l air tomorrow evening. for viewers in north america it premieres wednesday night 9:00 p.m. eastern. i hope you'll see it. 70 year since the liberation of auschwitz. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the "situation room." "amanpour "amanpour" is next for our international viewers. our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brianna keilar starts right now. hi there, i'm brianna keilar. here in new york. where people are right now under a state of emergency. this city and much of the northeast bracing for a blizzard of historic magnitude. the official word do not take this blizzard lightly. it's being called potentially life threatening, and it is on the way. threatening to shut down much of the east coast from new jersey, all the way up to maine and canada. 58 million people are in the way of this thing, and are expected to be impacted in one way or another. >> this is not a storm to take

lightly. >> if you're without power, you are going to be without power for a period of time. all likely in all likelihood several days. so and i'll just give you my advice if you have a fireplace that's usable have some wood ready. >> starting later this afternoon, you should stay home if you can. you should only go out in the case of an absolute emergency or necessity. and the same goes for all day tomorrow. >> this literally could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city and we need to plan accordingly. so my message to all new yorkers is prepare for something worse than we have seen before. >> boston and new york city people could see up to 3 feet of snow by the end of tomorrow. more than 30 inches and that is really saying something. the history books show the biggest storms in new york city

came nowhere close to that. 26.9 inches of snow back in 2006. 25.8 inches in december 1947. and 21 inches in march 1888. and if you were planning on getting in or getting out before it hits it is probably too late. airlines canceling flights in and out of the northeast. thousands already off the boards for today and tomorrow. we have our reporters following very latest from across the region. miguel marquez here in new york. we have jennifer gray live for us in boston. ana cabrera is in east hampton, long island. we have ivan cabrera standing by in the cnn severe weather center with the detailed forecast. i want to go now to miguel marquez. so miguel you have the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, he's saying he's considering a travel ban here. how else is the city preparing? >> reporter: well the city is preparing by loading up on lots of salt and lots of plows. we're in one of those areas here in lower manhattan.

i want to give you a little tour of where we are right now. this is the bike path on lower manhattan. down that way we should be able to see downtown. it is complete whiteout right now. this storm is on. the last 20, 30 minutes or so it's come on strong. if you look up this way, see the west side highway here. the traffic is still heavy. people getting out of town coming downtown. we're seeing a few runners and bikers on this trail still. that won't be the case. if we get that 3 feet of snow it will be up to right here on me on this trail. that giant building there, that is filled with salt. the city of new york has stockpiled tens of thousands of tons of salt in order to spread on the streets. they have vehicles the plows coming and going from here constantly. the garbage trucks as well have been modified with snow plows on the front. all of them have chains on. i also want to point out when i got down here a little while ago, you can look across and just see new jersey across the

hudson. now complete whiteout. i want to show you what this snow looks like a bit, if i could. it's very very dry and it looks almost like styrofoam. it is almost like ice right now. it is only going to get colder and pile up higher and get more dangerous out here. brianna? >> yeah certainly is. all right, miguel marquez, we'll be visiting with you a little later. thank you. i towant to head to new england where boston is bracing for the worst. it's supposed to get slammed with up to 3 feet of snow. check this out. the storm threat not enough to keep pate rerotsrepate refans from sending tom brady off. meteorologist jennifer gray is sticking it out in boston and tell us a little bit about how new england is getting ready, jennifer? >> reporter: yeah well luckily that sendoff was before it got really bad, but folks in boston are tough. i can tell you this is going to be a storm for the record books. even for people here. it has been light as far as

traffic is concerned around the city. we did see people going to work early this morning. after lunch, we saw people coming back and catching that ferry. looks like people are heading out of the city early. and good thing, because there is a travel ban here in boston beginning midnight and they're saying if folks are parked on those major roads, they will be towed beginning at 8:00. of course school was open today, but it will be closed tomorrow and wednesday and all the after-school activities also closed this afternoon. also the massachusetts bay transit authority closed on tuesday as well. we could see snow up to my waist by tomorrow evening, and we could see snow drifts above my head. we're talking about 8 to 10 foot snow drifts because the wind is going to be so strong we could see possible hurricane-force winds, especially right here along the coast. also coastal flooding is going to be a major concern when you have those winds in the mix, brianna, we're going to be looking at major power outages, so people could be without power for some days and we're looking

