that's funky. >>> jacqui jeras, what are the odds? >> of what?rn four seconds after midnight? >> they are saying it was the seventh baby to be born the first of the year in the baltimore area. >> really? >> that baby had a lot of hair, too. going to have to keep it warm because it's bitter cold out there. the eastern half of the country gripped in this arctic blast. we've got an area of low pressure off shore in the northeast which is bringing in heavy snow. blizzard type conditions expected across parts of maine. it's not a huge deal for folks in the northeast except windy conditions. there is a live picture in central park where we've got snow flurries today. people trying to travel. that's the biggest problem. we are getting delays well over an hour at bn,

jacqui jeras back with us. >> hey, fredricka.end to stay at home if you can and stay bundled up. our temperatures, 10 to 30 degrees below normal across the eastern two-thirds of the country. ridge of high pressure starting to push in. it will be less cold by monday. only 5 to 100 degrees below normal in the southeast and by midweek, most of us should be seeing temperatures that are much closer to where we should be for this time of the year. in the meantime tomorrow, we'll see 20s in minneapolis. that's a lot better than seeing the windchills in the 20s and 30s degrees below zero. and in terms of weather, we're going to be drying things up. this is a very dry, arctic air mass so we're going to see plenty of sunshine. our system in the pacific northwest quiets down so the good news, i can tell you out of all of this, we're not expng

jacqui jeras is in the weather center.nd the corner. >> i can just be getting the e-mails. i said, i'm not the problem. it's you that don't know how to drive. >> a lot of honking. a dangerous situation. here are some pictures that make you cringe. that woman wasn't hurt by the way who was in that truck. this is around the atlanta area. >> the whole black ice thing. you can't see it. people feel confident when they don't see the patch of snow and think, okay, i am in free and clear. >> even the most experienced drivers do have difficulty on black ice. that's one of the problems. we are 31 degrees in atlanta right now. we are going to see the temperatures dropping way down again, dropping way down. anything that melts during the day is going to be freezing up tonight. slick roadways are going to continue to be a problem in the south for days on end. look at the arctic air here. the nation's midsection seeing the worst of it. we are seeing cold temperatures below freezing, feeling like it all the way down into south florida.

our jacqui jeras hard at work at the cnn severe weather center in atlanta. you see she's checking on the conditions now. we will check with jacqui in just a few minutes. >>> first, we want to get to the terror threat now and some tough talk from president barack obama today. he is making a direct connection between the suspect in the christmas day terror attack on a u.s. airliner and al qaeda forces based in yemen. in his weekly remarks, mr. obama said the group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has attacked u.s. targets before and the u.s., he vowed, is fighting back. >> so as president, i've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al qaeda terrorists. even before christmas day, we had seen the results -- training camps had been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. and all of those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on christmas must know you, too, will be held into account. >> and something else to keep in m

meteorologist jacqui jeras watching the latest. >> yeah. 6.5 quake.t can cause damage but likely not widespread major damage. the area we are talking about off the coast of northern california. about 25 miles offshore. the worst of the strength of the storm would have been felt off the coast. that is good news. you can see that big orange dot in the middle there. that was the initial quake and all these little dots are what we would call aftershocks. those have been minor, 3.8 or so in magnitude. this is what we call a shake map. the whole area that is yellow, eureka, that is where we felt somewhere between a five and a six. so this is where some of the damage is. we've been listening to scanner reports there have been water main breaks and gas leaks and some evacuations due to those gas leaks but most of the damage we expect is going to be in the minor to moderate at most range. that's what we know for now. we will continue to monitor the situation and, of course, watch for more aftershocks and bring you that information. >>> we want to talk with jes

delays more than two hours i'm told by jacqui jeras due to weather and wind.ddition to the security issue that jacqui jeras just told us about. two-hour delays on arrivals there. already have this. it's causing big, big problems. we're going to stay on top of this story for you. susan candiotti on top of it for you. national desk and resources of cnn. we'll bring it to you as soon as we get more information. again, we don't have any indication there's foul play here. >>> in the meantime, only the third day of the new year and already at least two new violent crime investigations in chicago. my conversation with chicago police superintendent in just a few minutes here on cnn. coach, you look great. wow, coach, you really are back in the game. i took your advice, dan, and i lost 32 pounds on nutrisystem, and i feel great. so what are your numbers? i lost 22 pounds, and i've kept it off for three years. get back in the game in 2010. order now and you can get two weeks of meals free, plus the all-new nutrisystem jumpstart kit, our secrets to ultimate weight loss.

