the hub. >> this is boston. >> this is boston. >> this is boston! >> this is boston. >> boston, massachusetts, the largest city in new england. a unique blend of old and new, skyscrapers nestled next to historic landmarks, marketplaces lining cobblestone streets. these very streets tell the story of the american revolution. each year more than 4 million tourists walk the freedom trail, 2 1/2 mile hike through time, encompassing nearly four centuries of history. paul revere's house, old north church, the site of the boston massacre. >> i'm standing where we read the declaration of independence to the people of boston for the first time. >> the backbone of boston? its vibrant neighborhoods, each with its own distinct flavor, from trendy back bay to north end's little italy to south boston, community built on strong family ties. born and raised in boston, this man used the city for his back drop of his best-selling books. >> there's no other place like it in the country. no place like it. i love the fact that it's a city where people very much walk the

ginger's in boston. and gio benitez is in hartford, connecticut. >> let's start with sam, our abc news weather editor, out in new york's columbus circle. sam, we're worried about your lower back with all of the shoveling you're doing this morning. everything all right? >> good morning, dan. good morning, bianna. it is the big digout in the southern section. i think i'm doing okay. and by the way, we got andrew out and on his way home this morning. you can see behind me a lot of the secondary roads and main roads in new york city have been plowed and cleared. but there are many, many, many parts of this storm. we're on the southern part of this storm. and we've got reports of 34, 35 inches of snow. look at the snow totals we put up on the board there. and remember, when we're trying to get a measure on this, these are preliminary totals. we've had ginger out trying to measure things in boston. but we have very powerful winds. throughout the night, we were getting 40-mile-per-hour, 50-mile-per-hour, 60-mil

>> instead of boston cream donuts we did boston cream cupcakes. chocolate with boston cream on the inside. how does that taste? >> this is really good. >> i'm glad you had the version he made and not my version. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> great to have you here. coming up, we'll get some music. the dropkick murphys are here. coming up, we'll get some music. the dropkick murphys are here. first this is "today" on nbc. it's my coffee when i want it. you press a button, you have great dunkin' coffee. i got my coffee for the morning, i got my dunkin' k-cup packs for the rest of the day. only available at dunkin' donuts restaurants. america runs on dunkin' coffee. >> announcer: the toyota concert series brought to you by toyota. >>> the dropkick murphys have been entertaining our crowd all morning here in boston. "shipping up to boston." they are out now with their eighth album. we're thrilled you guys have either stayed up late or gotten up early to join us. thanks so much. >> good to see you. >> what is it about this city that inspires you

i-93 into boston. they're at a weather conference up there. >> of all places a weather conference. >> you get a sense of what it is like on the roads headed into boston. so sort of a mess go,,ing igoia lot worse in the next couple of hours. look at this. this is from one of our ireporters. this is in queens. look at this. you see the cars already coated, road -- plenty of snow on it. this will be different than what you see, brooke, in, you know, manhattan, where you have more traffic. you'll see a little less snow on the ground. and, you know, looks nice now. give it a few hours, maybe not so much. >> so much will be changing. what else? >> look at this. logan airport. >> oh, wow. logan? >> you never see anything like this. it is amazing. >> a lot of flights affected already, delays, cancellations, amtrak, nothing happening between washington and boston. what else? >> right. so the other image i want to show you is this. this is an ireporter who showed us what is happening inside stores. everybody has

they trust you you with this >> i'm a boston boy. i'm sort of known in boston. thank you. i'm sort of known. you know, when we first talked to tnt about doing the show, me and my partners went and met with them. they were like we're talking about doing a boston cop show. i said, look, we'll only do it with you, with this network. we can't do it on one of these rowdy networks with billy club smashing... >> jon: it won't be like the shirtless guys getting pulled out of... >> once in a while. but it's boston. i have to represent my city the right way. i'm not going to make these crazy reality shows that people make. i want to make something classy that shows these cops in boston >> jon: how difficult a job it is >> absolutely. so we went to the mayor first. the mayor, he signed off right away. and the commissioner signed off after that. and the chief signed off after that. all the way down the line they were signing off. they all said the same thing. talk to the officers. if they don't feel safe with you in the car, you're getting out of the car and taking your camera and go

