and airports across the region are struggling to reopen. in all, five states saw snow totals over three feet. hamden, connecticut, recorded 40 inches. it happened just as forecasters had predicted. two weather systems, one coming out of the west, one from the south, colliding over this region and creating a giant snowmaker. we have correspondents positioned up and down the northeast coast, and al roker starts us off in hard-hit boston. al, good evening. >> reporter: lester, a lot of folks were comparing this to the blizzard of 1978, a record in itself back then. even though it didn't equal that, this storm is going to be one for the record books. people in massachusetts woke up to more than two feet of snow this morning. bringing much of the state to a standstill. >> it's typical new england snow day. >> right now it's probably close to three feet. >> reporter: the massive blizzard, with hurricane force winds, knocked power out to hundreds of thousands of customers. logan airport getting its fifth

largest snowfall on record, nearly 25 inches. there's no amtrak service between new york and boston. and mounds of snow blanket the slippery roads. >> the state police and the national guard have been out in force and working in tandem. >> reporter: on the northeast coast, the high tide, combined with howling winds, and snow, splintered decks from oceanfront homes, washing them out to sea. authorities went door-to-door this morning, issuing evacuation orders to dozens of people in salisbury beach, one of the many hard-hit coastal communities. just east of boston, huge waves crashed over a seawall, sending rivers of water flowing through the streets. the state driving ban's been lifted but public transportation in boston remains suspended. governor deval patrick urging people to stay off the roads. >> hi, everybody. stay in and off the roads, and let those who are clearing the snow and helping us recover and restore ourselves to normal do their jobs.

>> reporter: people, though, are looking for creative ways to get around -- skiing. >> just need a chairlift down here. >> reporter: sledding, even kayaking. it's cold. and not always comfortable. but folks are trying to make the most of it, as cleanup continues in this snow-covered state. lester, last night -- early this morning at 3:00 a.m., worcester emts and massachusetts national guard helped deliver at home a little baby girl noelle. and i have a sense that in about nine months there are going to be a lot more deliveries in this region. back to you. >> maybe we should check back then. al roker tonight in boston starting us off. thanks. as we noted at the top, connecticut had some of the highest snow totals, and in neighboring rhode island, power is a big issue there. nbc's ron allen and ron mott are in those states. ron allen, let's begin with you. >> reporter: good evening, lester. the conditions here are getting better but it's still somewhat dangerous because there's just so much snow everywhere as you can see.

late today the governor lifted the ban on traveling the roads, but he like governor patrick in massachusetts, is still warning the safest course of action for everyone is to just stay home. it took four guys with shovels and a lot of grit to get just one car unstuck this morning. connecticut woke up to whiteout conditions. with several communities buried under more than three feet of snow. the deepest, 40 inches in hamden. >> it's been really hectic. we've been shoveling up in the front of the mall, and it's taking a lot of work. >> reporter: overnight, the blizzard was intense. dumping several inches of snow each hour. >> we've had no snow for multiple years so everybody forgot how to drive in it. >> i have filed a request with the president of the united states for an emergency declaration in the wake of this storm. >> reporter: through the day, bradley international airport remained closed, blanketed by nearly two feet of snow. state officials banned vehicles from every road. to keep the way open for emergency workers.

like this long convoy of utility trucks from north carolina. but officials say abandoned vehicles blocking roadways has been one of the biggest challenges as the state tries to dig out. the snow piled up so fast, even this huge plow got stuck and needed a tow. during a 24-hour period, at the height of the storm, state police say they received some 1,600 calls for help. >> clearly it's a lot of snow that's out here. i don't really think it's that much worse than new englanders had to deal with many times. >> reporter: everywhere hardy new englanders were digging out and trying to deal with the aftermath of this historic winter blast. ron allen, nbc news, hartford. >> reporter: this is ron mott in providence, rhode island. power to the people. those were the marching orders today for electric crews taking advantage of daylight to start getting homes across rhode island out of the dark and cold. at one point, nearly 40% of the homes and businesses served by the state's largest electric utility, national grid, were affected.

187,000 in all. >> it's a bad storm. >> reporter: before lifting a travel ban late this afternoon, governor lincoln chafee implored residents to do their part, by yielding the roads. >> please stay off the streets. all rhode islanders stay off the streets because we need our national grid crews to get to work to get this power back on. >> reporter: high winds, paired with heavy, wet snow, he said, proved a bad combination for trees and power lines. help has come from afar. as far as tennessee in this instance. >> we're working pretty hard. we're working 16-hour shifts. so, i mean, in this weather, that's tough. >> reporter: though not record-breaking snowfall totals across rhode island were substantial. topping the list, west gloucester, 27.6 inches. 21 inches in pawtucket, another 20 in warwick. the state's biggest city, providence, weighing in with 19.5. impressive numbers, even by this canadian transplant standard's. >> typically i have not seen

