a historic freeze creating remarkable scenes, seen over lake michigan and white house encased in ice and now airlines are grounding flights. how low will the temperatures go, and how long will it last? >>> an instant classic. a wild finish and late touchdown in pasadena making for a championship game the fans are still talking about. >>> explosive situation. a gas station attendant is thrown 30 feet and a pump bursts into flames. new details on what likely caused this accident. >>> flying high. a professional football stadium is rigged up as an aerial playground for a day. >>> good morning, i'm marci gonzalez in for diana perez. >> and i'm muhammad lila in for john muller. we begin with breaking news this morning as a brutal deep freeze is gripping more than half the nation. more than 500 passengers are now stuck on three amtrak trains heading into chicago because there's so much blowing and drifting snow. >>> now, all three trains were stopped last night in the northern illinois city of mendota, about 80 miles west of chicago. amtrak says the passengers are being kept comfortable an

it's lake michigan. stuck at the airport and trying to sleep and bathe. and icy cold waiting outside your window. >>> superslimmers. in this new year, 15% of us lose weight and keep it off. tonight, we'll tell you the secrets of these superdieters. >>> and true grit. the college football championship tonight. and we have the story of the true winner behind tonight's big game. >>> good evening. it is good to be with you on this monday night. and as we come on the air, they are calling it the polar vortex. and it is on the move. 140 million americans facing windchills below zero degrees. breaking records from chicago to tulsa. so, how low will the temperatures go? and how long will it last? our abc news extreme weather team is out in the deep freeze across the country tonight. and abc meteorologist ginger zee starts us off with the big picture. >> diane, that big picture is a wiktdly cold one. here in new york city, we drop to the single digits by tomorrow morning. and look at that. the width of this cold. all the way from the northern rockies, to iowa, thr

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dump that as snow on the land along lake michigan. throughout the day it's expected to fall at more than 2 inches an hour in some areas. it's creating zero visibility and dangerous driving conditions. bill: 10 more inches. just getting rolling. folks in ohio taking it slow. dealing with 4-6 inches. driving conditions difficult as the mercury dips into the teens. >> it's pretty icy out there, so trying to go at a slow pace. >> it's been pretty rough. we were driving up in michigan and we saw a car spin out right in front of us and hit the guardrail. patti ann: more than 70 million, that many the number of people the storm will likely effect from the midwest to the northeast. more than 70 million people affected by the storm and more than 90 million people traveled through january 1. 70% of deaths during the holiday season are reef hated to weather. bill: if you have a picture of illinois, michigan, ohio, indiana, send us your pictures. the number of people seeking unemployment benefits dropping slightly. extending unemployment benefits

he fell into lake michigan. whoa. okay, good morning.berman is hosting "new day." it's january 3rd, 4:00 a.m. in the east. >>> a beast of a winter storm battering the northeast right now. 100 million people are in its path. driving snow and fierce winds forcing the governors of new jersey and new york to declare a state of emergency. this storm is enormous. parts of new york state and new england will be digging out from well over a foot of snow later today. in fact, we saw 21 inches already in massachusetts. much of the reason facing extreme cold with sustained winds of 30 miles an hour or more. that makes windchills below zero. >> air travel is a nightmare. thousands of flights cancelled or delayed and highways impassible. many shutdown so that plows can do their work. blizzard conditions from the big apple all the way up to maine. cnn that the first winter storm of 2014. we have got it covered like in other network can. we begin in boston with indra petersons. indra? >> reporter: i'm going to do everything i can to look at this camera

these are photos of frozen lighthouses on lake michigan.eeze over with the winter winds and waves cover the towers with the icy spray. look at lake michigan steaming as temperatures bottom out there at a record breaking 16 below zero. >> it is amazing those pictures. >> the extreme cold delaying a major vote in the senate on jobless benefits. the vote is rescheduled for this morning. acting fast to extend the emergency unemployment insurance. doug luzader is live with that story. >> good morning heather. in an effort to push the party line vote in extending the benefits failed because there were so many empty seats due to the weather. today the president will ground himself with unemployment americans and make the chase that the chief economic advisor outlined yesterday. >> when you have historic levels of long-term unemployment you know that there are just millions of people still who are desperately looking for work. they are eligible because they were working before. they are looking for a job. >> those benefits at the state level genera

it's lake michigan. stuck at the airport and trying to sleep and bathe. and icy cold waiting outside your window. >>> superslimmers. in this new year, 15% of us lose weight and keep it off. tonight, we'll tell you the secrets of these superdieters. >>> and true grit. the college football championship tonight. and we have the story of the true winner behind tonight's big game. >>> good evening. it is good to be with you on this monday night. and as we come on the ai

