noaa said there are about 450 of the whales left and 17 died so far this year. >> some economists in worry the transition to legal status for cannabis farms will hurt mountain lions. the fear is they will leave their habitat in cannabis farms grow in rural areas. they must meet several requirements. it is set to go into effect at the first of the year. >> salvation armty needs more volunteers to keep the bells ringing during the holidays. abc news visited the hayward corps where the charity faced a shortage of bell ringer to stand next to donation boxes across alameda county. >> we are seeking the community's help in manning the kettles. funds that are collected are vital. a lifeline for many individuals and families. >> the salvation army has 32 kettle locations in alameda county. right now it averages about 10 volunteers a day. if you're interested, you can contact the salvation army in hayward. >> santa's toy drive got a big boost today here if the bay area. >> jasanta needs our help. he can't do it alone. >> operation elf. how a local group of elves help kids overlooked with a to

noaa sent out this picture of the smoke mixing with some fog in concord. >> the santa clara valley waterrict celebrating a major milestone. the pipeline project runs along wolf road. it will carry recycled water from a pump station to the new apple campus. apple is the first customer using recycled water for landscaping, restrooms as well as a cooling system. abc 7 was there as the ribbon was cut. it involved 650 sections of pipe. that required, of course, a massive trench for two and a half miles. >> probably averages 12 feet deep most of the way. so that's a lot of excavation. >> the $17 million project is a public/private partnership which will carry recycled water throughout sunny veil and cupertino. in the meantime, apple is spending a lot of money on laser. it is dishing out $390 million. it will use the money to revive a plant in texas to boost production of special lasers used in making chips. they are what the iphone 10 uses to scan faces, and what air pod ear buds use for ears. afterward, it shot up 30%. >>> in antioch, a holiday tradition renewed in the form of wheels for thos

it's hard to make out with all that snow and ice, but this newly released noaa satellite image is showing the great lakes and those thick clouds from minnesota to new england. and now, the arctic invasion across most of the lower 48 states. this found dane, you see it right there, behind the new york public library. mostly turned to ice. and take a look. the forecast for new year's eve, the coldest in more than 50 year square, the wind chill could be minus 4. and for millions feeling the cold, there is much more snow in the forecast, as well. abc's alex perez starts us off from erie, pennsylvania. >> reporter: tonight, 200 million americans bundled from head to toe, that dangerous cold snap gripping more than half the country. from the northeast, where temperatures are 15 to 30 degrees below normal, freezing fountains in philadelphia and new york. to chicago. at midway airport, it was coo cold to fly. more than 80 nights canceled. >> nobody offered any answers, no solutions, anything like that. >> reporter: officials warning, the cold could be deadly, especially for the very young and ver

but al tern naive noaa points out, if you boycott san francisco businesses you must delete your twitter accounts. they tweet conservatives are more outraged over 1 death dauds by an illegal imgrants than 58 deaths caused by an american, referring to the las vegas massacre. so the debate continues to rage. >>> major news today. former national security advisor to president trump, michael flynn, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the fbi p he says he will fully cooperation with the investigation headed by robert mueller into the meddling of last year's election. we have the latest. >> reporter: former trump national security advisor michael flynn pleading guilty to willfully and knowingly making false statements to the fbi. the court filing saying that flynn lied regarding two meetings he had with russian ambassador sergey kislyak in december of 2016. one of them involving discussions of sanctions the u.s. impose against russia. prosecution explaining trump called the transition team at mar-a-lago about those sanctions. just one of many calls flynn had with zero kislyak. flynn s

but al tern naive noaa points out, if you boycott san francisco businesses you must delete your twitterounts. they tweet conservatives are more outraged over 1 death dauds by an illegal imgrants than 58 deaths caused by an american, referring to the las vegas massacre. so the debate continues to rage. >>> major news today. former national security advisor to president trump, michael flynn, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the fbi p he says he will fully cooperation with the investigation headed by robert mueller into the meddling of last year's election. we have the latest. >> reporter: former trump national security advisor michael flynn pleading guilty to willfully and knowingly making false statements to the fbi. the court filing saying that flynn lied regarding two meetings he had with russian ambassador sergey kislyak in december of 2016. one of them involving discussions of sanctions the u.s. impose against russia. prosecution explaining trump called the transition team at mar-a-lago about those sanctions. just one of many calls flynn had with zero kislyak. flynn sayin

the jet stream an arctic blast we're looking at some of the coldest air of season and take look at noaa temperatures once we get beyond the middle part of next week we're talking about below average temperatures for much of the eastern united states and above average temperatures out west. so the bottom line for this weekend end, high temperatures in the 50s. but look at next weekend. high temperatures likely in the 30s. perhaps even a little bit of a wintry mix. we'll keep you posted. but for tonight those overnight lows upper 20s north and west. low to mid 30s elsewhere. for tomorrow, a chilly start to the day. partly cloudy skies. temperatures top out right around 52 degrees. that's 2 degrees above average. mid 50s by sunday. 56 degrees on monday. look at tuesday. 61 degrees. so the mild stretch continues through about the early part of next week the transitional day on wednesday clouds, showers, maybe an early wintry mix as some of that rain mixes with some of the colder air. on thursday but look at thursday and friday. high temperatures only in the low 40s. dawn, back over to you.

