derek van dam for us this morning, derek. thank you. we'll be coming to you throughout the rest of this hour. but i want to go now to brian rice. he is the president of the california professional firefighters union. sir, very grateful to have you on the show this morning. what have you been hearing from crews on the ground? what are they facing right now? >> good morning. and i just i spoke to a firefighter just a few minutes ago. you know, i've been following this like everyone else, but we're hearing, um, unfortunately, the same things that we've heard over the last several years. this is apocalyptic. we've never seen fire behavior like this. it's moved so fast. and the wind is so powerful. it's all the things that you've already been talking about. i thought one of the telling pieces of video were the abandoned vehicles. that tells you that people felt so imperiled that they exited their vehicles because of a traffic jam and ran. we saw similar things in the paradise fire. um, several years ago. the difference was many of those vehi

meteorologist derek van dam standing by for us. but first, let's get to where the snow is. gabe cohen in washington, d.c. we can see the conditions are still just as rough as they were earlier. tell us what's going on. >> reporter: yeah, sara, plenty of snow still falling this morning. you can see it's really been accumulating throughout the morning. there are several inches already on the ground, and we're expecting that only to increase throughout the day. that's why, as you said, there are those states of emergency in place across those six states, including here in washington. really this area feels frozen right now in more ways than one. we know schools across this region are shut down. federal government offices are closed. roads, what should be the start of a busy morning, a busy commute, really not happening. most of the cars we're seeing here around the capital are law enforcement vehicles. that's because, as you mentioned, while so much of the district, the capital is shut down, the nation's capitol, the actual capitol building is not, because we're expecting the

let's get to our meteorologist, derek van dam, with the latest. derek. this is, of course, the story of the morning here in our little studio. everybody trying to figure out how to get in here without sliding off the roads. what's the latest? yeah, right. >> somewhere on this live cam. this is actually the lincoln memorial in the background. this of course dc, but shrouded in cloud and heavy snow as we speak. this is a storm we've been tracking all weekend long. it continues into the first parts of this workweek. lots of people heading back to work. schools are canceled. there are cars that have slid off the roadways and including this 18 wheeler that jackknifed on the highway in kansas city, missouri. this is part of the ice storm in this very dynamic winter storm that's unfolding across the country right now. we still have up to a quarter inch of ice that could accumulate on the roadways here across virginia into west virginia. this is an expansive storm that spans several states over 850 miles. the radar lighting up like a christmas tree. even though

cnn meteorologist derek van dam has been tracking the weather conditions this morning. derek, what do we know? what are firefighters facing as this blaze races across these enormously densely populated areas in and around l.a. yeah. >> casey, you know, i want our viewers to understand just how quickly these fires can spread. it is at a moment's notice that an ember can travel across a road, across the expanse of a highway, start additional spot fires, and then erupt into a raging inferno. that's what we're experiencing right now, over western l.a. and into ventura counties. the palisades fire in particular. this is a dangerous situation, and we have this video coming out of the l.a. county fire department of extreme fire behavior. that's how they labeled this video. and you can see it just with the rapid swirls in the fire itself, actually kind of creating its own weather patterns here in and around these fires. so this high potential for rapid fire spread, that is what they are experiencing. changes in wind direction, long range spotting, meaning the embers are travelin

let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, derek van dam.ould participate in that thousand-person-plus snowball fight that happened yesterday. i don't know if you saw that yesterday. that was amazing, but what doesn't want to start their tuesday morning with pandas playing in the snow, right? you said it perfectly, kasie because this snow is going nowhere.÷÷with these types of temperatures, it's frigid outside. this is what it feels like as you step outside in d.c. 13 degrees. the actual high temperature today. just a few degrees above freezing.÷÷i think that snow pack is here to stay. by the way, that snowstorm that just passed through, it crossed over an 1,100- mile stretch dumping over 6 inches or more of÷÷snow within that swath and of course, we have the ice component to this as well knocking out power. not great news for the nearly 200,000 customers without power, particularly into virginia, especially if you don't have heat. the cold air is going to stick around and that's thanks to that snow pack, but unfortunately ÷÷this is going to