ginger's in boston. and gio benitez is in hartford, connecticut. >> let's start with sam in new york's columbus circle. sam, we're worried about your lower back with all of the shoveling you're doing this morning. >> good morning, dan. good morning, bianna. it is the big digout in the southern section. we got andrew out and on his way home this morning. you can see behind me a lot of the secondary roads and main roads in new york city have been plowed and cleared. but we're on the southern part of this storm. and we've got reports of 34, 35 inches of snow. look at the snow totals we put up on the board there. and remember, when we're trying to get a measure on this, these are preliminary totals. we've had ginger out trying to measure things in boston. but we have very powerful winds. throughout the night, we were getting 40-mile-per-hour, 50-mile-per-hour, 60-mile-per-hour, and hurricane-forced winds. st. james at almost 30 inches. we have boston at 18 right now. it may be a little higher. and so does gi

jay gray live in boston. several feet of snow could be on the way there. >> reporter: you're absolutely right.aaron. that picture says it all. that snowstorm crippled this city and there's concern we could see similar conditions throughout the day today and into the evening. fo feet of snow is likely to fall in the boston area. so as you talk about people getting prepared, getting their batteries, flashlights, rock salt, the things they will need during this storm and then also the groceries they'll need, water, bread, the things that will sustain them over a couple of days. with the strong winds expected, that could be a few days without power as well. so no one wanting to take any chances. making sure they have everything ready. the emergency operation teams are in full swing at this point. they've got the sanders ready, they're fueled up. really trying to get out ahead of the storm first of all. but then focused on getting back out when they can and helping to dig out. which is going to be a difficult proc

so that's what we're experiencing now in boston. as you say, the city and the state doing what they can to keep people off the streets. the governor signing that action making it illegal to be out on the roads unless you're in an emergency vehicle. and that certainly has helped. as we were out we saw little people on the streets. this is a secondary street here in south boston. it's the primary streets that will be plowed first. streets like this second. although we did see some plows out here earlier today. and that's certainly a good indication that the city has things under control, at least at this point. we were told from city officials that they had at least 4,000 pieces of equipment out to man streets like this one and other streets as well. and in addition to that, you've got some 5,000 members of the national guard on standby just in case. so the conditions here in boston at this hour are bad. they are sure to get even worse as the hours move on. erin? >> drivers have been ordered i know to stay off the streets as we were s

ginger's in boston. and gio benitez is in hartford, connecticut. >> let's start with sam, our abc news weather editor, out in new york's columbus circle. sam, we're worried about your lower back with all of the shoveling you're doing this morning. >> good morning, dan. good morning, bianna. it is the big digout in the southern section. i think i'm doing okay. and by the way, we got andrew out and on his way home this morning. you can see behind me a lot of the secondary roads and main roads in new york city have been plowed and cleared. but there are many, many, many parts of this storm. we're on the southern part of this storm. and we've got reports of 34, 35 inches of snow. look at the snow totals we put up on the board there. and remember, when we're trying to get a measure on this, these are preliminary totals. we've had ginger out trying to measure things in boston. but we have very powerful winds. throughout the night, we were getting 40-mile-per-hour, 50-mile-per-hour, 60-mile-per-hour, and hurric

but are you north of boston. boston looks like it got walloped many. >> we got hit pretty hard. 18 to 20 inches out there. and still coming down. we have another six hours or so left, so probablian up on 22 inches, but we'll probably be able to clean this up in the next two, maybe three days. >> yeah, that's as long as people listen to you and governor deval patrick who say these roads are closed, everybody. stay off them to allow plows to get there. do you think people are heeding the advice? seen anybody trying to maneuver the rows. >> everybody is listening and they are not going very far. and i think when we get these kinds of situations. especially those that have been through it before, we take an opportunity to take a day off and get to remeet all of our neighbors. later on this morning everybody will be out shoveling, helping each other. it's actually good for society. >> you know, i see your point there. a communal event. you may have heard jim cantore. he says this will go down as one of the top five in