city records show there was noaa woman yelling that she was trapped. new york city mayor said some are fighting for their lives with very serious injuries. >> this is the worst fire tragedy we've seen in this city in a at least a quarter century. >> investigators say it's still nd veryly to determine just what deadly blaze. >> new this morning, bullets shattered the entrance to a barber shop in the kensington section. gunfire erupted is during a robbery on kensington avenue last night. no injuries report. >>> a controversial professor at drexel university is resigning. he has been on leave since october because of social media posts claiming the mass shooting in las vegas was about white victimization. he warned that free speech on campus is under attack from the conservative right. >>> the extreme cold is putting a strain on the city's aging water system. a pipe ruptured torresdale 1900 block of fairdalee turned into a sheet of ice. >>> mummers parade is expect be to be on the coldest day of the year. the participants said final decision has not been

his death led to the creation of noaa's law which fits second time offenders with an interlock deviceng and today dozens of bowie police officers stepped up to help those less fortunate in the community. fox5's kristin leone was there and she has the story this morning was the annual shop with the cop event at the city of bowie gymnasium. there kids and their families met with local officers and headed over to target for some shopping and holiday fun. every yea bowie police department races money to help give these kids a present to put under their tree and each year they say that the festivities and christmas spirit just keeps getting better and better for everyone participat ing. it gives us a chance to play h in the toy aisle for a while, but it's just great to see these kids happy and see them sharing the season it really shows the spirit of the kids and it shows the heart that these kids have and they may be having a hard time right now and maybe struggling a little bit but the mindset is thinking of others. christmas is not about the presents. it's about being with your family a

but alternative noaa, quickly points on out if you boycott san francisco bringses, you must also delete your twitter account. and another liberal voice tweets conservatives are more outraged over one death caused by an illegal immigrant than 58 deaths caused by an american referring of course to the las vegas massacre. and right now you can see given all of the discussion still swirlin, even though the steinle trial has wrapped up, there are issues brought forth certainly have not. >> and our on coverage continues online and as well as on the abc 7 news app. later we'll take a look at the key moments from the trial and what factors may have swayed the jury. >>> after mostly mild week, it is getting cloudsier and quite a bit cooler. here is a live view from the east bay camera in emeryville. it is currently 58 in san francisco. 60 san jose. 55 half moon bay. here is another view of the western sky. 61 right now in santa rosa and fairfield. 62 concord. this evening levi stadium, the pac-12 conversatiference champi. stanford versus uchltss skrchlt. upper 50s under partly cloudy skies. simi

and what's really interesting is that noaa has just released that 2017 looks to be ranked as one of then record. okay? so that is just one of many scientific backgrounds we could look at. we've got 2016, 2015 coming in in a close first and second. and then you see pictures like this. this is in minnesota, the minnehaha falls freezing over. and you say global warming? what global warming? well, there is a marked difference between the weather and the climate, as george mentioned. trying to explain this to you, weather phenomenon is something that is measured in how the atmosphere behaves between minutes and, let's say, as far as a week or two in advance. the climate, however, is how the atmosphere behaves over an average of at least 30 years. so you can see the difference there. we're talk iing short-term vers long-term trends in patterns across the world. one thing's for sure, the weather pattern, the distinct change in the jet stream that's going to pull our arctic air in from the north is going to bring temperatures downhill for new year's eve across the new england coastline, includi

let's break it down because noaa is just coming out with some interesting news that 2017 is set to be one of the top three warmest years on record across the entire planet. in fact, only 1% of the world right now as we speak is below average climatologically speaking and that is the eastern united states. just as donald trump tweeted, it is going to be cold in the eastern u.s. for new year's eve, but that is not representative of what is happening across the rest of the world right now. then you see pictures like this. you go global climate change, global warming, is it happening? water falls are freezing in minnesota. well, there is a marked difference between weather and climate. this is the point that i'm trying to make. weather is measured in minutes to weeks. there's a specific event taking place at a specific time whereas climate is how the atmosphere behaves over a long period of time, at least 30 years. it's averaged over that period of time. you can see the difference between that short-term event being weather and long-term event being climate. the short-term event that's ta

