Affecting millions. Snow in the south to brutal winds in chicago. Its only going to get colder. Todays saturday, november 1st, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, with lester holt and erica hill. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today. Im lester holt. Im erica hill alongside Sheinelle Jones and dylan dreyer. It is cold. Look at what is going on in North Carolina. That is mike seidel getting ready for his live shot. Snow going down. I was about to say he was working in North Carolina. Clearly that is not the case. We will check in with him. As dylan is going to tell us. Im not ready. Dylan is not ready. Definitely. Pull the coats out. We want to get to the top story with the search for answers after the deadly crash of Virgin Galactic spaceshiptwo aircraft over the mojave. Jacob rascon is live with more. Reporter erica, good morning. The ntsb will investigate what went wrong. This as serious questions about what setback this crash will be for the future of Space Tourism. By helicopter and fourwheeldrive, recovery teams are searching for the scorched and broken pieces of spaceshiptwo. It was after 10 00 a. M. Friday when something had gone terribly wrong. The photographs capture the moment the space ship started breaking apart at 45,000 feet. The Highway Patrol says one of two test pilots managed to parachute to safety, but badly injured. The second pilot never got out. Our primary thoughts at this moment are with the crew and family and were doing everything we can for them now. Reporter the failed mission was meant to test a new engine and fuel mixture. Nbc news was here for the last test flight in the mojave when the mothership flew to 40,000 feet and then separate. Thats when it fired a rocket to send it much higher. Four, three, two, one. Fire. Reporter thats when the space ship fired a rocket to send it higher. We spoke to david mckay about the experience. Because it was much smoother than i expected. I compared it to magic carpet ride. It is wild because of the level of acceleration. Reporter on friday, the space ship seemed to come apart within seconds of the rocket kicking in. Billionaire Richard Branson founded virgin atlantic. I want to go to space. Nasa was not Building Space ships for ordinaries. Reporter branson has sold more than 700 tickets to Prospective Space tourists. Among the celebrities who bought a ticket. Lady gaga and tom hanks and katy perry. Nbc news has a contract to document the flight. The surviving pilot is being treated for what had been described as moderate to major injuries. As for the future of the Virgin Galactic program, the ceo said we believe we owe it to the folks flying the vehicles to move forward which is what we will do. Richard branson is expected on site later today. Erica. Thank you. Captain mark kelly flew four missions with the Space Shuttle program. Captain kelly, good morning. Its great to see you. Good morning, lester. In your opinion, will this defer the dream of Space Tourism or end it . Well, it definitely will not end it. It wont end it for Virgin Galactic. It will slow it down. When you think of what happened early in aviation, if you go back to when humans first tried to break the sound barrier, you know, there were accidents. When we first tried to go into space. This is one of those things. We are pushing the envelope. Trying to bring ordinary civilians to go in space as tourists. It is a challenging thing to do and do it routinely. You talk about the word routine and think of all of the shuttle flights, you were on four of them. Did it ever feel routine to you or every time you strapped into the shuttle, did you feel like you were in some way a test pilot . Definitely are a test pilot. The Space Shuttle only flew 135 times. I was on endevour. That was the 134th flight. What they are trying to do with Virgin Galactic is trying to make this a passenger operation with much more flights. I think they can get there, but everybody just needs to understand this is flying in space. It is a really difficult and challenging thing to do. You look at nasa and apollo i and the challenger disaster, is the commercial space industry going through the same learning curve as nasa or would you expect they would be ahead of it . Well, you know, there are a lot of companies out there trying to do really challenging things. When you we just had the accident with orbital science rocket a couple of days ago. Companies like spacex that delivers cargo to the space space. So far very successfully. Hopefully delivering people in the future. There is a company in tucson called world view with the hope of bringing passengers up above 100,000 feet. There is a lot going on. A lot more people and Companies Involved and technology. So there will be some accidents. In the foreseeable future, it will be for the wealthy. People laying down 250,000 for a ride for essentially four to five minutes of weightnessless. Mark, you have been there. What makes people want to take the risk and experience what you experienced . It is the most exciting thing you can possibly do. On or off the planet. To climb into a rocket ship and strap into the seat and go through the launch count and preparation. For the Space Shuttle, years of preparation for a mission. To be rocketed off the planet from zero to 17,500 miles into space. It is an incredible thing to do. To gaze back at the earth and see it as a round ball and planet from the blackness of space, there is nothing else like it. You have sold me. All right. Captain mark kelly. Always great to talk to you. We appreciate it. Youre welcome, lester. In the eastern half of the united states, bitter cold temperatures are ushering in november which made for bonechilling trickortreating last night. You may have experienced it. This morning, parts of the south under Winter Weather advisories. The weather channels mike seidel is in Sugar