Across the dallas area as a line of powerful storms tear through causing major damage and that system is now on the move, threatening the Holiday Plans of millions the very latest and als forecast straight ahead. Meeting the moment president elect biden rolls out his National Security and Foreign Policy teams its a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure and sit down with nbc news for his first postelection interview, talking about the pandemic, the transition and what to expect from the new white house. In is not a third obama term. We face a totally different world than we face in the Obama Biden Administration his message to the country with the inauguration just 56 days away. Deeply personal Meghan Markle says she suffered a miscarriage this year. And changes being made to keep you safe while you shop as the Holiday Season kicks into high gear. Those stories, plus the adorable owl released back into the wild after her unforgettable adventure in the big city, on wednesday, november 25th, 2020 from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Nice of you to join us lots of people are flying today, including a little owl that little owl that they released. We hope he found his people her, excuse me, in upstate new york its a her we hope she can hook up with her posse. Its the day before thanksgiving, all eyes are on a few things this morning. Pandemic or not, the holiday getaway is under way aaa expects nearly 50 million americans to travel by car, nearly the same as last year, and this is what laguardias airport looks like inside. Weve both flown at 7 a. M. In laguardia. That actually looks pretty good. It doesnt look as packed as it normally does on a day like today. Adding to travel concerns, the threat of Severe Weather a strong system across the country. We have it all covered for you, and lets get it started with tom kos tell la who has the story for us at Reagan International airport. Good morning, tom. Reporter good morning. Just now starting to pick up ever so slightly over the last three days weve averaged a Million People a day traveling since last friday. That is less than half the number of travelers we had a year ago at thanksgiving but the experts are warning we are seeing a surge in travelers and in a few weeks we could see a surge in cases and deaths. Its not supposed to like like this from San Francisco to atlanta and from chicago to l. A. , the countrys airports are buzzing with travelers and ignoring the pleas from the cdc experts to stay home to control the pandemic, and plenty of masks, but not much separation. I am just trying to mind pi ps and qs and i have about three bottles of hand sanizers and gloves in case i need them. We have a protocol that we just put in place. We have more protocol in grocery stores. Reporter the tsa agents working behind plexiglass now allowing bigger Hand Sanitizer containers. Youre spacing out everybody and everybody must wear a mask in the airport. Curb to curb, passengers are required at of point in their journey to wear a mask reporter in los angeles where hospitals are expected to run out of bed bis christmas, new arrivals must sign a form promising to selfquarantine for two weeks. If we dont make changes, well have more suffering, hospitalizations and more deaths reporter concern, thanksgiving travel could soon overwhelm hospitals. Are you concerned this is setting up nor super spreader series of events absolutely. The air flight itself may be actually the least of their worries and its standing in the security line, standing in the boarding lines, waiting for ground transportation. Report indoor family gatherings. Always wear a mask and eye protection and use Hand Sanitizer. Once seated on the plane, try not to eat or drink and keep your mask on until you are out of the airport and rental car area and airport area and garage. If youre having second thoughts this morning, its not too late. Were allowing cancellations with no fees, as well as sameday standby. Reporter every airline is waiving change fees. A quick look to see the current Flight Operations nationwide, and again not nearly as heavy a year ago, but keep in mind that we were at just very, very minimal levels of travelers and flying and only a matter of weeks ago, so we are seeing the uptick, and because of the passenger volume uptick, the airlines have had to add flights even as the cdc has had to urge people not to fly. Back to you. Some travellers could get tested for the virus at certain airports. Yeah. Some states, some cities are offering that. In connecticut, new york, california, florida. If you are flying, 41 states right now have some sort of a mask order in place. You need to understand that. And some also have even some quarantine orders in place. So 41 states, california, new mexico, ohio and puerto rico, you have to stay at home or there are curfews in place essentially based on how bad the virus is in that particular locale. All right, tom costello, leading us off from the nations capital. Tom, thank you. All right. Lets turn to preholiday storms. Overnight, a tornado that cut a path through the dallas area. Its moving east, headed this way. Als forecast is straight ahead. First Morgan Chesky is surveying the damage. Reporter good morning. It wasnt on the ground that long, but in the short time that it was, it left a trail of damage. This is an apartment complex just to the west of dallas, and this roof was ripped right off of the top. Can you believe that there were families inside sheltering that watched that all talk place when this happened just around 9 00 last night. We knew the tornado sirens were working. They went off when the Tornado Warning was called into effect and now you can see this