Enough to tamp down on a furry overshadowing hollywoods biggest night. Nightly news begins right now. Good evening. Right now we are in the early hours of what may be a historic snowstorm. Winter weather warnings stretch from the south up through new york. Snow has been falling for several hours in the washington, d. C. Area which could see two feet before it is over. A live look at white house. The snow falling there. Philadelphia, baltimore, and new york city also in the path with blizzard conditions expected. Officials are warning of coastal flooding and Power Outages. Airlines have canceled some 6,000 flights going into the weekend. That is impacting travelers across the country. Our team is in place with the very latest. Lets begin with Miguel Almaguer in washington, d. C. Good evening. Reporter lester, good evening. The steady snow is here in washington, d. C. Some of the citys most recognizable landmarks may be difficult to make out in a few hours. It is getting sloppy. The snow is starting to blow sideways. It could reach gusts up to 50 miles per hour. Tonight many are off the streets and hunkered down as we face a major threat. Reporter tonight this deadly winter wallop is showing little mercy. Blinding snow and paralyzing ice and widespread Power Outages crippling 20 states. Nashville, tennessee, going nowhere fast. More than 200 collisions in six hours. Only getting worse. One in every four americans facing to brutal blast, its a white out in kentucky and a black out for many at home tens of thousands in a deep freeze without electricity or heat. With trees crashing into homes, cars are sliding into each other. Freeways are at a standstill, others a ghost town. It is a state of emergency in washington, d. C. Inside of the war room, calls for help have doubled. The blizzard could be catastrophic. We havent seen a storm like this in the district in 90 years. Reporter probasketball and hockey games postponed. The National Guard loading humvees and First Responders ready to roll. Road conditions are big concern for us. Making sure we can get to the scene. Reporter with gas pumps empty, store shelves are bare. We have gone shopping three times. Reporter tonight this monster storm, a thousand miles wide, is bringing travel to a standstill. In chicago a plane skidded off an icy runway. Thousands of canceled flights. Tonight new york is bracing, philly expecting more than a foot of snow. D. C. , two. Strong winds will lead to near zero visibility and cause trees to fall and overhead power lines. Reporter governor Chris Christie off the campaign trail and now returning home. Mandatory evacuations tonight along the jersey shore. Still reeling from super storm sandy and now facing beach erosion. Nobody wants to be in waist deep freezing cold water in the middle of 50 mileperhour wind gusts and blizzard whiteout conditions. Another relentless punch. Reporter overnight d. C. Will stay in the bulls eye. They are calling the condition that could develop here, quote, lifethreatening. They could begin to dig out on sunday. The big question, lester, what will happen between now and then. Miguel, thanks. Al roker is here. This seems to be tracking the forecast. It absolutely is. The worst is yet to come. We are watching the snow encroach on to new jersey, stretching back to memphis, tennessee. Here is what we see as far as the accumulations are concerned. We are still on track for baltimore and Washington Area to pick up anywhere from 18 to 26 inches of snow. West of there could be even three feet. This snow will last into tomorrow. Winds will start gusting at 50 miles per hour. Snow could be falling at two to four miles per hour. Two to four inches per hour. Now we go to philadelphia, new jersey and western p. A. , we are looking for periods of heavy snow. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. Snow upwards of 18 inches. New york city, were going to stay with about six to 12 inches of snow. The snow will start early tomorrow morning. But well start to see those gusts pick up to about 55 miles per hour. And the winds will going to be a big problem, lester. Were going to be looking at galeforce winds that push water up against, so we look for beach erosion and coastal flooding and a lot of power lines coming down as well. Al, youll be on the today show tomorrow morning with the latest. Well look for that. This is really just the start of the travel nightmare this storm is creating. It is beginning to paralyze air travel along the east coast with a Ripple Effect across the country. Airports in several major cities inside and outside of the storm zone have canceled flights for tomorrow, including philadelphia where our jacob rascon has more. Reporter misery in the air. On the roads. And on the rails. You just cant get there from here. Some of the nations busiest airports brought to a standstill with a Ripple