Snow Storms and Frigid Temps Hit the Country
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Misery by degrees. Suffering measures by inches. Frigid temps and wicked storm right in most of the country. And just think, this is merely the first full day of winter. Chilling images usher in a busy week of holiday travel. An airliner veers off the runway and bursts into flames. Investigators want to know what went wrong. Survivors are celebrating what went right. A new year, a renewed mission. Afghanistan demands new attention and more U.S. troops. Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Today is Monday, December 22nd, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. From California to Connecticut, drivers are putting on the snow chains. In some cases being ordered to do that for safety's sake. Snowplow operators are working overtime. Two blizzard sweeps across the northern half of the country. Thousands of people without power. Many others stranded at airports and bus terminals. So much snow it's nearing a record in Wisconsin. The National Weather Service reports this is the second snowiest December. 30.1 inches so far. And still ten days to go. Almost everywhere else, Rob Marciano, it's plain old bone-chilling cold.</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: It is and it's all the way down to where you typically would go to kind of get away from it. You know, the snow birds head down to say Houston over to Phoenix, 63. That's not bad. It's the highest today. Austin to New Orleans, temps are going to remain in the 30s and lower 40s. Tomorrow's forecast weather map across showing drier weather across parts of the east. 31 in Chicago for a high. That is balmy compared to where they are right now which is right around zero. 30 degrees for a high temperature in New York City. So there will be a little bit of a warm-up. But today the frigid air remains across much of the western Great Lakes, into the northeast and all the way down into Florida and with the snow in some spots, and the wind blowing and others, the wind chills are down right dangerous. Minus 19 is what it feels like in Atlanta. So just a few days ago, it feels like we're up in the 70s. And hour delay here at the Newark La Guardia. Indianapolis seeing 30 minute delays. Louisville seeing some delays as well. So these will rotate throughout the day. Expected delays in New York will continue. That wind will be the problem. Not so much the snow and the blizzard conditions continue across parts of Maine. We're looking for heavy snow in spots because the lake-effect in Michigan to parts of western New York. Some of these numbers are pretty impressive, parts of Maine seeing over 40 inches of snow. Montpelier, Vermont, 13 inches. So even the northeast ski resorts getting a foot or more of the fresh powder. So they'll take it and they're getting a lot of it across parts of the west. 12 to 24 inches expected. More in parts of Colorado and Utah. Speaking of, Salt Lake City, live shot for you. You're under a winter storm warning. Cloudy right now. Temperatures below freezing. KTVX is the affiliate. And I expect the snows to start here in the next couple of hours. You could see several inches fall right down to the Lake Florida, right down to Salt Lake below the benches, as matter of fact.</s>COLLINS: Yes, beautiful shot. But actually, very, very cold. All right. Rob will stay on top of it with you. Thanks so much, Rob Marciano.</s>MARCIANO: Sounds good.</s>COLLINS: We'll be back with you in a moment. Meanwhile, our i- reporters have been out and about capturing on camera their winter woes. Aaron Cloward tells us so much snow as fallen so quick in Walla Walla, Washington and the snow plows can't just keep up and the stores have run out of snow chains. In Burlington, Massachusetts, John Sullivan shows us the near white-out conditions there. By Saturday afternoon a foot of snow had fallen. And more was on the way. Remember now, you can share your weather pictures with us. Just go to ireport.com. And we'll try to get them on the air for you. Also, a chilling image for anyone boarding a flight this holiday season. A Continental Airlines jets with 115 people aboard, veers off a runway and bursts into flames. Dozens of people are injured. Countless questions of course still need to be answered. CNN's Susan Roesgen is out at the Denver International Airport now. So Susan, investigators are on the scene this morning asking a lot of those questions.</s>SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They're asking questions and going through that wreckage right now. And when you look, Heidi, at those aerial images. It is amazing that everybody got out alive. There was a fire on the right side of the airplane that was so intense that it melted the luggage bins. Parts of the luggage bins were melting under the passenger seats. There was a lot of terrified passengers there. People didn't know what was going on. One guy yelling. It's going to explode. There's a bomb, there's a bomb. So investigators have to talk to and passengers, talk to the crew. And they are going through that wreckage right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is extensive fire damage to the right side of the aircraft. And the interior is quite burned. The left engine has separated from the aircraft. The right engine is still attached to the pylon in the wing.</s>JEB TILLY, PASSENGER: It was incredibly violent. It was a big left-hand turn and we sort of started bouncing a lot as if you were in the roller coaster, just getting tossed around in your seat. And then there was kind of a lot of silence all of a sudden. We took a big drop. And then when we hit the ground, that's when things really got screwy. You know I think the plane cracked in half at that point. All the overhead baggage compartments broke open and fell down and stuff.</s>ROESGEN: And you know, Heidi, there are 38 people are injured after this. Two of them are in critical condition initially. We just checked with the hospital this morning. One is in fair condition now. One is in serious condition. Mostly broken bones. No burn injuries. Investigators don't know yet whether those broken bones came from the actual hard landing of the aircraft, the bumpiness of that, or whether it came from people pushing and shoving each other to get out. You know, you get on a plane, and lots of people will be flying this week to go home for Christmas. You see these, you know, plastic laminated placards in front of you in the seat pocket in front of you and they always say, review the evacuation procedures. And the flight attendants are there and they're going through their spiel but how many people actually even listen to that anymore? Maybe it's a good time to actually look at where the exits are and listen to the flight attendants and follow the emergency lighting and maybe get out without killing the guy next to you. Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Absolute. Something to be always be familiar with. Before I let you go. Obviously because of the outcome of all of this, no one was killed. There were some injuries, obviously. But people did things right. Things did happen the way they're supposed to in an emergency situation.</s>ROESGEN: Yes, all the shoots, all the evacuation chutes deployed. They were able to get everybody down those chutes. The people were actually self-evacuating with the help of the flight crew. They were getting off that air plane, walking up the ravine, already moving away by the time the first emergency crews got there. So you're right. It was obviously chaotic and scary. There were some injuries, but everybody did get out. That's the good news.</s>COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. All right. CNN's Susan Roesgen for us in Denver at the airport there. Thanks so much, Susan. All right. I want to do a quick check of the big board now. Dow Jones industrial average for this Monday down about 30 points or so. We'll continue to watch those numbers as we have a short trading week this holiday week and let you know what happens. Meanwhile, issue number one, your money. And retailers are having a tough time prying that cash loose from your wallet this holiday season. In fact, this is shaping out to be one of the worst shopping seasons in decades. Christine Romans is in New York now with more on this. So Christine, we knew it would be bad. But I don't know if we knew it was going to be this bad.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the thing now is the weather. That weather in the northeast, to the midwest, you know, I mean that kept people in. That kept some people in. In some cases there was good traffic. But people are needing big discounts to spend their money. They're worried about their job, they are worried about the foreclosure situation. They're worried about falling home prices. They know that the economy is in a recession, and it could continue next year. And so they're focusing a lot of the surveys say on needs and not wants. One survey showing 61 percent of those surveyed said that they will buy things they need, not necessarily things they want. Also showing that 81 percent of people say they're going to spend less this year. Now Americans often say they're going to spend less, and they don't. But this year is different because they've got all these reasons to spend less. And they're looking for store sales, deep discounts. 30 percent of people surveyed said they won't buy unless it's a sale. They're using coupons. They're using membership programs. They're using anything they can to lower the price of what they're shopping for. We knew over the Thanksgiving weekend it was the discount retailers where they were shopping. And we also know that apparel is the category that will probably get hit the most. Because people are focusing like I said on the things that they need. Not necessarily the things they want. So that's really hurting the apparel category.</s>COLLINS: Yes. No question about it. Keep wearing the same black sweater will be just fine, right?</s>ROMANS: Right. You know the important thing is to pay, you know, only buy it if you can afford it. We're getting back to a little bit of reality here. And we can say, it's so bad. It's so bad for the overall economy but if it's good for your economy, I think that's the only thing, people can do.</s>COLLINS: Absolutely. All right. CNN's Christine Romans for us in New York this morning. Thank you, Christine.</s>ROMANS: You're welcome.</s>COLLINS: President-elect Barack Obama is what you could call a working vacation in Hawaii. Obama has decided to increase his job goal. He now wants to create three million jobs over the next two years. Obama upped the number after receiving projections that suggest the recession will be worse than expected. One official told CNN the stimulus plan in the works in the Obama camp would have oversight and transparency measures. The plan will be focus on stimulating the economy and not evolve into just handing out congressional pork projects. They say it would also include measures that will lay a foundation for a stronger economy in the future like health care, education, and energy spending. A review of any contact, members of President-elect Barack Obama's staff had with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is expected tomorrow. But officials say the review does not mention any conversations recorded by the federal prosecutors. A federal complaint accusing the governor of trying to get cash and favors for the vacant senate position. Does not mention any conversation with anyone on Mr. Obama's transition staff. Vice president-elect Joe Biden has big plans for keeping jobs here in America during his term in office.</s>SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT: The combination of stopping the projected job loss and creating new jobs will be a total of $2.5 million. We believe we can do that by investing as I said new technologies, by investing in infrastructure, building roads and bridges. All things, by the way, that add to the productivity of the country what keep American businesses in America that generate high paying jobs, that can't be exported.</s>COLLINS: For more on how he intends to keep companies from exporting jobs and his role during the historic presidency, tune into CNN's "Larry King Live" at 9:00 p.m. tonight. Seven weeks after the election, the recount continues in Minnesota's U.S. senate race. Officials there say it will probably be next week before a winner is named. The "Minneapolis Star Tribune" is reporting comedian Al Franken now leads the incumbent Norm Coleman by some 250 votes. The newspaper says that's an unofficial tally. The Minnesota secretary of state says it's meaningless until all the ballots are counted. More troops expected to be heading out. Where the military has decided to beef up the presence.