area littered with debris. It was just more than a year thag another tornado struck the dallas area, and it was left behind a widespread swath of destruction. Early estimates dont have this level of damage, but it is again, as you can see behind me, this is just an all too real reminder of how dangerous these weather systems can be when they roll through this time of year. We are hearing that dozens of families up to 70 now without homes this thanksgiving. Hoda. Awful, awful timing, too. Morgan, thank you. We will bring in al roker and get the latest, because those storms are headed this way . Yes, part of the system is pushing through. You can see that it is still stretching all of the way into the ohio river valley and down into the gulf, and behind it, we have snow reported and for today, we have a risk of Severe Weather now stretching from Central Indiana and illinois all of the way down to new orleans and damaging winds. The risk for a few tornados the and the hail threat is low. If you are going to be traveling and the cdc said that you shouldnt be, but if you are, delays in cleveland, ohio and chicago, and you are looking at i70 to birmingham along i65. Tomorrow, if you are leaving or going somewhere, the airport problems from boston, to new york, and baltimore and raleigh and atlanta, and i95 along the corridor, and we could be seeing some problems from new york to washington, and raleigh on into atlanta along i85. Guys all right. Al, thank you. And now the latest of where things stand with the coronavirus, and new cases still soaring, but the potential for the vaccine in the coming weeks has the u. S. Surgeon general to urge americans to hold on. Sam brock is at Memorial Hospital in miami and one of the first that state set to receive the pfizer vaccine. Sam, good morning. Reporter some good news here, savannah we have learned the u. S. Will begin testing its Vaccine Distribution network this week help cannot come soon enough for Covid Patients and health care workers. The biggest risk facing the staff right now, burnout after months of mental exhaustion. As covid cases skyrocket, tapping an average of 170,000 a day, there is no number or category to convey the emotional weight carried by front line hospital workers like lori lynn. Just isolating completely from everybody it is hard to be here and go back home and not really have much to go back home to. Reporter missouri is one of the states breaking daily records this month. A list that includes californiai and her husband work as shattering highs including 20,000 new cases on tuesday and more ways than one economic oregon where erin and her husband both work as nurses. One of the things that we have been struggling with is what we do with our kids if we feel like it comes to a point where we cant keep them safe. Reporter families hurting in more ways than one economic devastation from the pandemic, one reason connie alfonso waits for hours at a miami food bank. If it werent for these sites, would you be able to get food on the table . Not really. Reporter for a reeling nation, real signs of hope. Vaccines could be distributed soon after december 10th. Hope and help are on the way. Reporter new guidelines also expected from the cdc any day, shortening the current 14day quarantine for those exposed to covid, which includes a plan for testing. This has Health Experts continue to preach Wearing Masks is the best antidote for stopping the spread in florida not only no mask mandate, but the governor says that cities cant even find the offenders prompting the mayor and dozens of other leaders to force for stronger enforcement. Do you think that we could face a situation where the numbers continue to climb . The only thing we can guarantee is its going to continue and continue to grow. Reporter every single mayor in miamidade county, every mayor, democrats and republicans, have pleaded with governor ron desantis, here to take serious action amidst the surge. He has not made comment on this matter in weeks, guys, and did not respond to repeated requests for comments from nbc news back to you. Sam brock in miami. Thank you. Lets turn to the president ial transition. Craig joins us with the latest good morning. President elect joe biden introducing his National Security team on tuesday, just hours after the transition process officially started then the president elect sat down with our own lester holt for an exclusive conversation. It was mr. Bidens first since election day lester, good morning hey, craig, good morning. Good to see you. President elect joe biden has had a busy couple of weeks with even busier weeks ahead. I was able to get his thoughts on a number of topics from the distribution of a covid19 vaccine to potential investigations of the current president , but we started with his National SecurityTeam Announcement yesterday, and a message that is in stark contrast to President Trumps. What do you say to those who are wondering if you are trying to create a third obama term. This is not a third obama term we face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama Biden AdministrationPresident Donald Trump has changed the landscape. Its become america first, its been america alone that is why i found people who have joined the administration in key points that represent the spectrum of the American People as well as the spectrum of the democratic party. The head of the gsa yesterday unlocked the mechanisms for them to be a formal transition of power. Are people talking now who werent talking yesterday in. Yes immediately weve gotten outreach from the National Security shop to just across the board. So i think were not going to be as far behind the curve as we thought in the past. I