yasmin? >> all right. we'll continue to monitor this, as always. ron allen, thank you for now. all right. i want to get to the powerful palast of winter affecting the west coast and the midwest, as well. a huge winter storm has made travel treacherous in much of california and the pacific northwest, as roads are covered, by the way, in snow and ice, looking at some of these images there. miles of interstate highways have been shut down. the storm has dumped several feet of snow in california's sierra nevada mountains, with california setting a new record for the snowiest december yet. by the way, not over yet. nbc's steve patterson joins us now from big bear lake, california. how much more, steve, are they expected to get? how bad is it? >> you said it, yasmin, it's not over yet. thankfully, we'll get more snow in places where california needs it, the mountains. the sierra nevadas have already been getting dumped with snow this season, part of the reason why, as you mentioned, that