attacks. and we're days away from the winter olympics, and china just reported more covid infections. we'll have a live report from beijing. >> announcer: live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with rosemary church. good to have you with us. well, in just a matter of hours the u.n. security council will gather for an urgent meeting as tensions along the border between ukraine and russia show little sign of easing. the meeting, the latest push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis amid fears russia is planning to invade ukraine. the american ambassador to the u.n. says the u.s. is ready to listen but will not be distracted by what she called russian propaganda. and while efforts to stop further escalation push on, the british foreign secretary offered this stark assessment. >> we think it's highly likely that he is looking to invade ukraine. that is why we're doing all we can through deterrence and diplomacy to urge him to desist. >> ukraine's foreign minister also pushing diplomacy, saying it's the only responsible way. in a tweet he says, "if russia is serious about not wanting a new war, it must continue with diplomatic talks and pull back its troops." more than 100,000 russian forces are massed near ukraine. russia has been demanding ukraine never be allowed to join nato. and now russian foreign minister sergey lavrov is questioning the framing of nato as a defensive alliance. >> translator: each time it turns out that the line they have to defend is shifting to the east. now it has come close to ukraine. they also want to drag this country there. although it is clear to everyone that ukraine is not ready and will not make any contribution to strengthening nato security. this will really undermine relations with the russian federation. since it will be a flagrant violation of the official political commitment made by the presidents of the united states and other member countries of the alliance. >> joining us now from kyiv is cnn's melissa bell. good to see you, melissa. so a new sense of urgency here with the u.n. security council now set to discuss the ukraine issue, what is likely to come out of those talks? >> well, that's right. it will be an opportunity of course for russia to sit opposite the united states and other nato allies and speak directly to those concerns that they have. but as you were just hearing there from sergey lavrov, the positions are so far apart with nato insisting over the last few weeks it is a defensive organization which will maintain its open doors policy come what may since it is one of its foundational principles, and moscow for its part demanding not only that it it renounce that but also the security arrangements that have predominated europe since 1997 retreat to pre-1997 lines. so positions that are so far apart they will once again no doubt dominate these discussions and show us once again how difficult it's going to be to come to any compromise on these matters. now, beyond that meeting at the security council later today there will also be a flurry of diplomatic activity here in kyiv over the course of the week, rosemary, with visits from the british foreign minister but also the french and german foreign ministers. for their part looking as they've stressed over the last couple of days for the diplomatic solution, the normandy format talks to continue to seek some kind of de-escalation along specifically that question of the front line in the east of the country. so attempts to find further common ground. but again, a great deal of difficulty to see on what basis any of those will be able to be found, rosemary. >> melissa bell joining us live from kyiv. many thanks. so let's discuss with cnn political and national security analyst david sanger. he is a white house and national security correspondent for the "new york times" and author of "the perfect weapon." always great to have you with us. >> great to be with you, rosemary. >> so u.s. senators will be briefed thursday on the russia-ukraine crisis. and then on monday the u.n. security council will take up this critical matter. what do you expect will be accomplished other than just putting this crisis on the record? >> not much. i mean, the security council of course has russia as a permanent member. you've got the chinese, who are not -- not really declared where they are in this crisis. so the only utility of the security council meeting is for the u.s. and other members of the security council including britain to present some of their intelligence, explain the threatening nature of what's being arrayed around the border in ukraine, charge the russians with intimidation, and leave. i mean, there's nothing at this point the security council is going to be able to do, especially in the absence of an actual invasion at this point. >> yeah. and ukraine has told russia to pull back its troops, and the uk government says it's highly likely president putin will invade ukraine. is that how it's looking to you? is there a possibility that this is a dramatic way for russia to get the west's attention, as one expert has suggested? >> oh, yeah. i mean, more than one has considered that possibility. and it is very possible that putin is doing on a much larger scale right now something he's done on smaller scale before. he has been known to amass troops. he did it in april. but nowhere near on this scale. so what makes this different? first of all, if you put 100, some would say the number's up closer to 130,000 out there, he's got