it s called the atmospheric river. it s a river in the sky. it s a plume of moisture that continues to bring in the very heavy rain. you can see the darker colors here, the greens, yellows, oranges indicating that rain is falling. so we do have a flood threat because we have the be burned areas in many spots in southern california. that s the concern over the next several days. this is a set up. we had the first area of low pressure come through yesterday. now it moves to the four corners. they ll we ll have the another storm on christmas day. it will bring high elevation snows. we re bringing in 8 feet in some spots. that s a lot of snow in the highest elevations of the sierras. we re looking at snow in the cascades. lots of cold air in place. we could see snow possible in seattle, rain down into san francisco. chris, in the contrast, as you mentioned before, looking at summer-like weather in the central and southern plains. a lot of people barbecuing. the temperatures in the mid 80
it falls from the sky. additional snow heaviest into the up of michigan, rain across the east coast. high elevation snows from upstate new york could experience a little bit of snowfall throughout the course of the day today. it is the reduced visibility that is making it so dangerous to drive on the roadways. take this video we re about to show you out of nebraska. you see what people are dealing with there. whiteout conditions, travel not recommended. the travel is very dangerous as you can see. roads completely covered. you can hardly tell the difference between the horizon and the roadway. not a good day to get on the road. looks bad there. thank you. thank you for being with us for this hour of cnn newsroom. i m george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. let s do it again. another hour of news right after the break. stay with us. welcome to the place where people go
and 1,000 people without power. quite a storm. new york seeing lesser amounts, yes, but still significant, nonetheless with the storm. winds behind it gusty. travel delays from philly to new york to d.c. because of that. boston, they re still digging out with the most intense snow being in parts of massachusetts. down to the south, still in the ice. temperatures in the teens. colder today than yesterday morning. 22 in columbia. 18 in atlanta. 19 degrees in montgomery. these areas might not get above freezing again today. still an icy commute. school is closed again. it s been an absolute disaster weatherwise across parts of the south. obviously, this thing is not melting like it normally would. there s your cold air. next system coming into the pacific northwest to bring rain and higher elevation snows. all right. let s talk about these dots. globally, 2010. land and ocean masses, tied for it being the warmest on record
everything moves backwards, including the fact that it s summer down there. that 40eholds moisture and thers more rain, unfortunately. they had a brief break for a day and a half, two days and now more rain is moving in. most of the heaviest rain will be south of rockhampton and the australian weather service has issued advisories because they could see another inch or two on top of what they already have. this is all directly associated or mostly directly associated with la nina and affects a great deal, gives them the intensified monsoon and after that they get drought and fire. closer to home, there you go. san francisco looks great. there s the bay bridge. kgo, thank you for that shot. traffic moving nicely. lower 50s. other spots, including northwest, north of california, you have rain from portland to seattle. fairly low elevation snows and
southern california, the wettest december on record. and here it comes, the beginning of january in 2011, more rain and higher elevation snows for los angeles and the surrounding areas there. if you are traveling through l.a. or san francisco, you ll probably see a few delays there. seasonably cool elsewhere with a high of 51 degrees in atlanta. that won t close any bodegas, i can tell you that. i didn t know you guys were a 24 operation as well, you know? the city never sleeps. that lot of people don t know that. but we run a tight ship down here and there s all two of us are working very hard. i hear you, rob. thanks. it is my iphone s fault. coming up, the new year s glitch that made a lot of people late this weekend. i can t believe that. and are you ready for some playoff football? we will look at who made it and who could make it all the way to dallas in super bowl xlv. that s ahead. also, the stunt man is on the mend. we have an update on the condition of the act