Wintry Storm; Pakistan Lifts State of Emergency; Kabul Militants Fired Rockets; U.N. Climate Forum Closes
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Speaking of weather, within 24 hours look for an icy, wintry mess to stretch all the way from the plains to the northeast. It's really ugly out there. The central states haven't had a chance to dig out from an ice storm earlier this week, and now this, winter storm warnings, ice warnings, heavy snow and high wind warnings all over that section of the map. And just what Oklahoma didn't want to see. But a silver lining is starting to emerge there. The storm is beginning to shift. Kansas will now bear the brunt of it, getting up to nine inches of snow. And flights out of Chicago's O'Hare airport are struggling to get back on schedule. They had been running about two hours behind, but now an airport information officer says that delays are about 15 to 30 minutes. Ooh, but it looks ugly there. And by the time the system reaches New England tomorrow night it is expected to intensify, dumping up to a foot of snow throughout that region. And as you can see, Boston already has plenty of white stuff on the ground. So, of course, driving anywhere is a white-knuckle adventure right now for millions of people. Some commuters spent eight hours trying to make it home in Boston, and that was just the other night. Well, there is all kinds of stuff as a result of that fallout, and now what could be an even worse storm is on the way. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has more on how one of America's oldest cities is bracing for a second wave of winter. But you're not driving, right?</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, not right now, not at all.</s>WHITFIELD: Just checking.</s>WOLF: Right now we're just enjoying the sunshine. I've got to tell you, though Fredricka, you're absolutely right, though, Boston really did got socked with nearly a foot of snowfall in many locations around the Boston metropolitan area. The state of Massachusetts used nearly than 4,000 vehicles, snow plows, ice trucks to try their very best to clear the snow, but we had snow fall rates falling at around three inches an hour and it caused all kinds of issues. A lot of snow, snow that is still on the ground here at Boston common in beautiful Boston, Massachusetts. Now, we had the first part of the storm that came through. We've got a nor'easter that we're expecting to come through overnight tonight into tomorrow, but that's then. Right now people are enjoying the sunshine. We've got blue skies, we had a lot of people out. Take a look at this video. We have some dogs enjoying the great snow, the animals enjoy it just like people do. We've got one shot here of a golden retriever having a wonderful time. His name is tucker, digging in the snow for something. Not quite sure what it is, but he is there. He's having a great time. We also have some video of some moms, dads, kids, enjoying the hills here. We actually have some decent hills here in Boston with a lot of snow, a little bit of ice on them and you go down faster than you think and you can see they had a great time. They're going to be enjoying this, I would say, for the next couple hours, but Fredricka, the skies are going to go from blue to gray. And then by tomorrow afternoon we could see a possibility of rain, sleet, or snow. Looks like, though, the heavy snowfall is going to be farther to the west, back over in upstate New York, some locations possibly getting up to a foot of snowfall. Back to you.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, we know the folks in Boston are very hardy. They can handle this.</s>WOLF: They certainly can.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Reynolds, we'll check back with you. Thanks so much.</s>WOLF: You bet.</s>WHITFIELD: It's nice to see that snow, but it's also causing an ugly mess in a lot of places. Trees and power lines all over Oklahoma are sagging under the weight of so much ice, and now that ice is starting to melt and fall. Chunks of it, in fact, plunged off a huge transmission tower outside a Lawton (ph) TV station, tore through the ceiling, and then watch this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. Oh, my god! Oh, no!</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, yeah, did I mention, it's dangerous, too, potentially dangerous. More falling ice from another TV transmission tower, this one in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma's governor is calling this the worst ice storm in the state's history. Thousands of homes and businesses in Oklahoma are braving this second storm without power. They've been without it now for days after a deadly ice storm blanketed so much of that state last weekend. Crews are working around the clock to restore electricity, but this latest storm complicates just about everything. Let's go now to CNN's Keith Oppenheim in Oklahoma City -- Keith.</s>KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. They are cleaning up and trying to get the power back on. As you can see behind me, these are all sorts of falling limbs that a tree service is gathering and about to put in a wood chipper as part of their cleanup efforts, and there are utility crews that are all over the place in Oklahoma trying to get power back on, and they've done a very good job -- 600,000 homes were without power in the earlier part of the week, and now it's down to about 125,000. It's been snowing, and as I scoop some of the snow off the grass, it's tapered off a little bit, but this is sort of just enough to put just a thin layer of snow and wet stuff on the ground and so that alone is making the major recovery efforts that much tougher.