to come home with something before he withdraws them or there will be a huge loss of face. so one question is has he cornered himself at this point? you know, bob gates, the former defense secretary and cia chief, wrote a column in the f.t. last week where he made the point that, you know, when you've unsheathed the sword like this you can do anything but sit on it. and so he's either going to have to invade or he's going to have to pull them back. i think the second interesting possibility, rosemary, is that he may just settle for some kind of agreement that ukraine would not enter nato anytime soon, anytime in the next decade or two. president biden's already sort of said that. but my guess is if he was going to settle for that he would have done it by now. >> yeah. so do you see any off-ramp at all here so that putin can save face during this diplomatic process as they try to thrash out some possibilities here? >> i do. so first of all, the ukrainians, who are upset with the united states and britain for coming out and making public all of this data and creating in their minds a sense of crisis, might negotiate something on their own with the russians. and they've certainly had some back channels going. the second possibility is that another nato member like germany may formally say we're going to block ukraine's accession to nato for the next 20 or 30 years. the third possibility is that the u.s. and its nato allies could come to an agreement to negotiate a new intermediate nuclear forces agreement with russia. they may come to the conclusion to renew some kind of an agreement that would make exercises limited in size and pull them away from borders. and maybe the russians will declare that was enough. but it doesn't sound like that right now. >> no. and david, in just a few days president putin is scheduled to attend the beijing winter olympics. and we know president xi jinping would be furious if a russian invasion were to overshadow his games. so how might the timing of that play into that possible invasion? >> there are two big factors we've heard about. one is the olympics. we don't know quite what the chinese reaction would be. but i suspect you've got that just right. the second big factor here is when this territory is completely frozen, thus making it a lot easier for putin to get his heavy armor across. particularly if he's just going to take some territory in the east and doesn't want to get stuck in the mud. so those two things would come together in the second or third week of february. >> all right. david sanger, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your analysis with us. we appreciate it. >> great to be with you. well, north korea is confirming what analysts suspected. the country's state-run news agency reports pyongyang test-fired an intermediate-range missile, known as the hua-song 12, on sunday. this is the most powerful ballistic missile north korea has tested since 2017 and the seventh missile test this month alone. the biden administration says it would like to return to diplomatic talks with pyongyang but they're still waiting for an official response. one senior biden official says north korea could be using the tests to force the u.s. into a weaker negotiating position. well, the united arab emirates says it destroyed a houthi ballistic missile launch site in yemen. the uae released this video which they claim shows the damage. they say the launch site was destroyed after their forces intercepted and destroyed another ballistic missile targeting the uae. now, this comes after a series of attacks initiated by the iran-backed houthis against the uae this month. for more on this we want to bring in cnn's ka rads yay. >> people in this region are waking up to this continued unprecedented escalation we are seeing. the united arab emirates ministry of defense says it intersetted a ballistic missile that was targeting the uae. they say the fragments, the remains of that ballistic missile landed outside of residential areas so there were no casualties and no damage reported as a result of this interception. and as you mentioned, a short time after that the uae's m.o.e. released this video footage of what it says is a strike that destroyed the launch site of that ballistic missile that was launched by the yemen-based, iranian-backed houthi rebels. that strike they say was in ajof governorate in yemen. this is coming at a time when you've got a historic visit taking place in the uae. the israeli president there on a visit. a presidential spokesman telling cnn that president herzog and his entourage were in no danger and that this ongoing visit is continuing. this is the third attack, or attempted attack by the iranian-backed houthi rebels targeting the uae. earlier this month it was a deadly attack, ballistic missiles and drones killed at least three foreign workers in the uae, and just last week uae and u.s. forces intercept ed ballistic missiles that were targeting al buthra air base just outside abu dhabi. this was the first time since the gulf war that u.s. forces used -- fired patriot missile interceptors and they thwarted that attack that was targeting the base. you know, rosemary, the iranian-backed houthi rebels have warned that this is an ongoing campaign. they have warned international companies in the uae, ex-pats in the country, that there is going to be more of what they call this ongoing campaign. they want the uae to end its involvement in the war in yemen. as you'll recall, back in 2019 the uae did