while ong long island in new york, trooper frank bendario has seen this before. a holiday rush and treacherous roads. >> it's just going to be twice as congested i would assume. and then factor in the weather and the flooding, it's probably going to create a lot of traffic and very slow going. >> and from tom costello about the travel nightmare across the northeast we go to tracie potts. some are taking that unprecedented stop -- rather step to open on thanksgiving night. we're talking about shopping. we're talking about stores. what's the bait to get them inside? >> the bait seems to be that you can get a better deal if you come on thanksgiving. the bait, you've got a lot of fish biting at that same hook and literally a lot of consumers this year say they're just not buying it. despite the campers -- and they started last week -- fewer americans plan to shop this weekend compared to last year. >> i don't shop on thanksgiving. i dedicate that to family. >> reporter: many large retailers plan to open on thanksgiving day. macy's, target and sears along with walmart

while on long island in new york, trooper frank bendario has seen this before. a holiday rush and treacherous roads. >> it's just going to be twice as congested, i would assume. and then factor in the weather and the flooding, it's probably going to create a lot of traffic and very slow going. >> reporter: and still 36 hours till thanksgiving morning. yeah, the folks in new york and pennsylvania bracing for a lot of snow and a lot of rain. interestingly, i heard from quite a few parents concerned about their kids driving back from college. yet another thing to be concerned about. brian? >> absolutely. tom costello starting us off from pittsburgh, thanks. >>> i want to take a look at live pictures from i-90 up in buffalo where they don't scare easily in winter. so the traffic is moving along, but we talk about the northern reaches of this storm. they're expecting 8 to 12 inches of snow before it's all over. tonight meteorologist janice huff has been kind enough to join us to look at where this is going and what's in store. janice, i understand the winds on the ba