at very very cold temperatures to stick around for at least the next week. brianna? >> yeah, the cold and the snow is enough but when you're talking about 65 mile per hour wind gusts, it's really unbelievable. jennifer gray for us, thank you so much. plowing beginning here in new york city as you can see. now in east hampton, on the eastern tip of long island schools closed early today. they are due to be shut down tomorrow already as this area braces for the storm. that's where we find cnn's ana cabrera. she's joining me now live from eastern long island. so i wonder if you're seeing a lot of people out and about there, ana or are they heeding the warnings and staying inside? >> reporter: just a few hours ago, there were a lot of people out and about getting last-minute supplies at the grocery store, preparing for what lies ahead. as you can see, there is a change in the air here with the winds already picking up. you can see just behind me some of the tall grasses kind of bending as we go. the snow moving in. blowing sideways. already accumulating just a

little bit here on the ground. just more of a -- we're expecting 2 to 3 feet of snow here combined with wind gusts of 55 65 miles per hour and that's going to cause some problems down below here on the shoreline where you can already see huge waves whipping and crashing along the beach. they're anticipating coastal flooding in this area 2 to 3 feet of ocean levels above normal tide. that could cause some problems obviously for the many businesses hotels restaurants, in this highly touristy area. in fact we also learned they're expecting 8 to 12 foot waves that could cause some erosion. so this entire area is kind of hunkering down, building some berms to try to protect the underlying areas in this zone. brianna? >> all right, and also ana, i know there's concern about maybe some power outages there. you have heavy snow. there's going to be wind. that doesn't mix with trees. >> reporter: this is a problem

that they've experienced before. power outages back in superstorm sandy knocked out power for some people up to weeks at a time and we heard governor cuomo earlier addressing that specifically for those long islanders saying that they are better prepared for this storm because of adjustments and some improvements they made to the power system after superstorm sandy, but you never know what mother nature is going to give you, brianna. >> you never know. ana cabrera, thank you so much. this is the question. exactly when will these dangerous weather conditions begin? how hard will they hit? we're already seeing obviously some snow starting here ivan cabrera, but as you track the storm, you know a lot more is coming. tell us about what the latest modeleds and the forecast are tell you. >> yeah, you know, that's what worries me. you look behind you and it looks like a typical new york scene out there and people looking at their windows at light snow falling. the storm has not begun. the storm has not empbgotten going

here. we're not at the explosionive stage. that's when we're going to be talking about dangerous conditions, going to be talking about snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches an hour and wind gusts in excess of 60 miles an hour. that will happen tonight and heading into tomorrow. what we're seeing here are just the officialanymore initial stages going on. tonight heavy bands will move into new york and boston. when it's all said and done this is what we're thinking here. again, 6 to 8 inches. 8 to 10, 10 to 12, 12 to 24 some areas over 2 feet. notice the gradient of the colors. whoever gets on the western side of this is not going to get much snow. it's dangerously close to new york. we may luck out here. i don't think we will. i think we're still talking about a foot plus in new york and further to the east boston no question about it you're looking at a couple feet of snowfall by the time we're done with this storm here. but even if new york doesn't get, say, the snowfall tallies

that we've been talking about, 12 to 24 inches because the wind is going to be at 50 to 60 miles an hour the snow drifts are going to be enough to be a problem here and we're going to continue to pile up that snow as you saw miguel there, the snow very fluffy it's very cold. it's not going to be that heavy, wet snow. it's going to be pushed around by the wind as we head through tonight and that's when blizzard conditions will be in effect. in fact the warnings, of course from new jersey to new york all the way to boston and into bangor. of course boston will get more of the snow because you will be in the snow the longest. and so by the time the storm pushes off to the north and east on tuesday, look at boston still in the snow then new york begins to be on the backside of it here. so you still have some time if you have not got your supplies if you don't have all the water you need don't have all the food that you need. plan for a few days without power here because what you're seeing here coastal watches as far as a flood, the wind is

going to come in, push the water in and could be talking about significant power outages because of the wind and snow. check your medicine. check the elderly. check everything you need to do to get ready first stormor the storm because it's coming and coming tonight. >> reach out to a neighbor if they don't have someone to contact. make sure they're okay as well. ivan cabrera, great advice. thanks so much. right now there are officials in these cities making big decisions, ones that really could make ar break their legacies really impact public safety for millions. we'll be taking you behind the scenes when i speak with the mayor of boston. plus airports becoming nightmares as thousands of flights are scrubbed. and also this. a developing situation at the white house. a drone found on the lawn near the residence of the president and now the secret service is talking with the person connected to this situation. this is cnn's special life coverage.