withdraw most of its forces from yemen. but more recently a number of groups that it has been backing on the ground have been engaged in really intense fighting against the houthi rebels in at least two oil-rich provinces. we have seen a real escalation in what is going on on the ground in yemen, whether it is the intense fighting in those areas or the saudi-led coalition that includes the uae of course intensifying air strikes in yemen with dozens of people reported killed in those airstrikes in recent weeks. so a lot of concern about what is going on in yemen and also these unprecedented attacks targeting the uae. the big question, rosemary, that remains here is how involved is iran in all of this? how much knowledge does it have of -- or prior knowledge of its proxies, the houthi, carrying out these attacks targeting the uae? because this is really coming at a time when we're seeing this move toward de-escalation in the region where iran is involved in these talks, diplomatic talks with the uae and saudi arabia, trying to mend ties with those countries. you've also got the talks with the west to a new nuclear deal. it seems to be making progress. so a big question really when it comes to iran's role in all of this that remains unanswered, rosemary. >> yeah, absolutely. jomana karadsheh, many thanks for that. and coming up this hour we will tell you more about the latest version of the omicron variant now spreading to dozens of countries. and what's behind the delay in americans getting the covid booster shot? that is part of the discussion with my guest coming up. my family's been devastated by covid-19. and we're not alone. we've all had to find new ways to keep going. and cue has made that easier. with cue, you get lab-quality covid-19 test results in just 20 minutes. speed and accuracy. it's just for the nba; it's for you too. cue health. the official covid-19 home test of the nba. go cue. go you. 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ba.2 and was first identified in early december. it's already affected people in at least 49 countries including the united states. early data suggests people who have previously tested positive for the omicron variant should likely be protected against the new version. here's what the former commissioner of the fda has to say. >> it appears to be more contagious. data out of denmark from the serum institute suggests it's about 1.5 times more contagious than the strain of omicron that has made it around the u.s. >> which is already so transmissible. >> exactly. does it evade our immune system? does it evade the immunity we've acquired from omicron infection or the advantage scenes? most of the evidence so far, and it's preliminary, suggests it doesn't. in fact, there's data out of the uk that suggests a fully boosted person may be more protected against this new variant than they were against the initial strain of omicron. and then the final question, is it more virulent? is it more dangerous? and so far based on what we've seen out of denmark and the uk which are collecting very good data on this, it doesn't appear to be a more virulent strain. >> the new research comes as covid infections are surging around the world. russia registered more than 121,000 new cases sunday, a new record. over the weekend russia surpassed more than 100,000 daily infections for the first time. meantime, reuters is reporting that new zealand's prime minister has tested negative for covid. jacinda ardern will remain in isolation through tuesday after being exposed to an infected person. and thousands turned out in the czech republic to protest against covid restrictions as cases hover around record highs. joining us now is ann remoyn, a professor at the school of immunology at the ucla fielding school of public health. thanks for being with us. let's start with this new version of the omicron variant called ba.2. it's showing up in nearly 50 countries including the u.s. and is apparently more contagious but less severe than the original omicron variant. what more are you learning about this and how concerned should we all be? >> it's not surprising that we're starting to see another variant arise and to start taking over. this variant appears to be more contagious than the original variant of omicron. but right now we still don't know enough about severity to truly understand it. it appears not to be any more severe than the original omicron strain. but we have to remember that this increased transmissibility does lead to more cases. more cases does lead to more hospitalizations and inevitably more deaths. >> yeah. sadly so. and of course we are also seeing a steep decline in covid cases across the u.s., with some experts suggesting this is the most optimistic sign they've seen in a long time. do you agree with that assessment? and when do you think we'll see an end to this pandemic? >> well, rosemary, i am very heartened by seeing this collapse in the number of cases. it means that we're going to be over this surge probably in the near future although this new variant is probably going to extend that runway a little bit longer before we get completely over this surge. but we can't lose track of the point that we're probably going to see other variants. we have not vaccinated the rest of the world. this virus mutates very quickly and we've given it a lot of runway to do so. so we're going to get through this surge. we have to do what we haven't done in the past, which is to really keep going forward, make sure we have