Announcer from nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on saturday morning. Im sheinelle jones. And im harry smith alongside Kristen Welker and ralpheal. Did you have a nice christmas . My husband and kids flew back last night and i flew back with the gifts. I wonder if they will notice mommy took them all home. Will they notice im gone . Yes. Merry day after. We will get to the stories in a moment. Lets get to the top story. A Christmas Day nightmare with more Severe Weather across the south. Ralphael, you have the latest. Residents are assessing the down on friday evening. The holiday turning into horror. The twister came out of nowhere. Residents saw the funnel cloud from afar one minute and the next, at their door step. When they say take cover, take cover. Several homes were destroyed. Some people even had to be rescued from under the wreckage. Wires being down. If there is no danger, move on. People found themselves searching for anything that could be saved. Give me your hand. Reporter 10,000 customers lost power and residents throughout the state have been dealing with more than a half foot of driving rain and flooding homes. Outside of birmingham, residents were saved from the raging flood watering. Even the birmingham mayor came the same twister in tuscaloosa where it caused more damage. The same conditions that spawned the tornado are ponlresponsible for the deadly outbreak in mississippi. Volunteers there are still searching for the missing. We are trying to go through the mess with the trees and just a disaster. Reporter a disaster for those this holiday weekend, but came through the storm alive, something to be grateful for. What is important is your family and your friends and having a gift of life. And no deaths were reported in the Christmas Day tornado, but unfortunately, millions of people in the path of Severe Weather again today. We will have more on that in a minute. Thank you. The weather outside may be frightful in some parts of the country, for many of us on the east coast, the warm temperatures are weird. Here in new york city, the warmest christmas ever. Central park with the latest on that. Kristen, good morning. Reporter good morning, harry. December 26th, it is 53 degrees in central park. A lot of people running by in shorts this morning. Much of the country struggled with the weather this christmas, but new york is not one of them. Forget the figgy pudding. It was ice cream in new york. What is christmas normally like . White. How about this year . Sweaty. Reporter ice cream trucking doing summerlike business with temperatures soaring to 66 degrees. Best christmas ever . Best christmas ever. Reporter in central park, short sleeves replaced winter wear. New york christmas. Never think this. Reporter and in this bizarre world in buffalo, where there is dayith jet skis and scuba diving. And near frigid providence, rhode island, Christmas Day was a good day to hit the links. Record highs shattered for a second day. Amazing. We spend half of our christmases in florida. Reporter there was no celebrating at eastern ski areas. No snow means no business. There was not holiday joy for fed ex. They were scoured by deliveries. I dont think irate is an accurate word right now. And the Company Blames the heavy volume and Severe Weather outbreaks. To hear about the Severe Weather outbreaks, people in the northeast say they are really looking at the warm weather as a gift. It is likely just to stay in the 50s today. Tomorrow, we could see another record. Guys, if the forecast holds out until next week, we will not see it dip below freezing in december. That hasnt happened since they started keeping records. Kristen dahlgren in central park. At our house, we complained because it was so warm. We had mosquitoes in the apartment. Honestly. It is weird. Still better on christmas. Snow is better on christmas. We need the hard freeze. If they dont do it this year, and it looks like we might not, this is the first time on record we have not gone below freezing in central park. Here is the set up. The above average weather continues. 25 to 30 degrees above average. Bermuda high pressure. 80 in charleston. New york city is in the 50s. Record breaker in new york city. 65 degrees. Part of the warm weather is responsible for the Severe Weather we saw yesterday. This is the set up. Tracking a winter storm in the upper midwest. Portions of the southwest this morning, you see the rain breaking out. This storm is just getting started. We will deal with this one for several days. Here is the severe set up. Possible supercells. We will track that. Over 14 Million People in the risk area. Dallas and now a blizzard warning on the cold side of the storm for eastern new mexico into the panhandle of texas. This could be the most snow they have ever seen in parts of new mexico. Unprecedented blizzard warning there. This is the set up. Cold air colliding with the warm moist air. A spring pattern here. You can see the heavy snow throughout the day today. Severe weather possible in texas. We will set this into motion so you see where the storm is going. Lots of people trying to go home this is a mess. Blizzard conditions possible as you head out west. Another day with Severe Weather as you head into the southeast. You know, travel big over the next few days. This is a massive storm affecting millions of americans. The pattern might change next week a bit. We will look at that in a few. Thank you. It is time now for a look at the rest of the top stories. Kristen welker is here with the wildfires in australia. We begin overseas where wildfires are worries across southern australia. The blaze destroyed more than 100 homes on Christmas Day. Forcing people to race from the flames. The Emergency Management commissioner said the brush fire could continue to burn for months. This fire is a fire that will remain with potential to burn in january and february. Hundreds of firefighters are trying to keep it from reaching in arkansas, arson