</s>OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Oklahomans are bracing for their second winter storm in less than a week, while still reeling from the worst blackout in state history. Twenty-three deaths have been blamed on last weekend's ice storm and 100,000 homes and businesses are still without power.</s>CYNTHIA HILL, OKLAHOMA CITY RESIDENT: It's been cold. My walls are wet, you blow smoke in the house, but I had about four layers of clothes and blankets, and I survived.</s>OPPENHEIM: Cynthia hill is one of the lucky ones. After five days without electricity, her heat is finally back on.</s>HILL: It just came back on about 20 minutes ago, and I thought I won the lottery. I'm happy.</s>OPPENHEIM: President Bush declared a state of emergency earlier this week, making the state eligible for federal aid. Utility workers from at least six surrounding states are helping out.</s>BRENT SWADLEY, UTILITY WORKER: Thanks for your hard work.</s>OPPENHEIM: Every day has brought steady progress in restoring power, but tired crews have had little time to prepare for this storm.</s>SWADLEY: Trying to replace a lot of poles right now. The trees are horrible. We've got about 25 to 35-mile-per-hour wind coming in next 24 hours. We're trying to prepare for that and get the trees cut back as we can right now.</s>OPPENHEIM: With up to six inches of new snow expected in some parts of the state, utility workers from Texas might find themselves spending the holidays away from home.</s>TERRY TRULL, UTILITY WORKER: At least nod week, maybe a little longer. Just depends how long it takes to get all these people back on.</s>OPPENHEIM: So Fredricka, some good and bad news in Oklahoma. Good news is that the storm that's coming today, maybe not quite as bad as predicted. We might just get one to two inches in Oklahoma City, about four inches to the north of here. But the bad news is it's just enough to make things slower, given that it was already a horrendous job, and as you heard in that piece, some folks may still be waiting a few days or longer before they can turn the lights back on.</s>WHITFIELD: Right, well that much more uncomfortable. Keith Oppenheim thanks so much. Let's check with Karen McGinnis in the Weather Center to find out if indeed there might be a respite for the folks there in Oklahoma. Maybe they're not going to get hit quite as hard.</s>KAREN MCGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not quite as hard, Fredricka, but it will still going to be slow going as the temperature's been plummeting. Now, I want to show you something else on our flight explorer. Here is Chicago. There is Milwaukee. We had conflicting reports as to whether Chicago is still looking at 2, 2-1/2-hour delays. Now some of the state reports are that no delays at O'Hare's airport, but other reports indicate they still have delays. Flight explorer, well, shows the airplanes going in and out of O'Hare. How about our snow report? Hays, Kansas walloped with more than 13 inches of snowfall. We have reports coming out of Newton, Kansas, where they had rollovers because of the slick road conditions. What are we expecting? Well, varying amounts, depending where you're situated, pretty much between Chicago and Indianapolis. They now have backed off some of the snowfall totals. They were originally looking at eight to 12 inches, now it looks like a four to eight-inch snow event. But, we move off toward the northeast and New England, it's quite a different story. But I want to show you some of that Arctic air that has been plunging well to the south with these temperatures mostly in the single digits. And if you want to see just how it feels outside, combine it with the wind. And for Duluth, rather than single digits, it feels like it's below zero, minus 12 below zero, when you factor in the wind there. Billings, Montana, it feels like it's eight degrees, there. Well, what is the origin of this storm? Area of low pressure moves through the Ohio River Valley, off to the northeast and New England going into Sunday. And we'll really look at some airport delays there -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, that's a nightmare scenario.</s>MCGINNIS: Yeah.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Karen, thanks for the news. Well, some other news we're following around the world, a strong earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia, sending panicked residents right into the streets. U.S. scientists put it at the magnitude, rather, at 6.3. Locals say it felt a lot bigger and so far, no reports of injuries or damage. Pakistani President Musharraf lifts his state of emergency, but not before making some key revisions to the constitution. Earlier this morning he swore in the supreme court justices he personally picked to replace those he ousted six weeks ago. Critics say the ousted judges would have nullified his October election victory. And later, in a nationally televised speech, Musharraf said he imposed the emergency as a last resort to save the country from an unspecified conspiracy. Also, he vowed next month's scheduled elections will be free and fair. In Afghanistan, militants fired rockets at police headquarters in Kabul, killing at least five people. Five others were wounded. The missiles appear to have been fired from a small, wooden cart. The United States drops its objections and brings a dramatic close to the U.N. climate forum in Bali. The U.S. finally agreeing with a plan to negotiate a new global warming pact by 2009. The plan does not commit countries to specific actions against global warming, but it does set an agenda for finding ways to transfer technology and financial assistance from rich countries to developing nations. Well, it is the weekend, but it's no time to rest if you're running for president, of course. Rudy Giuliani's searching for support in the sunshine state. We'll have a live report. You are in the NEWSROOM.