Oh, my god. We need to be. Its right there. This ominous sight was videotaped from the interstate near mobile, alabama. The driver wisely stopped and turned around. I want you to listen to the funnel cloud as it approached the city. Christmas day tornado. Going through mobile. Oh, my god, look, thats a tornado. Oh, wow. Oh, jesus, look at that tornado. Look at that. It caused a lot of damage. And knocked out power to more than 20,000 customers. Incredibly, no one was killed, although at least two stormrelated deaths were reported elsewhere. But even natures most Destructive Forces can have a beautiful side. The storm generated this endtoend rainbow as it passed near jackson, mississippi. Lets get to alexandra steele. The legs on this thing are insane. Certainly one for the record books. On the snow side and on the severe side, mobile, two tornadoes, one yesterday and then one five days before that. It was the greatest Christmas Day tornado outbreak on the records, for the record books since records have been kept. In denver, the first White Christmas in three years. Dallas, the 4 inches of snow. Last time that happened, 1926. In little rock, 9 inches. Last time they had any measurable snow of that nature was in 1926. Must have been a snowy year that year. Heres the big picture. The good news, the severe has moved east out of mobile and out of birmingham, out of atlanta. It is pushing east to the 95 corridor, even east of that. The areas impacted today with a potential for tornadoes, really the eastern carolinas, from raleigh down through jacksonville. And believe it or not, even tampa, potentially. But it doesnt look like the threat will be nearly as severe as what we saw yesterday. But it only takes one. We know that. Keep an eye to the sky for traveling. On the north side of it, its a snowy affair and one for the history books, to boot. Here it looks like where the axis of the heaviest snow will be. Today, tonight and in toward tomorrow. Just south of indy all the way to dayton, to cleveland and then to western new york, talking about a swath of potentially 6 to 12 inches, even more than 12 inches potentially in western new york. So from albany westward, that i90 corridor will be brutal. And of course blizzard warnings, were seeing that. And we have those because its not just the snow. Its the wind thats such a dynamic factor with this storm. And the wind impacting travel, not only today but well see it tomorrow and through tomorrow night, in the big cities especially, even traveling now. This is the forecast from tonight through tomorrow. Heres where that heaviest snow will be. Don, all these ski resorts certainly have been beneficial with this snow. And well see that really maybe a foot in the green and White Mountains and in western new york. But if youre not skiing, if you have power, watch us. Well get you through it. Thank you. So much more of this. But first, lets get to alabama. The scene of yesterdays terrifying tornado in mobile. Art faulkner joins me now by phone. Thank you for speaking with us. I know youve been very business sip. Have you determined how many tornadoes touched down in alabama yesterday . Good morning, don. Well, im currently in mobile at the request of governor bentley, came down to see exactly how much damage occurred here. And we got multiple tornado sights across the state. But i think the one word that could describe the citizens of alabama, we were blessed. Fortunately we only know of a couple of injuries and no fatalities. No deaths and you said just a couple of injuries. How serious are those injuries . Well, we do know that out of a tornado that hit in pike county, which is just southwest of montgomery, we had a couple of injuries and at least one of those individuals remains hospitalized. Are you going to seek any federal assistance . Do you need help . Well, our Emergency Managers this morning and First Responders are looking at the damage. I think its a little bit early for us to tell exactly what the extent of that is. So well take our time throughout the evening and the night. The First Responders were focused on the individuals and their safety and making sure that we didnt have people trapped in homes. That will turn today to looking at exactly what kind of damage we have and whether or not well have enough to ask the federal government to come in and help. But certainly weve been in this situation before. And our local governments and the state will step up and do what we need to do for our citizens. Art faulkner, the director of the states Emergency Management in alabama. We thank you for joining us. We want to get now to robert lath latham, the director of the mississippi Emergency Management agency. Mississippis governor has declared a state of emergency. Whats the latest there, sir . Hey, don. It looks like weve got ten counties that have been impacted from the storms last night. More than 25 injuries have been recorded in those counties. Looks like weve got more than 40 homes that have sustained some type of damage, anything from minor to destroyed. Several businesses have been impacted but none of the injuries are serious or lifethreatening at this time. But right now, were trying to complete our damage assessments to make sure that were meeting the needs of the citizens with the First Priority being to make sure those that have been impacted have safe and secure shelter. With the cold weather thats now entered the state. Ten counties, 25 injuries, no deaths. 