boston has been hit hard. the power outages are fairly well concentrated on the cape cod side of things. i can't stand and talk to u, so it looks like over the course of the next few hours, we'll have a little less of this coming on. >> i can hear and sort of see it's dark behind you, the waves crashing behind you. there were sort of initial fears about flooding issues although chad seemed to put some of that to bed. what kind of surge, if anything, are you seeing? >> well, nothing, actually, which is interesting. whoa, a little bit of ice there. i tell you, right around here was where high tide hit at about 9:45, 10:00. and this is a little -- a few feet higher than yesterday's high tide, which was over here. so really, we got nothing extra, and soon as the tide receded, there was some fear as the storm hit, which was probably about an hour and a half ago or two hours ago when chad said it got to the low pressure system got as close to me as it was going to get, the water was far enough out that there did not

that's the bull's eye right over boston. in case you didn't know, if you didn't know that spot right there, guys outside, that's where ali velshi is, and just about ten miles north of that, that's buzzard's bay. wind gusts last hour, 71 miles per hour, chris. >> near hurricane. chad, thank you very much. we'll keep that map up from time to time throughout the evening so you can watch the tracking of the storm, see where you are in its path. take the necessary precautions. you heard chad talking about sandy and the unique mix of wind and water that created such devastation. at the end of the day, these storms are not about the datda. they're about the people who lie in its wake. and the people who are still recovering from sandy, last thing they need is another storm like this. gary tuchman is with one of the families in staten island who lived through sandy and is now hoping to make it through this. gary? >> well, chris, the snow storm in new york city is not as bad as connecticut or rhode island or massachusetts but it's ba

south and boston is over there. we are going to have something worse right now than we had half an hour ago. i don't know whether this will go on for a little while but i have not seen this when for about two or three hours. it is stronger than it has been for a while. >> or if you saying earlier your ears have been popping because of this? >> say that again? >> you may not be able to hear me because of the land but because of all of this your ears have been popping up. is that to show had tremendous it is? >> that is interesting. at one point we felt our ears pop. as if you're going downhill or in a plane. and chad was describing that was where these two weather systems causing this collided. they came together and you saw a precipitous drop in atmospheric pressure. if you have a broader on your mantel, you would have seen a drop. that indicated a change in the weather. this is an unusual personality over the last 12 hours because it was actually quite warm here. it came down as rain, not much accumulation. probabl

he's live in boston. good morning, jay. >> reporter: the official count at logan airport, 21.4 inches. that's going to increase. 400,000 without power in this state. those numbersi could climb as well. the winter storm pounding the northeast since friday continued to strengthen overnight into a fierce and relentless blizzard, making matters worse, hurricane-force winds, gusts up to 75 miles an hour creating blinding conditions. the projected snowfall totals are staggering. before it's over, up to three feet of snow is expected in parts of new england, including boston. the storm has literally stopped most of new england nits tracks. more than 1800 cancellations at new york area airports, 4700 flights canceled nationwide. the governor of massachusetts ordered all cars off the roadways starting at 4:00. a move that made sense after this 19-car pileup in maine scattered cars across the road and into ditches. >> please, please exercise caution and use common sense. >> reporter: this historic storm is the resu

let's begin in boston. look at these cars. think about getting that snow off that car. 19 inches of snow has already fallen and 70-mile-an-hour wind gusts could whip up snow drifts six or seven feet deep. susan candiotti, let me come back to you for me in boston. how are conditions there? >> reporter: well, the snow is swirling. it is miserable. it is cold. but i have to say it doesn't feel quite as cold as it was, you know, a few hours ago, although when i checked the temperature gauge which you're never quite sure if they're quite right, it's reading about 19 degrees, 20 degrees here. and it makes you remember that because of the freezing temperatures that if you're driving or if you're walking, remember the road underneath all that slush would be freezing, so the snow coming on top of that, it can make driving obviously very treacherous so when you see my colleague julian cummings driving about, he's going very slowly and so far so good. as long as you have the snow on top, he seems to be taking his time and making it out a

