we journeyed deep into the colorado rockies. to find out what it's like -- whoa -- to be caught and rescued from the rush of a raging avalanche. there's the hole. 12,000 feet up i'm about to be buried alive. are you going to be able to hear me? >> no. >> reporter: not at all? >> not at all. >> reporter: okay. all right, here we go. from the moment i'm locked in a snow coffin -- going to be dark in here -- the entrance sealed. the clock is ticking. the further you get towards this rope line, the deeper the snow is. >> reporter: for the team "nightline" came here to meet. the men and women bravely taking own one of mother nature's most powerful natural forces for a potentially life-saving rescue drill. avalanche season in the united states is just beginning. last season 35 people were killed. >> is that an avalanche? >> reporter: edwin was almost one of them. >> holy [ bleep ] -- >> reporter: his brother davis was watching and recording this video. edwin is suddenly swept away. edwin, only his head visible -- >> help! >> reporter:

it's pretty much everywhere east from the colorado rockies. 118 million people in the country are under wind child advisories. chicago, minneapolis, fargo. i did find one spot. i can't picture what this would be like negative 48 off lake superior in supreme northeastern minnesota, the coldest i could find in the entire country. nothing like that in the west. the reason the east is so cold and the door has been opened up is the big area of high pressure and a big ridge has let everything seep down from canada in a very unusually strong high pressure system also over montana this morning, responsible for this big cold outbreak. as far as the weather in the west goes another great day today. everyone in l.a. can watch the tv but everyone else freezing while you sit in shortser for january. red bluff at 66. not bad around reno either. >>> we talked about the heavy rains yesterday in washington state, the mudslide that happened towards the end of the weekend and monday that has stopped, too. >> bill karins thank you very much. >>> still ahead here another country is dealing with a shortage o

the colorado rockies the first state to leltz legalize marijuana just one year ago. it's been in the middle of a pot boom but there's increasing concern about the darker side of those rocky mountain highs. "america tonight's" lori jane gliha finding unintended consequences. >> i really lost track ever reality and project he can tile vomiting in the car. >> you felts you were going to die? >> i said it, 20 times i'm going to die. >> he never expected to od on marijuana. >> i felt like i got poisoned. >> the 35-year-old father and video game designer said he and his wife parked their little boys with his father while they checked out the pot pavilion. there wasn't expected to be any pot there because it can only be sold at licensed sites. >> 21 and up you can't buy it or smoke it. >> he found a booth that caught his eye. >> it was kind of a willie wonkaka factor. i started eating some chocolates. >> less than an hour later coombs said he became totally disoriented. he asked his wife to take him to the nearest hospital. you know where a hospital is, why are you trying t

heavy snopes across the colorado rockies. the rain moves out by the super bowl but that storm goes to the plains on sunday. snow for parts of the midwest. we'll watch the east coast on monday. >> rob, thank you. >>> we move to the air scares. two emergency landings that had nothing to do with the weather. in one case the pilot reportedly locked out of the cockpit. they landed without him. the other involved quick work by the cockpit after the plane smelled like it was burning. here tonight, abc's david kerley. >> reporter: a short flight. evacuating a jet liner they said filled with the smell of something burning. they had just taken off from l.a., headed to washington, d.c. so the jet quickly diverted to the nearby ontario airport. an unplanned landing, and that evacuation. no one was hurt. united says it is trying to figure out what caused the smell on the boeing 757 and worked to get the nearly 200 passengers to the nation's capital on other aircraft. just to the east in las vegas, an unusual landing. it was a delta flight

. >> snowfall in the colorado rocky mountains provides water through a series of rivers. one in a midst of a 15 year drought is colorado because it flows to seven of the driest and fastest growing states in the nation. how the state divides it up is governed by a colorado impact. >> there is not enough water to meet the demands. >> the southwest in particular is part of the national economy. >> with projections of a dryer future in the west, water policy here will reverberate nationwide. >> if everyone takes the amount of water they are promised in the compact. the the system crashes. >> they understand diplomacy is adeleigate thing when it comes to water. >> i immediately got on the phone and e-mailed all of my colleagues in the other states and let them know that i was not trying to send a signal of muscle flexing or anything like that. >> and water authorities in colorado, john said they have prepared for colorado to tighten the faucet. and you know the relationships between the states, very delicate. john? and thank you. the incredibly brave actions of a firefighter ca