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schoolchildren in boston are getting not just one but two days off this week. the city isn't taking any chances with this storm. logan airport also shutting down tonight. for more on how boston is preparing for the storm, i'm now joined on the phone by mayor martin walsh. mayor, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us and get the word out to a lot of our viewers in your area. tell us about how well your city is prepared for this storm. >> we feel pretty confident right now as far as being prepared for the storm. it's just really a matter of as it comes in waves to stay ahead of it. you know we'll pretty much lay down a lot of the groundwork for tomorrow. we did cancel school for tuesday and wednesday. tuesday, tomorrow because of the travel and wednesday because of the anticipation we'll still be removing snow on wednesday. we have stated snow emergency

bans as far as parking in the city of boston. as of tonight after 6:00 people in the banned area large roadways we're asking people not to park there or they'll be towed after 8:00 tonight. we've done the first treatment of salt in our city to kind of make it easier to move the snow as it moves along. and now we're asking some people to just use common sense, be smart about this. don't go out. this storm clearly is going to be a big storm. all the weather forecasters indicate it. we can see it now. it's already snowing very lightly, but it's snowing in the city of boston right now. >> and a lot of people you know some people think that these things at first may be overblown then it sort of comes upon them very quickly that they may have to take precautions. what's your advice maybe for people there in the boston area watching right now who maybe still need to get some supplies and then really think about hunkering down? what can you tell them? >> get it done now, and also if you have an elderly neighbor on the street or somebody who's

disabled or somebody who can't get out, please check on them make sure they have what they need as well. and err on the side of caution. rather be safe than sorry. really we all feel that way when they talk about 25 to 30 inches of snow. i think it was, oh it might not happen. i'd rather be prepared for it to happen rather than not be prepared and have it hit us. >> yeah certainly right. if you've stocked up on food maybe yun of your neighbors hasn't been able to get out, help them out as well. great advice -- >> stay connected. watch the tv. you know certainly cnn gives a lot of reports and you can see already what's happenings around the country, and it's heading right toward us here in boston. and, you know just kind of the advice that you've been giving all day has been great advice making sure that the batteries are fresh, making sure the flashlights are available, making sure that they have all the important numbers they need to have to call in case of emergency, 911 or the main city hall numbers around the country. that's important. >> it certainly is. conditions and forecasts can change. so, very important to stay on top of those.

boston mayor martin walsh, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> this huge storm bearing down on the northeast means public safety officials are facing a lot of tough decisions in the coming hours. they've been working on these day for days, in fact. juliet zhas been in the room. she served as duvall patrick's homeland security adviser. i want to talk to you about the deployment of federal, state, local resources. how does this work? who's calling the shots? how much autonomy does the local government versus the state government versus even local school districts have when they're trying to call states of emergency and so on? >> so we are a, you know sort solve federalde democracy, so power belongs at the most local level. you saw my mayor, marty walsh, they declare things like school days because they oversee the public school system. but it's not very antagonistic

in a storm like this. in other words, once it was clear that something big was going to happen, federal, state and local authorities and first responders are all working together in their emergency management bunkers, whether on the state side or local side trying to make the most rationale, prepared assessments. and as the mayor said, it may be that it's not as bad as we -- as it's being advertised right now. it doesn't matter. at this stage, the most important thing is to give thoughtful, direct advice to the public through a mayor, through a governor and the federal apparatus such as fema the federal emergency management agency is ready to deploy resources should it be needed by any state, and that's why you've seen almost all the new england governors declare already a state of emergency. what that does is it allows the federal resources to sort of advance, pull forward so if they're needed by a locality or state, they'll be there.

