entertainment world. rnb singer teena marie is dead at 54. marie was a grammy winning nominated artist and protege of legend rick james. she began her career with motown records in the 1970s and had a hit later with the song "lover girl" in 1984. she was noted for her success as a white fer former in r & b music. more on teena marie's passing and her legacy later in this show. meanwhile, this is not how anybody wanted to finish the christmas weekend, a blizzard bearing down on the northeast as we speak. a live look here for you at the snow whipping around providence, rhode island tonight. this is the reason so many people are making it or not making it home tonight, and many more could have to miss work in the morning as well. officials throughout the northeast are begging people to stay off the roads as well. our affiliate wpri tells us there is a very good reason why. >> reporter: highways are plowed but still slick. 295 down to one lane in some spots according to state police with everyone here staying to the right. this accident involving a car at a d.o.t. plow is one of about a dozen blamed on the snowy conditions. the car ended up on its side. the plow came to a stop in a snow-covered median. the plow was actually behind the car. the car spun out on this route 37 off ramp, and the plow just clipped the rear end. >> fortunately there were no injuries. >> reporter: are we seeing these scattered across the state today. >> as i'm speaking to you now, just got another report of a rollover, route 102 in the west greenwich area. i'm understanding that that one is with some injury. i don't know how substantial that one is, but for the most part we're seeing cars off the road, striking barriers or guardrails. >> reporter: as we said, ema is up and running. the concern for tonight is the wind, sending snow sideways in this video, and freezing rain, teeming up to knock out your power. >> there's freezing rain mixed in, and maybe could take some power lines down as high winds, and so if the power goes down, they brought in some extra crews to be ready to respond and try to get power up as soon as possible. but it could be out for an extended period of time. >> let's go to bonnie schneider at weather schneider there with more on this storm, still affecting so many parts of the northeast, and for the coming hours, of course, people will have to look out for this blizzard. >> that's true, and we're just getting in snowfall totals. i've tabulated this but these totals will go up much more as you watch "american morning" tomorrow. cape may, new jersey, 18 inches already of snow and philadelphia so much less, 4.8 and wilmington 1.7. plainview, new york, in nassau county, 6.5 and up in boston where the blizzard will get cranking tonight, 6.5. let me pull this out and show you why this is so interesting. take a look, you can see on the map here, where cape may is located and wilmington and philadelphia, and each of these cities are under 100 miles from cape may, and we saw a difference of a foot of snow plus in terms of accumulation. it really is one of the things about a nor'easter. you get the narrow intense bands of snow and depending where you are you'll get hard hit or not so much. cities like washington, d.c., for example, only saw a few inches, and that's even that far from philly. another phenomenon we've been watching with this nor'easter is thunder snow. a lot of reports of that happening. saw that on twitter, phenomenon where you have an intense snow storm and thunder and lightning just like in a summer thunderstorm except it's happening in the winder. the blizzard warnings continue not just through tonight but through tomorrow afternoon. tomorrow evening, many of these don't expire until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow as that low pressure center works its way up the delaware coast, and then by later tonight into the overnight hours it's going to really tighten and intensify off the coast of nantucket, and that's where we're going to see winds as strong as 50 miles per hour or stronger. snowfall rates 2 to 4 inches are possible per hour. that's incredible, and some of the winds have already been clocking at really intense speeds. we've had one wind gust in bridgeport, connecticut, of 58 miles per hour. blizzard warnings up and down the jersey shore, in parts as far south as virginia. as we take a look at areas southward, we will see some improvements, but look what's happening in the northeast. a little bit of rain moving in, mixing at times with sleet and snow in boston. that will all change to snow, especially as the storm pulls away and you get the back side and the strong winds. windy everywhere tomorrow, and across the south snow flurries have been falling across atlanta, columbia, into savannah. it's important to note accumulations are not expected even though here in atlanta we did see the first white christmas. we'll see flurries tonight, but watch out for icy roads. more coming up in just a bit. >> right. we'll have to look out for that a little bit later when we drive home. don't we, bonnie? providence, live pictures coming to us from there, and we're seeing what, windy conditions, and a bit of icy snow, it looks like. that looks blizzardy to me. >> providence is under a blizzard warning straight through tomorrow evening so that's why you see the sideways motion of the snow with the intense winds at 35 miles per hour or stronger. >> great. philadelphia. >> philadelphia is under a winter weather advisory, and the philadelphia saw less snow and less intensity than areas just a little bit further north. a little over 4 inches of snow on the ground. still facing very dangerous and strong and windy conditions out there. that will persist through tomorrow. >> and michael nutter from philadelphia is telling us if the cy is under a weather emergency, it means they are advising people not to park out on the street and that, of course, if they are saying if you don't have to drive somewhere, look at the conditions there. don't do it. >> visibility is just less than zero in some places. >> bone schneider, thanks very much. talk to you a little bit later. the blizzard is blasting