the mountains could start off as a light winter mix, going over to all rain by friday. we will wait and see. it looks like one of those 50-50 weekends, rain on sunday, dry on saturday. congratulations regina from fountain inn, our umbrella winner. nigel: coming up, if you are trying to lose weight, what question you should ask yourself every time you begin a meal. gabrielle: plus, reach her sure -- researchers are finding some foods, and it involves a little bit of

days after the paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat... marco rubio was missing - fundraising in california instead. two weeks later, terrorists struck again in san bernardino... and where was marco? fundraising again in new orleans. over the last 3 years, rubio has missed important national security hearings and missed more total votes than any other senator. politics first: that's the rubio way. right to rise usa

carol: in tonight's news 4 your health, although you may be struggling with your new year's resolution to eat less, researchers say your waistline and your health will benefit. 45 college students were asked how hungry they were, before they ate a meal packed with carbohydrates. people who weren't hungry before eating had higher blood glucose levels, which is damaging to the body's

cells, than those who felt moderately hungry prior to the meal. so, before you start to eat those sweets, experts suggest asking yourself, am i really hungry? could the secret to healthier eating, be in a mirror? researchers asked a group of young adults to choose fruit salad or chocolate cake for a snack, then divided them into two rooms. people who ate cake in front of a giant mirror said they liked the dessert less than cake eaters who could not see themselves. there was no such difference for the fruit salad group. experts say actually seeing ourselves eat unhealthy foods may make us uncomfortable, even if we don't realize why. the abuse of painkillers is a growing crisis in this country, but a new study shows opioid guidelines can help significantly lower prescription rates. temple university researchers looked at opioid prescriptions written at its hospital. they did it before and after enacting specific guidelines about when to administer these powerful drugs. they found the guideline had an immediate and lasting impact in reducing opioid prescriptions for all age groups.

three-quarters of doctors said they encountered less hostility from patients who were denied the drugs.

the son of billy grahah is hitting the road tomo gabrielle: the son of billy graham is hitting the road tomorrow, holding prayer rallies in all 50 states, and urging christians to vote. we break down what this tour could mean for the presidential candidates. nigel: plus, a lucky south carolinian is sitting on a $1

million lottery ticket. how much the next powerball winner could get. gabrielle: and, snow in north carolina today. could there be any more on the way? chief meteorologist john cessarich will have that answer, up next. >> you're watching live, local, breaking news. with nigel robertson, gabrielle komorowski, and the weather with chief meteorologist john cessarich. this is wyff news 4 at 5:00 in high definition. gabrielle: take a look at these pictures from blowing rock, north carolina. this is where we saw the first snow of the season earlier today. it is still looking a little snow we there right now. -- snow we there right now. nigel: and now, we're taking a live look outside of asheville through our asheville sky cam. definitely getting cooler as we start 2016. gabrielle: wyff news 4's chief meteorologist john cessarich is back from vacation, joining us

in the studio. happy new year, and happy