jacqui jeras joining us in the cnn weather center. we are not alone.nis dealing with a lot of what it stuff as well. >> yes. misery loves company. >> i goes so. >> lot of miserable folks out there. not necessarily with major snowstorm with the exception of new england. but with bitter cold conditions. and so we virginia lot of stuff going on impacting people this weekend and this is going to be carrying over into early next week. one of the biggest issues we are dealing with today is we have a lot of holiday travelers. with this system here impacting the northeast and along with very strong gusty winds, we are talking major delays here at the area airports. look at boston. jfk, la guardia, newark. you are all well over an hour here. teterboro, ground delays. over an hour delay. white plains, over two hours. tv, looking at about 40-minute delays. a lot of people not so happy watching in the airport today. snowfall totals continue to stay heaviest along i-95 and west of there, parts of maine. the winds are the big issue farther on down to the south. new

jacqui jeras, i mean it's kind of fun at first the snow coming down but then when you're stuck inside -- >> sure. >> you know about that, ms. minnesota. >> yeah. not so fun for some, but, you know, it may be some travelers are hoping to get a little snow perhaps to kind of boost their weekend. have a little fun in it perhaps. >> sure. >> the bitter cold is really gripping about the eastern half of the country. and most of the people dealing with the worst of the cold aren't in that snow. but some people, brooke, by the way, love it. love the cold. they actually go out in their bathing suits this time of the year and get in the water. yeah, who thought that was a good idea? this video from newport, rhode island. a polar bear plunge, where temperatures were in the upper 20s there yesterday and they were doing the same thing in jacksonville, florida. doing a polar bear plunge. hmm, jacksonville versus rhode island. you tell me which is the true polar bear plunge. it was in the mid-50s yesterday in jacksonville. come on, it wasn't that bad. but, hey, note, temperatures crazy cold in flori

. >>> jacqui jeras eric lot of people around the country, especially down in florida, looking for relief. is it on the way? >> it is coming. you just have to be patient. we're going to bottom out with some of the temperatures across parts of the south. and we are already seeing those freezing temperatures moving into florida. look at jacksonville, 32 degrees, orlando and tampa, not too far away from that. you're going to get down well below that freezing mark for tonight. and miami, we'll think that you'll stay to the -- just above the freezing mark. now, the radar picture here showing you that we have been getting some moisture across the region as well. earlier this morning in places like orlando, into melbourne into ocala, we have reports of sleet. this is the first time that we have seen this much widespread sleet in central florida since 1977. do the math. that's more than 30 years. and recently just in the last hour, we have been seeing it around west palm beach. and palm beach area. so that green little strip that moved on through there, that's probably what we call bright banding

jacqui jeras watching for us. jacqui, isn't that something of the iguanas.ou don't see that every day. >> you don't. it's shocking. >> they need a warmup. >> they get so stiff. they can't hang onto the trees, i guess. they just fall out. good to know all of the animals are okay. it is a good reminder to check on your pets, too. there it goes. right out of the tree. not a big fan of those iguanas. anyway, the good news is that the warmer temperatures are coming. we just have to be a little bit patient for it. what's going on in the atmosphere today is our jet stream pattern just as this big trough in it as we call it and this allows the cold air from the north to spill on in. temperatures are 10 degrees to 30 degrees below average. now, we're going to see this pattern shift a little over the next couple of days and we get what we call a ridge pattern. believe it or not, the upper midwest, 5 to 15 degrees above normal by monday. this is some great news. still below average in the southeast but we will be warming and we will see temperatures near normal. probab

we want to check in with jacqui jeras to see what she has learned. >> a 6.5 magnitude earthquake has occurred, revised from earlier reports of 6.1. i want to show you the area on google earth. 6.5 is what we would consider a strong earthquake on the magnitude scale. it can be destructive up to 100 miles from where this occurred. this big red dot in the center that was the initial quake and all these little red dots, we have had several aftershocks. one 3.8, 3.7, and a little bit lesser than that. aftershocks is something we will be watching as well. a strong earthquake, you generally don't see serious damage, but can see significant damage. we are starting to get word of that. we will continue to watch the situation and let you know as things continue to unfold. this was offshore. sometimes earthquakes can cause tsunamis. the strength of this one probably not strong enough. there are no tsunami warnings issued at this time. >> i understand this was felt all the way up in san francisco. it does travel. >> it does. this is an area where we have a fault line. you can see dozens and doze