look at that little ban coming into lake michigan. for us, watch for the system to trek just to our south and it is expected to intensify as it moves off to the coast this afternoon. our wind also change direction coming in east/northeast and notice with high pressure, the low to the east, that snow and that gradient, the difference between pressures that drives the wind and so our winds are going to be extremely strong, especially overnight tonight. we could be talking gusts around 40 miles per hour. by 9:00 this morning, i think we can start to see it from frederick to martinsburg to winchester. by noon, everybody should be starting to get some of that action and notice this computer model wanting to put in a little bit of light rain. the evening hours, things will start to diminish and slowly moving out from northwest the southeast, i think everybody is going to be done. skies will clear out tonight and you're really going feel that cold. how much snowfall are we talking about? everybody should be prepared for 4-8 inches of snowfal

lake michigan steaming as temperatures are at a record breaking 16 below 0. illinois declaring a state of emergency. in indiana, one day after a major snow, a state of disaster and a severe warning from the governor. >> if you can stay in today, stay in all day today. >> reporter: records broken as far south as texas. and look at these frozen spectacles in georgia. atlanta, colder than anchorage, alaska, and all brought to you by a pool of cold air sometimes referred to as a polar vortex. an upper level low pressure system that circulating around the north pole. many times reaching central canada and in this case the jet stream bending far south enough to avoid the counter clockwise spinning low, to get into the lower 48. even shipping is affected. this coast guard ice breaker in northern michigan working around the clock to keep shipping lanes open. ice here hasn't frozen this early since the 1930s. >> this is the kind of stuff we are breaking through right now. that ice is thick. >> reporter: so the next natural question, how long does this cold last? a loo

in chicago, steam is rising from lake michigan, because the air is colder than the water. windchills are close to 40 below. >> this must be brutally cold. no problems staying in two days if we have to. >> reporter: people in minneapolis are used to cold weather, but this is different, and dangerous, with the high temperature expected to be 15 degrees below zero, all schools have been closed and utility companies are working overtime to make sure they're ready if anyone loses power or heat. >> it is now illegal to drive in minneapolis expect for emergencies or shelter. at airports, hundreds of flights are expected to be canceled or delayed. some people have been stranded for days. >> our flight was supposed to leave on friday. we've been stuck saturday, sunday, to today. >> reporter: forecasters say the frigid air is headed east, where temperatures are expected to drop more than 40 degrees by tuesday. >> travelers in the bay area are stuck as well. at sfo today there have already been about 20 canceled flights. live at sfo with more on the impact for people to fly in and ou

it's lake michigan. chaos on the roads this weekend. stuck at the airport and trying to sleep and bathe. and icy cold waiting outside your window. >>> superslimmers. in this new year, 15% of us lose weight and keep it off. tonight, we'll tell you the secrets of these superdieters. >>> and true grit. the college football championship tonight. and we have the story of the true winners behind tonight's big game. >>> good evening. it is good to be with you on this monday night. and as we come on the air, they

okay, satellite picture, radar combined, some clouds, a little bit of snow on the east side of lake michiganat's our next clipper. the center of the storm will track to our north. it will drag a cold front through us, but not much moisture. maybe a flurry or snow shower tomorrow afternoon and that's it. 15 right now in college park. 15 in arlington. 15 in reston and fairfax. these are straight temperatures. factor in the winds, it's going to be 2 in frederic and feels like it's 1. one lonely degree in leesburg. all right, bitterly cold again tonight. time to check your pipes in your car batteries with this stretch of cold weather. another clipper tomorrow and below freezing, at least through saturday morning, we might make it above freezing saturday afternoon. temperatures to start downtown in the teens, 21 by 11:00, 22 by 1:00 p.m. 23 again on friday. clouds come in friday night. another clipper comes at us. maybe a snow shower saturday. teuresatnly in the low 30s. we might break the freezing mark on that date. and then we get into the next several days, we are still getting cold. 29 on sun

i want to show you lake michigan with the sun rising.room. we've got ice on the surface with some boats frozen into place. a beautiful scene as i said if you are watching from inside. that's exactly where chicago officials would like you to view it from. they are concerned that the temperatures are not only dangerous, they could be deadly especially with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite setting in in a few minutes on exposed skin with the brutal wind. here is what they are doing to help protect people. they cancelled the public schools, they don't want kids walking several blocks to get to class. they are sending homeless outreach patrols out to check on citizens, see if they need shelter, encouraging neighbors to help one another especially those in the elderly category and encouraging people to stay off the roads. to take public transportation if they have to be out on the streets, stock up their car with essentials in case they slide off and help can't get to them for a while. in the meantime, we are not going to see temperatures