Effect. Richard and linda struggling to get to san francisco. Trying to get out of town before the snowstorm. This is our third flight change since we got started. Reporter flight aware reports more than 3000 Flights Canceled in more than 6,000 delayed so far. Over dulles outside of washington, flights circled today, waiting for clear runways for landing. By days end, no flights in or out of dulles, washington national, philadelphia and charlotte through saturday. This Florida High School Basketball Team stuck in atlanta. Our flight got canceled while we were on it. And we had to get back off it and now weve been waiting here since about 10 00, 11 00. Reporter but nobody wants to get caught driving in a blizzard. Virginia state police alone have taken more than a thousand calls reporting accidents in disabled cars. Greyhound and other bus liners canceling routes. And amtrak is up and running but already modifying schedules. Trains are able to operate through severe conditions. Other pieces of infrastructure, however, especially dated infrastructure like we have here on the northeast corridor can be somewhat vulnerable. Reporter best travel advice dont. If you are planning to fly tomorrow, your flight has been canceled and please do not come to the airport. Reporter and the terminals are emptying behind me. Some of those taking the last flights out as the travel nightmare affecting airports as far away as california. Travel not expected to be back to normal until the middle of next week. Lester. Jacob. As we said, this is farreaching. The midatlantic and northeast are batting snow. Parts of the south are struggling with dangerous icy conditions. Gabe gutierrez has more on that from charlotte, North Carolina, in the region that took the first punch from this massive storm. Reporter in the south tonight, a slippery slope. From tennessee to the carolinas. A triplethreat, devastating snow, sleet and freezing rain. The brakes locked up and i slid into the back of their car. This car even catching fire. The driver revving the engine after caught in a snowdrift. Here in charlotte, the storm started after midnight. The morning commute treacherous. At this emergency command center, all hands on deck after at least six weatherrelated deaths in North Carolina alone. Statewide, more than a thousand crashes. Anything over a quarter of an inch could be devastating not only to our interstates or roadways, but also to our power grid as well. Reporter ron farr is among those rushing to respond to the mounting accidents. How has today been . Nonstop. Reporter throughout the day the wintry mix piled up. Take a look through the air. This is sleet right now. But the ice is most dangerous. Not just on the roads but toppling trees, cutting off power to thousands. The state of emergency coming at a crucial time. The Carolina Panthers shoveling snow off the field before practice today. The nfc championship game still set for sunday here. But a major pep rally for the team canceled. I think everybody seemed kind of panicked and kind of nervous about it. Stay off the roads, if you dont need to be on the roads and spend some time with your family. Reporter tonight charlotte is on ice. But the city is thankful many heeded the warnings and stayed home. Gabe gutierrez, nbc news, charlotte. News about the largest recall of all time getting even bigger. Millions of vehicles being driven on roads with airbags that could potentially explode violently. There is word of another death linked to these japanese made takata airbags found in vehicles of more than a dozen automakers. Nbc Anne Thompson with details every driver should know. Reporter tonights recall affected domestic and foreign automakers. 5 million more vehicles with the potentially defective takata airbags. The manufacturers impacted, audi, bmw, daimler, ford, honda, mazda, mercedes benz, saab and volkswagen. What we dont know is what models are recalled. The action by nhtsa, the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration comes after joel knights death last month. The 52yearold father died when the drivers side airbag in his 2006 ford ranger exploded in a crash. A death one safety advocate said was preventible. This inflater had been recalled in 61 other countries by other manufacturers. Ford, nhtsa and takata knew this had problems. Reporter the government said thousands of tests were run on that inflater and it never failed. Takata said it is cooperating fully with regulators and ford states if we find an issue with our vehicles, we take prompt action to address customer safety. One million of the vehicles recalled tonight have airbag inflaters similar to the one in knights crash. Others have inflators that did rupture during testing. The government calls this a massive safety crisis and said it is using all tools to clean up the mess. A mess that is so far taken Nine American