>> you wrote an excellent column for cnn.com, juliette and in it you said calling a snow day is an art, it's not a science. explain what that means. >> right. well this snowstorm is pretty obvious. just given the numbers and the consistent numbers coming from the national weather service any rationale person would have said everyone stay home everyone off the road and, you know, just be smart, right? but in most instances it's a very difficult call. i've been in that room where the weather isn't as clearly bad as it is sort of today, and you're making judgment calls based on the safety of the population but also worried that if you cry wolf too often, people won't respond. this is an easy call. every governor every mayor is consistent in this. lives will be saved if you stay home. don't be stupid. don't be smart. don't be brave. you can wait. about 24 hours from now, this will be over but right now, the

judgment call has been made relatively easily to just stay home and that's essentially what everyone should do. >> i know you've been in that position where you've said based on forecasts that there's going to be bad weather in the afternoon commute and it doesn't pan out and you're sitting there with blue skies, but at least you err on the side of public safety there. now, this one is sort of a no brainer in a way but does it help you're talking about so much of the snowfall coming from the evening and overnight? it's different than something that maybe onliesy s comes in around noon when everyone is already at work, though granted a lot of people will be headed home early today. they're dealing really with the brunt of this later tonight, right? >> that's exactly right, so, you know snow days are generally called by some combination of what's the weather, what's the precipitation, and when is it hitting? so you want to let people out early, if for example, the worst of the storm is coming at 5:00 because you don't want people having a six-hour

commute. one of the blessings of what's habit to happen to us is it's coming overnight and people have already been told to stay home tomorrow, so there will be no commute tomorrow. that essentially gives 24 hours for this to come down and be cleaned up and tremendous resources in cities like boston tremendous leadership to sort of deploy the first responders out. the streets will be empty. as the mayor said there's to parked cars so it's easy to maneuver streets. get the snow off and then get people back to work either wednesday, as the case may be in some instances, and definitely by thursday. but these are judgment calls, and weather doesn't always behave as much as we want it to. we want it to be sort of more exact than it often is but in this instance it is a blessing that it's coming over a period where people have plenty of time to get home and essentially shelter in place. and so that you know public safety resources can be saved on those who don't have homes.

those who need government services and those who might be stranded for, you know not because of their own sort of culpability. >> yeah. so people shouldn't be a problem so that all of the first responders can be concentrating on serious emergencies. juliette kayyem, thank you so much much. just ahead, i'll be speaking with the head of the national weather service, about their models who's really in the bull's-eye here? plus a small drone crash lands on the white house lawn and now the secret service is questioning a person linked to the device. was anyone at risk? we'll talk about that next. the bacteria that still exists. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for a cleaner, fresher brighter denture everyday. ♪ carpenters: "rainy days and mondays" ♪ ♪♪ ♪ ac/dc: "back in black" ♪

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back to our special coverage now of what is really a monster blizzard getting ready to hit the northeast. but first, the secret service is interviewing someone who could be connected to a

drone that was spotted flying above the white house grounds overnight. the drone crashed on to the south lawn today around 3:00 a.m. it's being described as a two-foot wide commercially available quad copter. that means four. so one secret service source tells cnn that the owner of this drone called in after seeing news reports but a law enforcement source could not confirm that the person now having interviewed came in voluntarily. "time" magazine's zeke miller joining us now. zeke this was a quad copter. so kind of like four helicopters. and cnn law enforcement, a source telling us that this drone actually appeared to be for recreational use, but you've written about drone use in d.c. you actually wrote a story last year, and i remembered you said in the story it's not just illegal, it's very illegal. so what kind of threat could this pose at a place like the white house? >> well, it's not just a security threat, it's a public safety threat flying any drone in a populated city. we've seen it not just in

washington, weave've seen it in new york people flying the drones. they weigh between 5 and 10 pounds. some are larger some are smaller. if that falls out of the sky, runs out of battery, hits somebody on the head that's dangerous to begin with as a public safety concern. national security facilities around the white house, u.s. capitol, around national parks, national monuments, the pentagon it's both a concern in terms of somebody with malicious intent as well as potential, you know venue that somebody trying to engage in some sort of surveillance could use to take pictures of things that are formally blocked off, that are normally not visible from the public areas around these complexes. >> exactly right. so even though they are illegal, though i wonder what can authorities really do to stop them or is there anything they can do to stop them considering we have one landing at the white house? >> yeah this is -- you know an issue we were having nationwide when it comes it drones privacy concerns around them. right now all there are are faa guidelines.