going to show you lake michigan, ice over surface, frozen on the lake. give you an idea of just how cold it is here today. public school has been cancelled. officials are asking anyone who doesn't have to go outside to please stay indoors and stay off the road. they're looking for people who need shelter. maybes are being encouraged to look out for one another, especially if they know someone that falls into that vulnerable elderly classification. temperatures won't pick up until the end of the week. for now, it's stay warm and stay safe. >> you could hear her pretty well for that scarf there. it worked out okay. the severe weather is having a direct impact rigt heht here in bay area. more than a dozen flights already cancelled. at least 60 flights were cancelled at sfo yesterday. we found several passengers there who just were delayed, they actually were stranded. they were told they would not be able to get to their destinations for at least another day. >> the hours tick and tick and tick and people said are you cancelling us? let us try to rebook. no

ice was so thick that the young polar bears had to take turns plunging into a small opening in lake michigan. you're committed if you have to jump through a small hole in the ice. >> and bikinis. >>> time for a look back and a look ahead. we see the new modifications for the u.s. ship currently docked in virginia using special new equipment to destroy syria's chemical weapons. >>> on this day in 1960 the first step towards the white house for john f. kennedy. >> i am today announcing my candidacy for the presidency of the united states, the presidency is the most powerful office in the free world to which leadership can come a more vital life for all of our people. >> happy birthday to supermodel christy turlington, oscar-winning actor kubba gooding, junior. and jack hannah is 67. keep it here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lui. have a very good day ahead. >>> good morning. it's 4:30. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm peggy bunker. laura garcia-cannon has the morning off. breaking news in san jose this morning, where police are investigating the city's first homicide of the year. >> a

this photo of lake michigan, for example. others have been posting handy hints for how to deal with the temperatures of -20 degrees, like this guide for how to walk on an icy path without slipping or falling over. >> a number of web users speculating on robert moog on the -- robert mugabe's health. rumors were relayed online before the head of state issued a statement denying the claims, insisting he was in good health and looking forward to celebrating his 90th birth a next month -- 90th birthday next month. film ofng a photo or a legeating a massive turkey at one of the disney theme parks in the u.s. -- this is the latest selfie trend to hit social networks in the states, and it is proving pretty popular indeed. twitter, flickr, instagram, all abuzz with pictures of americans talking into a leg of turkey. devouring the food in a somewhat cavelike -- cavemanlike fashion. but this rather odd activity isn't solely for solitary souls. you can do it with your partner, with friends, or with family. kids seem particularly won over

. >> reporter: still, some decided to break the ice with a new year's plunge into lake michigan. on the other side of the leak in detroit, the first snowstorm of the new year. >> the visibility very low on the roadways. >> reporter: near whiteout conditions too, at the big house in ann arbor, where more than 100,000 shivered at the nhl classic. >> you got to do what you got to do to be hockey fans. >> reporter: the snow made for tough hockey playing. some good old-fashioned ice cleaning techniques put to use. and the arctic blast is heading east to places like maine where thousands of residents are still recovering from a christmas ice storm. the forecast sent new yorkers scrambling to stock up. >> my fear is we're going to have a foot of snow. >> reporter: while residents went in search of shovels and snowblowers. >> hopefully this is the only one, the only one for 2014. >> reporter: more than 1,000 flights at o'hare airport were affected by today's weather. already points east, they are preemptively canceling flights for tomorrow and friday in a anticipation of the storm. and o

lake michigan steams in the cold. the freezing air above.parts of the midwest are suffering temperatures of 26 degrees below zero, about the same as the antarctic, much colder than the inside of a domestic freezer. people are wrapping up warm. facemasks, and my mustache keeps freezing. >> it is as cold as it has been in forever, but i have got more layers on been in forever. >> the wind made it almost unbearable. >> i feel like my fingers are going to crack and burst into a million pieces. >> outside chicago, hundreds were stuck on trains overnight. the sudden drop in temperature ,ame after severe snowstorms and one illinois family was trapped in their car for 15 hours. that we take,ip we will definitely fly. >> thousands of flights have been canceled. say this isecasters a storm flung off of the polar vortex. icy fingers of the vortex have reached out to the nation's capital. ands absolutely freezing, the wind makes it that much worse. it is really painful. for the thousands in washington who live on the streets, charity helps little. a ste