the east coast as far down as virginia but snowy conditions are reaching way down south of that, as we discuss there had with bonnie. it is a very rare, very welcome sight for some people in florida as vic micalucci tells us from our affiliate wjxt. >> reporter: the calls from viewers started coming in just before 9:00 this morning reporting snow flurries all over the place. i stepped into our station's back parking lot near downtown jacksonville, and i, too, saw the smallest of flurries, and it's been the first time in a very long time around here. it's snowing in jacksonville. snowing in jacksonville on the day after christmas in 2010. look at this. it's pretty obvious robert ellison couldn't believe his eyes when he woke up this morning on jacksonville's west side, and neither did edward buys on the south side. >> look at all that snow on you, girl. oh, my gosh. >> holiday weather here. holiday weather. >> reporter: flurries fell all across the area. >> channel 4. >> reporter: and we took more than 100 calls all morning from brunswick to st. augustine, to the beach es. at the ramona flea market off interstate 10, it was business as usual, except it's not usual to be this cold. >> my face is cold. this helps to keep it warm here. >> reporter: this morning shoppers and vendors got to see some of the white stuff fall at the west side swap shop. >> it was white all over my jacket and the windshield, and it was coming down pretty good. ♪ let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ♪ freezing out here. >> all right. there you have live pictures on the left. providence, rhode island with winds, bonnie was telling us there, about 35 miles per hour and blizzard conditions and on the right, the flickering signal we're getng is from newark, new jersey. a lot more coverage of this winter weather and how it's affecting travel and how it's affecting flights, even train service from new york to boston. a lot more ahead here on cnn "newsroom." up next, a live look at d.c. for a check of weather and politics. our paul stein hauser will be here to tell us what the new year brings with it a new congress. we'll be right back. praiser: well you rarely see them in this good of shape. appraiser: for example the fingers are perfect. appraiser: the bird is in mint condition. appraiser: and i would say if this were to go to auction today, woman: really? appraiser: conrvativy it would be worth 2 in the bush. praiser: it's just biful, thank u so much for brinit i woman: unbelievable appraiser: conrvativy it would be worth 2 in the bush. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. 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(announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. all right. that's a view of our nation's capital this hour. washington appears to have escaped the worst of the winter storm blasting the east coast, but it won't be quiet for long when congress and the president return to town. republicans will have control of the house and bigger numbers in the senate. i'm joined from washington but deputy political director paul steinhauser. paul, thanks for coming in sunday night. let's look ahead to the new year and the new congress in a moment, but first this lame duck congress where nothing was going to happen. well, we had a flurry of votes there, and at the end who is getting credit for what was accomplished. i know we have new poll numbers. what do they reveal? >> well, a lot of political pundits saying it was a december to remember for president obama and why? because so many things were passed through that lame duck congress from the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy which prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military to the ratification of the approval of a major nuclear weapons treaty with russia, to that tax cut compromise, and our polls indicate americans feel the same way, that it was the president who real was the winner. take a look at this. you mentioned our national survey and this is from cnn opinion research corporation. at the top. do you approve or disapprove how these people handled the lame duck session? president obama, 56 so a majority approved of how he handled the lame duck and democrats and republicans disapprove. this is the next number here, and we asked in this question, do you think -- did president barack obama do enough to compromise with the other side in the republicans in congress, well, yes, most americans say yes. six out of ten, but they do not feel the same way about republicans, so the fact that the president was able to reach out to republicans, americans think that he was able to compromise, and that's what made him a big winner, i guess. >> you know, i find interesting that the -- the percentage of republicans and democrats who approve of the job barack obama did this december is within one percentage point of each other so they are very close regardless of which party they belong to. >> both sides thought he was quite productive. i guess you can call this holiday spirit in december, will it last into the new year, and i don't think so. sure, anything can happen, but here's a couple of things that are working against it. first of all, when we get the new congress coming up in about a week, week and a half, remember, the new congress on the house side, it will be run by the republicans, and in the senate, the democrats coalition there, they will still be in the majority with a weaker majority and stronger minority by the republicans and a more conservative minority by the republicans as well. look at of the big issues the new congress will have to deal, the budget. remember this, temporary budget was passed by the lame duck. well, the lights run out on the government in early march, so there will be a big battle over that, as well as the deficit and as well as raising the debt ceiling for the country, and the republicans in the house may try to repeal the new health care law. there does not seem to be some areas here on these issues where there will be a lot of common ground between the white house and democrats in congress and the republicans, but we'll see. >> all right. we will see, because