in boston, over 1 foot of snow. look at these numbers. boston has wind gusts of 76 m.p.h.. we also have r&b -- our own. there is a wind advisory out until 6:00 in the morning. more details on this probably historic storm for new england, and believe it or not, some rain showers will be coming our way in the next few days and why. >> rain showers and 3 to 5 inches per hour. this has grounded many passengers who have been forced to find other destinations. some are spending the night at reagan national airport tonight. this new hampshire couple was hoping to fly out to fort lauderdale but with the planes not flying, they had to do plan b, which they began with this morning. >> we took a bus to the train station and a train. >> we tried to do we had planned on doing all along. >> they plan to fly out tomorrow morning and will leave for a cruise. when they get back home, they hope the storm will be gone. good luck with that. stay with abc 7 for complete coverage of the northeast blizzard. we have updates as well on travel conditions. just go to wjla.com and our social media web

this is snow in boston. obviously propelled by the winds. >> i can hear it. >> yes, let's listen. >> makes me cold hearing that it. >> is like bone chilling. the winds high as 70 miles an hour. great video. >> thank you, travis. >> he is a university student who moved here from california and said he misses the beach. don't blame him really. times like this -- people are looking at the brighter side. this tweet coming in. for new englanders, hunker down for what this woman is calling sn smoke snoek /* /- -- snowpocalyse. >> please keep sending them in. cnnireport. >> i'm hearing ali velshi in my ear and now i'm getting sleepy. do we want to go there? after the break. we have been checking in with ali velshi. he is on cape cod as he has been battered by the winds and you can see the surf behind him. we will see how it is going in cape cod after this. so...how'd it go? well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. you've mastered monkey-style kung fu? no. priceline is differ

live in boston, i'm jay gray. jim, pat, back to you. >> jay, tell us where you are and exactly what the situation is right there. >> reporter: right now, pat, we're at the federal courthouse just right here on the harbor in boston. we've seen the wind really pick up over the last hour or so. the snow not as thick as it's going to be moving through the evening but it's still blowing pretty strong here and it's starting to accumulate. that's why they've closed the roads as we get another gust here. that's why they're urging everyone, even though they may be drawn to see what could be an historic event, to stay inside, stay safe. they don't want to add problems to what exists with this weather. >> jay, you stay safe too. jay gray, live in boss tochblt thanks a lot. >> thanks. >>> live look at reagan national airport. as we mentioned, the cancellations of thousands of flights have happened nationwide. transportation reporter adam tuss joins us live from the airport where there are a lot of frustrated fryers right now.

boston, same thing. one flight to maine was canceled and that airport has been closed. >> we may have delays and end up over night in philadelphia or elsewhere. whatever happens will happen. >> amtrak is halting all northeast trains this afternoon. new york residents are trying to stay positive. >> my husband likes to shovel and i will say okay. >> john gonzalez, abc 7 news. >> the problems are here because of what's going on to the north. we are live in boston with our correspondent as people begin to hunker down for the storm. you are potentially facing really serious problems today. >> very serious problems. in the timeline, earlier this morning when i spoke with you it was a grassy area here. now with covered in snow. this will only pick up through the afternoon and evening moderate snow. in the overnight is when it will become much more intense with 2 to 3 inches per hour. total snowfall accumulation of 1 foot to 3 feet. people should stay home. there's no reason to be out. it will be a dangerous si

these are live pictures coming in from boston. boston, massachusetts. it's only just beginning. they are expecting at least 24 inches of snow, maybe even more. state of emergency has already been declared in three states, massachusetts, rhode island, and connecticut. we're watching all of this very, very closely. we'll go back to the snow, the blizzard in just a moment. he's charged with misusing campaign money and now there is word of a deal for the former congressman jesse jackson jr. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on with this front? >> sources close to jesse jackson jr.'s family tell cnn he has signed a plea deal. he was being investigated and significant prison time. lawyers representing jackson have not returned phone calls from cnn. the pakistani teen activist shot in the head by the taliban is out of the hospital. this is surgery of her after doctors repaired two operations to repair her skull and hearing. the 15-year-old will continue her rehabilitation at the family's temporary home in

