we have the answer how the grand piano landed on a sandbar in miami's biscayne bay. i wish we were in miami this morning. >> no kidding. just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it has. look at the numbers from up and down the east coast. philadelphia, a foot and a half of snow. already in new york, the most snow ever in january. >> went through all of the snow removal budgets in many cities and states. >> eight snowstorms here in new york, since mid-december. once every five days. >> schools are closed in boston, new york city, washington, d.c. people all over the northeast are having one heck of a time trying to get to work. some people didn't even make it home last night from their offices because the storm started around dinner time last night. and in the capital, it was a nightmare commute. so many people stuck in dire conditions for hours, including our own abc news staffers, who are going to give us a video notebook on what it was like to get home. >> i got out of washington just in the nick of time. that didn't make it any earlier. to go for a stretch of a couple miles took several hours. >> oh, my gosh. >> we have full team coverage of this. we'll start with sam, tracking the storm up in columbus circle. sam? >> good morning, george and elizabeth. and if this keeps up, it will be a record-setting winter for all locations. just take new york city, for example. normally, on an average winter season, and that's average. some years are more. some years are less. you would expect 22 inches of snow on the ground. yeah. you'd call that a pretty good winter in general. so far, we're at 56 inches of snow on the ground. that's just so far. welcome to the new arctic zone. >> wow. that's crazy. >> reporter: overnight, rare thunder snow shocked people in places like pennsylvania. and in new york city, officials declared a winter emergency. in neighboring long island, two snowstorm-related deaths. i-95, shut down in darian, connecticut. in new jersey, state police have tallied more than 500 accidents. and in washington, d.c., five inches of snow smothered the city, causing cars to spin out of control. it's about 8:00 at night. and from washington to baltimore, it's snowing about two to three inches an hour. whiteout conditions. here in new york, it started as a coating of icy sleet. but in just a few hours, it's that, on the road, covered in snow. look at this time lapse video from our storm spotters. up to a foot and a half of snow fell in major cities like philadelphia. boston. and new york city. >> problem isn't just on the roads. it's up above, as well. the weight of that ice is bringing down power lines. >> city officials asking people to avoid driving, if possible. >> reporter: around the nation's capital, abandoned cars and buses lined the roads. and more than 300,000 people are without electricity. even our abc staffers were trapped in their cars last night, on their commute home. >> i'm now in hour six of what is usually my 15-minute commute. the road is actually just jam-packed with commuters who can't get through. there's so many cars littering the highway, just abandoned. >> reporter: and the president's motorcade got eheld up by the snow, weaving through traffic for more than an hour. if you're traveling today, check with your carrier. 4,000 flights were canceled in 3 new york city airports. and no airport in the northeast was left untouched. >> you have to deal with it. a day like today, there's going to be delays. there's going to be problems. >> in this snowstorm, it is the mid-atlantic all the way to the northeast. and it's going -- everyone will be walking around piles of snow like this. philadelphia, the totals are staggering here. you'd normally see 20 inches in a season. you've almost doubled that. 37 inches are on the ground right now. it's more impressive when you get to cities like boston. they normally get 41 inches of snow on the ground. they, so far, have gotten 62 inches of snow on the ground. i say so far, because we haven't been able to measure all of the snow in these areas. it may be midday before we really know what the totals are of snow. elizabeth? >> that's so incredible, sam. i want to show you something. if you look down times square, there's a huge pile of snow, not one, but two of them. it's unbelievable this is the scene in times square. as bad as it is here, the city really getting buried this morning is boston. they had more than a foot of snowfall. overnight in parts of massachusetts. and the snow is still coming down. our own jeremy hubbard is just outside boston with the very latest here. good morning to you, jeremy. >> reporter: good morning, elizabeth. they are running out of places to put all this snow. they're trucking it in to snow farms like this, where earth movers are putting the snow in piles five stories tall and growing. by midnight, as the wall of snow blew in, the crashes and spinouts cluttered the roads. the driver of this one is lucky. you can see the skid marks right here. you can see the side of the road. these roads are slick. slick and invisible. just a half hour later, at 12:30, this highway south of boston, covered. drivers facing a blinding barrage of snow. >> it seems like it's never-ending at this point. >> reporter: in the thick of the storm at 2:30 this morning, driver ken coburn, out plowing interstate 95 in a whiteout. it's his seventh snowstorm this year. the fourth in just the last month. this machine turns snow to steam. 