. >> reason we use it now is if you ever have a question who is the first baseman for the colorado rockiesjust go to it. >> because you have to know that right away. >> no, you don't but you can usually take pictures. it's more than just a phone that's the problem. >>> let's take a look at the commute. let's take a look at 880 north and southbound. the traffic in both directions not a bad commute. we've been telling you about it. there is a call for a protest today at san francisco's montgomery bart station. we have crews there. so far we haven't seen anything to protest a schedule for later but it could effect bart and that means you may decide to take the car. we're watching the bay bridge for you as well. you can see at the toll plaza there is a crowd here. it's backed up to the mccarthur maze. those metering lights are on. if you are driving on 580 a little slow to the livermore valley but no problems on 680. today's weather is going o be mostly cloudy. let's go to steve who is in the weather center. >>> it will not be. >> i'm going to use my phone and figure it out. >> that is correct

march in time for the preson game against the a's and head of the april 13 home opener against colorado rockiesill follow this story all day. my colleagues will have a full report at 5:00. >>> thank you. ohio state rules college football. >> thank you. it would be hard to articulate that. >> me, too but your son went to oregon. >> oregon graduate. in the first ever college championship game the buckeyes beat the ducks and heisman trophy winner with ducks in answer for buckeye running back elliot. he is big and fast. he scored four touchdowns and helped the team to a beat down over ducks. students did what students do when the tomb weapons a championship: they partied. dozens are fires were set and police tried to calm it down. when the students with not leave, out came the people more spray. in reports of injuries but students went home with watery eyes. >>> college football rakes in money hand over fist but the new playoff system will make it more profitable than ever. according to cnn, the 64 schools that compete in the game brought in $2.8 billion. billion. the university of michigan home to

have all of this up and running way before opening day when the giants face off against the colorado rockiesild it, it will be the new hot spot. >>> happening today, state attorney citizen pamela harris will announce she is running for united states senator. she is the first canidate to enter the 2016 race if the seat held by barbara boxer not running no another term. harris was the district attorney before being elected attorney general favor years ago. a political expert believes her run will injuries women and minority voters. >> maybe rather than a horrible voter turnout we had of 36 percent in 2014 she would get people out to vote. >>> pamela harris was early supporter of president obama when he entered the presidential race in early 2007 and spoke at the the d national conference in 2012. >> she was one of firstment lieutenant governor gavin newsom said he would not be running to. he is humbled by encouragement but "i know my head and my heart, my young family's future and our unfinished work are firmly in the state of washington, not washington dc." it is widely movied he plans it run

system nationwide stood as of then, there was not even going to be an interstate through the colorado rockies. if you look at this map, this is one of their earliest sort of tentative ideas of what the interstate highway system might look like back then called the interregional highways. 1939. and if you look there, you see an interstate snaking across the plains from kansas into denver and stopping. the final interstate highway map, 1947, same exact thing. it dead ends in denver. the obvious reason once again is the high ranges of the high country. which had always seemed to stand like walls in the way of east/west travel. they were the same reason that the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s had shunned colorado. they were the same reason that the lincoln highway in the 1920s had shunned colorado. and now the planners of the federal interstate system planning the biggest public works project in human history were planning to shun the colorado high country, too. so once again, we see that there was nothing natural nothing historically inevitable about an interstate highway through the hig

the grand experiment that colorado began, a year ago, is seeing plenty of rocky mountain high, and reasons for concern. "america tonight" began a focus on colorado, after it legalized pot for recreational use since january. over the past year new businesses celebrated unexpected sales. colorado's new gold rush has some warning of problems no one anticipated, especially important to other states now considering following its lead. lori jane gliha begins with colorado's first year on pot. >> reporter: thousands of pieces of candy, chocolates, mint, peppermint bars are being crafted. >> we have half a million backlog before producing 500 units a day, we can produce 1,000 an hour. 2014 is a point of inflection. it's been a momentous year, history has been made. >> reporter: a year of recreational marijuana sales transformed this business from a tiny operation in a small denver warehouse to a production powerhouse that tripled in size with triple the staff. his success, fuelled by enormous demand came with the help of this machine - it extracts the t.h.c. from marijuana plans that ends up inedi

colorado, a year on pod. "america tonight" trained our lense on the rocky mountain high state after it legalized pot for recreational use. colorado is in a gold rush, business is booming. there's a concern about the darker side of marijuana. lori jane gliha found that the state faces frightening unexpected consequences. >> i had really, really lost touch with reality and started project il vomiting in the car >> reporter: you thought you would die. >> i said it 20 times "i'm going to die, i'm going to have a heart attack." >> reporter: when jordan took his family to a county fair, he never expected to od on marijuana. the 34-year-old father and video game designer said he and his wife parked the boys about their father and they checked out the exhibition. there wasn't supposed to be pot there, it can only be sold at licensed sites. >> it was 21 and up, you are not allowed to boy or smoke it. >> coombes approached a booth that caught his eye. >> it looked like a willy wonga thing. i was joking saying there's no t.h.c. they said "no, no, no, it's not in here." i started to eat the chocolate. >> less than an hour later