some amazing polar portraits of the winter snow, lake michigan is steaming cold, the water far warmer than the freezing air. a water main break threatened to turn this ohio street into an ice rink. the deep freeze shutting schools and icing fountains in the deep sitting. >> here in washington, dc, the air and whipping winds are bone- chilling cold, and down right dangerous. frostbite can kir in -- occur this five minutes. >> the cold has an impact on flights cross the country including the bay area. our reporter is at sfo with a look at what travelers are facing. >> mess at the airports and it continues to impact bay area passengers. here are the latest numbers from the past ten minutes: across the nation, 2,393 cancellations today. sfo has 31 cancellations, oak has 12 cancellations and san jose has four cancellations. this is creating a major backup and could take days to work through the system. this traveling band of siblings hit a bad note on the way across country to hartford connecticut. the flight was canceled and they are now rebooked for thursday. >> what we seeing if any fri

a man pulled from the ice in lake michigan. okay, good morning. welcome to "early start" this friday morning. i'm christine romans. >> i'm ana cabrera. john berman is hosting "new day." it's january 3rd, 4:00 a.m. in the east. 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> a beast of a winter storm battering the northeast right now. 100 million people are in its path. driving snow and fierce winds forcing the governors of new jersey and new york to declare a state of emergency. this storm is enormous. parts of new york state and new england will be digging out from well over a foot of snow later today. in fact, we saw 21 inches already in boxford, massachusetts. much of the reason facing extreme cold with sustained winds of 30 miles an hour or more. windchills below zero. air travel is a nightmare. thousands of flights cancelled or delayed and highways impassible. many shutdown so that plows can do their work. blizzard conditions from the big apple all the way up to maine. cnn that the first winter storm of four-three 2014 covered like no other network can. we begin

. >>> things were getting a bit steamy around lake michigan today, still ahead some ideas to take advantage of this cold >>> right now pennsylvania state police are looking for a road rage killer who shot another driver early saturday on i-81 just north of the maryland state line. 28-year-old timothy davidson was killed. davidson had recently visited relatives in florida and was headed home to maine. police say davidson and the killer got into a dispute out there and that fight ended with the killer ramming davidson onto the median strip and shooting him dead. police are reviewing 911 calls from other drivers made at that time. >> witnesses to come forward, trying to develop new leads. we're actively aggressively out there. >> one clue, police believe the killer was driving a small dark pickup and it probably has damage to its front or side and perhaps scraped from the silver suv that davidson was driving. >>> we got a glimpse into the future of metro today. >> reporter: i'm debra alfarone in greenbelt, maryland, where this brand-new 7000 series metro train rolled down these tracks for the

i mean come through the sault locks and headed down toward either lake erie or lake michigan. >> reporteraters before. running aground, bringing shipping here to a halt before she was towed away. and that was in good weather. >> just to get an idea of how close this actually is, about 80 yards off on our port side, our left side over here is six foot of water. there's not a lot of room to work with here. >> reporter: with sunset less than two hours away, will it be safe? >> one of the biggest parts of being in this job is having to make that call. >> this is news radio 620, wtmj. >> at 2:01 it's 13 degrees below zero. >> reporter: in milwaukee we meet up with police officers from a special unit prowling the streets to save the especially vulnerable homeless. >> it's extremely cold, and people could get frostbite, and they could eventually die out here. >> you want to go somewhere right now warm.library's open t 6:00. >> it's nice to know that there is somebody out there looking out for the people that are like myself. >> put these on, man. >> we'll look for you later on tonight. okay? >>

in this case a dog in lake michigan and the chicago fire department trying to rescue a dog that's fallen through the ice. according to the fire chief, this woman was out walking her adorable pooch. it ran out on the ice and fell through. but listen to how awesome chicago fire is. they were on scene in four minutes. >> whoa. >> and they sent out a diver and you see them. they've got this rope attached to this diver. he went into the ice in his dry suit, and now he's back up on top of the ice trying to create as much surface area as possible as they drag him back across the ice, he has the pooch in his arms. >> super simple rescue. >> notice one flipper is not on that foot, that must have been a cold four. >> the most important thing is the four minutes because they didn't have much more time than that because they say in this type of cold water, water is of the essence. >> and look at the enormous team they sent out for this rescue, when asked why they sent out this big team for an animal rescue, they say oftentimes the humans go out to rescue the animal and they could fall through and th