meantime, jacqui jeras joins us live from the cnn severe weather center in atlanta. jacqui, there are already two-hour delays at newark airport. this has made it even worse. >> yeah, it really has. most of those were arrival delays. so people who've been taking off from other airports across the country or internationally trying to arrive in newark had delays. over two hours for the last majority of the day. just in the last half hour those weather-related delays have been dropped and the faa website is no longer reporting those terminal c problems. so we'll watch as this continues to develop over the next couple of hours. but regionally we have a lot of trouble, mostly because of the winds and the clouds and the snow. over an hour in boston. more than two hours at jfk. and laguardia looking at delays of an hour and 35 minutes. now, tomorrow our area of low pressure still lingering in the area, but it's going to start to loosen its grip a little bit. we think there will still be delays here across the northeast, even the mid-atlantic, but they'll be lesser, maybe 15 t

jacqui jeras joins us. what is going on? i know it is winter, but, man, it is cold. >> i know. it is really extreme. it is cold even by minnesota standards. we're talking about temperatures, below zero, 20 to 30 degrees. that is really extreme. to give you the big picture on the cold, you can see it is about the eastern two-thirds of the country. and these purple areas where temperatures are going to be about 20 degrees below average tomorrow morning. that's freezing conditions across parts of florida. we're concerned about the citrus crops here, strawberries, lemons, oranges, of course. we're talking about winds, windchills that could make skin freeze in a couple of minutes, 10, 15 minutes at the most. low temperatures tonight where you'll be bottoming out on thermometer. freezing mark on the south and well below zero across parts of the north. high pressure is gripping this part of the country and it is going to stay purt ft for a cou of days. this will be a long duration event for so many people. and you can see some of the worst of it. winnipeg, 31 degrees below zero. here

cnn's meteorologist jacqui jeras is keeping tabs on it in the cnn weather center. hi, jacqui. >> hi, don. couple that with people trying to get around town by the airways and roadways, major travel delays plus another arctic blast is on the way. we will tell where you and when it arrives, coming up. some lunch. you hungry? yeah. me too. (door crashes in) (broadview alarm) (gasp and scream) go! go! go! go! go! go! (phone rings) hello? this is mark with broadview security. is everything okay? no. someone just tried to break in. i'm sending help right now. thank you. (announcer) brink's home security is now broadview security. call now to install the standard system for just $99. the proven technology of a broadview security system delivers rapid response from highly trained professionals, 24 hours a day. call now to get the $99 installation, plus a second keypad installed free. and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner's insurance. call now - and get the system installed for just $99. broadview security for yop- home or business - the next generation of brink's

make sure you stay warm because jacqui jeras, nor'easter now, will get really cold some places, they'll get some snow as well. so stay warm. i'm don lemon. see you back here at 7:00 p.m. eastern. i'm in new york. "the situation room" begins right now. >>> terror investigators report to the president on the failed airline bomb attack. this hour the early evidence of what went wrong and why the feds failed to connect the dots. >>> and some call it the bloodiest showdown yet between anti-government protester and riot police in iran. is mahmoud ahmadinejad's regime near the breaking point. >>> inside "the situation room," not ours but his. a rare look at the place where the president makes some of his most difficult decisions. wolf blitzer is off. i'm suzanne malveaux. and you're in "the situation room." >>> the blue ribbon panel which investigated the 9/11 attacks found a number of failures in america's defenses against terrorism. they were shortcomings when it came to watch lists and overseeing visas and above all there was the failure of government agencies to pull and share intelligence

when will it feel next cold, jacqui jeras? >> early next week. >> cracks me up. >> i know. have you to put it in perspective. it's winter, right. this is impacting so many people. this is two-thirds of the country, easily 60% plus of the population. when we're not hitting a lot of records, we could start seeing some records for having a prolonged period of cold weather in places like maybe gainesville, florida and across much of the deep south. so today our big focus of the cold weather and the arctic air mass is what's happening across florida. and this is hitting at places that don't see this all that often. and you're just not prepared for this whatsoever. check out some of this pink that we've been seeing across central florida. oh, yeah, that's exactly what you think it is. that's a little bit of some of that snow. let's go ahead and show you what's been happening in orlando. these are pictures from just a couple of hours ago and what you see there on that car, yeah, that's sleep. sleet is ice pellets so it's rain. liquid precipitation freezes before it reaches the gro