92-degree melting trucks that can liquefy a football field of foot-deep snow in just an hour. i think you're the only guy in boston who doesn't want spring to come. >> we're happy with the snow. we like the snow. >> reporter: but with school canceled again today, and snow removal budgets blown, others are eager for winter's end. how are most people here handling all this snow? >> i'm ready to move. >> yeah. people are pretty much over it. pretty grumpy. >> reporter: psychologist, clara laura, says the crankyness is epidemic. >> my patients are fed up with this weather. it's no fun. >> reporter: her advice, get out there and brave the snow. >> you do the opposite of what you feel like doing. you do want to exercise. you want to keep your body active. it's very important to stay social and not want to cocoon. >> reporter: the people out here working it aren't exactly enjoying it. each scoop moves a ton and a half of snow. and each scoop barely makes a dent in this giant mountain. george? >> jeremy, thanks. as we said, the snowstorm slammed washington, d.c. so hard last night, even the president had a hard time getting home. his helicopter, marine one, was grounded. so, his motorcade had to crawl from andrews air force base to the white house, taking three-times longer than usual. but so many commuters didn't even make it home last night, including our own david kerley, who joins us now from washington. >> reporter: good morning, george. i can't tell you how frustrating it was last night in washington, d.c. i was in your old neighborhood. stuck on a block for 30 minutes or more. 2 hours to go 25 blocks. i have a friend that lives in the area. and that's where i spent the night. people had a hard time getting around. it was a slushy, wet snow. but it was also very slippery. not fun for folks trying to walk. here's the good news. all the cars got off the roads by midnight last night. they've had a chance to plow the roads. but washington is waking up this morning unhappy. the new mayor said they were going to do the best they could do. i'll tell you what, washington thinks it was not a enough. it was a mess. >> it looks like it. thank you, david. >> beautiful pictures. but perilous conditions. now, a mother of three in new jersey has been going through an ordeal in the storm. she's been stuck in the snow in a shuttle bus in newark, new jersey, for seven hours. kristen jones is with her 19-month-old baby. they were on their way to hawaii. not close to getting on the airplane. she spoke with our station wabc, just a few moments ago. >> i've notified new jersey d.o.t. i've called the newark police department several times. and still, nobody has come to see if my three children are okay. to try to get the bus out of the way. just said that they would send somebody out. >> the police even told you that? >> yes. yes. and nobody has come out. >> now, your kids, you have a 19-month-old, an 8-year-old, and a 6-year-old. so, is how do you explain what's going on to them? and what's their comfort level right now? >> well, my daughter is sleeping on one of the shuttle bus seats. she's been sleeping for quite a while now. my 8-year-old son, i tell him to hang in there. he fusses periodically. and my 19-month-old is having a rough time. >> oh, my goodness. for a family like that, that is so tough. we hope they get off that bus soon and on their way to hawaii. all that snow is making for a cuff commute in new england. let's go to kent pierce in our new haven affiliate, with more on that. kent? >> reporter: elizabeth, we are driving around new haven, connecticut. and the good news is, the snow has stopped. the bad news, it dumped another foot of snow on the area. look at what it's done to the streets of new haven. the snow has to be piled up on the sides where will there is already several feet of snow from previous storms. cars are absolutely buried. and the plows that have been through here have just plowed the snow from the main streets, on to side streets. you can see just how treacherous things are here. the governor has banned tractor-trailers from all the interstates. it will be a long time digging out from this one. in the mobile lab, in new haven, connecticut, i'm kent pierce. back to you. >> thanks, kent. let's