. >> lake michigan is frozen solid . if it was not too cold to survive outdoors, it would be possible to walk across it to canada. temperatures are -20 seven degrees celsius, an all-time record, and it is -40 win the wind chill is factored in. >> it is brutal out here. it is unbelievably cold out here. it is just -- this is ridiculous. >> don't want to be outside at all. not at all. my skin -- the moment you walk outside, your skin hurts. >> americans in the north and midwest have been battling arctic conditions for days as the low-pressure front christina sweeps across the country. extremely cold air is blowing in from the arctic across the atlantic. schools are closed. more than 4000 flights have been canceled. authorities are urging people to stay home if at all possible as temperatures could be life- threatening. residents of new york are digging in as the cold front prepares to move east. temperatures fell almost 30 degrees celsius within 24 hours from 12 degrees plus to -14. and it is set to get worse. >> meanwhile

normally described as steamy, but this is the of that of record-breaking cold temperatures on lake michiganare being urged to stay inside if possible to avoid this blast of arctic air. schools have been closed, and hospitals have been treating people with frostbite. >> this is quite frigid. i am not used to this at all. >> a jacket, and walk fast. >> very cold, very cold, yes. saysen mayor in the city plants have sprung into action well, but the coming days will be just as challenging. >> the entire apparatus of the city government is on a coordinated effort, executing a plan that is working well, but working well does not mean i am satisfied or that the people here are satisfied. >> the cold snap may travel treacherous. dozens of accidents have been reported on icy roads across the midwest. 3600 u.s. flights have been canceled, thousands delayed, and there are likely to be more cancellations in the next couple of days. vortex,known as a polar spreading cold temperatures across the country. the cold weather is moving from the midwest to the east coast. country, of the washington is bracing

on lake michigan, ice is a hazard, so icebreakers are hard at work. as temperatures plunge, heating bills soar. >> they need to know they will be paying more than last winter. >> reporter: hardest hit, the 63 million users of natural gas and propane. natural gas prices have hit three and a half year highs, despite a glut in north dakota that is being burned off because pipelines can't keep up. nationwide the government predict an average $665 heating bill, 10% more than last year. in the northeast, record cold means more higher bills, a jump of up to 17%, for the propane users in the midwest, a bigger jump, an average bill of more than $1600, up 23%. nearly two dozen states, most of them in the midwest, have declared propane emergencies. >> in the worse case scenario, it would allow us to call out the national guard to provide direct assistance. >> reporter: industry officials blame the shortage on several fact, to including shippers giving priority to natural gas. so now propane is being shipped from plants in texas all the way to the upper midwest.

mill have been delayed days, canceled or stuck in the ice which now covers more than a third of lake michigan. slow going? >> very slow going. it took us 17 hours to move a ship seven miles. >> reporter: wow. at 3,500 tons, the "mackinaw" is the biggest and newest ice breaker on the great lakes. older ice breakers ride up on the ice and break it using the ship's weight. >> 176, sir. >> reporter: on the mackinaw, ensign michael cooper manipulates the propulsion system to churn up the ice like a blender. >> the beam of our boat is 58 feet wide. we're able to cut a track close to 70 feet by using that directional thrust. >> reporter: the vibration caused by this massive ship smashing through thick ice is relentless. one crewman described it as living 18 hours a day in an earthquake. forecasters expect 60% of the lake to freeze this year. despite the work of the "mackinaw" and eight other ice breakers, most of the routes here will be closed to shipping until late march. don dahler, cbs news, michigan. >> pelley: actor russell johnson played one of the most memorable characters in t.v. history, th

that is when cold air interacts with relatively warm water with lake michigan. the city picked up so inches. move east now. the storm virtually shut down washington, d.c. the federal government was closed as people there prepared for as much as 8 inches of snow. as you might guess, plenty of travel trouble at east coast airports. nationwide, airlines canceled about 3,000 flights today. more than a thousand flights have already been grounded tomorrow. >>> san francisco international is reporting 60 flight cancellations. so far, no flights have been canceled out of oakland or san jose. meteorologist paul deanno is tracking the storm. paul, how long is this deep freeze supposed to last? >> reporter: first comes the snow, then cold. it will be a couple days before they get back to normal. pick your poison. do you juan want a draught or snow warnings? i am talking from portland, maine, boston, philadelphia, washington, d.c., everybody picking up at least a half foot of snow with highs today 4 for minneapolis. new york city, 21. sat lake city, 37. look at the contrast