let's get right to meteorologist derek van dam to find out how things look at this moment, derek. >> john, even the national weather service warns the primary roads could be impassable with the snowfall rates expected in and around washington, d.c. this is coming out of kansas city, missouri. the ice part of the storm, then snow fell on top of this. it slid cars off the highways. it jackknifed 18-wheelers. this is an intense, very powerful storm as people return home from their holidays and are left with this mess. the storm spans about 800 miles from st. louis all the way to the nation's capital. i want you to see the winter weather alerts that are in place for millions of americans. as i stands this morning, waking up on monday morning, it'll be difficult travel conditions. i promise you, this is the lincoln memorial here. way in the distance in d.c. it's shrouded this cloud and snow that's currently falling in and around d.c. 28 degrees right now around the nation's capital. i do want you to see the heaviest band of snow. it's setting up south of washington, so that's something to

let's get a new update on that from meteorologist derek van dam. derek, what are fire crews up against right now? >> okay, so i was so encouraged overnight and to wake up to this morning to see helicopters were flying. and now to hear it from the incident command chief. they're talking with john. >> just moments ago, seven helicopters up overnight. >> there's one of which fighting this fire from the air. this is an effective way to fight and contain blazes like this. we need it desperately. so what will the wind do? it did relax. from yesterday's torrent of wind that brought the hurricane force gusts. you can see this morning it will be a lot calmer than what it was 24 hours ago. but i want to advance this by six hours because we do anticipate the winds to pick up once again today. the typical vulnerable areas to santa ana winds. we'll see the ridge top 60 mile per hour plus down to the valleys and coastline below, perhaps 30 to 45mph. so the potential for further ignition certainly exists before friday's relaxation of the winds. and we get an impro

our weatherman, derek van dam. >> derek. mean, how they had the inclination to jump out of the car at that last second is incredible. so props to that person. yeah, that is an ice skating rink, right. and i don't see the conditions on the roads in kansas city where that video came from. getting any better anytime soon? right. like this is what it feels like as you step outside in kansas city. -12 degrees. look how cold it is in d.c. this morning. 13. this is all thanks to the hefty snow pack from the last snowstorm, which, by the way, dumped over six inches or more of snow over a 1000 mile plus stretch from kansas city all the way to the nation's capital. daytime highs today really not edging much above freezing. and of course, with the ice and the snow comes the power outages. nearly 2000 200,000 customers without power. guess what? the cold air sticks around. and the reason this is important is because it's going to set the stage for the potential of another snow and ice event, particularly across texas, the southeast by f

let's go to our cnn meteorologist, derek van dam. rek, i'm tempted to say good morning, because we usually see each other then. but good afternoon. the weather service, of course, just expanded the area where it expects the strongest and most dangerous winds. what are the models showing now? >> yeah, we are entering into another particularly dangerous environment for some very specific areas. >> we'll get to that in just one moment. the red flag warnings, they continue through wednesday. this means that the conditions are ripe for explosive fire development and growth. but they've highlighted the national weather service out of l.a., some particular areas. so they've expanded and consolidated what is known as the pds, a particularly dangerous situation. to give you an idea just how rare this is, they have only issued four in the last three months, and they've all been representative of severe fire situations, not to mention what just happened last week. the last time they actually issued these was back in 2020. so it's been some time.

let's turn now to our meteorologist, derek van dam. ierce wind, as we were just talking about has been fueling these fires. derek, walk us through what, the next 24 hours may look like for the firefighters who are just trying to help. what is an absolutely desperate situation? >> well, casey, this morning i was encouraged to see this video of helicopters flying in the sky using their water techniques to help douse the fires on the ridges. with the ongoing big, large wildfires that are still out of control across los angeles. remember, that's the major difference between this time yesterday and what's happening right now. so the winds have relaxed enough for that firefighting aircraft to actually fly, because yesterday they were restricted because the winds were too erratic, too strong and too intense for those aircraft to fly fixed rotor aircraft and the helicopters to come in and help with the containment efforts. so that was encouraging for me. but what does the future hold? what does the next several hours hold? well, that's so impor

