Sky. The Rocket Launch that mesmerized millions. And the confusion, chaos and crashes it caused. And good evening and welcome to World News Tonight. Im tom llamas, in for david. And we begin with that deadly winter wallop, striking the day after christmas, as millions of americans travel for the holidays. Snow falling from coast to coast. Eyepopping accumulations in parts of pennsylvania and upstate new york. More than 50 inches in some spots. And its not just snow. Wind chill alerts in 20 states. This time lapse video from duluth, minnesota, where temperatures hit 21 degrees below zero. Causing steam and fog to rise from lake superior. Treacherous driving conditions tonight. Four killed in one Interstate Crash in kansas. Slow going from the great lakes through the northeast. And a frightening moment at bostons logan airport, when a jetblue Passenger Plane skidded out after landing in slick
conditions. Airline delays stacking up tonight as that arctic blast moves east. Abcs alex perez
into alaska airlines 1282 from portland, oregon, to ontario, california, sheer panic, as a piece of the plane went missing. the friday night sky suddenly widely visible from inside the plane as the crew scrambled to keep passengers alive. we re declaring an emergency. we need to descend down to 10,000 reporter: a cabin panel blew clear off this boeing 737 max 9 aircraft, loaded with 177 passengers and crew. the scene onboard remaining eerily quiet a lot of people around me were a lot calmer than i off with thought for a situation like this. reporter: an emergency landing back to portland passengers applauding the crew s actions, relieved to be alive. this wasn t even the emergency door reporter: that refrigerator-sized hole in the plane appearing to be an emergency exit is actually called a plug door to passengers, it would look like any other window seat there was thankfully no one seated near the window
friday night sky. wow, what is that? reporter: the sight so mesmerizing that some motorists couldn t keep their eyes out of the sky and on the road. oh! [ bleep ]. this guy s not paying attention. reporter: and even after those three cars crashed, the narrator in this video barely skips a beat, he just keeps talking about that shape in the sky. wow. what is that? reporter: the rocket s unusual, whale-shaped contrail feeding a frenzy. if you re wondering that bright thing in the sky was the missile launch. reporter: and so many were wondering. no, dude, what is that? reporter: so many didn t get the message that the hash tag aliens trended on twitter. calls flooded tv stations with ufo sightings. and the man who created the mess? elon musk jokingly capping it this way nuclear alien ufo from north korea. now, the next falcon-9 launch isn t until later next month.