and so we have, for instance, the air national guard and noaa that's capable of flying these souped-up jets directly into a storm. they can drop these little technology pieces called drop zones which measure wind speed, barometric pressure, that sort of thing. we have radar, we have satellites. and with all of this technology, we can try to predict the track of a hurricane. we can try to give people 72, 48 hours' worth of notice with a hurricane. and yet we still see the profound devastation that we saw in places like houston and puerto rico. so all of that being said, hurricanes are a no-brainer compared to earthquakes. and that became very quickly abundant to me when when i was doing my research. they are our least known natural disasters. we know less about the inner workings of the planet than we do distant galaxies. and for every seismologist that i met while i was earning this book, they all had some kind of analogy. they would say we mow more about x than we do about earthquakes, and they'd fill it in with things like dark matter or quasars or kate middleton's hats, you know? so

she has accused hurricane names when noaa pix the names as being racist. she is a leader, she is a member of congress. >> absolutely, like i said before, it's kind of like we elect our congress person just like in georgia, i would not want my republican congress person to pick a fight and spend more time doing nothing, not presenting any bills that help my constituents than picking fights with the president. it is so counterproductive and does a disservice to the people in her district. the other thing, this goes across the board, republican and democrat. i hope people see this behavior, republican or democrat, and vote these people out that want to vote -- vote for people who want to do the will of the people by the people, for the people. not pick fight with the president and work on something that's so counterproductive that is a conflict of interest that doesn't have the best interest of constituents in the district. this is crazy. absolutely insane. >> i think you said it best, i will let you have the last word. i think people shake their head, when a

they don't have an income tax, they rely on money from blue states, from the money that they get from noaathe money they get from the department of homeland security for hurricane preparedness and disasters after hurricanes. i lived in florida. i know how it works. that is blue state money going to a purple state. let's not forget blue money helps the rest of the country pay its bills. trish: but again, you should kind of like that right, you're a democrat? >> i don't have any problem with that. but i want it to be acknowledged that is how we pay our bills from the big blue states. >> i would like for it to be, i would like, i like for it to be acknowledged -- states like control that control appetites and don't spend like a bunch of drunken sailors. why costs are low to live in states like florida. perhaps instead of accusing, pointing fingers, states likes california and new york should take a reflective look in the mirror reconsider how much they want to tax their people. trish: this will maybe cause them to do it. there is nothing wrong with that. it would be healthy to see blue states

. >> and this morning noaa tweeted out these photos showing the smoke.t shows what it looked like yesterday compared to monday. the fires are being pushed as gasia mentioned by the strong gusty winds, the santa ana wins. they are expected to continue through at least today. >>> take a look at this video of a firefighter battling the skirball fire near the getty center. he was overcome by heat and had to be given medical assistance. that's where we find reporter gina silva. >> reporter: the fright certificate doing a little better. he got a lot of water and help. he went back now. what he was trying to do was come inside of this home. the attic is on fire and the flames are coming up. now, one of the other firefighters said in a panic, this house we're concerned it is going to go up like a bomb. you should move. we were trying to get the equipment out of here. but we are stuck because all of the hoses are here. this road, hacienda road, it is a very small road. very difficult to get in and out. that is why they have been saying there is an evacuate order.

this is noaa new hanover township. a crash at charlotte and godderer. that's still there. one that happened earlier that still hasn't cleared, this is in east noririton and pottss shop road. for new jersey, drivers making your way northbound at route 55 and the walt whitman bridge, that's a quick four or five-minute drive. the same if you're headed southbound. also, 295 at route 70, pretty moderate traffic out there. no issues to report on 295 or route 70 or route 38. >>> 6:19. 35 degrees outside. we'll look outside, the poconos. we'll see the snow-making machines on fire at camel back. it's going to be mother nature making some snow for us in the next 24 hours. meteorologist bill henley with that. >>> some of it will likely make it to the mountains. not a tremendous amount. nobody's going to get a tremendous amount tomorrow. but we will see the first accumulating snow of the season. the main event starts overnight tonight and mainly during the day. it will be the grass and cars that get the one to four. looking for heavier amounts, look in delaware and south jersey. this

