south to new lows not seen in decades or longer. the four degrees in new york city and nine below in pittsburgh broke records that were set more than a century ago. and in the south, atlanta hit six degrees, breaking a record that had stood for more than 40 years. this is what the well-dressed man was wearing in chicago today. the cold and wind made it both painful and dangerous to be outside. in baltimore, a water main break left a car frozen in place. more flights were canceled today, but relief is on the way. we have a team of correspondents covering the deep freeze. first, we'll go to jim axelrod in new york. jim? >> reporter: well, it's not just that new york city broke a 118- year-old record this morning scott, when the temperature hit 4 degrees; it's the swing that's so stunning. it was 50 degrees here yesterday. but that was before the polar vortex swept in. the arctic air pushed into the northeast just in time for the morning rush and forced new york city firefighters to thaw frozen hydrants with steam and sledgehammers. just yesterday, new yorkers like lizzy gifford could have walked their dogs in shorts. not today. >> i've got probably 11 layers going on here. but this is stupid. >> reporter: pittsburgh, philadelphia, and trenton were among 45 places setting records. in cleveland, where it was ten below, hanging ice blocked the train tracks. but buffalo, new york, may have set the frigid standard for misery. never mind the five below temperature, which tied a 72- year-old record; it came with a blizzard that closed the new york state throughway and may dump more than three feet of snow before it's all over. new yorkers have made more than 200,000 cold weather-related calls to the city's help line in the last 24 hours. rocky robinson commands the bedford-stuyvesant volunteer ambulance corps in brooklyn. on a day like today, are there extra difficult challenges you face? >> certainly is. first of all, we're human! so it's cold as hell out there! >> reporter: here in new york, it's about as cold as it's going to get, at least for this weather cycle, but those wild swings will remain. temperatures for this weekend are forecast to be in the mid- 50s, scott. >> pelley: jim, thanks very much. well, folks head south to avoid weather like this, but there was no escaping. demand for heat put a strain on the power grid there. mark strassmann is in asheville, north carolina. mark? >> reporter: scott, it was one below here in asheville, which is a record. and because most people here rely on electric heat, the surge in demand for power caused outages on a day when many towns set record lows. more than 20,000 customers lost power in western north carolina. jason walls is a district manager with the duke energy company. >> early this morning, because of cold load conditions, we lost a critical piece of equipment that helps provide electricity to customers, and those customers have been without power most of the day and our crews are working as quickly and safely to get that power restored. >> reporter: while duke energy set a record, the tennessee valley authority averted one by asking customers to limit demand and unplug unnecessary appliances. there were few outages in the seven-state region t.v.a. serves, despite average temperatures there of just four degrees. it sounds like an old joke, but it was so cold in ken(](9va prison inmate who had escaped turned himself in rather than face a second freezing day on the run. where he was, scott, the wind chill was 20 below. >> pelley: any harbor in a storm mark. and that is apparently what about 300 manatees in florida were thinking today, too. they crowded close to a tampa area power plant's warm water discharge. the temperature in that part of florida didn't get out of the 40s today. we made some calls around owen, wisconsin, where it was six below today. chief deputy jim backus told us, "if i cursed, i would curse. that's how cold it is." you've got to love wisconsin. a lot of people today did not have deputy backus's good manner, however. they were swearing a blue streak at the airlines. more than 2,500 flights were canceled today, bringing the total since january 2 to more than 17,000. jeff pegues says one airline in particular was singled out. >> reporter: over the last six days, 150,000 jetblue passengers had their flights canceled, some late yesterday, when the company shut down operations completely at four major northeast airports. in a conference call, the airline's chief operating officer denied it was bad planning. >> reporter: in extreme cold, >> reporter: in extreme cold, everything in the airline industry slows down. planes have to be de-iced, runways cleared of snow. bigger airlines with more equipment are generally able to adjust faster. and with planes more booked than ever, there often aren't enough seats to rebook passengers. but so far, jetblue is the only major airline to say new rules requiring a shorter flying day for pilots contributed to canceled flights. mark rosenkerr is a cbs news aviation consultant. >> in fairness, the weather certainly did not help the situation. but the reality of life is they should have been able to do a better job of managing their crew to make the compliance of these new rules and regulations appropriate. >> reporter: jetblue says they've hired extra pilots to prepare, but they said it's far less forgiving these new rules are when it comes to how long pilots can stay in the cockpit, so going forward, fliers should expect more delays. >> pelley: jeff pegues at washington's reagan national. jeff, thank you very much. the cold is also blamed for at least five deaths, including a homeless man found in an empty lot in columbus, georgia. in chicago, dean reynolds has more about the struggle to survive. >> reporter: in chicago, at 1:00 p.m., the thermometer climbed back to zero for the first time in 36 hours. but in his nook under michigan avenue, stephen bryant wasn't celebrating. >> it's rough. it's really, really