Mountain, North Carolina. Mike, good morning. You looked like you were having fun earlier with the snow. Reporter we were, erica. Good morning from the top of Sugar Mountain ski. We have about four or five inches of snow on the ground. It is dry and powdery snow. It blows around like dust. Because the temperature is so cold, we are down to 22. The windchill this morning is 5 above zero. Not too shabby. The front blew through chicago 24 hours ago. The worst flooding on the lake front since 1987. They had to shutdown the thoroughfare. That is good old u. S. 41. Also, nearly 750 Flights Canceled at ohare because of the winds which gusted in gary, indiana to 70 miles an hour. Over the middle of the lake, they had 20 footers. To the north, lakeeffect snow. Wisconsin, u. P. Of michigan, 10 inches of snow. The cold air over the warm lakes and you get snowfall for the first time. Winter driving kicks in. We will be snowing and blowing all day. Temperatures stay in the 20s. I talked to the owner and he has the snow guns on. They anticipate opening tomorrow morning for the first time this season. This would be the second earliest opening on record. We had snow flakes as far south as atlanta, georgia. Dylan dreyer, a little early and i see you are in the studio and not out here on the mountain top with me this morning. Im usually out with my mouth frozen just like yours, mike. If you stay there long enough, it will warm up. By the time we get to monday and tuesday, we are looking for temperatures to rebound. Lets talk about today. We have this dip in the jet stream that is extending all the way down into parts of florida. It is ushering in the cold air. Temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees below average. Look at the current low temperatures this morning. 24 in minneapolis. 35 in chicago. 32 in st. Louis. Atlanta is down to 40 degrees. We are going to see this cool air extend all the way down into daytona beach. 54 degrees this morning. Now this dip in the jet stream is going to start to shift east. Watch what happens monday and tuesday. We flip it around. We have a ridge in the jet stream. That is the warmer air coming in from the south. St. Louis will be up to 69 by the time we get to monday. Lexington, kentucky, 62. Norfolk, 73. In new york city, we should get back up to 63. It is cold this weekend, but we will see a turn around as we start off the workweek. Lester. Dylan, we will check in with you in a moment. Thank you. Lets get to the raging fight over ebola quarantines. The nurse from maine is now free to move about in public and speaking out again. This after a big legal victory on friday. Kristen dahlgren is here with more. Good morning, lester. Kaci spoke out with her lawyers on friday. She said she is humbled by the District Court ruling. Saying that she does not need to stay quarantined. The judge did however point out there is real fear surrounding the ebola epidemic. He urged hickox to be sensitive. She doesnt want to make anyone uncomfortable, while the education of ebola continues. As per her health. I have been treating ebola patients. If i develop symptoms, by all means, im sitting here next to my partner, ted. I would not put my partner ted at risk. If i develop symptoms, i would do the right thing. I would immediately isolate myself. Now according to the judge, she has to have daily Health Checks and notify Health Authorities if she travels and tell officials if any symptoms appear. This morning is the moment former ebola patient nina pham has been waiting for. Reunion with her dog bentley. The king charles spaniel has been declared ebola free. Bentley was quarantined. She was released from the National Institute of health last week. She said she was looking forward to getting home and seeing bentley. She will get that chance this morning. Thanks, kristen. I want to get a check of the mornings other stories. Sheinelle is following those. Good morning. A third victim wounded in Washington StateHigh School Shooting has died. 14yearold shaylee died. One week to the day when she was shot in the head in the cafeteria. Two other teens were killed in the rampage. Allegedly part of the love triangle that left the 15yearold gunman dead. Two more students are still in the hospital this morning. The school is set to reopen on monday. Police in Southern California are looking for the suspects in the deadly hitandrun that killed three trickortreaters. Twin sisters were dressed in costumes when hit by an suv in a crosswalk friday night. Investigators say the suv had two men inside. It was found abandoned near the scene. Trickortreaters were hurt in arizona and Washington State after getting hit by cars. A u. S. Marine held in a prison in mexico since march is home. It was a scene when Sergeant Andrew tahmooressi was reunited. The war vet was in prison after he crossed in tujuana with weapons in his car. A move he says was a mistake after taking a wrong turn. His release comes after a diplomatic push. To hawaii, news on the frontlines of the lava flow. Hallie jackson has more on the big island. Reporter good morning, sheinelle. The news pahoa, the lava flow has stalled. Not much activity in the past 24 hours. The leading edge is 480 feet back past the roadblock set up to prevent access. It is limited access. Folks are showing up. They want to see this front edge of the lava. There is a lot of activity upslope which we got to check out when we were back from the frontlines recently. No mandatory evacuations in place yet, but officials are in close contact with People Living on the street letting them know which homes are effected and when the lava picks up speed. As for timeline, still unclear. Tough to predict when the pause may end because lava is unpredictable. It is a half a mile away from the main highway. That is a big concern. It is the next piece of critical infrastructure. Two alternate routes are finished. One is underway. It is pouring out here this morning. Rain is not having an impact on the flow. Sheinelle. It is too powerful. You would think rain could help, but not in this case. Thank you, hallie. At least 200 Police Officers on hand in salem. Thousands took to the streets for the halloween mecca for the haunted halloween bash. Police start planning for the crowds here a year in advance. They are planning for next year. The crowds come from all over the world. Wow. So far, so good. Salem is an awesome place during halloween. It is a pretty time of year. New york was rocking. 