thank you, derek van dam. we're going now live to kentucky's governor who is bribrif i giving a briefing. let's listen in. >> -- damage in over a dozen kentucky counties. the primary tornado was on the ground almost continuously for over 200 miles in our state. something we have never seen before. we have deaths in multiple, possibly, many counties. the hardest hit county appears to be grays, where the city of mayfield has been devastated. a roof collapse at a candle factory has resulted in mass casualties. as of 4:45 a.m., 56,854 kentuckians are without power. i've been personally is he operations center since 1:00 a.m., receiving the response and hearing and receiving the difficult news in realtime. i've been in personal contact with local leaders such as the mayor of mayfield, county judges in grays and marshall county. talking to emergency management in the hardest hit areas. before midnight i declared a state of emergency. now, i've activated the national guard, we're deploying 181 guardsmen, including se

we'll stay on that story, derek van dam, thank you so much. my colleague michael holmes just spoke to storm chaser michael gordon who is sharing the story. here it is. >> devastation. i mean, homes leveled, rubble everywhere. there's -- it's hard to explain, especially in the dark right now. it's very sad. you look around and you have people walking on the streets. other families looking for their loved ones still. i was out earlier before this call, going through some of the homes, trying to help out as much as i could. i think the mayfield city -- city of mayfield has been on top of it. they got -- the personnel, they got the search and rescue teams out. they got dogs out now. we've seen a lot more rescue efforts. but the damage is pretty much undescribable. >> and to put that in context, i mean, you chase storms, is this kind of what you do. how does this compare? >> this is probably one of the worst storms that i have seen. the closest i've ever been to such a large tornado in my life, and it's -- like i said, it's really undescribable. th

let's bring isn't cnn's senior meteorologist derek van dam with the latest. derek, how unusual is this? >> well, i'll tell you, it's bizarre, coming from myself, being a snowboarder, loving to hit the slopes in the mountains, the rockies over the western u.s. but we're coming off of a very small amount of snow for the month of november. but the word "no" into snow. during that month, we didn't capitalize on much winter weather, only 6% is covered in snow. and that continuing to dwindles. so, we have to go all the way to the tropical paradise of hawaii to find our snowfall. it's not unusual to see snowfall, mauna loa, this particular region often seeing snow. when you talk about blizzard warnings, up to a foot of snow, winds gusting up to 100 miles an hour, well, that's when mother nature means business. i need to mention that we have flood watches over much of the arc archipelago here. when you start getting higher in altitude, that's when you see the changeover from, of course, rain to snow. and in fact, some of the satellite imagery showing the snow-capped

let's bring in meteorologist derek van dam. derek, you and i were here live early. i know -- you just said it, casually, paw really, we should take a moment and say how incredible that is. and it just underscores how massive and historic these tornadoes were. >> without a doubt. and, you know, it really was the perfect confluence of atm atmospheric ingredients, coming together in this exact moment, this exact area to create this unfortunate situation that unfolded friday night into saturday morning. record warm temperatures streaming in from the south. that's met by a very cold air mass to the north. you combine that with a powerful upper level jet stream and that's when mother mnature mean business. it's that confluence point, that triple point where those work together. the storm prediction center recognized it ahead of time, highlighted these areas as the greatest risks of severe storms, including tornadoes, and indeed, that is what took place. now, just to put this severe weather outbreak into context, in the month of december, we typically see about 23 tornadoe

let's bring in meteorologist derek van dam. derek, you were just listening to the mayor there describing the extent of the damage. they were lucky, he said, that they got a bit of warning, and the damage wasn't worse there. now with a bit of time to analyze exactly what happened across all of these states, walk us through what created a weather event of this scale. >> yeah, it was the perfect confluence of atmosphere ingredients. mother nature taking advantage of all of those dpringredients unfortunately displaying her ferocity behind it. because what we saw was truly historic in nature. and let me explain why. we averaged in december across the united states about 23 tornadoes throughout the entire month, just in a 24-hour period with this severe weather outbreak, we saw over 30 confirmed tornadoes. of course, the national weather service still analyzing all the data to determine how many tornadoes actually took place. but here's this confluence of atmospheric ingredients. we had record-warm temperatures streaming in from the