so you're ordered off the roads in boston. but gio benitez is out on other roads for us tonight in hartford, connecticut. >> we're making the drive up to hartford, connecticut, the governor here has already declared a state of emergency. he's also ordering people off the roads. as conditions deteriorate into a blizzard. >> please stay off of 95, 84, merit park way and any other limit access road in the state. only emergency personnel and response personnel should be using that road system. >> reporter: national weather service has warned of whiteout conditions throughout the storm zone. that means visibility will be near zero. 800 state and private plow crews are ready to take on the snow and so are utility workers, everyone hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. >> thanks so much, geo. >> and now to the people hit so hard by hurricane sandy, 102 days after that blow, in the bull's eye again. as one survivor of sandy said today, it's as if mother nature is mad at us and abc's ron claiborne is there in the rock away t

the bowls i will be in the boston area. heavy snow there with wind gusting over 25 miles per hour and 32 degrees. there will be two or 3 feet of snow in massachusetts. jane grey's up in boston right now. -- jay gray. >> the wind is picking up here and the snow continues to fall. these conditions are only going to intensify as we move through the evening. salt and staand being loaded. >> we have over 600 pieces of equipment ready to deploy. >> in boston and other areas where the snow is moving in, it may not be enough. in connecticut, this pilot started when a driver lost control on the eyes. of the governor of massachusetts has now closed roads across the entire state. >> we have banned vehicle traffic effective 4:00 today. three dozen flights have been canceled and this will go along with accumulation of snow across the region. snowplows, blowers, and shovels are working overtime but they cannot keep up with the pace. hurricane-force wind could threaten power lines across the area. >> this storm prevents -- presents some t

that's the situation here boston got hit even harder. live to susan candiotti in boston. i know you got over 400,000 homes there without power. what's the latest? >> fortunately we have not lost power in the area of downtown boston, poppy where we are now. good morning to you. so these people are lucky for now. the question is, what will it be like as the day goes on? and there is a concern now with the temperature. yesterday throughout the day on friday, it was about 30 or so degrees, but the temperatures have plunged at least ten degrees now now you have the wind picking up. the snow will begin to drift. much lighter now. if you look over my shoulder here. all of this, we had made traction not more than two hours ago. our footsteps are completely covered. if you take a walk over here, i'm on sort of high ground now and you dip past a -- there into a street from the curve. it's measuring -- that says, let's see, 16, 17 feet -- inches, excuse me right now. so very good chance that they will reach that at least 2 feet. we'll see how that goes as the day goes on. no traffic

worcester, 29 inches, spencer, 31. 25 inches in boston. number five snowfall on record in boston. goffstown, new hampshire, 28 inches. portland, maine, almost 32 inches of snow. all-time record. and 30 inches in islip. 12 inches in new york city. 23 inches in scarsdale and cut off very quickly to the south. point pleasant, new jersey, 9 inches of snow. what about your sunday planner? off to a clear and cold start. temperatures? teens and 20s to get you started. up near 40 by lunchtime tomorrow. talk about the rest of tomorrow, the next little rain chance, and snow chance mid week, talk about the snow chance, jim. jim cantore, i'm sorry. >> reporter: good evening, a chilly night in boston, massachusetts, after expected after a fresh snowfall like this. skies clear out, winds die down, and temperatures drop. temperatures below zero. either way, hundreds of thousands of people across new england without power and here in boston, all about digging up, but i will tell you, the good news, they never got behind, even with snowfall rates at 2 inches per hour last night. some cases 3 inche

word is as of noon today, logan airport in boston shut down. however, folks heading to new england able to score an early morning flight were lucky. >> i was here last night to get my flight out. >> reporter: kathy white is boston-bound and hoping to fly out early before beantown gets buried. >> i was to leave at 12:30. my husband called and said no, that is dim not going to work. >> reporter: crews are planning to work around the clock in new england and massachusetts governor duval patrick sending one message to bay state residents. stay inside. >> the other good thing is it is on the weekend so that gives people the opportunity, they're not on the roads so i'm hoping for the best. >> so get that fire going and enjoy it. the first goal is to get home first. >> and coffee. >> reporter: if you are trying to get to new england and couldn't get an early morning flight, chances are you are out of luck. you will likely have to ride out the storm here in the mid- atlantic. >>> from philadelphia to maine, residents are preparing. parts of new england