lives, ten worldwide. Anne thompson, nbc news, new york. The cdc says at least one person has died and around dozen more have been sickened by an outbreak of listeria linked to package salads made at a dole processing facility in ohio. That facility has been shut down. The salads were sold under dole, fresh selection and simple truth. We put more information on our website. To politics now. Just ten days until the first votes are cast in iowa and both parties struggling with fierce internal divisions. Hillary clinton trying to blunt Bernie Sanders momentum and conservatives is banning together in dramatic fashion to try to do something, anything, to stop trump. Weve got it all covered starting with nbcs katy tur. Reporter in the span of an hour and a half, the Republican Party showed just how tense 2016 has become. 10 00 p. M. On thursday night, influential conservative magazine the National Review goes live online with its against trump issue. A scathing editorial, accompanied by 22 articles from these leading conservative thinkers. Bashing the billionaire. Like clock work trump fired back with his usual putdowns. And by 11 37, the National Review was out of the houston republican debate. Disinvited by the rnc. You cant have a debate partner come out for or against any particular candidate. Eporter david bowes wrote one of the editorial. He is a philosophically unlured political opportunist with tendencies toward strongman ideas. Reporter facing the real prospect of a ted cruz nomination the establishment has warmed to trump. The move earning its own nickname. Abc, anything but cruz strategy. And while trump is leading in nearly every poll, there are those who see his major asset, that tell it like it is, dont get in my way rhetoric as a major weakness. I think it is pigheaded. He is kind of he has his own style. Reporter take twitter, where today trump retweeted someone who claims to live in jew america. Links to the holocaust and has the user name white genocide. Katy tur, nbc news, new york. Im casey hunt covering the sanders campaign. Bernie sanders has gone from way behind to on fire. Taking on Hillary Clinton today in new hampshire. I want to say a word on an issue that secretary clinton and i disagree on. And that is the incredible power of wall street. Reporter the attack has clinton pushing back again, telling the des point register she doesnt regret taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for paid speeches to wall street banks. No, i dont. I dont. Anybody who thinks they could buy me, doesnt know me. Reporter sanders script has put him within striking distance of clinton in iowa and into the lead in new hampshire. Your friends in the media would have told you nine months ago i was a fringe candidate, not a serious candidate. Reporter and it has brought out her chief defender. Last night in las vegas. This other guy is madder than she is and that feels authentic. Reporter that feels of authenticity drawing young voters to sanders. I think hillary does what we want her to say where bernie is more honest. His Campaign Today releasing a new video to help get them to the poll. This is my first time voting. Im not a registered voter. Reporter sanders still facing an uphill bat until iowa and beyond. Against a fierce competitor who has been through this once before. Casey hunt, nbc news, washington. Now to a developing story out of canada where a School Shooting has left at least five people dead and two others critically injured. A suspect is in custody but no word yet on the persons identity or the identities of the victims. The school serves grades 7 through 12 in a small town in saskatchewan. Still ahead, change coming to the oscars. The Major Overhaul the academy will make in response to the growing outrage in the lack of diversity in this years nominations. A american student on the trip to the most reclusive nation in the world. Why north korea now says they are holding him prisoner. Were back now with the big changes announced for the oscars. After days of growing controversy over a lack of diversity in the nominations, the academy announced sweeping reforms to double the number of female and minority members, replacing inactive members for life with a younger generation. But will it be enough to tamp down this fear threatening to overshadow the hollywoods biggest night. Morgan radford has details from los angeles. Reporter overnight, a surprise vote by the academy. In a statement the president sherrill boon isaacs said the academy is going to lead an not wait for the industry to catch up. The goal, doubling the number of women and diverse members by 2020. Here is how. Voting status will last ten years and could be renewed only if a member has been active over that decade. That means lifetime Voting Rights will be earned after three of the tenyear terms. Or if a member has won or been nominated