hello, everyone. i m kate bolduan. at this hour, we re tracking this massive winter storm sweeping across the united states. it is impacting the vast majority of americans today. just two days before christmas. the storm is bringing blizzard conditions. i mean i don t need to say it. you could see it. blizzard conditions and ice freezing rain and very strong winds to cities coast to coast. areas near the great lakes could see up to three feet of snow like buffalo. but the cold, record-breaking and life-threatening. more than 200 million americans are under windchill alerts. the storm has not knocked out power to at least a million customers so far and travel is starting to get back. more than 3700 flights have been canceled today and more than 2,000 others have been delayed. that is not even to speak of what the roads are like right now. we re going to get to. we have reporters stationed across the country. let s start with meteorologist al alice isson chinchar. up an dow
alice isson chinchar. up an down the eastern seaboard, we re seeing the outage numbers tick up. but for many places they have yet to bottom out in terms of temperatures so you don t want to see those folks getting colder without power or access to heat. so that is going to be a big concern. even here in atlanta, it is very cold. by atlanta standards. current temperatures 18 degrees. this is a toul that has completely frozen over, rock solid. it is not just towels but also spot as long the roadways making travel very dangerous and that is not just here but elsewhere across the country. because you have basically this polar vortex, that arctic mass of air that has pushed down across the country and you could see there on the map showing where the air has really started to push back down across much of the country. it is also why you have so many people under these winter windchill alerts across country.