40 homes damaged, minor to completely destroyed. What are you how are you doing with power right now . So far, we havent had a lot of Power Outages. Some isolated Power Outages in those areas. Power is starting to be restored. I think the biggest concern for us right now with the cold weather is that citizens will start doing things to try to keep warm. We encourage them to watch for downed power lines and be careful about heating sources and what they do, like space heaters or certainly dont burn open fires in the building like with charcoal to try to heat. We want to make sure that they have safe shelter for the cold weather thats entered the state. Robert latham with the mississippi Emergency Management agency, thank you and best of luck. To other news were following here, chilling new details emerging about the sniper who ambushed and killed two firefighters in upstate new york before shooting himself. Police say 62yearold William Spengler left behind a note saying he hoped to burn down his neighborhood and murder as many people as possible. Authorities say spengler set fire to his suburban rochester home and fired at firefighters as they arrived at the scene on monday. A charred body believed to be his sisters was found in the house she shared with him. Spengler was an excon who was convicted of beating his grandmother to death with a hammer in 1981. Russia is one step away from banning americans from adopting russian children. Protesters gathered outside russias upper house of parliament before unanimously approving a bill to ban the adoptions. Its scene as retaliation for a law signed by president obama imposing travel restrictions. The vote now goes to Vladimir Putin whos expected to sign it into law. Egyptian. Mohamed morsi has signed the countrys newly approved constitution into law. The upper house of parliament has convened its first session under the new charter. The new constitution was approved with more than 63 of the vote in two rounds of voting. Turnout was low. The charter has polarized the country and resulted in sometimes violent protests. Critics say it doesnt represent women, minorities and other groups. Theres a familiar face in the japanese Prime Ministers office. The parliament elected shinzo abe to lead the country five years after he abruptly resign. Abe says his First Mission is turning the countrys economy around. And hes calling for safety tests on all nuclear plants. Abe is the leader of the conservative liberal democratic party. Hes japans seventh Prime Minister in six years. [ male announcer ] break the grip of aches or arthritis pain with odor free aspercreme. Powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. So all you notice is relief. Aspercreme. Anytime you leave hawaii, it is too soon. But six days before the fiscal cliff, president obama cutting short his christmas vacation on the off chance he and Congress Might be able to cut some kind of deal. He left. But Brianna Keilar is still there in honolulu. Whens the president leaving and why does he really expect to avoid the cliff . Reporter i will be leaving as well when the president leaves, don. He is expected. He will be leaving tonight. Thats local time. So hell be traveling overnight and arriving back in the d. C. Area late thursday morning. As you know, the Senate Reconvenes tomorrow. So hell be going back as that is happening. We heard from him last week as he was heading out to hawaii. He said, see you next week. We had a thought that this was probably going to happen. He is officially now going back. He said last week, don, that he is still optimistic that something can get done. The other issue here, though, is you can imagine, how bad it would look if he go over the cliff and theres a lot of work to make sure that doesnt happen. Hes here in hawaii on vacation. That would look terrible for him. So obviously he has a lot of work to do. The way the white house sees it, talking to sources, he needs to go back and also shore up some support. The big issues that are outstanding here with trying to figure out a way to avert the fiscal cliff are how to stop these tax hikes on the middle class as the white house sees it. But theres also a number of smaller tax measures that are set to expire. They sort of create their own set of problems, even for some democrats. So he may really need to do some lobbying on a few of them, don. Brianna, how did he spend christmas . Reporter christmas, we talked about this yesterday. We said we wouldnt be surprised if he went to visit troops as hes done in past years. Indeed he did end up doing that. He went a short distance from where he and the first family rent a home, to a military station here an oahu. And he visits with troops thanking them for their service and also thanking their families for their service. He said to them, we know the sacrifice that our military men and women make in defending our country. But sometimes it gets lost just how much of a sacrifice the families make as well. And as you know, don, first lady, michelle obama, has been really active with military families along with jill biden. So that was something also that was really important to her. Brianna keilar in honeymoon lulu, thank you, brianna. A brandnew gallup poll shows half the country still thinks a fiscal cliff compromise is likely, down nine points from earlier this month. [ woman ] what i want this season if youd like to try and guess it is something very special i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] cause all i want this season is something from your heart la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. Some gun owners in the new york city area say they are being unfairly targeted and theyre blaming a local newspaper. Heres why. The journal news published an interactive map on its website showing the names and addresses of all handgun permit owners in westchester and rockland counties. You can see them here represented by red dots. The response has been overwhelmingly angry. And some residents who dont have guns say it lets potential robbers know who isnt armed. The journal news says it made the decision to put up the map in response to the Connecticut School massacre. If you live in los angeles and own a gun, today is the day to exchange it for a gift card. The buyback is being conducted by the l. A. Police department, usually held in may. But this year, its being held ahead of schedule in response to the massacre at the Elementary School in connecticut. Los angeles mayor toantonio villaraigosa told us that many people want things to change. Im supporting senator feinsteins assault weapons ban. We have one in california. For those of us who got to watch the nra commercial last week, the notion that more guns in the hands of good people will prevent gun crimes just isnt borne out by the facts. 