as we look at this, let's bring in cnn meteorologist derek van dam. extraordinary images from altadena. derek, talk to us about where these fires are burning and what we can expect over the next few hours. >> john. extraordinary images, but also extraordinary sound to hear the crackling in the background and the firefighters talking on their intercoms and staying away from the fires. stephanie elam was reporting on how the palm trees that are so synonymous with southern california become these flame throwers in an extreme fire event, just like we're experiencing right now. and you can see just that as the embers from these very dried out palm trees, the dried out vegetation continues to be whipped around by winds in excess of 80mph, sometimes reaching as high as 98. so check this out. this is the moment that the palisades fire one of three large uncontained fires burning out of control over western los angeles county erupted. this is tuesday afternoon local time. and look at the direction of the wind. you can see that more north to north easterly compo

let's go to derek van dam now. he's in the cnn extreme weather center for the latest forecast. derek, how bad are these winds going to get? >> well, jake, the winds already gusted over 50 and 60mph. and some of the localized mountain ridge tops across santa susana mountains, the santa monica mountains. you can see that over 50, 60, even 72 mile per hour wind gusts at the top of some of the san gabriel mountains. but these winds are fine as long as there's no spark that it's pushing around. right. so that's the key here. the wind warnings that were in place earlier this morning, they have been lifted temporarily. we do believe in some of the hyper localized weather models that we look at, that they could potentially pick up overnight tonight. so they're considering reissuing that later tonight closer to 3 a.m. local time through 3 p.m. afternoon on wednesday into southern california. so as it stands, we still have ripe conditions for this rapid fire growth. that is why we still have the particularly dangerous situations outlined within these two locations. much of ventura county

and let's bring in cnn's meteorologist, derek van dam to get a sense on how the conditions may affect the emergency response. derek, is there any relief in sight or are there signs that things may get worse? >> unfortunately, manu, it's likely it'll get worse before it gets better. the critical fire conditions extended from today right through wednesday. two different santa ana wind events that are forecast. and i want to take you through the winds. but just keep in mind the tinderbox conditions that we are contending with the start of the water year in california begins october 1st. every year we've only had three hundredths of an inch of rain so far since that date. we're running just about 4.5in below where we should be, and that comes off the heels of a very wet winter last year, so there's a lot of vegetation that dried out rapidly leading to this tinderbox conditions. now, i want you to see the change in the wind directions that will be not from the typical northeast santa ana winds, but this onshore component that could take some of the embers and bring them back into the areas

derek van dam is in the cnn weather center. and derek, that's what it is all coming down to now.the winds and what the winds could do and where they bring this fire. so what is the exact forecast at this moment? >> indeed. >> and using the terminology from the national weather service out of los angeles, this is about as bad as it gets anywhere. you see this red flag warning which extends through wednesday afternoon. and the hardest hit areas. this is where we have a high risk of rapid fire growth. but what the national weather service has just done is consolidated and expanded what is known as a particularly dangerous situation, or pds for short. and what's different than just a few hours ago is that it's expanded to include much of the san fernando valley and into central and eastern sections of ventura county. remember, the western l.a. county is where we have our palisades fire and our eaton fire. so this is a new area that we're keeping a very close eye on. and just to give you an idea of how rare these pds events are, they've only issued six in the past five years, four of

derek van dam, thank you so much. appreciate it john. >> all right. just in a powerful earthquake kills at least 95 people. the death toll is rising. the aftershocks which are still hitting are toppling houses. make greenland great again. >> the president elect makes a new play to annex greenland for real. >> and today, his son, donald trump jr. makes an expedition to the island. a new report finds that the drinking water for millions of americans may be contaminated by toxic chemicals. why? they say your prescription medicine could be the cause. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn food. >> this good? >> easier than you think with brand new, easier than ever recipes from hellofresh. >> we're talking barely lift a finger. >> easy and done in a flash. fast. >> now get all the flavor with way less work all week long. hellofresh homemade made easy. >> how mornings cough cong