must say that outreach has been sincere, and not been begrudging so far, and i dont expect it to be. Have you had any conversations with President Trump post election about, you know, paving the way for this transition to happen no. I believe his chief of staff and my chief of staff have spoken, but, no, i have not heard anything from President Donald Trump. Reporter what was the moment that you heard you were projected . I was confident we were going to win this election i really was people are really, really, really, really, really worried and concerned. And they want something done both sides and after 30 lawsuits were thrown out in rapid succession, i was convinced it was just a matter of time and thats why i decided just to move on as if i were the nominee and do the business i would do within my power from the day the election occurred. So just act like you own it yeah, because i believed that we did. It is important to send the message of confidence and surety and let people know what i will do. I truly believe that i, we, i can unite this country. I think that the country is so hungry for it. Including a lot of republicans. Reporter President Donald Trump is very clear if he lost he would do some very mechanisms weve seen him do you heard that talk. Did you plan for it . I didnt expect it to go smoothly, but i was confident and i really mean this, the American People are going to show up. The American People are not going to be silenced i am not surprised by the response of the president himself. The day you take office, there could be two, maybe three vaccines out there yes how will it roll out . Who will determine the order of recipients well, first of all, allegedly that i dont mean that in an accusatory way, allegedly the administration has set up a roll out how they think it should occur, what will be available when and how and well look at that and we may alter that, we may keep the exact same outline but we havent gotten that briefing yet. We should be focusing on the docs, the nurses and we should focus on those being the First Responders and opening the schools as rapidly as we can. It can be done safely. Theres a lot to work out in the next two months as to exactly of how it will be distributed maybe the hope is key can begin to distribute it, this administration can begin to distribute it before we are sworn in and take office youve got schools closed in places where restaurants are open are our priorities correct i think we should be able to do both but, look, im very concerned about the schools. When children are out of school, no matter what their background is, for more than essentially a semester, they find themselves falling back much more than the semester, some falling back beyond that. And its hard to catch back up some democrats want investigations to go forward against President Trump after he leaves office. Do you support that . I will not do what this president does and use Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happened im focused on getting the American Public to a place where they have some certainty, some surety, some knowledge that they can make it. That is my focus. President elect biden also told me a republican who supported President Donald Trump could be on the list to serve in his administration but if people are looking to have senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on that list as democrats, of course, they may be waiting a while he says he needs forceful leaders in the senate and the house to help get his agenda passed and taking anyone from the capitol will be a difficult decision clearly a political calculation here, guys lester, youve covered lots of ground there. More of that conversation with the president elect tonight on nbc nightly news. Craig, thank you so much. Thank you, lester. Lets go back to al and get more of the forecast. Strong storms in the midplains, and mountain snows into the southwest. Certainly california may be seeing another santa ana were looking at that very closely. Your forecast coming up in 30 seconds. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Lets take a live look outside from the north bay looking towards San Francisco. We do have a really nice start to this wednesday morning, although weve seen dense fog in parts of the north bay. Once that clears out well have gusty winds, sunshine and temperatures just slightly cooler compared to yesterday. As we reach into the upper 50s in the far north bay, the south bay will see a high of 61 in san jose. And going through the forecast well see more weather like this going into early next week. And that is your latest weather. Ladies all right, al thank you. We have a lot more ahead, including an overnight revelation from Meghan Markle. Coming up the heartbreaking miscarriage she is sharing in an essay that is helping she and prince harry cope. And what stores are doing to including the technos safe lo jackie, im looking at your mri. Your shoulder seems to be healing nicely. Well, dr. Farrell, it feels really good. Thats good. And. Im sorry. Baby, dont touch that. I dont want you to play with that. singing twinkle, twinkle little star. How i wonder what you are. still singing up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky. Im so glad that your shoulder is feeling better. But, how are you doing . Im hanging in there. Schedule a video visit with your doctor. And get quality care with no copay. Kaiser permanente. Thrive. And get quality care with no copay. Still ahead, the hottest game in america, chess, and we will tell you why after your local news. Pieces she knows a the small details are a big reason to come back and shop your favorite small businesses. We know them. We love them. So lets g