0 >> would you ever when you grew up on the streets of brooklyn would you ever have done something like that. >> oh, yeah if i was on the robbing spree, robbing somebody when i was a young kid i've done something like that. but this is just for fun. these guys, there's just no purpose of doing that. >> always compelling mike tyson. that's tomorrow night for the hour. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360 later" with john berman filling in for anderson cooper starts right now. i'm john berman filling in for anderson tonight. the breaking news, a storm that is causing a hollywood travel mess in so much of the country. it has now been updated to nor'easter status by the national weather service and it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. the northeast is supposed to get some brutal winds tomorrow which i am sure you have been told is one of the busiest travel days of the year. this could cause a major domino effect if the airports in new york, philadelphia and boston start seeing big delays. right now there are about 180 flight cancellations nation-wide for today and tomorrow. which isn't bad unless of course you were supposed to be on one of those 180 flights. on the ground, the scene is pretty chaotic with rain, snow, ice, making for trencher owes driving in much of the country. >> large swaths of the country woke to blankets of snow this morning. crews scrambling to keep up with the weather for the morning commute. in wisconsin, despite the best efforts of authorities, dozens of accidents littered highways. >> there's a point where there's just nothing you can deal with. just glare ice. you're just a passenger in your own car. >> in pennsylvania, parts of the state are expecting accumulations of up to 18 inches. the massive storm is so large, it spans the entire length of the united states. in arkansas, rain mixed with dropping temperatures created black ice conditions and caused the accidents across the state, including a 12-car pileup on interstate 540. >> next thing i know i'm spinning trying to grab my wheel and then i just hit the wall and then just jumped out to make sure my kids were okay. >> beyond the roads, air travel is a major concern for millions of americans. the storm continues to cause scores of flight cancellations heading into tomorrow. one of the busiest travel days of the entire year. >> so let's get the latest on the storm from meteorologist chad myers in the cnn weather center. chad, is crunch time. so how are things looking? >> getting colder because the sun has set. that's exactly what we thought earlier, john. we talked about this, that the most dangerous part of this storm would be after sunset tonight. and that has happened, roads are cooling, the air is cooling and now we're turning to this pink color. pink color means that it's either rain that's freezing at the ground when it hits the ground as freezing rain or sleet that's falling through the sky, rain drops coming down and freezing before it hits the ground and it sounds like little tink tink tink on your windows. so that's what that pink area means. it's been snowing the whole day in buffalo. to the northwest of pittsburgh snowing all day. all the way back towards columbus same story and raining down here to the south. but the colder air that's now entraining into the system really is concerning me about what this means for the next couple of days and what travel is going to be like across pennsylvania really for tonight. it could be a disaster. my parents grew up in pennsylvania. it's a hilly place. you don't need any ice at all going up and down those hills at night. so try to stay off the roads if you can. we advance you to tomorrow. and here's where it gets bad. an hour to two-hour delays in d.c. new york metro's two to three hours. you're saying it's only going to rain in boston. how do we get three to four-hour delays. wind gusts to almost 60 miles per hour there. new york city, 40 miles per hour. d.c., 30 miles per hour. airplanes can't take off and land at the duration at the distance the want to be. the want to be every minute, every two minutes. when you get this type of wind it's maybe every four minutes. you get half as many planes on the ground as you want, you're going to get long delays, john. >> chad those delay numbers look very very bad to me. the national weather service has now officially called this a nor'easter. what exactly does that mean, chad? >> you know, it's a storm that has now gone into its developmental stage where you get cold air that comes down from the north, coming down here, and the water across the atlantic ocean is still warm. well, i don't want to surf in it but it's relatively warm compared to this air coming down here at 30 the water being 60 you get a coastal low to develop. and it bombs out. it becomes much deeper, much lower pressure, much higher wind. that happens when the low comes out of the gulf of mexico, it swings up the east coast and then keeps on going all the sco. with the bombing out nor'easter quote you'll get winds to boston tomorrow 60 miles per hour. that's what that means. >> all right. we have that to look forward to. chad myers, thanks so much. we do have coverage all over the country as travelers try to get where they're going before thanksgiving. gary tuchman is in washington. george howell is in buffalo. and david mattingly is at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson international airport. george, i want to start with you. you have the prettiest picture there. you're in buffalo. it snows every now and then in buffalo. still, we're on like thanksgiving eve here. how's it going up there? >> reporter: well, look, we've seen the snow come down light through most of the day, but as chad said, it is starting to come down heavier. just now starting to stick to the ground. and john, this is just the beginning. we do understand that here in the city of buffalo they are preparing for anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of snow, and then in the south towns and what the call the southern tier and northwestern pennsylvania. the could see anywhere from 6 to 8 inches, even a foot of snow. that's great news out there for the ski resorts. but like we've been saying throughout the program, bad news considering that this plays out overnight into wednesday, which is the busiest if