but first, meteorologist derek van dam standing by and our stephanie elam is live for us in the pacific palisades at the moment. we're going to start with you, stephanie. i see that throughout the morning. you've been dealing with this. the fires are burning right behind you. tell me what you're experiencing. >> yeah. i have to tell you, sarah. like, you know how many wildfires we have covered here in california? in two. you know, getting here was the scariest drive i've had to make to a wildfire. since i can remember covering wildfires. because there are power lines down. it is smoky, it's dark. there are fires burning along the pacific coast highway. for people who have not been out here, it is some of the most beautiful stretch of highway you could ever imagine. it's also treacherous with some turns, and it's right up against this rugged terrain that you find here. pacific palisades and malibu. and that is why this is so concerning. when you look at what we're seeing behind here, this fire, the palisades fire, is still raging. and on top of it, you talked about how fast it's growing.

cnn's meteorologist derek van dam is tracking all of this for you. and derek, right now, where are you watching most closely? >> okay, so, d.c. this is an important day, not only for certification of election results, but also because of the amount of snow that's fallen. just at 7:00 a.m. this morning, reagan national, 4. 7 inches of snow. that's their largest snow total in two years. of course, you already said it, but if we accumulate more snow over 8. 5 inches, that will be more snow than we've had combined the past two seasons. that's really saying something. here's a live look at the national mall. there's the lincoln memorial in the background. lots of snow still blanketing the nation's capitol. this is a dynamic and large storm system that has a severe component to the south, an ice component, right smack dab in the middle, and then snow from the mid- atlantic stretching westward towards the ohio river valley. this is, all in all, about an 800- mile stretch of winter weather alerts. and this is all part of the same storm. but check out this 18-

. >> let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, derek van dam. good morning. our panel all made it in. i made it in. but everyone else should really stay home if they can, i think. >> yeah, snow emergency, right? in d.c. , schools are canceled. they get the extra day of winter vacation. good for them. take it from this midwestern who is no foreigner to snow, this is about as bad as it gets. this is a video out of kansas. look at the sheet of ice on the tar there, then the snow covering over it. that's as slippery and dangerous as it comes, right? this storm system, though it is wrapping up around kansas, it stretches 800 miles from st. louis to our nation's capital, where winter storm warnings and advisories are in place. i- 70 corridor, interstate 95 is going to be really tricky travel conditions, especially on the roads. also at the airports, as well. you can see temperatures supportive of snowfall. somewhere in this live earth cam is the lincoln memorial, i promise you. we all remember back in 2016, january 2016, we had snowzilla in washington, d.c. i don't

let's bring in meteorologist derek van dam on this one. derek, how are the conditions this hour and heading into this morning? >> all right. kate i was relieved this morning to see some of the video coming out of the area where helicopters and the aircraft helping fight the fire from the air were able to actually fly. that's the main difference this morning compared to yesterday, at this time when they were not able to fly because the the winds were too erratic and too strong. so there was some relaxation in the santa ana winds. but we do anticipate that to pick up in intensity through the course of the day. so we are monitoring five active large wildfires. we don't have enough time to talk about every single fire, but we know that the eaton fire, we saw it with anderson just a moment ago, charring thousands of acres. but let's focus in on pacific palisades the palisades fire. here's the santa monica pier, the famed beach within this region. and look at how the fire is encroaching on this densely populated area of western l.a. into santa mo

cnn meteorologist derek van dam joins us now with the latest on when conditions might improve. derek, when could we see some relief here in southern california? >> casey i was encouraged this morning to wake up to see this view with helicopters actually able to fly and drop their retardants and their water on the ridge tops here fighting the fires. remember, that's the difference between this morning and yesterday morning when we were not able to fly those fixed wing helicopters. the aircraft to help fight the fires from above, which is such an incredible way to, to to combat these fires. but now that the winds relaxed somewhat yesterday, they were given that opportunity to fly. those airplanes. will that continue? that's the big question, because we do anticipate the wind to pick up through the course of the day. today, five active fires lidia fire, hurst fire, eaton fire, sunset fire and palisades fire. but i want to zoom in to palisades, our largest fire in western l.a. county that is now moved into portions of santa monica. here's the famed santa monica beach, the pier. and