while many in colorado in a rocky mountain high since the legalization of marijuana, a new cnbc primee documentary looking at some of the challenges facing local businesses. harry smith joins us with that story coming up. >>> willingelcome back. a busy day for cnbc.com. allen joining with us the first hot list of the new year. allen, new resolutions, new searches? what do you see? >> i see a lot of obsession about the markets today. we're leading off right now with the site taking a look at when's happening with oil prices because, you know they dip below 50 bucks a barrel today and now with realigning patty dom with the phone calls and some expect a retargeting down in the 40s level and some into the low 30s. that's what people are eating up right now. number two on the list the ticking time bomb for stocks. a look at when's happening with margin debt. at one of the highest points ever, when it gets high high right before the housing bubble. right before the dot-com bust. >> wait. the margin thing again, allen? isn't it coincidence? we need to get dan greenhouse. >> these are people

further west across parts of the rockies we have been getting it over new mexico and colorado. 8-12 inches of additional snowfall out there. below zero in kansas city, also in minneapolis and cleveland. here's a look at the high temperatures as we head tohrough today 20's and teens across the midwest and also northeast. here's a look at wednesday much better 20 for you in places like far go teens in chicago and back in the 30's in new york city. let's head over to you. >> ohio state fans are waking up champions today. the underdog buckeyes winning the first ever college football player championship. marcus tam mer yo and the bucks striking first. elliot answering right back running all over oregon's defense. later in the game this critical stop by the buckeyes right at the goal line. what would have been a game time touchdown for oregon turns into 7 points for the buckeyes. in the second half elliot continues his domination. goes on to run for 245 yards and four touchdowns. final score 42-20. ohio state wins its first national title since 2002. with that win there's a furniture chain in oh

remember pot from the '70s-- the marijuana grown and sold in colorado today is up to ten times stronger. there's a healthy appetite for the rocky mountain high, and no shortage of stores to supply the demand. there's the corner store in denver... >> $1.73... >> whitaker: a high-end boutique in aspen right around the corner from prada and gucci. colorado has licensed more than 300 recreational dispensaries so far, ringing up an estimated $288 million in sales, $37 million in tax revenue. this is a lot of pot. this is industrial scale. >> meg sanders: it is. >> whitaker: how many rooms like this do you have? >> sanders: when we're fully finished with our construction we'll have 12 like this. >> whitaker: meg sanders is a new breed of cannabis c.e.o. driven to push marijuana into the mainstream. a suburban mother of two, she left a private equity firm to run mindful, a chain of four retail stores that sells recreational and medicinal pot. all of this is legal. that's just mind-blowing. >> sanders: it is. >> whitaker: meg, did you ever think you would be here doing this? >> sanders: no, never in a million years. i was working in a

the colorado river flows nearly 1,500 miles from its source in the rocky mountains to the gulf of californialong the way, most of the water is diverted by dams, so that it now rarely reaches the sea. i asked redford why he chose to focus on the colorado river. which provides much of the american west with water. >> i made a documentary about the colorado river when i found out the colorado river, which is an iconic trademark of america doesn't reach its destination, doesn't reach the sea of cortez. a lot of people didn't know that. they didn't know why. seven states use that one water source. when you add things like golf courses and second-home development and all that stuff plus the fact that people need the water to survive, it is a weight. i thought it would be good to do a documentary that illustrates what the deal is. so that is why i did it. >> i want to turn to a clip that is on one of your websites about the colorado river. it is a kind of conversation between you and will ferrell. >> that was supposed to be funny. >> ok. let's of the audience judge. >> the colorado river is one of

rocky mountain west. and sales promise to be brisk. >> i want to get $100 bucks dj shorts and $100 bucks of the tahoe. >> this past january licensed shops in colorado began selling recreational marijuana to anyone 21 years of age or older. >> whoo that smells nice >> prices range from $14 to $25 a gram. >> what's the difference between the ultimate. i need the kemba and the kemba