suspected in the fire of the childhood home of former president bill clinton. By the time firefighters arrived in hope, arkansas, the fire blazed an outside wall. The chief said a smell of accelerant could be detected. And the current commander in chief made a visit to the troops. The president and first lady thanked Service Members stationed in hawaii. Take a look. We never take for granted for what you do for the american people. You help keep us free and you help keep us strong. Whatever service you are in, whatever branch, we are extraordinary grateful. Nice tradition. The president said being able to personally able to thank the military men and women is something he looks forward to every christmas. And finally, one of the longest Long Distance calls to get this, this was from the International Space station. British astronaut tim peake dialed up a number on earth to get the wrong one. He tweeted out a Christmas Day apology assuring her it was not a prank, but an honest mistake from space. That is a wrong number i would not mind getting. What would the caller id say . A long number. All right. It seems like were dealing with the hot temperature in the northeast. Others are having record snow. Bizarre and extreme. We are snow starved here in the northeast. Grand junction received 4. 9 inches of snow. Great skiing in the rockies. That was grand junctions snowiest christmas on record. Here is the set up for today. You see the slight risk of severe storms. Santa ana winds in southern wildfires reported there. And the heavy rain moving into the midwest. Snow in the upper midwest. Heavy snow in minnesota. 53, a cooldown in new york thats your forecast. Thank you so much. If you thought shopping season was over, now that christmas has bargain hunters are returning to the mall to return gifts. Julia bagg from wtvj is at the mall this morning already. Julia, good morning. Reporter harry, good morning. Did you notice relatives around the tree yesterday who could not put down their phones . They may have been doing a little shopping for somebody they left off their list. Christmas day is not a big day for retail shopping. That is changing. You can blame your smartphone for that. Yesterday, Online Shoppers racked up a whopping 600 million in sales. That is 50 million over last year. What about today . The day after christmas. We just saw shoppers going into the apple store here. Bath body works getting an early start. We know it is not just about returning the ugly sweater or a shopping for yourself. Thats what were hearing from 60 of guests that plan to shop those christmas after sales. Also, harry, if you are looking for a more frugal option, something that wont break the budget, there is always regifting. It has been taboo in the past, but it is more popular now. Remember, you dont have to admit it. Julie bagg, thank you. Well have some tips for handling holiday returns coming up in the next half hour. If you are one of the 400,000 americans who found a drone under the tree this christmas, there are some things you need to do before taking to the skies. Nbcs blake mccoy has more. Reporter caroline and josh bishoff got a drone for christmas. Neighbors beware, their flying skills need honing. They are some of the 400,000 holiday. Learning to fly it is unobstacle. With all this new activity in the sky, the federal government is clamping down. From now on, anyone operating a drone must register it with the faa. The new rules apply to anyone over 13. You must give your name, address and email. The cost is 5. That is being waived for the first 30 days. As soon as you start flying outside, you are in effect a pilot. And the responsibility with becoming a military and rulinges apply. Reporter the faa says that will allow them to share rules with people like staying below 400 feet and no flying within five miles of an airport. Airline pilots report 100 drone sightings and close calls each month. In january, this drone crashed on the white house lawn. And just this week, this video went viral after a drone nearly that sort of clumsiness has james barnes bracing for a post holiday rush at his drone academy. Before june, up to 500 students. Reporter before you take your drone to the wonders of the world, remember to register it. For today, blake mccoy, nbc news. Now to the new film tackling a major issue in the nfl head on. Concussion is going into the doctor finding the brain disease among growing concerns of head areainjuries in football. I found a disease. Repetitive head trauma chokes the brain. The movie constitutioncussionconcussion is the brain disease. It is called chronic traumatic encephapholy. Also known as cte. Alec baldwin played the character who presented it to the nfl. I didnt wouldnt to believe it. It was not good news. No proof was presented today because there simply isnt any. They want you to say you made it all up. The nfl put its head in the sand. It took them several years kicking and screaming to address the protocol. Retired nfl punter Steve Weatherford says the same is safer now. It was a war zone. The game to see junior seau take his own life. Reporter the league has seen a 34 decrease in concussions since 2012. The nfl says in part, we are funding independent sighcientific and medical research to advance progress. The game continues to change. Player health and safety is our highest priority. Still, football is a contact sport. Movie goers say the film opened their eyes. This movie changed my perception. I would not want my son or daughter to play Contact Sports like that. It raised the converseation. And a look back at the weeks biggest stories from the unseasonably warm weather and the feud with donald trump and Hillary Clinton and to the shortest reign ever in miss we have all that in the were back on a saturday morning with the download. A time to look at the weeks biggest stories. Here are the headlines that caught our attention. Wild weather across the country. Over the holiday season. A devastating scene just before christmas after deadly storms and twisters carved through the mid section of the country. 