let's get over to cnn's meteorologist, derek van dam, to see what the next few hours are going to be like. derek, we're still hearing that this is going to get worse before it begins to improve. what are you expecting in the next few hours? >> yeah, unfortunately, i do believe that the most intense part of the santa ana wind event will be occurring in the coming hours. so the next few hours will be absolutely critical for firefighters and the residents who are unfortunately dealing with this moment. hey, i listened to a press report from governor newsom yesterday saying that this is no longer fire season. this is fire year. it happens all year round. and now we had the battalion chief, public information officer from cal fire on earlier this morning talking about this is the third time they've actually had the incident management team deployed in the month of january fighting these major fires here in los angeles county. so that's really saying something. and going back to stephanie elam reporting, talking about how palm trees become literal flame throwers, this is an example of just

derek van dam i appreciate it. thank you so much. it's so fascinating to me. i mean, you think that, you know, there are not active fires burning right now even though it's only 16 or so percent contained here in the palisades. but it's these it's these hotspots underneath the ground that are so much concern right now. and the wind comes. it will it will move off some of that. that dirt, that cover and something that smoldering in the root underneath some shrubbery could become an ember that goes up into the air and starts a new fire. that's what why the wind is of such concern. and it would hamper aerial assault on on any fire from, from aircraft. i want to check in with our nick watt, who is in the palisades. nick, what have you been been seeing today? and hearing? >> well, anderson, while you've been up there with the firefighters getting ready for the next wave, we've been down in the palisades village and it has been just eerie. today. there are 200 national guard soldiers now deployed here, along with sheriffs deputies, police officers to keep out the lo

meteorologist derek van dam has the very latest. standing outside. that's atlanta. that doesn't look like atlanta normally does there. derek. yeah. >> no. that's incredible right, john. >> this real life snow globe. but this type of snow really strikes a nerve with people in the deep south, especially here in atlanta. we remember what happened with quote, unquote snowmageddon back in 2014, grinding this city to a halt. today, the roads have been treated for the past 18 hours, but the snow and the sleet is accumulating too quickly. and this is the i-75 85 interchange. we're overlooking midtown atlanta, a sight that you don't see that often. it's been several years before we've been blanketed in snow like this, but you can see traffic is flowing, but it is starting to accumulate on the ground, and it's hard to believe, john, that this is actually the same storm system that brought the winds to southern california. now it's moved into the southern plains. it picked up moisture from the gulf of mexico. so it's no longer a dry storm. it's a wet storm, and it's producing s

meteorologist derek van dam joining us now with the forecast. um, a break now. but winds potentially picking up santa ana winds. >> and they are pushing around these embers in very dry vegetation. a tinderbox. think about it like this. they've only received a three hundredths of an inch of rain since october, when their water year actually begins. so representative of this, i brought a cup of water, died. some of the water here. think. don't think about this as volume. think about this as depth. so that's the amount of rain that they've received so far. they should have received over 4.5in. this should be spilling out. and over this cup of water again, representative of just the little amount, the lack of rain that los angeles has received since the beginning of the year. so very dry. and the santa ana winds are causing this havoc. we have critical fire conditions that are extended through the week. the fire danger threat right through wednesday. the winds now offshore. but i want to advance this graphic and i want to show you just near pacific palisades, where

. >> i'm meteorologist derek van dam and a wintry atlanta.nd this is cnn. >> i'm told by a firefighter depending on the wind, it's very possible if that house if flames jump to other houses or to shrubbery around there, that fire could very easily come up this mountainside and just go through all of this. i mean, you see all this vegetation here. it could just move up here again, so much depends on the winds. they have died down today over the last several hours since this morning. and that's certainly good news. but this is an area of real concern. and there's a lot of firefighters devoted to this area right now. and that's the small community of fernwood in topanga. and a couple of people who had evacuated. adam weber was one of them. we met there. he has come back. others have come back, and they're trying to help fire crews by essentially spotting and sending out information about what they are seeing. i'm with captain sheila kelliher. you and i have been talking every night. you were in this parking lot the first night you had to evacuat

