it s cleared off. you re talking about 200 million americans being affected by this. you re talking to one of them now. i can vouch for the over 199 million it s darn cold out here. there is a bitter cold advisory in effect. it will last well into thursday. as you can see behind me here on lake michigan it s starting to freeze over. i m telling, you craig, if it stays clear like this i ll be able to get my ice skates out here. it s awfully cold. obviously chicago has a battalion of salt snows and snowplows at the ready. it took me a long time to get down here this morning because i was stuck behind one. the mayor of the city said that chicago is prepared for this cold. just in closing i have to tell you up until yesterday we considered ourselves pretty lucky because last year we had a heck of a cold spell around this time of year.