adequate testing, make sure we have adequate vaccinations for all and that we're getting as many people vaccinated, and good treatments available as well. so when and if we have a new surge we're ready for it whenever that is. >> so let's look at those vaccinations because in the u.s. nearly 64% of the population is fully vaccinated with two shots but only about half of the eligible population is boosted, even though research shows that being boosted is essential to protect people from any severe illness or hospitalization. so why is that message failing to hit home for so many people, do you think? >> i think it's been -- the messaging has been very confusing to people, and i think that it's -- we've been learning about these vaccines as we go. and sometimes this messaging has to kacatch up. but the bottom line is that if you are fully vaccinated and you have not yet gotten your booster you're going to be more at risk of getting this virus. if you have this virus, you have the opportunity to -- you could get very sick from it. we still don't understand long covid. but more importantly, you can still pass it on to other people, and there's still a lot of very vulnerable people including people who are immunocompromised, don't mount the kind of of immune response we like to see from these vaccines. so it's still -- the best thing that we can all do is still do everything we can to reduce the spread of this virus. >> and still more than 2,000 people are dying every single day from covid here in the united states. why is the death toll so shockingly high in this country, do you think? >> you know, there are a lot of reasons for it. first of all, we're seeing so many more infections here. we're seeing very large numbers of infections. we have also a lot of people with co-morbidities here in the united states and people who -- you know, we have large pockets of people who have not yet been able to be willing to get vaccinated. and that just means that this virus has the opportunity to run rampant. you know, we have a very -- we have a very diverse population here in the united states. and it's really hit populations where you have lower socioeconomic status, disadvantaged populations, the hardest here. and they've really borne the worst brunt of it. i think it's important for people to remember that this virus is still very dangerous and still can do a lot of damage. and we've seen so many deaths. we're going to hit that million-death mark soon. and you know, many of these deaths were very preventable. most of them were. >> yeah. and we can't belabor that point enough, to get not just the two but the third shot. the booster shot. so important. ann rimoin, thank you so much for joining us, as always. >> my pleasure. canadian police say they are trying to help people leave downtown ottawa but they expect the protests against covid-19 mandates to continue through the week. the so-called freedom convoy made its way through canada for several days before arriving in the capital for a rally saturday. it began as a protest by truckers over vaccine requirements but gained other followers. criminal investigations are under way in connection with the desecration of several structures including the national war memorial. well, coming up, some in ukraine are preparing for a possible russian invasion as tensions remain high. we will have more from kyiv. that's ahead. i like 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included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot. welcome back, everyone. well, the u.n. security council will gather for an urgent meeting in the coming hours as tensions between ukraine and russia remain high. the meeting is the latest push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis amid fears of a potential russian invasion. the kremlin has built up more than 100,000 troops in the region, and at least two u.s. defense officials say there are signs russia has positioned blood supplies near the border, which could mean they're expecting casualties. but at least one ukrainian official says the reports of blood supplies are not accurate and this could just be psychological warfare by moscow. with the threat of a possible invasion looming, even ukrainians outside the military are preparing to fight. cnn's sam kiley has more now from kyiv. >> reporter: an abandoned asphalt factory near kyiv is now a training ground for civilians who volunteered to fight off a possible russian invasion. they're outnumbered here by journalists and armed at best with pellet guns. they know they'll be outmatched by moscow's military machine. but they are keen. >> we have crucial moment for our country. we have really big risk that russian invasion might occur really soon. so that's why even civilian have to be ready. >> reporter: these men believe that it's their country's democracy that vladimir putin fears more than a threat posed by european union or nato membership. >> in putin's russia all russian citizens are completely slaves. he feels it's a threat because ukrainians gave to russians and belarusians bad example. we showed to our neighbors how each citizen of free will must defend his social and national rights. >> reporter: you wouldn't know that ukraine's government says that russia has at least 127,000 troops massed on three sides of the country here in the capital, where there are no signs of impending war. and in the poorer districts where people hawk whatever they can to get by the mood is similar. >> translator: people are relaxed. it