scores of ex navy seals, at least three congressmen that i encountered, including morgan luttrell and derek van orden, who are veterans themselves, navy seals, arguing that hegseth is the guy he's going to defend war fighters, and they're serious about it. i talked to women. i talked to men. they actually feel, first of all, they think that hegseth is being smeared and that these stories about his problematic conduct aren't true. but even if they were, i've heard people say, look, this is relatable. you know, we come home from war and we're not treated well. our families break up. a lot of guys and gals have drinking problems. i've talked to a lot of people who told me they quit drinking after having problematic drinking after fighting in a war. so in a certain way, i don't think anybody is endorsing sexual violence. i mean, there are issues here that are, you know, universally of concern. but i think on things like the drinking or going through a divorce or multiple divorces, a lot of people find that relatable. >> well, his personal issues were on full display today. i want to play a little b

. >> does this seem right hi, i'm meteorologist derek van dam in a wintry atlanta, and this is cnn. >welcome back to our viewers in the united states, here in the uk and all around the world, i'm ben hunt in london, and this is cnn newsroom. right now emergency crews are making some progress against the devastating wildfires that have been burning for days in southern california. but more than 100,000 people remain under evacuation orders in the los angeles area. at least 11 people have died and entire neighborhoods have been devastated. california's governor is calling for an independent investigation into what caused some hydrants to lose water pressure earlier this week. l.a. police have deployed more than 200 officers to areas impacted by the fires. a curfew is in effect for those in mandatory evacuation zones. at least 20 people have been arrested for looting during the wildfires. >> i want to assure the community that we're working tirelessly to protect lives, property and maintain public safety during this critical time. i want to thank everybody who has worked with us, who has

. >> i'm meteorologist derek van dam in a wintry atlanta. and this is cnn. >> i mean, the electoral college. it's the only thing worse than regular college i mean, if thomas jefferson was alive, he would have two questions. one, hamilton gets a musical before me. and two, we're still using that thing from 1787. >> in our pop culture lead. look, it's been a rough week. we wanted to get in a lighter note. legendary comedian bill maher is debuting his 13th hbo stand up comedy special. this one's called bill maher. is anyone else seeing this? so let's bring in the man himself, bill maher, also the host of real time with bill maher on hbo. we should, of course note cnn, hbo, both owned by warner bros. discovery. bill, congratulations on the special. so early on, you say that trump, quote, got the white house again, but he isn't going to get your mind. there are probably a lot of viewers that want to hear what you mean by that, and how you want to achieve that, so i'm not going to chase every rabbit down the hole like i did the first term. >> you

. >> i'm meteorologist derek van dam and a wintry atlanta and this is cnn. >> here's a look at some of the other stories we're watching this morning. president biden took a victory lap friday after the release of 2020 four final jobs report. the economy added a surprising 256,000 jobs in december. the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%. the president praised his administration's economic efforts. he said that they've created more new jobs than any other single presidential term in history. investigators say that both of the flight recorders from that south korean passenger jet that crashed last month stopped working just four minutes before the accident. the plane crashed and exploded while attempting a runway landing. 179 people were killed. two crew members survived. investigators had hoped the black boxes would have shed some light into south korea's deadliest plane accident in nearly three decades. in a statement, south korea's transport minister said that it was unclear why the devices stopped working and they're currently trying to figure out a cause. >> a ban on tiktok may no

. >> i'm meteorologist derek van dam and a wintry atlanta, and this is cnn. >> closed captioning broughtto you by book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000. >> is it even possible to moderate the high volume of content posted across facebook, instagram and threads? meta ceo mark zuckerberg defended his company's decision to fight back against government censorship while appearing on the joe rogan experience yesterday. the 40 year old billionaire said the biden white house overstepped in its requests to take down posts about the covid 19 pandemic. >> these people from the biden administration would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse. and it's like these documents are it's all kind of out there. and basically it just got to this point where we were like, no, we're not going to we're not going to take down things that are true. ths ridilous. biden, when he was he gave some statement at some point, i don't know if it was a press conference or to so