5 00 a. M. , there were still people out. In costumes. They start early. When i was going home from work yesterday, 4 00 in the afternoon. The toddlers out. The toddlers out at 5 00 a. M. Too. People saw me in a suit. Look at the dude in a suit. Hes an anchorman. All right. Sheinelle, thanks. This morning, we are learning more about the capture of accused cop killer eric frein ending the manhunt. He is accused of ambushing two state troopers. Ron allen has the latest on that. Reporter good morning. Frein is in custody, but investigators are busy trying to retrace his steps and how he eluded capture. And trying to figure out why he set up the attack here in front of the police barracks. Corporal Byron Dickson lost his life that day. I cried. It was the end for me. It was a completion. Reporter darla never doubted they would find the man that killed her son. They honored byron as one of their own. He would be very proud of them. Im very proud of them. Reporter an angry crowd taunted frein as he was led from court looking gaunt. His face bruised. Cuffs belonging to corporal dickson. As for the squad car he was taken into as he was put in jail. He was tracked down by a team of u. S. Marshals. Some 20 miles from the barracks where he allegedly ambushed dickson and douglass. He had nowhere to go. You have the Police Department over there. Reporter tom lives next to where frein was captured. We could see police still at the scene gathering evidence. It is creepy finding out somebody Walking Around here. Again, it is a place abandoned for 20 years. Reporter and with freins capture, relief for the communities. Kids out for halloween. Canceled when frein was on the run. Police at ease enough to enjoy the holiday. When i first heard they caught him, i got goose bumps. Reporter the kind of joy dickson remembers sharing with her son. A mother now finding strength with her faith. We dont see him today, but our hope is there are eternal things. We will see him very again soon one day. Reporter we also have some good news about trooper douglass. Now on the long road to recovery, police say, frein did not enter a plea. He was denied bail and prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Erica. Ron allen this morning. Thank you. Dylan told us about the big chill in this half of the country. The west coast dealing with a big storm. Sierra nevada is dealing with a snow storm of their own. You can see right out through here. This is our storm system that is producing a lot of rain in central california. We are looking at the chance of 4 to 8 inches of snow in the sierra nevada. Further to the east, that is the bigger storm system with the heavy snow in the mountains. Especially above 5500 feet. We will see as much as 8 to 12 inches of snow. Up and down the east coast, we also have a lot of heavy rain. It will be a washout here in new york city. The rain up to new england and the carolinas and in the middle of the country which is dry and sunny. However, temperatures below average. We are going to top out at 45 degrees today in chicago. It is extremely windy. Winds spread east. For the marathon in new york city tomorrow, dry, but windy. Erica, that is a look across the country. Here is a peek out your wind here at home we are watching some showers rolling through the bay area. You can see pretty intense thunderstorms. If you are doing any traveling through the Santa Cruz Mountains take it easy. It will be raini ing very heavy it stays stormy in the south bay. The farther north you get that is where the shower chance diminishes. In San Francisco just a few showers. In the north bay we will be dry with temperatures near 70. s your latest forecast. Dylan, thanks. Up next, a bootiful day. Halloween celebrating. But first this is today on nbc. Celebrating. But first this is today on nbc. Good morning, usher hey did you know bees communicate through dance . Me too. Were practically twins very very superstitious sheinelle, this ones ours. If you are waking up with a sugar rush hangover this morning, you are not alone. So are we. We all joined in the halloween fun last night and breakfast. Here is a quick look. Thats my young son who is a star wars guy. Theres my older son, also known as peyton manning. Did they get candy . A lot of candy. Bosco. She got her haircut yesterday and they sent her home with treats. This is our first time in new york city for halloween. There were a lot of supermans and spidermans. He took off the head thing because he could not breathe. Or see. We had a fun time. So cute. Lester may have topped us all. There. There is lester yesterday. So lester, you were saying hi to people in the crowd after. They did not realize it was you. No one mentioned it was me. I went to greet the crowd. People were being polite. Finally a woman says who are you . I said im lester holt. She looked. Lester, you asked me if i saw this yesterday. I had no idea you had moves like that. I dvred it. If you saw me with the door closed to my office, i was in there dancing. I often hear lester playing his bass. The music was loud on thursday. I did not realize you were practicing your moves. Well executed. Thank you. Now that halloween is over, it is time for christmas shopping. Coming up, surprise deals. First these messages. You are taking a live look over San Franci