rockies, and the plans. up to 8 inches is expected in some areas as the system heads east. winter weather advisories and warnings are posted in new mexico, texas, oklahoma, and colorado. rain and thunderstorms are expected over parts of the gulf coast. >>> it started snowing in the denver area yesterday. the snow is expected to have cleared out by this morning, but temperatures will drop to near 10 degrees make for slick roads and treacherous travel. eric fisher of our boston affiliate wbz is tracking the storm. >> wintry weather in our southern plain this morning. picking up some significant snowfall here. it's been falling during the overnight, continuing as it tracks its way east, even snow potential in and around dallas especially the northwest side of the city and that could slow down the commute. that could slow down the commute. but many of these spots saying 3 to 6 inches of snow. the storm is the one to watch in the next few days. heavy rain around houston moving toward the gulf coast. friday across the southern states including birmingham atlanta, and charleston and then the storm is going to start to climb up the east coast. rain totals could see a couple i

built on colorado's recreational pot law has quickly taken >>> a new industry is growing up amongst the weeds. as we follow the year in pot. lori jane gliha finds others making the most of the rocky mountain high. >> i have managed to talk to people about a book deal and television show and all these things that come along because i have this job. >> reporter: the job is smoking pot. jake brown is a pot critic, and for the past year the 32-year-old cannabis connoisseur has been getting a lot of buzz buzzed. >> reporter: off the bat you pull through the orange, sometimes it has a smell, it doesn't come through, this is the opposite. you feel good about this one. >> yes, it's a well done. it was as good as the first set. >> reporter: is there a way of building it in that you perfect to taste the flavours? >> it's pretty much inhaling. >> reporter: brown has been inhaling since high school. and it's this experience that helps secure him a freelance gig at the denver post, where he's a pot reviewer for a new online blog called "the cannabis." >> there are so many coming here. you can have a bad experience with marijuana, for me to be a guide through that, i thought it was a real hono

colorado an indepth look at the legalizition of repriation marijuana. >> -- recreation marijuana. >> push it down >>> an explosion of pot use and edibles. lori jane gliha on the dark side of the rocky mountain high. >> tch extraction can be dangerous. >>> also - back of the pack

colorado, this time it's the rescuers themselves who struggle to stay alive. tiny georgetown is built more than a mile and a half above sea level, and the rocky mountain peaks that surround it tower another mile higher. so when the snow on the summit melts in the spring, it can run down swiftly, swelling leavenworth creek that runs through georgetown. short bridges for private residences span the quiet creek. but on june 21st, 1995, this picturesque scene turns into a potential death trap. on one short bridge, water pours over it, catching two firefighters who have fallen in. from on top of the bridge, colleagues attempt to pull them out. initially, georgetown fire chief kelly babion and his team are there to protect surrounding homes with sandbags. >> 1995, it was pretty high snowfall year, so the runoff was coming down fast and the creek was high and then we had a thunderstorm, which increased the runoff on this particular day. >> but while sandbagging, three firefighters slip in. one who manages to hold onto a short brick wall is pulled to safety. a second, wearing a baseball hat, is also rescued by his colleagues. >> can you kick? >> but a third, todd neskis

rockies, we have a brand-new storm system developing. could produce significant snow across extreme southern parts of colorado and also new mexico. inside. >> all right. thank you very much. >>> sunday's football playoff game. mario lopez knows about headlines and football and he and his wife, courtney, are here joining us now. we're so thankful. >> good morning to you. you have a special treat for us in a couple of minutes. we'll talk about that after the headlines. what did you make of russell wilson? there he was invoking god after the big game tears flowing down his face. >> first of all, what a game. i thought it was great to see as opposed to see someone exalting himself and to see him emotional and on bended knee. that was a wonderful moment. >> you're very public about your faith as well. you're busy online. >> yeah. yes, i am, thank you. >> you have a weekly post, right? >> yeah. on sundays right. so thanks. i didn't know anybody read those. it was great to see. it made made for a beautiful moment and created positive conversation, national conversation. so i thought it was really cool. >> you know what else is interesti

colorado high country in the decades after world war ii. mostly folks who know the period 1945 to the 1970s. it tells a story of how this part of the southern rockies went in just a few decades, a very short time, from a remote and obscure and little visited backwater, really, to one of the most celebrated and heavily visited vacation destinations in the united states. one core question i'm asking in the book is how did the high country come to be a vacationland? but much more broadly, the book is an effort to get at much bigger issues, ones that go way beyond the high country, way beyond colorado. it's an effort to figure out how when tourism became such a big business in the decades after world war ii when americans came to seek out and value landscapes like the colorado high country for leisure for personal fulfillment, for pleasure and when they on some level or another bought into the way these landscapes were being marketed to them and packaged for them, what implications did all of that carry for the ways americans related to place environment, nature when so many people learned to consume recreational landscapes and to depend on them as a f