emilie ikeda on how climate change could mean less snowfall on christmas and beyond >> reporter: holiday classics may need a rewrite as the chance for snow on christmas seems to be melting. >> christmas day will be sunny and bright. >> reporter: the first week of winter bringing forecast highs near 50 degrees in new york and 60 in denver, which recently saw its latest first snow in 87 years. >> it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's not snowing. >> makes me feel a little disappointed. >> reporter: many shelling their gloves over the holiday as the majority of cities in the u.s. see the decreased chance of a white christmas. climate scientists at noah looked at 1,500 locations and found differences in the last decade are consistent with the reality of long-term warming. in the 1980s, nearly half of the country had snow on the ground on christmas in recent years, that number was below 40%. are our chances for a white christmas drying up >> yes in many areas of the country they are a lot of people scratching their head as to why they're going to wake up on christmas morning for

emilie ikeda on how climate change could mean less snowfall on christmas and beyond. >> reporter: holiday classics may need a rewrite as the chance for snow on christmas seems to be melting. >> christmas day will be sunny and bright. >> reporter: the first week of winter bringing forecast highs near 50 degrees in new york and 60 in denver, which recently saw its latest first snow in 87 years. >> it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's not snowing. >> makes me feel a little disappointed. >> reporter: many shelling their gloves over the holiday as the majority of cities in the u.s. see the decreased chance of a white christmas. climate scientists at noah looked at 1,500 locations and found differences in the last decade are consistent with the reality of long-term warning. in the 1980s, nearly half of the country had snow on the ground on christmas. in recent years, that number was below 40%. are our chances for a white christmas drying up? >> yes. in many areas of the country they are. a lot of people scratching their head as to why they're going to wake up on christmas morning

thank you. >> the urgent call for change following the deadly crash and the heroes who helped we return to kentucky for the inspiring stories of those who rushed into danger >> and we are back with an update on a deadly crash in mexico it happened earlier this week in gutierrez. more than 150 migrants were packed in the back of a truck. 54 were killed when the trailer flipped and while the injured recover, officials from a group of nations including mexico, guatemala and the u.s. are forming a group to combat the smuggling of people across borders mexico's president is now calling on the world to address the causes of mass migration. >>> it was a solemn journey home today for bob dole the former republican senator and presidential candidate was remembered in his western kansas hometown during a memorial service the community in russell, kansas, got a change to say good-bye to the world war ii hero at the small catholic church near where he grew up during the great depression bob dole died last sunday at the age of 98 >> a military rivalry on the gridiron just wrapped up the annual army-

and abroad, many americans are grappling over whether they should change their holiday travel plans with christmas just five days away, the omicron variant has made many families uncertain of what to do our emily takei da has more. >> reporter: the rush home for the holidays kicking into high gear aaa predicts more than 100 million people to take to the roads, sky, and other forms of transportation over the christmas holiday. that's up more than 30% from last year. >> we're very excited to have the whole family back together again. >> reporter: airports bustling, rivaling pre-pandemic numbers. but will the quickly spreading variant prompt last minute changes? >> i'm very concerned about it because the flights are full inside the lobby is full. all the planes are full. >> reporter: this man says as omicron cases go up, bookings go down >> you can see, however, in the numbers that the comfort and the level of confidence in traveling is dropping. but not as steep as we've seen in 2020. >> reporter: the surge in cases scrambling a swath of american's christmas time transitions >> find out so

nbc's emilie ikeda explains how to travel safely and what to do if you do want to change your plans. >> reporter: the rush home for the holidays kicking into high gear. aaa predicts more than 100 million people to take to the roads, sky, and other forms of transportation over the christmas holiday. that is up more than 30% from last year. >> we are very excited to have the whole family back together again. >> reporter: airports bustling with some 2 million passengers saturday. rivaling pre-pandemic numbers. but will the quickly-spreading new variant prompt last-minute changes? >> i'm very concerned about it because the flights are full. inside the lobby is full. all the planes are full. >> reporter: as omicron cases go up, bookings go down. >> you can see, however, in the numbers that the -- the comfort and the level of confidence in -- in traveling is dropping. um, but not as steep as we have seen in 2020. >> reporter: the surging cases scrambling a swath of americans' christmas time tradition, including dan cisco. >> found out that someone in my extended family tested positive for