officials caution severe pediatric cases are on the rise in several states. gift cards, boom or bust? they are seemingly everywhere this time of year. cbs carter evans reports many go unused, wasting billions of dollars. and on the road. cbs steve hartman looks at the true meaning of extended family. this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting from the nation s capital. garrett: good evening, everyone. thank you for joining us. i m major garrett in for norah. tonight, more than 200 million ameramericans are under some fof winter storm advisory heading into christmas weekend. the national weather service alerts range from washington state to maine, from the gulf coast from texas to florida is under a hard freeze warning. the midwest has and is suffering the most with near-whiteout conditions reported in minnesota, iowa, wisconsin, and michigan. in the east, flash flooding has inundated communities across several states including connecticut, new jers
hello, everyone. i m kate bolduan. at this hour, we re tracking this massive winter storm sweeping across the united states. it is impacting the vast majority of americans today. just two days before christmas. the storm is bringing blizzard conditions. i mean i don t need to say it. you could see it. blizzard conditions and ice freezing rain and very strong winds to cities coast to coast. areas near the great lakes could see up to three feet of snow like buffalo. but the cold, record-breaking and life-threatening. more than 200 million americans are under windchill alerts. the storm has not knocked out power to at least a million customers so far and travel is starting to get back. more than 3700 flights have been canceled today and more than 2,000 others have been delayed. that is not even to speak of what the roads are like right now. we re going to get to. we have reporters stationed across the country. let s start with meteorologist al alice isson chinchar. up an dow