fly them below 400 feet and not near airports. around washington it means don't fly it within 10 or 12 miles of reagan national airport. just outside of washington d.c. and they're relying on the customers, people who buy these several hundred dollar drones not to use them these quad copters, to follow published rules. trying to track back who these individuals are can be very very difficult at times. in this case it looks like the person involved did read about it did find out some more information about the fate of their helicopter -- of their quad copter and did come forward. but somebody who's trying to carry out -- has a ma lirkslicious intent, it's a lot harder to investigate these things there what. >> what's the latest on this case? do we know if the person came forward voluntarily to talk to authorities? >> one law enforcement source told me an hour or so ago that indeed happened. that this is potentially a government employee using this on a sort of recreational time

testing out one of these drones around 3:00 in the morning. we're very early in this investigative process, an certainly this is raising red flags for the secret service which is coming off just the latest negative story line for them at the same time this has happened before on the national mall. there are three or four incidents in the last five or six months around washington where people have been flying drones and what's called p-56 the heavily restricted airspace over the white house and the u.s. capitol. >> yeah really drones testing the boundaries. we knew that some things like this would happen, and we're starting to be surprised by some of it. all right, zeke miller. thanks so much. really appreciate your expertise on that. i want to get back now to our special coverage we are bracing for impact here. you see the snow it's falling. well, this is nothing compared to what we are expecting. new york's mayor says this blizzard could be one of the worst storms to hit in the city's history. we're measuring this thing in feet. next i will speak live with the

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across the northeast, critical items like bread are flying off the grocery shelves. officials say they're hoping that the roads will be just as baron tomorrow. in new york, new jersey, pennsylvania connecticut, elsewhere, drivers are being warned, some ordered to not travel as a blizzard that could be historic churns its way northward. we're talking about 3 feet of snow that could fall accompanied by hurricane-force winds. joining me to talk about this

louis uccellini, director of the national weather service. you spent 14 years leading the national centers for environmental prediction. in your career how would you rate this storm that is expected to hit the northeast? >> well actually, you could say in my lifetime i've been interested in snowstorms i grew up on long island. and paul wrote a snowstorm monograph and we actually have studied many of these storms, and created an index for them and we think this storm is going to rank up in the -- as a historic storm in the 3, 4 range. in our index. and with the snow cover, the snow amount it's going to rank right up there with some of the bigger storms that have hit that area. >> what are the weather conditions that are causing what really could be this historic storm? if you're thinking that it could be a number 3 or a number 4?

>> well everything is coming together. the upper air pattern is now well in place to really generate the rapid cycle genesis which we've been predicting to form off the carolina coast. that's happening. it will go into a trap of development phase later this afternoon and this evening and will bring very heavy snows to new york city. getting the cold air in is a key factor. yesterday you were in the 40s. overnight, that cold air came in and now it's locked in place. so it will keep the precipitation as snow. and, of course the very tight gradients with this storm will produce extreme wind conditions and blizzard conditions along the jersey coast right up through new york city, up toward boston. so all these ingredients are going to make for a high-impact event, a very major storm for that whole area. >> give us the timeline here. we're already seeing some accumulation here in new york city but i know there are obviously some people who are probably still running around trying to stock up get some

supplies. tell us when the worst of the storm is going to hit, and really where the worst will hit. >> yeah. so right now what's happening is that an initial band has actually formed an east/west band over long island northern new jersey new york city and it's progressing very slowly northward, essentially locked if place. that's what's giving you the moderate snow. what we'll see basically after 8:00 9:00 tonight is the first major precip event from the developing low off the coast come into the new york city/long island area. i would say maybe not between 9:00 and midnight and then between midnight and 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 tomorrow morning, you're going to be in the brunt of the very heavy snows all way from northern new jersey and that will swing around and get into southeast new england and boston at the same time. so that's the key area is -- the key time period is after 9:00

p.m. tonight through 9:00 10:00 tomorrow morning. >> and this flooding concern you're talking about really, what is it, long island and cape cod, is that right? >> yeah. so we expect higher tides and potential flooding situations all the way from delaware bay up to southeast new england coast. the worst coastal conditions will likely develop in eastern long island up toward the cape in that area. and this is going to be a significant issue for them later on tonight. as the storm develops with the very strong winds, it will be driving that sea water right toward the coast, and we're watching that very carefully. >> all right. we'll be watching it very carefully with you, dr. louis uccellini. thank you so much for being on with us. >> thank you. >> one of the most dangerous places to be in a storm like this is going to be on the roads. cnn's brian todd is out there for us. he is checking the conditions in