depends on the circles you communicate in. if someone in your family is from the military or the police, it's a completely different mood. >> reporter: but aged air raid shelters are being opened just in case. the ukrainian government is appealing to its population for calm, but at the same time dusting off these soviet-era bunkers because there is a threat to a young country's democracy. the shelter can house about 300 people. it even has a hand-cranked air filtration system. kyiv has the capacity to shelter 2.8 million of the estimated 3 million residents. in 5,000 bunkers and in the metro system. it's an irony lost on no one here that this shelter was built in 1956 to protect against nato striking russia and the soviet union. now it's offering shelter against a possible attack by russia. sam kiley, cnn, kyiv. the beijing winter olympics kick off this week. but new infections are on the rise as athletes arrive in china. we'll go live to beijing for the very latest. this is yourur home. this is your family y room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga e slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot. all eyes are on china. with just four days until the winter olympics begin. and now nearly 40 new covid infections are being reported amid olympic personnel. now, this comes as the chair of the international olympic committee's athletes commission also tests positive for the virus. cnn's steven jung joins me live from beijing with all of this. good to see you, steven. so just days away from the start of the games and more covid cases reported. what is the latest on all of this? >> reporter: rosemary, this is something a lot of people have assumed even before the games start obviously, and this is also something even chinese officials have now acknowledged publicly in terms of the inevitable reality of having infections inside this closed loop. but they have been emphasizing the number of positive cases accounts for a tiny percentage of the total number of games participants inside those bubbles and they're determined to keep it that way. now, obviously, state media has also said so far there appears to be no community spread of the virus within the bubbles. but this obviously is an increasingly daunting task as time goes on with more events kicking off and especially given how contagious the omicron variant is. now, most of our cnn colleagues covering these games from within the bubbles have now arrived in the city, and among their first impression they've been telling me are those high walls and fences around their hotels and all the venues. and this is obviously, you know, for the strict implementation of this closed loop system. but this is almost a metaphor of this sense of disconnect. a lot of ordinary chinese citizens feel about the winter olympics as well. because not only there is not a single ticket available for sale for them to watch the competitions because of the pandemic, a lot of them have also seen their travel plans ruined or disrupted because of the increasingly tightened restrictions in and out of beijing. and this of course right now is the lunar new year period, you he no, the most important holiday on the chinese calendar. and for those of us who have covered these summer games back in 2008 i think the difference seems stark. back then the sense of anticipation, excitement, embracing the outside world was palpable in the air, and this time if you talk to people on the ground, read social media posts, there seems to be more frustration, annoyance or even some hostility toward the west, especially the united states, as you know, rosemary, with washington calling for a diplomatic boycott of the games because of china's human rights record. rosemary? >> absolutely. steven jiang joining us live from beijing. many thanks. well, it was an australian open final for the ages as spanish superstar rafael nadal rallied back from two sets down to win the men's singles title. the win puts nadal's name in the record books with his 21st grand slam title, the most ever by a men's tennis player. the 35-year-old beat russia's daniil medvedev in five sets at rod laver arena. for our international viewers "world sport" is coming up next with in-depth coverage of nadal's record-setting win. for those watching in the u.s. i'll be right back with more news. you're watching cnn. do stick around. ♪ smooth like butter, like a criminal undercover ♪ ♪ gon' pop like trouble ♪ ♪ breaking into your heart like that ♪ ♪ do the boogie, like ♪ ♪ side ststep, right-left, to my beat ♪ ♪ high like the moooon, rock with me, baby ♪ ♪ know that i got that heat ♪ ♪ let me show you 'cause talk is cheap ♪ ♪ side step, right ♪ ♪ get it, let it roll ♪ staying up half the night searching for savings on your prescriptions? just ask your cvs pharmacist. we search for savings for you. from coupons to lower costs options. plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards each year just for filling at cvs pharmacy. my family's been devastated by covid-19. and we're not alone. we've all had to find new ways to keep going. and cue has made that easier. with cue, you get lab-quality covid-19 test results in just 20 minutes. speed and accuracy. it's just for the nba; it's for you too. cue health. the official covid-19 home test of the nba. go cue. go you. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. spotify says it will now add a content advisory to all podcasts that mention covid-19. the move comes after several artists said they will leave the platform as it continues to host joe rogan, who has spread misleading claims about the virus. cnn's natasha chen has our report. >> reporter: spotify ceo daniel eck wrote a public letter on the platform's website on sunday explaining spotify's rules and how he says they'll do more to combat covid-19 misinformation. eck says, "it is important o'me that we don't take on the position of being content censor while also making sure there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them." he says spotify is working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes discussion about covid-19. it will direct listeners to a covid-19 hub that provides data-driven facts and up-to-date information from trusted sources in the public health community. in an effort to be more transparent, spotify also published its long-standing platform rules. the part of the rules addressing false or deceptive medical information says content cannot cause offline harm or pose a direct threat to public health. some examples spotify gave include saying that covid-19 is a hoax or suggesting that vaccines are designed to kill people. notably, the controversial podcast by joe rogan that has spread misinformation is still available exclusively on the streaming platform. his podcast is the one cited by 250 doctors, nurses and scientists in an open letter to spotify earlier this month calling for a stronger enforceable policy on misinformation. then within the last week neil young, joni mitchell, nils lofgren all said they would remove their music from spotify. brene brown said she would pause on releasing new episodes of her podcast. and prince harry and meghan, duchess of sussex, who have a deal with spotify to produce and host podcasts, released a statement through their foundation spokesperson that said they urge spotify to meet the moment and have been talking to spotify about this issue as early as april of last year. spotify shares are down 7.7% over the past week. back to you. >> thanks for that. well, republican senator lindsey graham is praising one of u.s. president joe biden's picks to replace retiring supreme court justice stephen breyer. on sunday graham called u.s. district judge j. michelle childs "a highly gifted jurist" and said he could not think of a better person for the job. cnn's suzanne malveaux has more on the selection process from washington. >> reporter: democrats would love to see bipartisan support of whomever president biden picks as his supreme court nominee, but quite frankly they say they don't need it. they are confident that they have the support, the 48 democrats, the two independents that caucus with them, to make up a simple majority to push this through for the president. we heard from the chair of the senate judiciary committee dick d durbin over the weekend saying they are ready to go as soon as that pick is known, they have the paperwork, the staff, the records. they'll hold hearings in march, april and move this along very quickly. having said that, they would love to see some republicans join them, those who have previously approved of obama's nominees, those being senator lisa murkowski, susan collins and, yes, senator lindsey graham. senator graham, republican, making news over the weekend because of his departure from some of his colleagues, republican colleagues like senator roger wicker, who have made the rather offensive suggestion here that any of these candidates would be beneficiaries of affirmative action policy. the not so veiled implication or suggestion here, that these black female candidates would not be qualified for the supreme court position. well, lindsey graham saying that in fact he supports u.s. district judge michelle childs. she is also of his home state, south carolina. and he says that she is emi eminently qualified. >> i can't think of a better person for president biden to consider for the supreme court than michelle childs. she has wide support in our state. she's considered to be a fair-minded high ly gifted jurist. she's one of the most decent people i've ever met. it would be good for the court to have somebody who's not at harvard or yale. >> house majority whip james clyburn who is also the highest-ranking african american in congress also backs childs. he is also from south carolina. he has made it very clear to biden, saved biden's that he is backing, who he is rooting for. he makes the case she's a diverse within this diverse group. she is from the south and she doesn't have an ivy league background. we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here. there are still a number of nominees that the president is considering on the short list, purportedly u.s. appeals court judge ketanji brown jackson, california supreme court judge krueger, and lesli arab rams gardener. this will all play out in the months ahead. suzanne malveaux, cnn at the u.s. capitol. this weekend's winter storm on the east coast has left behind bone-chilling temperatures and record snowfall in some areas. this video shows some of the aftermath from the nor'easter. many had lost power due to the strong winds from the storm, but almost all service has been restored. the bitter cold stretches all the way down to florida where millions are under freeze alerts. the dangerous conditions have made travel a mess with about 5,000 flights canceled this weekend alone. cnn's paula sandoval has more. >> reporter: that massive weekend blizzard has come and gone leaving behind frigid temperatures in the northeast, also tons