for boston, more snow for you. we have live shots coming out of boston. as well as in the joefr night we're going to see the strongest winds. right now you're looking at fenway park. it's hard to tell when you get the snow moving and blowing around, that's what we call white-out conditions and it's only going to get worse. back over to the graphic. as we move to saturday, still talking about stroeng winds. the snow final finally departs in the evening. once it does depart we are talking about three feet of snow. anywhere you're seeing in purple, that's where we have the heavy snowfall. 50 to 70 miles per hour. winds strong enough to take down power lines. we're talking power outages out there. but blowing the snow around. that's why officials are saying do not get on the roadways. that's why we have the blizzard warning in place in the red and in the other part of the story, coastal flooding from areas from new jersey up to maine. >> jennifer delgado, thanks so much. cliff cole is on the phone now from amtrak. welcome, cliff. >> caller: good afternoon. go

nbc's jay grey is in boston. he has the latest for us. >> reporter: a weather storm pounding the northeast since friday continued to strengthen overnight into a fierce and relentless blizzard. making matters worse, hurricane force winds, gusts up to 75 miles an hour, creating blinding conditions. the projected snowfall foals are staggering. before it's over, up to three feet of snow is expected in parts of new england, including boston. the storm has literally stopped most of new england in its tracks. more than 1800 cancellations at new york area airports, 4700 flights canceled nationwide. the government of massachusetts ordered all cars off the roadways starting at 4:00, a move that made sense after this 19-car pileup in maine scattered cars across the road and into ditches. >> please, please, exercise caution and use common sense. >> reporter: this historic storm is the result of two converging systems colliding over the northeast. >> the conditions are horrible. >> reporter: horrible even for veteran snowplow

connecticut, boston. 2 to 3 inches per hour. they've seen wind gusts upwards of 50 to 60 miles per hour already. they've seen upwards of 6 inches of snow in parts of region. snow to the north. area of low pressure to the north. for us, it's the wind making its way out of the northwest. once again tonight, the winds are gusting up 40 to 50 miles an hour right on through tomorrow afternoon. even in the d.c. metro area, looking at a wind advisory in here parts of the region to the west. on sunday, storm moves out. we see sunshine. sunday is looking like a very nice day. really all across the northeast as the wind start to calm down. your forecast tonight. windchills in the 20s. temperature around 31 degrees. waking up tomorrow morning between 29 and 30. the windchill tomorrow morning. about 15 degrees. bundle up. >>> yikes. >>> find somebody you like a lot. thanks, doug. >>> speaking of cold -- >> talking about going ice cold. >> especially from first to worst. you know, george mcphee talked today and said "i'm not going to do anyt

al roker in boston. as they say during storms like this if you're not where you want to be already, there's little use in trying. that means rails, roads and especially the air space along the northeast. nbc's rehema ellis is at new york's laguardia airport. she was ordered outside the airport when the inside was shut down late today. raheema, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is how the storm is impacting travel. look here at one of the country's busiest airports. new york's laguardia is virtually empty on a friday evening. the monitors inside the terminal tell the story. more than 1,800 cancellations at new york's area airports. connecticut's bradley international airport shut down earlier today. 4,700 flights were cancelled nationwide. yesterday, today and tomorrow. good news for passengers, airlines waived the cabs legislation fees, encouraging passengers to make other plans. overnight, 200 pieces of snow removal equipment will be used to clean the planes and runways, hoping to get

julian cummings shot it in boston. the bars are beginning to empty. >> and they know they've got the nation's eyes on them. you know, got reporters out there in the street. they're like, why not? let's have fun with this. we do want to warn people, we want these ireports, but stay safe when you're out there because i want to show you this video we got. this was boston. check out that sign there. it says blizzard warning. avoid all travel. as you see the cars whizzing by. people there clearly not heeding the warning. >> not yet. hopefully they did after 4:00 in the afternoon when you couldn't drive in a couple of these states. >> hopefully they did. we want to see you sending in your video, you pictures. you're the eyes of the storm. be safe, stay off the roads, but if you have some amazish pictures out there, we want to see them. >> thank you. go to ireport.com. thank you, thank you. we're reading your tweets. we thank you for it. we'll take you to the hardest hit areas of the storm as we continue our special coverage