rough. it's getting cold. >> reporter: bryant has lived on the street for 11 years and is weathering this winter under nine blankets. >> i haven't been able to go out there and try to really get nothing to eat because it's just too cold. >> reporter: he says he feels safer on the street, but others, motivated by self-preservation, are flocking to shelters. >> last night, we had 1,081 individuals, which, in our history, we've never had before. >> reporter: phil kwiatkowski runs the pacific garden mission. >> there's certain homeless individuals that may try to brave it outside under a bridge or in a car, but when elements are like they were last night, it is life and death and it forces them to come into a shelter. >> reporter: have you been in shelters before? >> yeah, about two years ago. >> reporter: floyd pilkington just arrived in chicago from mississippi, looking for work and a place to stay. did you spend the night in the car? >> we spent two nights in the car when we first got here. >> reporter: when it was seriously cold? >> saturday night and sunday night. >> reporter: and authorities here in chicago are allowing the shelters to stay open 24 hours a day instead of the usual 12, and right now, scott, they're operating at 95% capacity. >> pelley: dean, thanks very much. there is another important story breaking tonight. we're just getting word of a terrible accident involving a u.s. air force helicopter along the east coast of england. clarissa ward is in london. she's following this for us. clarissa, what do you know? >> reporter: the pentagon is now saying the crew of four on board that helicopter is presumed dead. the u.s. air force bay hawk, which is similar to a black hawk crashed along the coast of norfolk in -ú at about 6:00 p.m. local time. the chopper was based at an air force base and was on a low- level training mission when it went down. so far, we don't know what caused the crash. these types of training missions are quite common and the weather was reportedly fine. a large number of emergency services are now on the scene, scott, and have cordoned off the area. >> pelley: more on this on cbs "this morning" tomorrow. clarissa, thanks very much. tonight, "sunday morning" correspondent rita braver is here to tell us about an interview she's done with former defense secretary robert gates, an interview making a lot of news tonight. in a new memoir, gates is critical of president obama's handling of the war in afghanistan. mr. obama inherited both the war and secretary gates from president george w. bush. rita, what did secretary gates tell you about president obama? >> reporter: well, the most important thing i think is that, while he praises president obama for ordering more troops in afghanistan, against the wishes of his own party and even others within the white house, he says that he believes that the president never had a passion for pursuing the war in afghanistan. and he says this is important because it's one thing to say that you support the troops, it's another thing to really let them know how important it is to you that they must succeed, that their cause is just. he says that he saw president bush do that, but he says he did not see president obama do it and it disturbed him. >> pelley: and gates, in your interview, is critical of vice president biden? >> reporter: well, he's critical of vice president biden in his memoir. at one point, i think he even says something to the effect of "it's impossible not to like the guy, but he was wrong on almost every issue." in particular, when i talked with the secretary, he highlighted what he believed was biden's distrust of the military, especially the military generals, and the fact that gates believed that biden was constantly telling president obama that he had to watch out for these guys, that they were asking for more resources, and that, in gates' words, they were constantly trying to jam the president. >> pelley: rita braver in our washington newsroom. you can see rita's interview with robert gates this coming weekend on "sunday morning.". a short time ago, the white house released a statement saying that the president disagrees with secretary gates' assessment of vice president biden. that statement calls biden one of the leading statesmen of his time. president obama, of course, withdrew u.s. forces from iraq, but the war there never ended. fighting continued today in anbar province, where al qaeda rebels have seized the city of fallujah. it's part of a growing battle between two main branches of islam-- a battle that's also being waged in syria and in lebanon. elizabeth palmer spoke with a top jordanian official today about what's at stake. >> reporter: jordan's crown prince hassan bin talal, elder statesman of arab politics, told cbs news he's been watching the escalating violence in neighboring iraq with great concern. >> iraq is fragmenting and i think the over-spill of that is the fragmentation of the region as a whole. >> reporter: he blames religious extremists fighting in syria for the spill over. >> these are cruel, sadistic people, and i cannot rely on the revenge of the desert, but the time has come to follow the money trail. the governments should be told to pull them back. >> reporter: easier said than done, with iran supporting the regime and saudi arabia funding the other side. if it continues, says the prince, this proxy war could engulf the whole region. what can the united states possibly do now that it has left militarily? >> it has created a vacuum, but at the same time, there are seven military bases and naval bases there. >> reporter: so? >> so we go back to that if that is required, and that means the occasional cruise missile. >> reporter: but that, of course scott, is a very tough political sell in america, which is still coming to grips with the more than $2 trillion cost of the iraq war. today, j.p. morgan chase settled up with the victims of bernie madoff. and gold medal skier lindsay vonn makes a big announcement when the "cbs evening news" continues. 