100 gift cards are being offered for handguns, rifles and shotguns. Up to 200 in gift cards for assault weapons. Paul vercammen is live in los angeles. Our latest poll shows that 37 of americans want major restrictions on guns. Does this mean todays buyback may see more than the usual response after the recent School Shooting . Reporter well have to see about that. Certainly the city of los angeles is hoping so. But i can tell you this. This seventh is still 45 minutes away from starting and there are well over a dozen cars in this buyback line. They will receive 100 for a pistol or rifle. And 200 for an assault weapon. Over about the last four years, these gun buyback programs have had people turn in more than 8,000 guns. Its all about the anonymity. The drivers come in. They want the guns in the trunk, they want the guns unloaded. But just in case they are loaded, they will dump the guns and the bullets into the trash cans behind me. There will be no photograph frs and no taking down of license plates. They can walk in that tent behind me and begin to receive their gift cards for the guns they turn in. Any limit to how many guns may be turned in . Reporter no, none whatsoever. And weve had interesting moments where they started haggling. They want guns that are working. But one of the officers told me, someone came up with more than a dozen guns, including some assault rifles, and they wound up leaving here with more than 1,000 worth of these Ralphs Grocery store cards. We heard that there have been other gun buybacks in california. Tell us about the san diego records san diegos record. Reporter yeah, san diego also getting aggressive with this and also offering up these Grocery Store gift cards. Just the other day when they put on their gun buyback, they set that record more than 350 guns. Between these two cities, trying to get out on the forefront and getting people to trade in their guns. Remains to be seen how successful this will be the day after christmas. But the lapd says in the last four years, theyve seen Violent Crime drop by 33 in the city, once they started this gun tradein program. Lets go back to los angeles now because we understand the massive los angeles the Unified School District may be making security changes after the newtown shooting. What changes can we expect . Reporter that district has about 1,000 schools. The high schools, about 400 of them, already have Armed Police Officers on duty. But the middle schools and the Elementary Schools do not have armed guards. They will not be getting an armed guard for 24 hours. But they say they may have enough officers to make sure that at least once a day, somebody at least stops by an Elementary School, a member of the police department, so theres just sort of that further layer of possible enforcement there. Paul vercammen, thank you. If you live in l. A. And would like to exchange your gun for a gift card, you can hand in your weapon at the l. A. Sports arena and the van nuys masonic temple. Details are on the lapdonline. Org. Hair pulls, stink eyes, man we see eveything. Oh, its the old man. Hold on, i gotta send something out. You can have two apps open at the same time . Howd you do that . Its the galaxy note 10. 1 man, it just does it. How do you think they made it . Magic. Do more with the Samsung Galaxy note 10. 1. Available at best buy and st buy mobile stores. Your doctor will say get smart about your weight. Thats why theres glucerna hunger smart shakes. They have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. A smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. [music artist willy moon everybody well dont you know its me now . Yeah whos it, whos it huh . Willys back with a brand new beat now, yeah doin it doin it up heyyy yeah, tryin to bite my style heyyy yeah, how you like me now . Na na na na na na na na and everybody go uh a hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Each year in our special series, big stars, big giving, cnn profiles bigname celebrities who give back in a big way this week, we share the stories of three stars putting the spotlight on giving. Actor matt damon is working to bring clean water to people in developing countries. Alina cho asked him about his work. Its very hard for us to understand. You wake up in the morning, if youre thirsty, theres a faucet right there. Theres one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen and clean water comes out of all of them. Reporter but for nearly 1 billion people around the world, 1 billion, there is no Affordable Access to clean water. More than double that number lack proper sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a kid under the age of 5 is dying losing their life because they do not have access to clean water. And it just doesnt have to be that way. Reporter so in 2009, damon and world renowned water expert gary white founded water. Org. Were approaching it differently than many other organizations. Reporter their mantra, wells are great but charity cant help everyone. So white pioneered a concept called water credit. We knew that women in india, for instance, were going and paying 125 interest on loans to loan sharks so they could build a toilet. We said, lets take microfinance and layer it in here and give people access to affordable loans so they can get that