11 people were killed and more than 40 injured. Total loss. East of the rockies, temperature records were not just broken today, they were crushed. Here are just a few examples. Boston, 69. New york city, 71. Norfolk, virginia, sizzling 82. In the northwest, they got more snow this season than last. On the campaign trail, with the republicans and democrats. Donald trump and Hillary Clinton. He is becoming isis best recruiter. It turned out to be a lie. Shes a liar. After Donald Trumps crude s word describing Hillary Clintons loss to barack obama. She is using three b words. Bigotry, bluster, bullying. Hes fund raising off an editorial cartoon. Now retracted by the Washington Post showing his young daughters as dancing monkeys. Fair game after cruz put his kids in a campaign ad. Im use my server and no one will be the wiser. A suicide bomber killed six american soldiers. As the americans walked bomber on a motorcycle drove through the group and attacked the group. It was the deadliest attack in more than two years. A new door was open for doing business in space. The falcon 9 rocket launched satellites and returned safely to earth. The falcon has landed. I have to apologize. And a crowning blow at the Miss Universe pageant. Miss colombia forced to forfeit her crown on Live Television after host steve harvey mistakenly named her Miss Universe. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake. And looking ahead to next christmas, santa may now have new helpers. Could this be the sleigh of the future . And this viral video sparked for many of us when it comes to whos next . [ chuckles ] that eddie murphy. Are you good actors when you get the gifts . You just say thank you. And you smile. I rarely get a gift i dont like. That is so phony. Youre very good at it. True. My face says everything. I cant hide it. Theres no hope for me. The first thing i saw yesterday morning, a meme of steve harvey. Merry easter. I thought they are everywhere. He tweeted after the memes were out. This is the big talker of the week. Did he sign a contract . He did. The ladies handled it so well. Right. Props to them. And why . More people will watch next time around. Hes all right. He owned it. He wore it well. And everybody is still talking about it. Steve, hey. Still to come, at we prepare but first these messages. Were back on this saturday morning, december 26th, 2015. The day after christmas crowd bringing cheers to our plaza with the tree still anglow. Happy that theyre here. First responders assessing the damage after a tornado touched down in birmingham, alabama. Destroyed homes and left 10,000 residents without power. The twister spawning from the same unseasonable system that was responsible for the deadly outbreak including mississippi. A Christmas Day wildfire destroyed more than 100 homes on australias southern coast. Flames scorched a popular tourist destination. Hundreds of firefighters battled the inferno sparked by a lightning strike. Thousands were forced from their homes. And the Golden State Warriors were the grinch who stole the christmas win from the Cleveland Cavaliers and highly anticipated rematch. Lebron james and the cavaliers battled steph curry in california. Trends that defined 2015. Chris kristen. A lot of trends mean out with the old and in with the new. Lets reflect on the good, bad and ugly of 2015 as we look ahead to what you can expect in 2016. The selfie saw no slowing down in 2015 and neither did the cousin the selfie stick. How do you say you look stupid using a selfie stick. You look stupid. Thankfully we have lots of fun things to capture like man buns and bubble nails and food porn. If you are taking pictures of food and you are not Better Homes Gardens or the food network, stop. Eat your food. That brings us to instagram. And with fans of taylor swift to describe her girls as squadgirls. I used to think emojis were cute. People now are sending you a string of emojis and are you supposed to know what they mean. Where do the trends start . They trickle up from memes and internet and from young people. In the past, trends that become what is popular is more on the hands of a few editors. And what is coming down the pike in 2016 . Expect things to stay casual. We are at the beginning of athleisure. It is considered the same way high luxury clothing is. If you are feeling nostalgic for charlie and jack and the fonz. It is the 70s comeback. In a blanket. And the trend goes for drinks. The cheeseier, the better. If you were drinking sex on the beach, it is corny. It is no longer a stink eye. Kylie jenner my have the exaggerated pout with her pumped lips. Some posted real life photos of dont judge me trend that will continue in 2016. You are already seeing a lot of people break the glossy lifestyle. It is hard to maintain. It can be jarring. Which brings us to the social media darling for next year. Snapchat. A story platform where you cannot manipulate images to look cooler and look for more direct contact with celebrities. Beyonce hasnt given an social media bypasses the old outlets that you relied on which makes them super powerful. No matter who Reigns Supreme in 2016, we can stay calm and carry on with the next big thing. No doubt. If you are wondering where in the world we should look to in 2016 for whats cool, everyone says south korea. Expect beauty and fashion and music and food. I love the section about the emojis. It is true. You get an entire text with emojis. I know you are sending them, harry. You look perplexed. I had time on my hands for christmas. Everyone sends you the merry christmas. I do red and green hearts. I didnt realize you had so many options. You have a lot of options. Harry, jump in on it. Im not an emoji person. You should be. Your emotion. That and snapchat. Yes. Forcing ourselves. Thank you, kristen, so much. Absolutely. I feel like i have to send you an emoji. Lets get to the weather. They have all sorts of emoji ones, raphael. We are here the day after christmas. Were the gifts good . Everybody is happy. They want snow in the northeast. You dont need to bundle up. Millions of americans, 25 million, dealing with the flood threat today. Busy travel days. Everyone trying to get home from grandmas house. Look at the rain from texas and oklahoma and arkansas. That yellow bullseye is over 7 inches of rain coming today through monday. That is a flood threat for the central plains. Severe weather for texas. Blizzard in the southwest and new mexico. Windy for california. 