women the recognition they deserve announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening in a year defined by some of the most extreme heat we ve ever seen, along with one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the u.s. mainland, tonight making headlines for unseasonable cold and early snow in the east, autumn interrupted by a sudden and dramatic detour into winter a climate change whiplash leaving 86 million people currently under freeze alerts from the northern tip of texas across the south and up into the northeast. more than 40 record lows possible this evening across 18 states several cities in the south could see their earliest freezes on record al roker will lay it out for us in a moment but first let s go to maggie vespa, feeling the big chill in michigan. reporter: less than a month into fall, a frigid blast blanketing swaths of the midwest in white. did you have to dig out the winter coat? we did. we went for a walk tonight and got them on repo
after the disappearance of kristin smart, the verdict in the murder trial of her former college classmate. blackouts in ukraine after officials say russia destroyed nearly a third of its power station in little over a week. growing fears for an iranian climber after she competed without a hijab. the worries about her safety tonight. the deadly crash. a plane slamming into a car dealership. the fda pushing to take a controversial pregnancy drug off the market. why some doctors and moms say it s a mistake. and the wikipedia warrior fighting to get some remarkable women the recognition they deserve. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. in a year defined by some of the most extreme heat we ve ever seen, along with one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the u.s. mainland, tonight making headlines for unseasonable cold and early snow. in the east, autumn interrupted by a sudden and dramatic detour into winter. a climate change whiplash l
temperatures below freezing in chicago. 28 degrees. st. louis, 22 right now. 33 in atlanta. below freezing in charlotte. we re going to see the cold temperatures lingering all day long. jet stream dipping so far to the south. that s allowing the temperatures to be five, 10, even 25 degrees below normal. so just 41 degrees today in pittsburgh. just 19 in bismarck. that s 21 degrees below average. same story tomorrow. we ll keep it chilly all week long. philadelphia just 48 degrees. and that will set the stage in the central plains, the cold will, for snow. we have a cross country storm. so snow and winds and rain. but it will be snow in the central plains. you see the pink. that is a winter storm warning. with he could see six inches of snow in oklahoma. this is what it looks like the cross country storm. we re watching it all week long. also looking for the chance for severe storms in the south. back to you, sam. we went from an approximation of summer to winter and maybe 24 hours. g
here in the upper peninsula, where you can see snow is still falling, utility crews are reportedly finding a lot of downed trees that hadn t shed their leaves yet, meaning they were likely toppled by snow because this early in fall, they re that much heavier. lester? maggie vespa, thank you. let s get right to al roker, who is tracking this cold wave. al, what can we expect for the rest of the week? lester, we ve got this storm system over the great lakes. it will be moving out, but probably dump another 1 to 3 inches of snow. that s out of here. but still here, 86 million of russ going to be under some sort of frost advisories, freeze watch, freeze warning from the plains all the way to northeast, down to the gulf. we ve got the jet stream dipping way down. records possible at 18 states from texas, kansas, on into kentucky, the east-southeast and down to the gulf. and then tomorrow, temperatures still below average, anywhere from 10 to 15 from philadelphia, baton rouge, st. loui
goes on longer. let s talk about record setting highs today once again, despite record breaking temperatures we re expecting temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above. portland, 26 above normal. your record is 93. let s head to the desert southwest, we re looking at temperatures, 110 in palm springs. it s hard to believe, this time of year. yuma, 114, 12 degrees above normal. phoenix, you set a record at 112. as we go through the next several days this is a peek of that heat which is good news. we re going to start at cooling. i ll say cool in quotes. 104 in phoenix. denver looking much better by sunday. let s talk about the east. all of that hot air in the west. a jet stream dipping down keeping that hot air in the west, kind of like a road block. back to the east, we re looking at much cooler air. we re looking at cooler temperatures. no complaints in the east.