cnn's derek van dam joining us now with a look at the forecast so we can talk about the winds, but alsoust how dry california has been. >> yeah. those winds are pushing around a tinderbox. right. ready to explode again. they've only had 3/100 of an inch since the start of their water year, which is october 1st. okay. they should have over 4.5in. so representative of that is this little cup of water. don't think volume, think depth. that's the amount of water that los angeles has had. it should be overflowing this cup with how much water they should normally have. january is their second wettest month of the entire year, so it just hasn't fallen from the sky. so we're extremely dry. you return in the winds like we saw last week. and then what's going forward through this week. and we have critical fire weather from today right through wednesday. this is just representative of the next three days red flag warning that's only issued when the winds and the tinderbox conditions on the ground are at perfect harmony. and we have that high fire risk gusting 20 to 30 today, picking up in intensi

cnn's derek van dam tracking all of this for us. you told us this storm was going to be bad. it was. and now you've got something else. they've got everyone's got something else to contend with. how cold are we talking? yeah. >> that's right. so. so the cold air is going to stick around for a while, and it's actually going to set the stage for what could potentially be another significant snow and ice event. i'll highlight that in just one moment. but right now we've got over the next week, roughly 75% of the american public under freezing temperatures. so that is really saying something. and this morning, with wind chill values at negative one, you are really feeling it in kansas city, especially with that fresh snow pack on the ground. in boston, the actual temperature was roughly 18 degrees this morning, but the wind chill value was at one degree. so you've got to dress like it's one degree fahrenheit outside, because that's what it feels like on your exposed skin. and it's all thanks to this snow pack. there was a 1000 mile plus wide swath of six inches or more from this

and let's get an update on the red flag warnings with cnn meteorologist derek van dam. rek, what are the models showing you about these winds? >> well, dana, there has been some relief. you just heard it there a moment ago from veronica that the winds did not get really as bad as what was originally forecast. but there is still kind of a caveat to that, because what could happen later tonight is something we want to keep a very close eye on. so the latest and greatest information that we have is that the high wind warnings have been now removed from the hardest hit areas. i'll show you that in just one moment, but i want to remind our viewers, anyone who happens to be tuning in from southern california, that this area is still ripe for explosive fire growth. and the reason is, is because of the dry tinderbox conditions, but also the winds that are still there, not as strong as what was originally forecast, but they could pick up later today. and there's just simply no rain in this forecast. unfortunately, now 20 to 30 mile per hour sustained winds, we still have the pote

let's go to meteorologist derek van dam, who is in the cnn weather center. derek, what kind of conditions are we expecting in the coming hours as firefighters attempt to to contain these blazes? yeah. >> residents. >> jake, in los angeles county were encouraged to hear the sounds of helicopters, see them drop their water on the firefighting efforts here. >> that is a big difference from 24 hours ago when they could not fly that aircraft. so now we're getting that aerial support, at least for the time being. so the wind, as julio was saying, is so incredibly important. an important weather factor for the flames that are still ongoing. and right now they're generally weaker than it was 24 hours ago. but i want you to see, as we go through time, through the course of your thursday, this area will see more santa ana winds picking up in intensity. 60 mile per hour ridgetop winds 40 to 50 mile per hour. winds in the canyons, the valleys, and near the coastline as well. some of the hardest hit areas. we have to wait to friday until we experience more calm weather an

i want to check in with dirk van damme just to get a sense of this wind and what to expect for tomorrow. derek, what are you. what are you seeing? >> yeah. >> subtle change in the wind direction is going to bring the most extreme fire risk to new areas. starting at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning, lasting right through the day on wednesday, we have our red flag warnings that are in place. and the hardest hit areas. remember, anywhere you see this shading of pink, that is where there is a high risk of rapid fire growth. but the national weather service in los angeles has issued these two areas, called a particularly dangerous situation. to give you an idea just how rare these are, they've only issued six of these in the past five years, four of which have been issued in the past three months. last week's particularly dangerous situation. we all know what happened with the palisade fire as it exploded in size. so basically what this means is that the conditions are ripe for extreme fire behavior and extreme fire growth in new locations. so this expansion and consolidation of this purple area you see her