the old boston garden, the sports arena, in boston, you know, closed a few years ago but it was arrive in 1978. they were having a college hockey tournament. the four boston schools and playing the first, you know, first two games that night. got -- wrapped up at midnight as the storm at the height of the storm and people got -- 200 people stranded at the boston garden for three days. very boston thing. they'd rather have hockey than go home, i guess. i think we have another shot of -- this is not the one i was expecting. whdh, the old radio station. okay. these are people cross country skiing. this is after the storm. roads are still shut down. if that face looked familiar, that was the governor at the time. michael dukakis. this storm did for his popularity in massachusetts what sandy did for chris christie in new jersey. his popularity stratospheric. on tv for three days and yet just a few months later in the democratic primary for govern nor of ma ma in 1978 he was defeated by a conservative democrat ed king. nearly lost the political career. spent four years in the political caree

his hood completely covered with snow he in boston in the south side of boston. there's been about a foot and a half of snow we have seen falling so far. plows have been moving in and out of the area. we have seen several plows come through here. in fact, one at 8:00 came into this church parking lot. doesn't look like it now because it looks like it's just been snow and no plow has been here, but a plow came through, got stuck in this driveway, then got stuck right over there. finally managed to get out. some 600 plows are already out on the streets of boston, doing what they can to battle the blizzard. going up and down streets like this, but you can see, it's near visibility. i know you have been checking in with julian cummings' car as he's driving around the streets. this is what he's been dealing with. it's basically a white-out here in boston. this is what it's like at just about 11:30, and the conditions are set to get even worse than what we're experiencing now. once again, gusts every now and then. not on the same way that ali is receiving them. the sto

>> al roker on a very snowy boston common. al, thanks. >>> as we said, this storm has brought so much to a standstill. as they like to say in storms like this, if you're not already where you wanted to be, there's little use trying. that means roads, rails, especially the sky. the air space is pretty much shut down. rehema ellis is at new york laguardia. she was ordered outside the airport when the inside was shut down late today. rehema, looks pretty quiet there. >> reporter: indeed, brian. look here at one of the nation's busiest airports. new york's laguardia airport is virtually empty on a friday evening. the monitors inside the terminal tell the story. more than 1,800 cancellations at new york's area airports. connecticut's bradley international airport shut down earlier today. 4,700 flights were cancelled nationwide yesterday, today and tomorrow. good news for passengers. airlines waived the cancellation fees, hoping passengers would make other plans. overnight, 200 pieces of snow removal equipment will be used to clean

his hood completely covered with snow here in boston in the south side of boston. there's been about a foot and a half of snow we have seen falling so far. plows have been moving in and out of the area. we have seen several plows come through here. in fact, one at 8:00 came into this church parking lot. doesn't look like it now because it looks like it's just been snow and no plow has been here, but a plow came through, got stuck in this driveway, then got stuck right over there. finally managed to get out. some 600 plows are already out on the streets of boston, doing what they can to battle the blizzard. going up and down streets like this, but you can see, it's near visibility. i know you have been checking in with julian cummings' car as he's driving around the streets. this is what he's been dealing with. it's basically a white-out here in boston. this is what it's like at just about 11:30, and the conditions are set to get even worse than what we're experiencing now. once again, gusts every now and then. not on the same way that ali is receiving them. the sto

we're in south boston, along a side street here. you can see how even though you've got some folks who are just walking the dogs, walking out here, for the most part, streets are completely empty. want to show you a problem that's going on over here. as you know, the state has access to some 4,000 vehicles, snow plows like this one, but this plow is experiencing what we witnessed across the city. he's stuck. he came into this church parking lot. was going to plow it, got halfway through, but the conditions proved to be too much, so he's been struggling to get out of that particular position for the past 20 minutes or so. but again, anderson, there is a fleet of some 5,000 vehicles like this that are out on the streets throughout the state, plowing roads. plowing the primary routes, plowing parking lots and secondary routes like the one that you see here. looks like he's finally going to make his way out of here, but we're going to move back just a little bit. as you know, anderson, in addition to the fleet of equipment that they hav