>>reporter: look at this vapor rising from lake michigan. ice cutter was needed to keep shipping lanes open. forecas forecasters say the before it's all over 187 million people will feel the freeze. >> well the frigid temperatures are affecting nraits all over the country. thousands cancelled and delayed. at sfo many travelers are stuck. they can't get there from here. lillian kim is there live tonight with the story. lillian? >> there will were 56 cancelled flights here at sfo today with each cancellation hundreds of travelers left feeling helples helpless. all day long it has been frustration at the ticket counter at sfo this man lost hope of heading home any time soon. >> paparrazi they say friday. no way i can be here for this. >>reporter: more than 4000 flights one out of every 10 domestic departure cancelled late this afternoon. she just arrived from chicago o'hare and said the usually because lipping airport was deserted. >> i have a friend in the ground crew saying the sky jet bridges whatever were frozen and weren't able to fuel the

it's frozen lake michigan off to the right. an indication of how icy the runways are and how trecherous it can be. a jet, imagine being on this. the jet skidded into a snow bank while turning into a taxi way. all flights in and out were canceled throughout the morning. let's continue to talk about the fact that thousands of passengers, they are sitting there waiting. they are trying to get out of new york and la guardia as well. alexander field is there right now. alexander, a lot of flight cancellations. that has been the story that has been pervasive. we learned that jet blue has adopted an entering strategy to clear the backlog in reducing the flights. tell us what they have decided to do. >> there a few factors at play. everyone is trying to fix the problem. let me break it down. we are at la guardia airport. the lines in yellow are the flights that are delayed. there 3400 flights that are delayed. jet blue is out of the northeast and the weather greatly affected them and new rules concerning the amount of rest that pilots

in chicago, lake michigan look mores like the north pole. last year just 38%st great lakes were frozen over but this year researchers predict the ice coverage to double. meanwhile, thousands of flights are canceled across the country and now it is a fight just to stay warm. as brutally cold temperatures settle in. bill karins is here. bill this storm has really lived up to all the hype, unfortunately. >> now is the worst part. now is the cleanup part. you have to go on with your lives and people have to go to school and work. you have to clean up. you have to shovel the snow. it's light and fluffy. it will blow quickly away. new york, 11 inches in central park, philadelphia, 14 inches. still snowing in providence and boston. you'll end up somewhere around 10 to 12 inches by the time it's said and done, especially if you're from boston southward. here it is off the virginia beach coastline. it is heading to sea. it will drag the snow with it. but we're not done yet. still very windy up here especially in new england. and that's where we're see

this endless pool of ice is lake michigan, captured on a camera, flying on a drone, high above. >> it's just massive. >> reporter: last year, only 38% of the great lakes were frozen over. this year, researchers predict the ice coverage to be almost double that for january and february. coast guard petty officer brad houston says the extra ice has kept them busy, responding to calls all season. >> a lot of people will see this its and think, i can stand on this. but your hand goes right through. >> yep. exactly. they fall straight through. >> reporter: another unexpected side-effect of the arctic air, propane problems. the cold blast draining supplies and creating a propane shortage for the almost 6 million households that rely on propane for home heating. and prices are up 20% in some places. but the polar chill has been good for some. >> look at that. 14 inches of ice. >> reporter: in lake placid, new york, it's what they need for a major hockey tournament this weekend. >> we had no choice to flood the rinks because the ice gets so cold, that it cracks. >> reporter: and on lake superio

. >> reporter: lake michigan is steaming cold. the water far warmer than the freezing air.t's called a polar vortex and it's wreaking frozen havoc on the nation's airports, rails and roads. cars in pennsylvania frozen to the ground when a nearby water main break met the icy air. >> my first thoughts were, oh, my god. >> reporter: drivers in indiana stranded by whipping winds and blowing snow. >> they said right now we cannot send anyone out to get you. they declared a state of emergency and i'm sorry but good luck. >> reporter: 500 amtrak passengers trapped by snow made their way home after a hellish night. >> sitting on a train was rough. >> reporter: after more than 7,000 flights were canceled in the last two days, finally signs of a thaw. >> available outside if you want to check in much the lines are not long. >> reporter: for now, officials continue to urge residents to stay indoors, but relief is on the way. temperatures are expected to rise above freezing by the end of the week. mary bruce, abc news, washington. >> thank goodness some optimism from mary about those r