go back to sam in columbus circle, tracking the rest of the storm. what's next, sam? >> george, the good news is, there's sunshine breaking through. temperatures in all major cities, east coast cities along the coastline, will get snow, will get near or above the freezing mark today. that will cause some melt. good morning. how are you? let me just show you. this is columbus circle. there's no parking here. this is a car. that's a cab that spun out over there on the other side of columbus circle. they've plowed through here. but they've plowed one line that goes up the road. this is amazing. even if you get good melt today, it will take a while to get the snow out of the way. let's get to the boards. we'll begin with who got what. and if you look at the size of the path of the snow here, it's really impressive. this came in two doses. there was one hit of snow and then, a bigger one. almost 19 inches of snow is what we're thinking in the new york city area. we'll go around the weather in the country in a moment. there is new snow coming in the midwest. and record-setting warmth in the west coast. we'll talk about that all in the next half hour. george? >> sam, thanks. we'll turn to the economy now. and the latest bull run in the stock market. the dow bumped over 12,000 briefly on wednesday. the highest point in almost three years. is this a sign that the rest of the economy, and most importantly, the job market, will take off, too? we're going to turn to bethany mcclain, a contributing editor of "vanity fair." and author of "all the devils are here, the history of the financial crisis." thanks for joining us, getting up early in los angeles. how real is this momentum? >> i think there's reason to be skeptical. the good part is that corporate america is more optimistic than in a long time. ceos are talking about hiring. that's great. but the real reason for the momentum is that the federal reserve said it's standing behind the market. ben bernanke made it clear, he wants higher prices. and there's an old maximum on wall street of don't fight the fed. >> they continue to pump money in the economy. they came out with a statement saying, at least for a while, it's going to continue. >> right. so far, we've seen no signs that the federal reserve is going to take the punch bowl away. that's the main thing that's propping up the market. and if you look back at history, that hasn't necessarily ended well for us over the last ten years. >> they are going to have to take it away at some point. how about reaction to the president's state of the union speech the other night? the dow seemed to be pretty flat, even though the president did call for a cut in corporate taxes. >> i think there's some sense that the president has moved to the center. then again, if you look back over the last couple of years, the president and washington has done a lot to support the economy and to support business. so, the news about corporate tax rates would be marginally positive. but this notion that somehow they haven't been supportive of business, and now, they're going to be, they've been very supportive of business. >> when is this going to lead to new jobs? we have 9.4% unemployment. 16% underemployment. the president count announce new programs in his state of the union address. and now, it's up to businesses to start to invest their funds. they're only going to do it if they see demand out there. >> i think that's the biggest question for the market and the biggest in the economy. no question, it's the job situation. and you'd like to believe that this renewed optimism on the part of corporate ceos is going to lead to more hiring. but we have headwinds in the face of the deficit and the housing market. i would expect something of a bumpy ride. >> we have a major report coming out on the route to the final crisis from the federal commission this morning. their bottom line is, this could have been prevented. humans didn't do what it needed to do. there was too much greed on wall street. >> i think that's -- i think that's the right conclusion. i think it's not correct to point the finger solely at the greed on wall street. that's a factor. but it's one of many. i think the report points a deserving finger at people in washington, at congress and regulators. at congress, for their failure to protect the american people, when that's what they were supposed to do. and regulators for failing to regulate. >> bethany, thanks very much. changing gears, now, george. a tragedy at the american border. husband and wife missionaries working in mexico were fired on by gunmen. the husband ended up racing his wounded wife at top speed to the border to get help. and rob nelson is here with more. another shooting at the mexican border. >> frightening what's going on in that part of the world right now. this story is the latest on that. you