derek van dam, thank you so much for your reporting, for sharing all that data with us. and to our viewers, you can help. you can help those in need after these deadly weather events. go to cnn.com/impact and find verified ways to find help for the victim of these tornados. cnn.com/impact. >>> g7 foreign ministers are meeting for a second day in england, hoping the threat of harsh economic sanctions will deter russia from invading ukraine. we've got a live report from liverpool next. >>> political headaches keep on coming for british prime minister boris johnson. he takes a big slide in the polls over allegations of holiday parties that broke covid rules. sore throat lozenges.asoothe show your sore throat who's boss. new mucinex instasoothe. works in seconds, lasts for hours. [♪] powerful skincare ingredients come dermatologist-recommended, and there's a brand that offers them at an affordable price. try olay skincare. olay regenerist, with 99% pure niacinamide provides 5 times the hydrating power of a prestige cream; while olay collagen peptide visibly firms and reduc

derek van dam, appreciate it. thanks so much. >>> all right. new details emerging about the potential impact of the omicron covid variant. the centers for disease control and prevention says most of the 43 reported omicron infections in the u.s. have been mild. however, it says a majority of those people have been vaccinated, and 14 of them had already received their boosters. more than half of u.s. states now have identified a case of the omicron variant. it comes amid an uptick in covid infections nationwide, which is pushing some hospitals to the brink. cnn's athena jones with that. >> reporter: u.s. covid-19 cases on the rise again, now averaging nearly 120,000 new infections a day, up more than 50% over a month ago. case numbers increasing in 26 states. hospitals strained in hard-hit michigan, ohio, and arizona. indiana now becoming the latest state to call on the national guard to help overwhelmed hospital workers. >> hospital beds and monitors don't feel, but we're tired. our people are incredibly tired. >> the surge is definitely upon u

. >>> time to bring in meteorologist derek van dam. it's interesting in the sense that this volcano is still quite a danger to people in the area. >> yeah, for so many reasons. not only on the ground, but also in the skies as well, which you explained quite well within that package just a moment ago. but just looking at some of the imagery, the video coming out of east java, it's looking almost apocalyptic in many senses. to see an ash plume shoot into the sky 15,000 meters, or 15 kilometers into the sky. we're talking about 50,000 feet. that is higher than the cruising altitude of most airlines. they typically hover about 30,000, 38,000 feet in the sky. that is an incredible amount of altitude and power behind this particular volcanic eruption that is diverting or at least warning airlines for moving around this particular area. because we obviously do not like to see the aviation industry, jet liners, mix with volcanic ash. here's the reason why. ash cloud is just basically pummeled or crushed-up rock and glass. and that glass tends

meteorologist derek van dam is tracking this. he joins me now. good morning to you. the storm has weakened a little since then, but you have officials warning of flooding as well as landslides. that remains a threat clearly, right? >> yes, clearly it does. the storm is still impacting portions of western philippines, and that means the threat has not diminished just yet. we still have another six hours to go before the system really pulls away from the western fringes or western coast line of the country. let's take you into one of the eastern-facing cities that has seen complete destruction. we're talking the storm surge and the strong winds that impacted this area, which was equivalent at the time of its landfall 24 hours ago, of a category 5 atlantic hurricane. that constitutes a super typhoon in this part of the world. that is an oppressive dangerous storm to say the least. of course it interacts with the land and weakens some. it is 175 kilometers per hour, cuisine equivalent of a strong category 2 domestic hurricane for those watching. an interesting note, as i

thanks for that look at the storm, derek van dam. proo really appreciate it. >>> still to come, cnn heads to michigan where the military was deployed to help a hospital inundated with patients. >>> and the vice president is under scrutiny over what she said regarding the omicron variant. what she said and how the white house is responding. every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. >>> back to our top story. the omicron variant of coronavirus is threatening to send america's covid surge into overdrive. the country is already seeing spikes in cases,

