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 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. let's 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 city's 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 ize and widespread power outages crippling 20 states. going nowhere fast. more than 200 collisions in six hours. only getting worse. one in every four americans facing this brutal blast, it is a whiteout in kentucky. and for many a blackout 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 stand-still, 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 haven't seen a storm like this in the district in 90 years. >> reporter: pro-basketball and hockey games postponed. the national guard loading humvees and first responders ready to roll. >> we need to make sure we could get to the scene. >> reporter: with gas pumps empty, store shelves are bare. >> we have gone >> reporter: tonight this monster storm, a thousand miles wide, is bringing travel to a stand-still. 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 superstorm sandy and erosion. >> nobody wants to be in waist deep freezing cold water in the middle of 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts and blizzard whiteout conditions. >> another relentless punch. >> reporter: overnight d.c. will stay in the bull's eye. they are calling the decision that could develop here, quote, life-threatening. they could begin to dig out on sunday. 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 winds will start gusting at 50 miles snow could be falling at two to four miles per hour. two to four inches per hour. 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, we're going to stay with about six to 12 inches of snow. the snow will start morning. but we'll start to see those gusts pick up to and the winds will going to be a big problem, lester. we're going to be looking at gale-force 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, you'll be on the "today" show tomorrow morning with the latest. we'll 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 skt 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 can't get there from here. some of the nation's busiest airports brought to a stand-still with a ripple effect. richard and linda struggling to get to san francisco. >> trying to get out of town before the snowstorm. flight change since we 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 day's 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 we've 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 conditions. infrastructure, dated infrastructure like we have here on the northeast corridor could be vulnerable. >> reporter: best travel advice -- don't. >> 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 far-reaching. >> the mid-atlantic 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 triple-threat, devastating snow, sleet and freezing rain. >> the brakes locked up and i slid into the >> 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 weather-related 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 far 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. dangerous. not just on the roads but toppling trees, thousands. the state of emergency coming at a crucial time. the carolina panthers shoveling snow off the today. 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 don't 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 automakers. anne thompson with new should know. >> reporter: tonight's recall affected domestic and foreign automakers. vehicles with the potentially defective takata airbags. impacted, audi, bmw, daimler, ford, honda, mazda, mercedes, saab and volkswagen. what we don't know is what models are recalled. the action by nhtsa, the national highway traffic safety administration comes after joel knight's death last month. the 52-year-old father died when the driver's 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 knight's crash. others have inflators 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 processs 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. we've got it all covered starting with nbc's katy tur. 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 put-downs. and by 11:37, the national review was out of the houston republican debate. disinvited by the rnc. >> you can't have a debate partner come out for or against any particular candidate. >> reporter: david bowes wrote one of the editorial. >> he is a philosophically unlured political opportunist with tendencies toward strong man ideas. >> reporter: facing the real prospect of a ted cruz nomination the establishment has warmed to trump. the move earning its own nickname. strategy. and while trump is leading in nearly every poll, there are those who see his major asset, that tell it like it is, don't get in my way rhetoric as a major weakness. >> i think it is pig-headed. he is kind of -- he has his own style. >> reporter: take twitter, where today trump re-tweeted 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. i'm 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 doesn't regret taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for paid speeches to wall >> no, i don't. i don't. anybody who thinks they could buy me, doesn't 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 burny is >> his campaign today releasing a new video to help get them to the poll. >> this is my first time voting. i'm 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. developing story out of canada where a school shooting has people dead and two others critically injured. a suspect is in custody but no word yet on the person's 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 kaed will make in response to the growing outrage in the lack of diversity in this year's nominations. a american student on the trip to the most reclusive nation in the world. why north korea now says they are ho what if one piece of kale could protect you from diabetes? what if one sit-up could prevent heart disease? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step you can take to help prevent another serious disease. pneumococcal pneumonia. if you are 50 or older, one dose of the prevnar 13 vaccine can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can cause coughing, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and may even put you in the hospital. even if you have already been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, prevnar 13 is used in adults 50 and older to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. you should not receive prevnar 13 if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. if you have a weakened immune system, you may have a lower response to the vaccine. common side 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overshadow the hollywood's 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 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 can't 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. two-time oscar nominee viola davis said the problem is not with the oscars, it is with the hollywood move-making system. steven galloway said the academy could only move as fast as the industry. >> until the industry allows african-americans and asians and hispanics to create a extraordinary body of work, their hands are tied. >> morgan radford, nbc news, los angeles. we're 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. and you're talking to a rheumatologist about a biologic, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contrubutes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious 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(music's drums intensify) but days like this, i'll never forget. get out there, in the 2016 ford escape. be unstoppable. this is my fight song take back my life song fact. when emergency room doctors choose an otc pain reliever for their patients muscle, back and joint pain. the medicine in advil is their #1 choice. nothing is stronger on tough pain than advil. relief doesn't get any better than this. north korea says it has detaped an american -- defeigned a american student for allegedly committing a hostile act against the government. a 21-year-old 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 mid-air 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 flewout of germany, accompanied by jeff bezos 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 another day, and i'm still struggling with my diabetes. i do my best to manage. but it's hard to keep up with it. your body and your diabetes change over time. your treatment plan may too. know your options. once-daily toujeo is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus . it releases slowly to provide consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours. toujeo also provides proven full 24-hour blood sugar control and significant a1c reduction. toujeo is a long-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. don't reuse needles or share insulin pens, even if the needle has been changed. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be serious and life threatening. it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily while using toujeo . injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose or type of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor if you take other medicines and about all your medical conditions. insulins, including toujeo, in combination with tzds (thiazolidinediones) may cause serious side effects like heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. pay no more than $15 per prescription for 12 months. eligibility restrictions apply. learn more at toujeo.com/info or call 800-580-3421. can get toujeo at the lowest branded copay. ask your doctor about the proven full 24-hour blood sugar control of toujeo . to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. 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 we're 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. 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. i'm lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, and good night.the carly fiorina camp is taking heat... for asking these kids, to sit in on a campaign event... some parents are angry that their kids were used for a political message, they never signed up for.. a tent catches fire outside hilton coliseum... where students were camped out this coming monday's game... what sparke the fire... and how it could put the tradition in jeopardy... and getting your kids to read one thousand books, before kindergarten... the goal of a metro library... that they say kicks off a lifetime of benefits... 'they were watching the koi fish but they decided they would like to come along.' but parents say that's not what happened.... good evening i'm erin kiernan.... of pre-schoolers was

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