some of the predictions for december certainly didn't come true, so that was interesting. >> exactly. exactly. you never know >> you never know. paul steinhauser, thanks very much. still ahead, amtrak has canceled all train service between boston and new york because of the weather. when we come back, i'll talk to an amtrak spokesman about what that means for travelers. stay with us. let's check some of our top stories. r & b singer teena marie is dead at the age of 54. she's best known for her 1954 hit "lover girl." her career began in the 1970s with motown records and included several grammy nominations. cnn's don lemon will share his memories of her in a moment. meanwhile, a winter storm has slowed travel to a crawl in the northeast, combined cancellations for american, continental and delta airlines are totaling more than 1,300 flights so far. many airlines are waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule, and am interesting has also cancelled service in some areas, and the nfl postponed tonight eagles/vikings game. well, take a look at lincoln financial field, and can you probably see -- i can't take a look at lincoln financial field because i can't see it. and here you have philadelphia, pennsylvania. there again, the mayor of philadelphia, michael nutter, telling us just a little bit earlier that weather emergencies have been issued for philadelphia. that means not being able to park in certain streets and discouraging travel by car especially for philadelphia residents. the blizzard you just heard about is also pummeling amtrak's northeast corridor. tonight amtrak has cancelled all trains, regional and express service, between new york and boston. joining us by phone is cliff cole, a spokesman for amtrak. all right. thanks for taking the time, cliff cole, to talk to us. what does that mean in terms of how many passengers are affect the tonight, cliff? >> well, from boston to new york we cancelled a total of eight trains between those two end points, and most of them, if not all of them, i'm not exactly sure were sold out or close to sold out. that's close to 1,200 people on each train who were impacted by the cancellation. >> and are some people stranded, or has everyone been sort of able to leave the terminal or leave the train station and find some place else to spend the night? >> well, what we did is we, you know, as soon as we figured out that we were not going to run the trains, we have a system whereby we contact the passengers through our reservations department by phone or by other means electronically to make sure that they are aware that the train has been cancelled. the hope there is that they don't show up to the station then and then have to find other ways to get home, so looking around at some of the stations, a lot of people apparently did get the word that the trains were cancelled because we don't have crowding conditions there, so the good news is that the people who cannot travel by train by amtrak between boston and new york, at least conceivably are some place safe and warm and waiting for the storm to pass. >> i imagine some people did show up. we have new york and boston cancelled. what about new york/washington? >> that's the good news is we haven't had to cancel any service between those points as the storm moved off the coast and as it moves away from the atlantic region it becomes less and less likely to have to do so so we are running normal service between washington and new york and at least at this point and we anticipate that to be-to-remain the case throughout night and into the morning. >> let me ask you. people rely on amtrak, of course. tomorrow is monday. how early will you start services again tomorrow? >> the first trains out in the morning, i'm not exactly sure when the first one would be out. the customer service people would know better than i would because we're trying to formulate what equipment would be available, but the best way and the best advice i gave everyone is to call 1-800-usa to find out specific train information. we are running a limited schedule, were running a limited schedule even before the storm came up the coast because of the christmas holiday, but, again, we are very hopeful that we'll be able to get folks between boston and new york starting tomorrow morning. >> cliff cole, an amtrak spokesperson joining us live there. thanks very much for the update and, of course, telling passengers out there who are booked on train journeys between either of those major points on amtrak to call ahead and make sure that their train, that their train journeys haven't been cancelled. talking about trains here. so many people whose flights were cancelled might have wanted to rely on train service. well, flights are cancelled tonight stranding thousands of travelers. newark international airport is, in fact, completely shut down. deborah alfaran from apill ate wpix is standing by live outside one of the terminals. what's going on where you are? no flights taking off. no flights landing, and people sleeping in the terminal, right? >> reporter: yeah. people are sleeping in the terminal at this point. the thing is we started off with delays and then we had cancellations. now you really don't hear about it that often but newark liberty international airport is completely set down. i'll ask christian to pan off a little bit and show you what the scene is like here. we've seen plow trucks trying to keep this lot clean, and it is just a lose battle. we went inside to talk to some people, and they are going to have to sack out here for the night because some of these hotels are actually packed. >> mm-hmm. and we're talking about hotels, the airport hotels so people strand had had to find some place to spend the night. how long could people be stuck there in and around newark? >> that's a good question. i spoke to a couple of people who told me they had flights today, and they are not getting out for two days, maybe even three days. now, again, we don't know if they are going to change things. i mean, everything you hear here at newark, it kind of changes a little bit throughout the day, but look at these conditions right now. w