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so, let's bring in meteorologist derek van dam. derek, what's going on here? there's no snow where there should be snow? and snow where there shouldn't be snow. >> it's backwards, kim. yes, from the u.s., we expect the snow with only 6% of snow coverage, it's dwindling as the days progress. i saw that go from 12th two days ago to 6%. then we skip across the pacific ocean as you mention to the harm tropical paradise of hawaii to look for snowfall. it's not unusual to see snow in hawaii. 11,000 feet or high. mauna loa, this area does receive snow during the winter season. and today is no different. but it's the amount of snow and it's the wind that's going to accompany it. that's why the national weather service has issued blizzard warnings for some of the highest elevations. the big island. 1 to 4 inches possible. 12 inches of snow on a volcano, incredible. we barely are that in the colorado rockies, look across the hawaiian archipelago, and with the satellite imagery that we've noticed, picking up on the snow pack on mauna loa, you see the top portion of the v

derek van dam has the details and the timing for you. good morning, derek. >> yeah, that's right, isa. this is a very dynamic and multifaceted storm system for early to mid december. we have the potential for severe weather on the warm side of this storm. that would be the southerly portion of the storm. but on the northerly half of the storm system, enough cold air behind it to change over our precipitation to snowfall with a large swath of snow anticipated across the inner mountain west through the central plains and the upper midwest as well. in fact, we have over 10 million americans under some sort of winter weather alerts, with winter storm warnings for much of southern minnesota into wisconsin as well as the southern portions of the upper peninsula of michigan. so we have the potential here for 6 inches or more of snow locally, higher amounts especially where the low pressure center actually pivots. you can see that with the evolution of our forecast future radar. there it is across northern iowa into wisconsin as well as minnesot

here's derek van dam. >> that's right, christine and laura. a multifaceted storm sweeping through the country in the next 36 hours. we have 10 million americans under some sort of winter weather alert from the central plains to the upper midwest. we are anticipating a swath of 6 to 10 inches of snow. cheyenne, the heaviest snow across southern portions of minnesota as well as central and northern wisconsin right where the low pressure system starts to pivot and rotate across the region giving us our longest duration snowfall event. the other facet to the storm is the severe weather threat. in fact, the storm prediction center has expanded its enhanced risk of severe storms with our greatest probability of strong tornadoes tonight. that being overnight from louisville to nashville as well as memphis and little rock. keep an eye to the sky anywhere from the lower mississippi valley right through the ohio river valley. back to you. >> all right. that's your weather. >>> here's your business for this friday morning. let's get a check on global mar

here's derek van dam. >> look who decided to show up, christine and laura. old man winter making an appearance this week across the west. look at this. we have winter weather alerts stretching from the upper midwest right through the great basin all the way to california. this is thanks to a very powerful and expansive storm that is going to be moving across the four corners region, and some of that energy will eventually move across the upper midwest and into the central plains as a formidable snowstorm. in the meantime we have high pressure along the east coast. that will allow things to remain high and dry for the d.c. region into new york. a weak clipper will bring light snow to the great lakes today. but the main event really comes in on friday and saturday with snow as well as strong winds and a trailing cold front that will bring the potential for strong to severe weather. keep an eye to the sky. nashville to shreveport, damaging winds, hail, isolated winds a possibility of enhanced severe weather. 38 in atlanta, 39 in new york, 44 for chicago. back t

here's meteorologist derek van dam. >> winter has finally arrived over the western u.s. as a large and expansive storm system moves through the region today and through the weekend. winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings and winter storm watches in place. by the way, the shading of blue across the central plains and upper midwest, that's for the storm system for friday and saturday. it's going to take some of the energy moving across the great basin and four corners and move to the northeast. more on that in just one moment. we've been focusing a lot of attention on denver, colorado, they've gone 231 days without measurable snow. it's the middle of december and we should see the snowflakes starting to pile up on the streets there. but unfortunately that has not happened just yet. will it come to an end? the snowless streak, time will tell. computer models divergent whether we'll get measurable snow on the ground. nonetheless, the mountains to the west of denver will definitely get snow. over the next five days we're going to start measuring snowfall in feet acr