not one of the busiest travel days of the year. >> even grissled, snow hardened veterans want to get to where the need to go on thanksgiving. i imagine there are people upset up there. >> upset in buffalo. not necessarily. when you talk about four to six inches of snow here in the city, the know how to deal with the snow. so what we found, the city officials have their snow plan, the have several plows, anywhere from 25 to 30 plows that will be going out, 60 people that will be clearing these roads overnight. and john, a lot of salt. the have enough salt here to clear the city for at least three days. >> good. at least they're prepared. george, great to hear. let's go to washington. gary tuchman in the nation's capital, snack dab in the middle of i-95 there. gary, how's things? >> reporter: john, the heavy rains are now coming down in washington. inside the beltway, outside the beltway, on the beltway. there are big traffic problems tonight, lots of accidents. and we're seeing that all throughout the northeast. we expect tonight and this thanksgiving eve eve, tomorrow thanksgiving eve. the problems are going to be very acute in the northeastern united states because starting in the southern suburbs of washington working to the northern suburbs of boston, 17% of the u.s. population resides in that area. there's only 2% of the united states in land that's 17% of the population. and even on beautiful sunny days, beautiful clear nights, traffic problems are immense on the tuesday nights and wednesday night before thanksgiving. and when you have these heavy rains, when you have the freezing rains, the possibility of snow, you're expecting some very serious problems. 39 million americans are expected to be driving more than 50 miles away from home for thanksgiving. that's basically one out of eight americans for the northeast. it's a big problem when you have weather like this. >> great point. bad enough already on i-95, the last thing in the world the need is this rainstorm. thanks so much. now to david mattingly in atlanta's hartsfield-jackson international airport. david we saudi lays there, cancellations today. what's the expectation for tomorrow? this is one of the busiest airports in the world, such a crucial hub. how do things look? >> reporter: well, it is the businessesiest airport in the world. this is the busiest week. 1.5 million people are expected to come through here before the week's over. a quarter of a million people just tomorrow alone with all that weather uncertainty. and you were seeing how it was in d.c. and up in buffalo, how the dominos are stacking up along the east coast. right here we're waiting to go see how those dominos fall along with all the airlines and all the passengers waiting on those flights and those connections here through atlanta. i spoke to the leading carrier here, delta, they've already canceled a handful of regional flights tomorrow, the did that proactively knowing that there would be some problems and there would be some delays trying to get passengers some time it make our arrangements. but right now, they are still looking at those long flights, the uninterrupted flights from atlanta to new york to boston to philadelphia, all those problem areas. are going to make a decision sometime tomorrow. so passengers are told to do two things, stay in touch with your airline to keep tabs on your flight and your options if there's a cancellation. watch the weather, and be patient. john? >> grit advice. david mattingly, gary tuchman, george howl thanks so much. down to the nitty-gritty what you need it know to make your thanksgiving travel as smooth as possible. and what your rights are as an airline passenger if you do find yourself stuck in an airport. amy farley has the answers. she is the news editor for travel and leisure magazine and writes the trip doctor column. amy joins me now. amy, the first two things i think people think of doing when they're stuck in an airport is complain and drink, neither are probably useful. what are your rights? what can you expect from the airlines and can't expect from the airlines? >> the bad news is when it is weather that causes the delays you don't get much from the airlines. they're not obligated to do much. obligated to get you on the next flight possible but that could be days as the try to untangle this mess. the also are not obliged to give you travel vouchers for meals or even for hotel if you're caught in the midst of something that. said, airlines are being more flexible because the understand this is an extraordinary circumstances and thiey want yo to try to untangle the mess they're caught in a lot of them are waiving the rebooking fees the normally tack on if you try to change your travel plans at the last minute. >> how hard is to it rebook during the thanksgiving week here? not a lot of extra capacity? >> that's the main problem is trying to get on an alternate flight. we say it can be good to look for other destinations if you can get close to your final destination and drive there, if you want to route yourself through other airports, maybe one of your layover airports is where the problem is. so look for alternate routes to your destination. and also consider an alternate carrier. usually airlines don't let you book on other carriers or won't sort of rebook you on another carrier but the may be more obliging right now because these are extraordinary circumstances. >> but basically you're hoping for goodwill at the terminal there, goodwill on the phone. the don't have to do it. >> they don't have to do that. one option if they won't do it, this is sort of the nuclear option, but if you wanted to caps el yo cancel your ticket and ask the first airline to waive the change fee, which can be up to $200. cancel your ticket, take a travel voucher for your original airline and see if you can book a new ticket on an entirely different carrier. that could be very expensive but it may be your only option if you have to get there. >> the whole drinking thing i suggest first maybe one of the best options. amy farley, appreciate it. we'll be tracking the weather all night. just ahead a new challenge for president obama's health care law. the supreme court will review two cases that can test the law's rule on contraception. how strong are their arguments? 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