of snow. the good news is throughout many major american cities, a lot of that snow is no longer on the roads and the highways. the crew in boston worked around the clock to make sure the plows were moving. early sunday morning a lot of the blacktop was visible allowing for people to get out, to dig themselves out and go about their day on sunday. it's almost as if boston has been through this before. obviously severe winter weather or boston no stranger to that kind of severe winter weather. however, this storm certainly was heavier than what it's experienced before with the national weather service snow accumulation here in boston about 23.6 inches. that ties the record daily snowfall total that they saw back in february of 2003 in terms of a blizzard and actual official blizzard. hadn't seen one here in boston since 2018, but nonetheless so, as folks are digging their way out of this snowy mess, a lot of people are getting their lives back to normal. there is still some lingering travel trouble in some major american airports throughout the northeast, not to mention some power outages. the numbers of those slowly on the decline. paolo sandoval, cnn, boston, massachusetts. now meteorologist pedram javaheri joins us now. great to see you, pedram. what is the latest on this u.s. winter storm? when can some areas see better temperatures? >> you know, rosemary, with about 2 feet of snow on the ground and temperatures are close to the freezing mark today and really close to it tomorrow even, we're going to see the snow stick around a few days. temps warm up wednesday and thursday. these records as incredible as it gets, in some cases 10 inches above the previous record, the kennedy airport there in new york, and even laguardia setting records about 9 inches above what the previous one was, sitting around 1 inch. satellite perspective, 22,000 miles up looking back down towards the northeastern u.s., you'll notice the entirety of the region here with at least some snow on the ground, again, some of these areas we're talking several feet of snow that came down setting these records that we've seen. but again, that element finally tapering off. want to show you what's happening across portions of florida. freeze alerts, widespread. temperatures here closing in on the freezing categories in the last couple of days. even on monday morning. in miami, florida, temperatures down to 45 degrees. ft. myers into the middle 30s. orlando near the freezing mark as well. really widespread set up when you see 40s in place across parts of the florida keys. that element is what's happening right now. the next element we're following is the forecast to happen in the next couple of days. there is another system on the move. this one a little more complicated. it's not just snow in the forecast, but essentially a wintry mix of every weather element you can think of. we've got hail, we've got snow, sleet, freezing rain and plenty of regular rain as well. on the southern side of the u.s. as the system moves from tuesday night to potentially thursday night. where it sets up, where you see the pink color aation, that's where the problematic areas will be, more disrup tan than what we saw in the northeast. could be ice accretions in the areas. some models a 10th of, a quarter, a few models takding i up to an inch or more of ice. this could cause power outages and tree limbs down as well. as this plays out as some of the models depict, it could be a serious area as it spans from texas to necw england. speaking of new england, boston warming up, well above the freezing threshold to allow the snow to melt. then look what happens. toward this weekend, temp free fall, winter far from over across the northeastern u.s. groundhog day is here as well. >> gosh, it's that time already. pedram javaheri. thank you so much. well, this weekend's storm didn't stop one rhode island couple from tying the knot. >> i now present you mr. and mrs. adam. >> the happy couple said they had their wedding date set for more than a year. so despite the warnings of an historic blizzard, they said their i do's on saturday outside the providence public library surrounded by family and friends. >> it's amazing to have all the people we love around us here to share this day with us and celebrate. have a snowball fight hopefully once i get some gloves on these fingers. >> love keeps you warm. for the record, providence got about half a meter or nearly 2 feet of snow. well, long-time television actor howard hesseman known as johnny fever on wkrp in cincinnati, has died. his manager said he passed away saturday from colon surgery. he earned two emmy nominations for his role on "wkrp." he starred on "head of the"," one day at a time" and "that 70s show." he was 81 years old. thank you so much for joining us. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back with more news from all around the world. do stay with us. i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ when a truck hit my car, ♪the insurance companyed, wasn't fair. eight million ♪ i didid't t kn whahatmy c caswa, so i called the barnes firm. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to k how much their accident case is worth.h barnes. t ouour juryry aorneneys hehelpou hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom," and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, a push for diplomacy between russia and ukraine as the u.n. security council is set to meet soon to discuss the crisis. all while russia's massive troop