for a oscar. Those not active under the guidelines will become emeritus members, they are part of the academy but cant vote. Hollywood critics say the changes are a step in the right direction. But the problem is bigger than the academy. If the industry it is the industry as a whole. Now stars are speaking out. Twotime oscar nominee viola davis said the problem is not with the oscars, it is with the hollywood movemaking system. Steven galloway said the academy could only move as fast as the industry. Until the industry allows africanamericans and asians and hispanics to create a extraordinary body of work, their hands are tied. Morgan radford, nbc news, los angeles. Were back in a moment with one of the americans freed from iran getting a private ride home from one of the richest men in the world. North korea says it has detained an american student for allegedly committing a hostile act against the government. Otto frederick was arrested. A 21yearold juvenile of virginia student from cincinnati was on a tour of the country. He was arrested at the airport on january 2nd but it is not clear what exactly he is accused of. A moving ceremony at a military base in hawaii for the 12 u. S. Marines who were aboard two choppers that collided in midair last week. 12 white crosses were placed on a tarmac along with pictures of the lost marines. A search failed to turn up any sign of them. But now all 12 have been declared dead. Another of the american prisoners freed from iran is returning home. Washington post reporter Jason Rezaian and his wife flew out of germany, accompanied by jeff bezos. He flew the couple back on his private plane. Rezaian was freed last week after being held by iran for 18 months. When we come back, more on the snowstorm pounding its way up the east coast. Al roker will be back with the latest. Pacifica declares a state of emergency. Raj vo the citysf businesses and homes as the next storm moves in. Janelle vo plus, skyrocketing super bowl rentals. The ticket for making big bucks for some homeowners. Next close next. Before we go, we want to check in with al roker one more time. The latest forecast in this blizzard of 2016. What will you be watching overnight as this develops . Not just the snow. But we are talking about the winds. They are going to cause big problems. 900 miles of snow from memphis to south of new york city. And as far as at cumulations are concerned, washington, baltimore, looks to be the big winner if you look at it that way. 18 to 26 inches, some areas could pick up to three feet of snow. Philadelphia, new jersey, surrounding areas picking up about 12 to 18. New york city looking generally at about six to 12 inches. Now were also watching the winds. They are going to start to develop as we get into late tonight, early tomorrow. Wind speeds of over 50, 60 miles per hour, blowing and drifting snow causing bad visibility. And so we have coastal flood threats for beach erosion, beach flooding. A real mess, lester. This thing will end quickly, by sunday, it will start to have effects on into next week. Al, thanks. And more on the late local news and al will have more tomorrow morning on today. That will do it for us on this friday night. Im lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. Boxes we are tracking the wet weather making the situation even worse. Plus an hour by hour look at when this latest storm will move out. Short open jan 2shot thans for being w us on this friday. Im im janelle wang. Raj 2shot and m raj mathai. Gfx raj vo rain, big surf, a wind damage. Ere seeing it all tonight asanothee bay area. Live cam a live look at the evening commute. This is 101 through san jose. Soggy and slow. But its moving. This drizzle will intensify as the night goes on. Gfx weve had Team Coverage since thats the good news. This drizzle will intensify as the night goes on. Weve had Team Coverage since our 5 00 newscast. It continues at this hour. Lets begin with our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri, with the timeline of the storm. Jeff . The latest thing is the storm system continues to move in right now. Thats keeping our surf very high. We have king tides happening now. And the entire coastline has just been battered since november with these storms rolling in back to back. Right now, waves as high as 14 feet at the coastline. They could go as high as 16 feet through saturday. Thats we have a Coastal Flood Advisory in effect. Well hear more it pacifica and the state of emergency coming up. Doppler radar and satellite shows spotty showers in the north bay and east bay and peninsula. The skifrt moisture continues across the consistent moisture continues across from south san jose, morgan hill, gilroy. Check this out. If you know anyone heading across the interstate 5 corri r corridor, extremely heavy and
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