new jersey. let's ride along with him. brian, what are you seeing? >> reporter: brianna, right now we're on the atlantic city expressway heading east toward atlantic city. we're going to be getting on the garden state parkway heading north where the storm is really going to hit in those seaside areas of new jersey. it's going to hit very hard. we're starting to see some of the conditions getting worse along these highways. the visibility really decreasing now. our photojournalist is going to switch from my camera to the front. front-facing camera outside our windshield here. you can see, you can get an idea of some of these conditions. governor chris christie just told reporters that he is -- they're allowing some state government employees to leave work early and what the governor has said if you're going to get out of work get out now and just start to head home now because this is really the hour when it's starting to get much much worse here along the new jersey coast. the governor said they've got about 3,700 trucks ready to go some salt spreading and contract

plowing along these roads. again, and if kahlil is switching out the front side of our vehicle here the visibility here is getting much much worse and has gotten worse just in the last couple of minutes, brianna. so as we head north and east of where we are now in southern new jersey conditions are really starting to deteriorate, and this is about the time when it's starting to get worse in this region of new jersey. >> so what is your plan brian? where are you heading after this? >> reporter: well, we think we're going to go to point pleasant around seaside heights. that was an area that really got hit hard by hurricane sandy a couple of years ago. so we're going to see how that area is coping. that's supposed to get a lot of snow. and, of course you know, as you've been talking about with our weather folks, the winds are going to be a huge issue, and those are going to cause whiteout conditions in some of these areas. and in some areas, we're told there are going to be near hurricane-force winds. somewhere between 60 and 75 mile

per hour winds which are going to cause whiteout conditions. again, we're seeing just the beginnings of this right now. just the remnants of this starting to hit this region as we head farther north. we're heading toward point pleasant and seaside heights, new jersey. >> already feels like this is getting bad, but this is nothing when you hear the experts talk talking about. brian todd. stay safe there. 6,000 flights canceled in the northeast. coming up what you need to know if you're planning to travel in the next 48 hours. i'll be talking to the ceo of flightaware.com about the travel challenges ahead. you're watching cnn's special coverage.

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a potentially historic winter storm bearing down on the northeast. 6,000 flights have been canceled today and tomorrow into and out of and within the united states. this all according to flight

flightaware.com. how many of those cancelations are due to this upcoming storm? with we now to talk about this is the ceo of flightaware, daniel baker. so daniel would you say that 90%, 95% of these cancelations are because of the storm? or are we just talking all of them is. >> virtually all of them. over 95% are because of this storm. so far today, airlines have canceled thousands of flights, most this afternoon and evening. basically they're saying, look the storm is going to be really bad tomorrow we're going to need to cancel all of our flights in and out of the new york area philadelphia, boston, and they need to get the crews and planes out of the affected area. they don't want to fly in a bunch of flights into the new york area tonight and find out the planes can't depart either later tonight or in the morning, get stuck there and end up having to cancel flights all across their system as a result. so they need to cancel a lot of flights even ahead of the storm as a result. >> yeah. i had a flight tomorrow morning that was canceled twice now. it was moved to tomorrow

evening, now it's been moved to wednesday morning. so when you're looking at la laguardia, jfk, boston logan, philadelphia what other airports are being affected here? >> those are the big airports that are seeing the bulk of the cancelations. a lot of airports across the country that have a ton of flights to the new york area are impacted as well. if you look at all the airports that are affected you might see, for example, miami have 75 flights canceled today. those are to and from the affected area. definitely the airlines are expecting that the new york area's hit the hardest. another thing to consider is not only do they have to deal with the impact of those airports but they do a lot of regional flights to nearby areas and smaller airports and smaller cities that may not just have the capacity to clear the runways and get the airline employees there. so they have to be prepared for that as well. it's just a really big challenge. no question this is a much larger storm than a lot of the

