0 this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate bolduan and michaela pereira. good morning, welcome to "new day," it's tuesday, november 26th, 6:00 in the east. got to prepare for a heaping side of rain, sleet and snow to go with that thanksgiving turkey, unfortunately. right now holiday travel plans for more than 40 million are totally up in the air. the air may be the worst place to be. a monster storm on a collision coast with the east coast, take a look at the snow falling in pittsburgh. this is wpxi. we're tapping the power and reach of cnn to bring you the most complete coverage you can, combi beginning with indra petersons. >> take a look at the snow we're currently seeing in the northeast. we have the heavy rain coming in from the southeast. already starting to see some of the icing. this is a precursor to what we are expecting as we go through the next 48 hours with rain, heavy winds and even more freezing rain and snow. a massive winter storm blamed for at least a dozen deaths and hundreds of accidents will bring heavy rain, snow, sleet and high winds to much of the east coast on the busiest travel week of the year. frustrated travelers beginning to feel the ripple effect of this storm system with delays and cancellations at some of the nation's busiest airports. it's not just plains. the larger than life balloons flying high above the macy's thanksgiving day parade could be grounded. if sustained winds pass 23 miles per hour, the giant inflatable balloons can't take flight because officials fear their handlers won't be able to control them. >> we have a sergeant assigned to each of the balloons. they can be lowered all the way to the ground or determination is made not to fly them. >> reporter: in 1997, ferocious winds blew the six-story tall cat in the hat balloon straight into a street lamp. debris fell down on the crowd below, critically injuring one spectator. it's brought localized flooding in arizona, heavy snow in colorado and in new mexico. wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour produced blinding conditions. parts of oklahoma receiving about a foot of snow and in arkansas, heavy rain caused this pileup on a bridge. >> the roads are really slick and i've seen a lot of accidents already. >> freezing rain making driving treacherous as this unrelenting storm complicates thanksgiving plans for millions. >> here's what we're looking forward to moving forward. isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out today. that heavy rain shifts into the carolinas. on the backside, notice the snow we're expecting, over a foot of snow possible around the great lakes and tapering off back in through kentucky and tennessee. the big story for that is, yes, this warm front will continue to make its way up. even though you're seeing snow in the northeast, it will shift over to rain as we get the winds out of the south. heavier rain will be falling as we go later throughout the day. on the backside, heavy snow starts to fall. this is also the time period where the strongest winds will be out there. notice the change, though, as you go from wednesday into late wednesday evening we start to see the system make its way offshore. don't let this fool you, the heavy winds will still be out there. we're expecting travel delays in the air through thursday as the system does make its way out of the region. with that we're still talking about concerns for first the rain and the heavy snow. behind that will be all the trouble with the wind, kate. >> a one, two, three punch of weather right noul. some of the nation's busiest airports, probably not surprisingly could soon become temporary home to thousands of frustrates holiday travelers. airline officials are preparing for the worst case scenario. delta and u.s. airways already waiving fees for changed flights. rene marsh is at dulles airport. >> reporter: the bottom line for air travel is even if snow is not headed your way, heavy rain and strong winds will definitely stir up trouble for travelers. we did a quick check this morning. there are no major, massive delays and cancellations at this hour but, of course, that could change. been there, done that. dulles airport revved up these snowplows during the last snowstorm in march. today, dulles and airports up and down the east coast are prepared to do the same. if it comes to it. >> so far, the forecast seems to be pointing towards a nuisance storm from our perspective, one that's not going to result in severe cancellations but more so delays. >> reporter: but still it could be a nightmare for some flyers. >> we see a lot of delays and we see a lot of cancellations with storms like this. >> reporter: daniel maker runs the flight tracking website flightaware.com. he says making matters worse, planes are already full. >> the issue they run into, if you cancel one flight, there may not be capacity to accommodate all of the displaced passengers. >> reporter: 25 million people are traveling by air this thanksgiving holiday, up 1.5% from last year. >> we decided to leave early and keep our fingers crossed. hopefully we'll be there and be all right. >> reporter: busiest travel day, the sunday after thanksgiving. the second busiest, tomorrow, just in time for the storm. >> have a low expectation when traveling through bad weather on the airlines, particularly around the holidays and you won't be disappoint. >> reporter: don't expect a lot and, therefore, things won't be that bad. if you're heading to the airport, check your flight and status and get here early. chris? >> rene, you know when the cnn red coats come out it's not a good situation coming your way. forget about air, let's say you're driving. that's some 39 million people. you have to be careful there as well. we're seeing car accidents across the south and midwest, some of them fatal. alina machado is with us this morning. what's the deal. >> reporter: here in atlanta and throughout much of the south, we're seeing wet and slick roads. there have been periods of heavy rain. right now we're getting a bit of a break here in atlanta. that doesn't mean this is over. if you head north from here, you'll see icy roads and snow. that means this is going to be a dangerous situation, potentially on the roads for the millions of people who are heading out. according to aaa, more than 43 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home this thanksgiving holiday, about 90% of those people will be hitting the roads. these are people who will be getting in their cars and driving to their destination. aaa is expecting to rescue 320,000 people because of car problems, but because of the storm, they say those numbers, chris, could be much higher. again, if you're going to be heading out for this thanksgiving holiday, just be aware and careful of the situation on the road. >> alina, thank you very much. let's bounce back to air travel for a second. if check out cnn's atl 24. this is from the air traffic control tower, a bomb sniffing dog. cnn is giving you a behind the scenes look at 24 hours in atlanta's hartsfield jackson international airport. go to cnn.com/atl24 and see what it's like inside the belly of the beast. >> if you're not living it right now. >> dealing with all of those vagaries of travel. see it from the airport's perspective, maybe understand how difficult it is. good morning to you at home. making news, the coast guard and emergency crews are working at this hour to contain an oil spill on the mississippi river near leclaire, iowa. officials say a tugboat struck an object and sank, spilling some of the nearly 100,000 gallons of oil products on board gnat river. all nine crew members got away safely. some eight miles of the mississippi have now been closed. president obama defending an interim deal to slow iran's nuclear program. he says the u.s. cannot close the door on diplomacy, calling the backlash the easy thing to do politically. the deal has been criticized by many in congress and israel saying it doesn't go nearly far enough. a team of israel officials is coming to washington to discuss the deal. four steubenville, ohio school employees have been indicted in connection with the rape of a 16-year-old girl last year. they're being investigated for their role in a possible cover-up. last march, two steubenville football players were convicted of the rape. both are serving time in juvenile detention. more details from ohio attorney general mike dewine, coming up in our next hour of "new day." a building contractor in philadelphia is facing murder charges for a botched demolition that killed six. griffin campbell is said to be responsible for the june collapse after ignoring a warning for potential disaster. the motive was greed. fire officials will be at tampa home this morning determining if a sink hole there is about to swallow that home up. monday night the family living there ran away with only the clothes on their backs when the living room floor starting to buckle. earlier this month, you'll recall we brought these images to you live, a 09-foot wide sink hole opened up in nearby deneden, florida. it seems like these are becoming weekly occurrences in florida. we're certainly watching them. >> scary. >> we'll keep our eye on top of that story, to see if progress is made, any more sinking of the sink hole happens. we'll take a quick break on "new day." within we come back, no deal. afghanistan's president threatening all u.s. troops may have to leave by this time next year. is that a bad thing? also ahead, a prosecutor's report revealing new information about sandy hook school shooter adam lanza. what the report tells us about his state of mind and the chilling details about what police found on his computer.