can roll that package. and we'll tell you the latest on this tragedy. you're looking at the bullet-riddled truck that nancy davis died in. she and her husband were driving when police say a black pickup truck full of armed men, tried to force them to pull over. the davises tried to get away. but the men opened fire, shooting 59-year-old nancy in the head. >> it happened in the interior of mexico, as they were traveling from mexico, toward the united states. >> reporter: sam davis sped against traffic to the far international bridge. authorities met them there, and then rushed nancy to the hospital, in nearby mcallen, where she later died. the couple had been missionaries for 30 years. devoting their lives to help the mexican community of san fernando. her apparent murder is tragic but for many, not surprising. >> it's not safe. churches from texas that i know of are not going to mexico. >> reporter: violent drug cartels have turned many parts of the u.s./mexico border into a war zone. where davis was shot, is just miles from falcon lake, where tiffany hartley says her husband was murdered when they were out jet skiing. several agencies investigating this case. and the shooting happened in an area controlled by one of the most dangerous cartels in all of mexico. >> thanks for that report. here's something i've never seen before. a member of congress suing congress. back in 2007, ohio congressman dennis kucinich bit into an olive pit that wasn't supposed to be in the veggie wrap from the congress cafeteria. now, he's suing. jon karl with the lawbreaker and the jaw breaker. >> reporter: most up here think the cafeteria food is pretty good. but dennis kucinich believes this sandwich wrap was so bad and caused so much damage, he is suing for $150,000. dennis kucinich is a two-time presidential candidate and unabashed liberal. his website calls him, america's most courageous congressman. but apparently he was no match for a sandwich wrap bought at this cafeteria on capitol hill. kucinich's legal complaint spells out the case in chilling detail. the wrap was allegedly unwholesome and unfit for human consumption. and it was represented to contain pitted olives. but unknown to the plaintiff, contained an unpitted olive. when he took a bite, the olive pit allegedly caused serious and permanent dental and oral injuries. although kucinich filed the lawsuit just yesterday, he ate the offending wrap in april 2008. he didn't mention it publicly at the time. but just five days later -- >> the high cost of gasoline is troubling americans. >> reporter: he gave a speech on the house floor without any problem. more than a decade, kucinich has been one of congress' more colorful figures. when state of the union time rolls around, he's known for waiting hours to get an aisle seat and a moment with the president. even george w. bush, who he tried to have impeached. as part of his 2004 presidential campaign, he invited women to enter a contest to go on a date with limb. 80 entrants. one winner. during his 2008 campaign, he won only 2% of the vote in the new hampshire primary, but demanded a recount. so, other than that legal filing, kucinich has had nothing to say about this. in fact, when we called his office to ask about it, we were told, no comment, sorry. and then, they hung up on us. >> it is so strange. he's not been shy to speak out to the media in the past. it's almost as if he's embarrassed by all this. >> reporter: yeah. it's odd. i mean, i think that getting turned down for an interview request from dennis kucinich is one of the rarer things to happen. i suspect eventually he'll talk about this. but nothing yet. >> $150,000 for dental work. wow. >> how hard was it to get in today? >> reporter: i actually stayed in, george. i didn't even try to get out. you know, you saw some of our colleagues, john hendren, 6 hours on a 15-minute commute. i think i found the last hotel room still available in washington. >> all right, jon. you were smart. states and cities, george, we said earlier, are plowing through their snow budgets. new jersey has spent more than $20 million of their snow budget. boston has spent $11 million of its $16 million set aside so far. and new york city has already burned through its entire annual snow removal budget of $38 million. some states are so far in the red, officials are asking federal government for help. new jersey governor chris christie is asking fema for $53 million. >> wow. coming up, the mystery of the missing michigan mom who disappeared into thin air from her home. her husband said she didn't have access to a car. so, what possibly could have happened to her? and we'll get the latest on singer jimmy buffett. don't go away. for those of us who have lactose intolerance, let's raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. 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