nor'easters that we see. typical situation might be the airlines say, okay when is this storm coming? we'll cancel a few hours ahead of time. maybe through the night and restart operations in the morning. the case here is they're canceling a lot of the evening schedule. the entire next day in a lot of these airports. i think it's unlikely we'll see a normal schedule even on wednesday. it's going to be a while before things come back together. >> yeah. so many flights, and they'll have to pack them into wednesday, thursday and friday. there's this thing you have on your website, it's called a misery map. explain what we're looking at here. >> the misery map is a really great way to visualize what's going on in the airspace. it's an animated map that shows the weather as it moves across the united states and then it changes the color of the airport or the city to show what percentage of flights are experiencing theys se inging delays and cancelations. you can hover over one of the cities and it will show the

routes to and from the airport and color code the route based on how much it's impacted. right now if you hovered over seattle, it's going to be green, going to look pretty good. then you see the storm bearing down on the northeast. if you hover over any of those airports you're going to see big, thick, red lines showing that, look, the majority of flights in and out of there are delayed and canceled and that's the reality. if you're not already boarding a flight in or out of the new york area, there's a very likely chance you're going to see a delay or cancelation and if you are flying tomorrow to and from those airports no question it's going to be a really big problem. we don't expect things to be back on track until thursday at the earliest. >> give us a sense, daniel of obviously we're here, we're already starting to feel some of the snow boston's going to get hit. but there are other areas that don't even see the snow that will be impacted by these cancelations. >> yeah. that's absolutely right. i think one thing that people really need to think about is someone might be in texas or florida and say, you know it's beautiful weather here you know when i fly to europe

tomorrow i don't have to worry about that. well you know you might think, geez am i flying through newark jfk? keep an eye on where you're connecting. the good news is the airlines are trying to get the planes out of the area so they don't have to cancel completely unrelated flights. what everyone -- it drives people crazy, both passengers and airlines alike, is when there's a snowstorm in new york then there's a cancelation from los angeles to san francisco or something. so they are working really hard to avoid that and that's why you're seeing the delays and cancelations ahead of the storm today. so hopefully it will be mostly affecting people flying to, from, or through the northeast. >> yeah certainly you're flying from phoenix to dallas and if that flight goes into d.c. or into new york, maybe that's going to affect you. you don't want that. good they're taking the precautions there. daniel baker, thank you so much. and if you want to track the weather where you are, just check it out at cnn.com/weather any time. next we're getting a first look at that small drone that

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this is just in to cnn. we now have a picture of that drone that was spotted flying over the white house grounds overnight. the secret service confirming it has interviewed a person who claims to have been in control of the drone that was spotted flying above the white house grounds. this drone, it's described as two feet wide. it's commercially available. it's what's called a quad copter. so four propellers. this crashed on to the south lawn around 3:00 a.m. the south lawn joe johns, who is at the white house. this is the south lawn where normally marine one would be taking off and landing from. just an area that a lot of people have seen certainly on video. and we're finding out more information now about what this thing looks like. >> reporter: right. a very unusual situation here at the white house today, brianna. as you said around 9:30 this morning eastern time the secret service reports, according to brian leary who is their

spokesman, that an individual called them to self-report he had been in control of that quad copter or drone, as it's called. he apparently had been using it for recreational purposes. apparently lost control of the device and it ended up crashing on the white house lawn. this of course occurring around 3:00 in the morning. so a somewhat unusual situation, however, it's our understanding that the secret service has interviewed him. they believe his story. and the question of course is what to do next? they're going to continue an investigation. it's also important to say, brianna, as you know this is not just restricted airspace here at the white house. it is prohibited airspace. so planes aren't supposed to come here and neither are drones be they recreational or otherwise, without probably quite a bit of consent. so something to talk about, and the debate continues in the united states about the use of

drones for purposes. the faa is still trying to put together rules on that and this will only fuel the debate if you will brianna. >> it will speed it along, no doubt. joe johns, thanks so much there for us at the white house. top of the hour now. i am brianna keilar and we're outside the time warner center in new york city within the next several hours we're expecting a crippling and potentially deadly blizzard. you see the snow already started. this is nothing compared to what we're expecting. so far thousands of flights already canceled. highways are closed. this city is now under a state of emergency as is new jersey connecticut, massachusetts, and with a blizzard and winter warnings winter storm warnings i should say, in effect from maryland all the way up to maine and right into canada. people here in new york and boston could see up to 3 feet of snow by tomorrow and that would be a record. a snowstorm unlike any seen since recordkeeping began back in