. >>> check out this weather phenomenon from lake michigan. those are ice actually ice balls.to a weather man friend of mine and he said it's ice broken up into chunks and it gets pushed against the shoreline in waves and it causes it to roll and collect more ice because it's so cold and it turns into these jeent balls of ice. looks like boulders. >>> and the last thing you never want to see is somebody trying to lick a metal pole when it's really cold out like the scene from "christmas story." this is posted on the youtube channel of jason avalon and he does a very interesting trick here, he uses a hot dog instead of his actual tongue. >> what do you think is going to happen when you pull it off? >> ow. >> it's stuck there. it's actual stuck on there. do you dare me? >> no! >> no! >> he's not going to do it. he's just messing with us. >> i don't think so. never lick metal. >>> a buddy aauht in a hillside. so now these guys get the bright idea. >> got all these fireworks here. what should we do next? >> how they literally felt a spark after this one. >>> the winter olympics ar

. >> reporter: on lake michigan there were giant balls of ice, rolling onto the shore. but they won't stay there long. from chicago to new orleans, temperatures are rising as much as 40 degrees. river flooding now possible. this was georgia on monday. and this was the same water fountain today. in the south, where the thaw has already started, the warmth is revealing disasters. >> i didn't know whether to cry, go out the door or what to do because i had never saw anything like this before. >> reporter: families have been waking up to sometimes thousands of dollars in damage from frozen water pipes that busted. >> it took out the ceilings in the bathroom and master bath. >> reporter: here's what's happening. water that was trapped in pipes froze and expanded, putting thousands of pounds of pressure on pipes that busted on sunday and monday, started melting on tuesday and wednesday, and are flooding homes tonight. >> it was cascading out from the eaves like a waterfall. and i knew something had burst. >> reporter: flooded families in nashville have to wait. the plumbers a

lake michigan is frozen solid. if it wasn't too cold to survive outdoors it would be possible to walk across it to canada temperatures of minus twenty seven degrees celsius an all time record. and it's minus fourteen when the windchill is factored in. this is true i hear it's unbelievably cold i have like no other business. this is just ridiculous. don't get it all not at all. yet much to like the moment you walk outside it's good for us. americans in the north and when a student baffling arctic conditions for days has a low pressure front christina sweeps across the country extremely cold air is blowing in from the arctic across the north atlantic schools are closed more than four thousand flights and intense. authorities are urging people to stay home if at all possible. as the low temperatures could be life threatening. the cold front is now begun to move further east. residents of new york aren't digging in temperatures here till almost thirty degrees celsius within twenty four hours from twelve degrees plus tw

>> reporter: the lake michigan shore was freezing solid. schools all over were canceled today and tomorrow. critical parts froze up on public transport and made commuting numbingly slow. interstate 65 in indiana was actually closed. while in minnesota, windchills of 50 below were not uncommon. a.a.a. said there were 15,000 cars for roadside assistance across the midwest. but people still went to work somehow. there were firemen fighting fires, mailmen delivering letters. >> got to have your face mask. the only problem is my mustache keeps freezing. ( laughs ) >> reporter: and doctors treating increasing cases of frostbite. an extended period of cold like this is... >> deadly. brutally deadly. >> reporter: we met dr. michelle surgel in the emergency room of cook county hospital. >> everything is more difficult for everyone but certainly people with underlying conditions. >> reporter: people like miguel gomez. he was living an abandoned unheated house. that hand is almost blue. >> yeah. >> reporter: can you feel that? >> yeah. >> reporter: do

>>reporter: look at this vapor rising from lake michigan.open. forecas forecasters say the before it's all over 187 million people will feel the freeze. >> well the frigid temperatures are affecting nraits all over the country. thousands cancelled and delayed. at sfo many travelers are stuck. they can't get there from here. lillian kim is there live tonight with the story. lillian? >> there will were 56 cancelled flights here at sfo today with each cancellation hundreds of travelers left feeling helples helpless. all day long it has been frustration at the ticket counter at sfo this man lost hope of heading home any time soon. >> paparrazi they say friday. no way i can be here for this. >>reporter: more than 4000 flights one out of every 10 domestic departure cancelled late this afternoon. she just arrived from chicago o'hare and said the usually because lipping airport was deserted. >> i have a friend in the ground crew saying the sky jet bridges whatever were frozen and weren't able to fuel the jets for some of the smaller flights so yes i

it would try to keep the species from i will filtrating lake michigan from a web of the water ways and project that could take 25 years. it's all because of these fish. look what they do when they're scared. they're asian or silver headed carp. they're causing serious problems that the congress ordered the study that resulted in this when startled this invasive species known for jumping feet out of the water, there are even stories and we heard one on the floor here, they can knock boaters out as they're doing what they do. but the senator dick durbin said this project may languish without congressional approval. i guess in terms of the species, they agree. >>> still ahead, the moment that may have turned the bcs title game around. how florida state mounted an 18-point come back to back national champs. and alex trebec like you never heard him before. "way too early" will be right back. >> i want to thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presidents for lunch. i am one message that i have and i think we all share is that we want you to succeed. [ male announcer ] staples has every