we have a great map from noaa and we can show how cold it is. we can bring it up. this is what you're looking at, that dark blue is 10 degrees fahrenheit and encompasses a swath of the country and even more if to the south is between 20-30 degrees and in the very top of the northeast and near canada, negative 10. that's what we're looking at. unbelievable and then i look at commodity prices and natural gas, is at 282. i find that to be a staggering stat, julie. julie: the worst part about this is i'm originally from michigan so i can't complain to my family. david: i was looking at michigan, my home state, too. julie: i got a text from my mom saying it's negative 11 without the wind chill. i can't complain to you. you beat me. like it's 15 here but that sound warm compared to negative 11. smarty: i look at it as a cat indicator. my cat is in chat ham, new york, they stick their noses out and go back inside. julie: they issued a warning not to let the cats out. marty: why hasn't gas responded? alix: you look at the northeast and they have gas but can't get out becau

now, 8 million people are in what noaa calls the extremely critical fire danger area today.doesn't matter. even if you're outside of that you have elevated or critical levers of fire danger and so we just put that on there instead of just the red flag warnings and wind advisories. santa ana winds, that's a high that's been in place and 20 to 50 plus-mile-per-hour gusts then it shifts a little but through the weekend we >> anchor: good morning washington. downed wires blocking east west highway. we are live where crews are making some progress there. >> reporter: the wires are no longer down. they are trying to repair the power line here the poll that was struck overnight. you can see the damaged one that has been put up as a replacement. right now the situation is the the westbound lanes only one lane is open but they are making quick work here and we anticipate the lanes will be open within an hour or so. of course if you have to travel in that area university boulevard great work arounds there. not making progress on 355. as you approach the river i-270 looks good southbou

. >>> just a short time ago, noaa tweeted out these photos of the fires burning in and around los angelesows what it looked like yesterday compared to monday. the winds are expected to continue at least throughout the day. >>> it has been an unusually bad year for wildfires in california. now the state is telling us how bad. the state department of forestry says wildfires have burned more than a million acres in the state, an area the size of sonoma county. that includes fires from the first of the year through sunday. it does not count the ongoing fires burning in southern california. >> with the southern california wildfires burning out of control, many people are brought back to the memories of the north bay fires that happened less than two months ago. the pictures we're seeing from los angeles and ventura counties are hard for north bay fire victims to see. it is creating a new trauma for fire vick temperatures more than 400 miles away. >> reporter: carmen's burger bar sits in a strip mall with leveled neighborhoods all around. sports not fire coverage on tv here. no demand to watch

now, 8 million people are in what noaa calls the extremely critical fire danger area today.matter. even if you're outside of that you have elevated or critical levels of fire danger, and so we just put that on there instead of just the red flag warnings and wind advisories. those are still string. see the santa ana winds. that high that has been in place, and today you can see 20 to even 50 plus-mile-per-hour gusts then it shifts a little but through the weekend we still have gusts >>> good morning to you. i'm natasha zouves from "abc7 mornings." meteorologist mike nicco has a quick look at the forecast. >> hi, everybody. we'll start with a look from the tower and automatic that sunshine. it will be a little choppy north of the bay bridge so caution if you're on the water there. does your yard need watering or yard work after the windstorm? temperatures today 64 to 71. near record highs once again. my accuweather seven-day forecast, nothing really changes. >> i look that. outdoorable today. new word. lots of red and green, which is good. the red means slow. we had an earlier

best levels of the morning selling there as well in asia overnight markets mixed the big winner japan noaarly 1 1/2%, topping this half an hour positive news for the president, president trump progressively rating increasing to highest mark, according to political morning poll the president approval rating at 45%. joining me to talk more about that, is president trump's daughter in law trump for president sr., adviser lara trump good to see you. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> absolutely always good to be with you. >> the president's approval rating is up, up 51% say they disapprove of job numbers better than in a while your take on this, and what do you think is behind it? >> well listen we saw throughout campaign polls don't fully reflect the real story, approval rating is much higher than that, i think you are seeing the in conjunction kick up because people cannot deny what is happening, in this country, we have unemployment at all-time low in 17 years, stock market all-time high, you know, million half new jobs created by this president tax reform, is on

i visited the facility where duke university, north carolina state, east carolina state and noaa are studying sea-level rise and climate change. i met them at the educational center where a bipartisan group was united in concern over the exposure of their coastal communities to rising seas and fiercer storms. i flew out over the outer banks to where sea-level rise is slowly swallowing them and relocating them. they were formed -- outer banks are dynamic barriers that move with tides and storms. according to the u.s. geological survey, i'll quote them, the outer banks, particularly the ocean side have always been hazardus places for man. end quote. they have become permanent home to over 30,000 people and attract over $1 billion in tourist spending into that county. according to a recent comprehensive article by "inside climate news and the weather channel," one beach near east sea gull drive in nags head has been eroding for six feet per year. rapid erosion threatens store-front homes and brings the ocean closer to infrastructure. state engineers scramble to keep the roads and bridge