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"cbs news," los angeles. >> today, j.p. morgan chase agreed to pay $1.7 billion to avoid criminal prosecution in connection with bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. prosecutors say that chase madoff's main bank failed to report evidence of his massive fraud. the money will go to madoff's investors who lost $18 billion. we will be right back. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. and that means...fish on! 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[ man ] with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today we're ready for whatever swims our way. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. >> pelley: today, a three-month extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless cleared a key hurdle in the senate. six republicans joined majority democrats in voting to keep the measure alive. the bill faces a tough battle, however, in the republican- controlled house, where speaker john boehner insists that any extension of benefits be paid for with cuts in the budget. today, a chinese ice breaker that got stuck in the ice off antarctica finally broke free. last week, the "snow dragon" sent one of its helicopters to rescue dozens from a stuck research vessel. they were put on to another ship, then the "snow dragon" got trapped in ice a yard thick. but it kept pushing and pushing, and today, it broke free. also today, american skier lindsay vonn said she will miss the sochi olympics. she needs more surgery on her right knee. she tore ligaments last february, then hurt the knee twice more while training this past fall. vonn is 29. in 2010, she won two medals, including gold in the downhill. today, in a facebook posting. she said she is devastated to miss the olympics. you may love watching the sun set, but you've never seen one quite like this. that's next. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. san francisco couldn't be happier. next at six. weather talent appears at wx center with generic pinpoint filling monitor then we take special >> pelley: here's an update on the arctic weather. it looks like we have seen the worst of it. tonight, the weather service tells us the jet stream is moving back into its usual more northerly position, so it's starting to push that polar vortex back where it belongs. temperatures in much of the country will rise above freezing in a day or two. the high temperature on mars today was about 76 below zero. it is a desolate landscape, but it has a fascinating beauty all its own. here's chip reid. >> reporter: it was ten years ago that two mars rovers, "spirit" and "opportunity," after a journey of seven months, bounced on the martian surface and began to explore while beaming hundreds of thousands of photos back to earth. so this one over here is one of your favorite photographs? >> it is. this is the empty quarter, and it shows the tracks from "opportunity" coming from the distance into the foreground, and it's a very desolate plain showing how the rover is just moving by itself across the surface of mars. very reminiscent, perhaps, of a ship in the middle of the ocean. >> reporter: john grant is the curator of a new exhibit of mars rover photos at the smithsonian air and space museum in washington. what is the impetus in putting this exhibit together? >> we're celebrating not only the 10th anniversary of the rovers-- which were supposed to last only about three months-- but we're trying to portray not only the excitement and discoveries, but also the beauty that is mars. >> reporter: some photos make visitors feel like they're standing on mars, like this one of a sunset. >> it created this image that is iconic that everybody on the earth has seen a sunset and they look at this image and it's so familiar in some ways, but a little alien and different in others. every day, the images come down and you're looking at something that no one has ever seen before, no human being. >> reporter: grant hopes this exhibit will help pass along his passion for discovery to a new generation of scientists. >> the kids come in here, i want them to look at these images and say "i can do this. i want to go to mars and be the person that stands on the planet." >> reporter: a planet that is even more photogenic than the mars of science fiction. chip reid, cbs news, washington. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. its employees to work - by water. good evening, i'm elizabet now at 6:00, kpix 5 has learned google has started to take its employees to work by water. good evening. i am elizabeth cook. >> i am ken bastida. you have heard about the so- called google buses and the mysterious google barge. get ready to meet the google ferry. allen martin has more. >> reporter: the boat unloaded about half an hour ago. it is certainly no google barge, that controversial marketplace being built off treasure island, nor is it a fog l bus, but it is in its second day of shuttling google employees to and from work. >> it's called the triumphant. according to this video on youtube, it is 83 feet long, cruises at 27 knots scene built to impression. but in google's case it is more like a shuttle bus on the water. >> carrying passengers for a tech company to see if it makes sense if their employees would like to use the bay as a highway. >> peter daily, director with the port of san francisco tells kpix 5 google's trial began monday. according to the port of san francisco, google hired a triuhant, a multiwhole ferry boat based in long beach. triumphant is making two morning runs from san francisco to redwood city. then two return trips from redwood city to san francisco in the evening all using those familiar gates at the san francisco ferry building. >> one of the prerequisites is it cannot delay or in any way impact operations. that is a

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