check out this time lapse video over lake michigan.n. now what is the deal with this polar vortex? >> sounds like a new phenomenon, but actually the polar vortex is a huge pool of super cold air up toward the north pole that's there of winter, but what is rare is when some of that super cold air kind of breaks away and makes it all the way down to the united states. that happens about once every 20 years and this is one of those years where we're seeing it where air that's 30 or 40 degrees colder than even the normal cold you get in january does invade part of the u.s. these are some of the temperatures as a result, minneapolis before the wind 23 degrees below 0, chicago 16 below and teens all the way down to atlanta and dallas. here's a look at how cold it was back east today. in the mid-west some people ran to get out of the cold. others bundled up from head to toe. >> i'm wearing tons of layers. i think i think five on top, four on boomirs of gloves. >> reporter: schools in many cities shut down and some major roadways are closed be

the whole city encased in ice, and the shores of lake michigan frozen over. at one point the windchill made it feel like negative 45 degrees. but things should get better tomorrow. chicago public schools will be back open. the first time kids will be in school since before christmas. >>> and this might shock you. hell has just frozen over. >> what? >> yes, that's right. the town of hell, michigan, it's west of detroit. the temperatures today was a record negative 4 degrees. the town of just 600 people has quite a bit of snow too. even a snowplow got stuck. you know it's bad when hell freezes over, doug. >> a lot of stuff starts happening. you say that all the time. i tell you what. >> how cold are we going to get tonight? >> we're going to get cold tonight. not nearly as cold as last night. we're not going to set any records across the area tonight. we're not talking temperatures below zero, but still temperatures in the single digits. now, you normally need temperatures below zero for this to happen. you can take boiling water, throw it into the air, and wha

it is so cold right now minus twenty three degrees celsius and lake michigan is partially frozen which is actually quite rare in people who've lived here for thirty to forty years. i think they've never seen such low temperatures ever before do we need. he's making things worse the so called when silk factory means monday's brand of seventeen mph makes the temperature feels like minus forty degrees. while some companies allow the employees to work from home may still occur to me a dress that can mean don't be afraid of. not all catholics did like the moment you walk outside. it's good for us. one that applies to those who must kill our congressional leaders. five there's got to wear. i just like this but over the fence but that leg warmers the price up so that i have been on their shirts for the record search for work and then to top officials only specially worried about the elderly and the homeless urging them to seek shelter the governor of illinois has declared this be a disaster area where the kids on cctv chicago. extreme cold weather is also freezing canada in toronto the countr

and take a look behind me, this is lake michigan here in chicago, completely frozen over in the harbor, the wind starting to pick up. it's getting colder and colder. just a taste of what's to come. that arctic blast, diane. >> all right, gio, that brings us straight to abc's chief medical editor dr. richard besser, wants to talk more about these dangers, specifically what you do. >> it's very concerning. you know, if you look this weekend, green bay, wisconsin, the packers will play in their game, if you factor in the wind, it's going to get down to 40 degrees below zero. that's a remarkable temperature. very dangerous. i went outside this afternoon, with a thermal camera, you can see in red here, everywhere that the heat is getting out. and these are pictures of me, without my hat, my gloves, my jacket open for a period of four minutes, see the red, that's heat escaping if you're not completely bundled up, the wind pulls the heat away. that's a road to hypothermia. now, this is what you see, when frostbite sits in. and it's frightening. you take off your glove over the course of one m

howling winds kicked up waves on lake michigan, creating a wall of ice on shore. in minnesota, it was hazardous to spend more than just a few minutes outside. the thermometer dipped to 20 below in some places. the deep freeze extends through the midwest and winter storms are headed for the deep south. we have a team of correspondents covering this beginning with dean reynolds in the very windy city. dean? >> reporter: scott, the windchill tonight in chicago is expected to be 40 degrees below zero and the actual temperature is not expected to peak above zero into wednesday in what may turn out to be the longest period of bitter cold in 31 years. the snowplows arrived too late for this greyhound bus that slipped off the pavement 50 miles south of chicago in windchills of 20 below. no one was hurt. 40 mile an hour gusts created whiteout conditions and forced road closures like this one in indiana. passable routes in iowa and elsewhere were hard to find or even see. but this law enforcement officer did see in michigan was terrifying. in ohio, the wind blew so hard it