53 degrees. Still well above average there. We are tracking snow as we head into the upper midwest. The Pacific Northwest finally catching a break today. The pattern has changed. No storms for oregon and washington and dowowin florida. Hot and humid in the 70s and 80s. From a festive and breezy studio. Thank you. From ho ho ho to no, no, no. How to handle the holiday returns for the discover card. Hi so it says here i can redeem my cashback bonus for cash. Do i need to have a certain amount . Nope, you can redeem your cashback for any amount, any time. Thats great. Yeah, you can use it for a statement credit or even get the cash. Nice. I could use that extra cash for a lastminute gift. One less thing hanging over your head, right . Tell me about it. Gary, you got to go. Whos gary . A mistake from last year coming back around again. Too much egg nog yes laaaaa. At discover we treat you like youd treat you. Redeem your cashback for any amount, any time. Get it at discover. Com. Feel a cold coming on . New zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45 . Shorten your cold when heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies only from tums there are 16 freshpicked oranges squeezed into each bottle of tropicana pure premium. And absolutely no space for added sugar, water, or preservatives. Tropicana. We put the good in morning. 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Wait for the crowds die down and you will ensure stress free returns. And are you suggesting people should sell Unwanted Gifts online . I never tried it. It is intimidating to me. Try to get your big ticket items back. Theres a timeframe for retailers. Of course, like you said, if you are not able to get them back in charge you a restocking fee. You may want to get the most bang for your buck if you are selling on ebay or craigslist. Lets leave the house and go to the stores. What do we need to do before we head out . You want to make sure you have the return and Exchange Policies in hand. All of these are printed on the web site and on the receipt. Take them to the store so you dont get anything confused. Bring identification. These days, a lot of retailers are requiring identification so they are trying to curtail fraud return and exchange behavior. If you dont have receipt . Nordstrom and bed, bath beyond and others are offering 100 customer satisfaction. What is awesome about these particular retailers, they are good about printing a return label from home and send it back i have a question for you. I got married i dont know how many years ago. I still have gift cards. It is one of the things you put them in a box and you forget about them. Some people have unwanted gift cards. 91 of us have received a gift card for the holidays and just like any gift, you might not necessarily want that particular gift card. There are web sites where you are able to sell your gift card and exchange it and look for something that you will use. This makes me feel better. You dont have to feel guilty. Sarah, thank you for coming in. For more tips on returning the gifts, kaylee keeps a journal as she fights brain cancer. I wish i wasnt different than other kids. But you are getting so much better. Because st. Jude Childrens Research Hospital has created a special treatment giving kaylee and kids like her across america the best chance at survival. 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It is a western and it is a mystery aspect. My first time writing a mystery. No, no, no. You film this in telluride. Im a meteorologist and it did not snow that much last year. It did not snow on cue like you hoped it would. Im not used to working that way. But at the same time, there is something cool and ideal about getting out of your comfort zone. Were you going for a big look. We were not going with phony snow. I assume working in the harsh conditions, it is nice to get back in the studio . The studio was refrigerated. We moved to a refrigerated stage in los angeles. Then once we were there, we could keep the temperature exactly what we wanted. We were all sitting outside and we go inside. We think what did this [ bleep ] do to us . Reporter tarantino chose to shoot the film using 70 millimeter film. Popular decades ago. It gave it a big look. As film is moving to digital effects, i wanted to actually plant a flag in the sand for film. In 70 millimeter in the theater, there is no more argument. More so than any other movie i have been in or director i have been around. He honors two words. Moving pictures. Now were talking. Reporter what now . You have genius script and actors who trust each other to put this movie to the. Is this as good as it gets . One of the things i was able to pass on to jennifer was the one great thing that will happen here is no matter what he asks you to do, no matter what it is, you can trust one thing. He will use it in its best possible way. He creates an environment not only between action and cut that you know magic is going to happen. You feel nothing will ever compare and how you ever go back. And consequently, everyone weeps the last day. Nothing like a tarantino set. Compliment. And always such calm and Peaceful Affairs those tarantino films. Just ahead, 50 Million People in the path of Severe Weather heading their way. A blast of winter. Were keeping an eye on it. Nbc. 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