this much snowfall in years. >> reporter: and while many residences appeared to heed the call to stay indoors, some couldn't resist the call to enjoy the wintry scenery. >> we enjoyed some lightning strikes nearby around town. we were out walking last night, as well. hopefully people are just coming together to get through the storm. >> reporter: temperatures around rhode island tonight are expected to plunge into the single digits. a windchill of 10 below in places. heating centers are open so people don't have to spend a second night in the cold. and national grid says it hopes to have just about everyone powered back up by midnight monday. >> ron mott, thanks to you. and ron allen, as well. while new york city, where we are, were spared a crippling punch from this storm, that was not the case just to the east of us on long island where hundreds of drivers got stuck in some pretty deep snow. nbc's anne thompson is in holtsville, new york, tonight. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. this scene is being repeated up and down a 40-mile stretch of the eastern section of the long island expressway. vehicles littered the roadway,

and the exit ramps, making clearing that much more difficult. 53 miles east of manhattan, long island's busiest highway turned into a vehicle wasteland. >> everyone knew this storm was coming. why hasn't -- why weren't they prepared for it? >> reporter: here and throughout long island, dozens of drivers needed to be rescued. some suffering from hypothermia after spending the night in the bitter cold. four-wheel drive helped, but it wasn't always enough where new york looked like alaska. cars abandoned friday night were plowed under or drifted shut. as this trucker discovered before dawn, exits were no route to safety. >> they clean the service road but they don't clean the highways. >> reporter: more than two feet of snow proved to be too much for mere plows. this job required the heavy equipment. comparatively, new york city weathered the blizzard well. >> oh, wow! >> reporter: returning to its

hurried pace by midday. >> we've gotten through this, looks like we dodged a bullet. >> reporter: on long island, it was nature in contrast. her beauty, and her frustration. gilbert abandoned his jeep at 1:30 this morning. >> i got home. my wife had to throw blankets on me. i was shivering. my clothes were all wet. >> reporter: with a crew of friends he worked to rescue his vehicle. >> go, go. >> reporter: a day of inconvenience, ending with small victory. now, tonight local police are urging residents to stay off the roads. the roads are quite icy. the state has sent some 800 snowplows here to this section of long island. but they actually have extra crews. so new york's governor has sent those extra crews to massachusetts and connecticut. as for power outages, there are about 8,000 households in the state of new york that are without power tonight. most of them are here on long island. lester? >> pretty remarkable pictures there tonight, anne, thanks. beyond the roads, today was

a travel nightmare in the new york area for anyone who had planned to fly or take the train. nbc's rehema ellis is at laguardia airport with more on that. rehema, good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, lester. new york airports are getting back to the business of flying. but air travel is still far from normal tonight. there were more than 1800 cancellations at new york airports alone over the past few days, because of the storm. at one laguardia airport, about 20 stranded passengers spent the night sleeping on cots provided by the airlines. a few others camped out on the floor. the airport was virtually deserted. today, crews worked to dig out from under nearly a foot of snow at laguardia to get some flights operating again. amtrak passengers traveling between new york and boston, however, had no luck at all. as train service on that route was shut down again today. passengers we spoke to have been extremely patient and extremely understanding about all this. many of them saying it's because they had plenty of warning about what to expect.

lester? >> all right, rehema, thanks. just where is this storm right now? the view from above shows it continues to head northeast out of maine and into canada. but this being the middle of winter another storm is never far behind. weather channel meteorologist jim cantore is in boston with more on that. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. just as soon as the blizzard warnings for this storm go down, the new ones have come up for the plains states. let's show them to you. six states here stretching all the way from kansas out up in through nebraska, including minnesota, minneapolis under a winter storm warning here. this area should start precipitation tonight in the rockies, and it should rapidly spread out of the plains states. as we get into sunday, though, you'll notice north damage to, south dakota, minnesota dealing with all of this snow. we are expecting 6 to 10 inches in minneapolis. 50 to 60-mile-per-hour winds. there will also be a severe side to this, too, lester. there could be tornadoes in louisiana, mississippi, and also into alabama. as we move into monday, no rest for the weary up here.

that same storm moves right overhead. boston, providence, hartford, portland, maine, who had a record-setting snowfall today, will not be dealing with snow this time, we feel it's going to be more of an ice storm here. so the second big dig here in boston, if you will, needs to be completed in 36 hours, because on top of that, we've got a layer of ice to come. >> wouldn't you know it? jim cantore, thanks. when "nbc nightly news" continues on this saturday, lots of other news. that manhunt. new images of the ex-police officer wanted in the killing of three people in california. we'll show them to you. and remembering the 15-year-old girl who performed at the president's inauguration, and became a victim of gun violence.

we're back now with new details tonight on the other big story that's gripping much of the nation. the manhunt for that former los angeles police officer accused of killing three people in revenge shootings earlier this week. nbc's miguel almaguer is live outside lapd headquarters. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: lester, good evening. some late-breaking news here in los angeles. the lapd chief says he will reopen christopher dorner's case. the man at the center of the manhunt was fired from his job in 2008 for making false claims about a superior officer. the chief says he's not doing this to appease the murder suspect but to instead gain the trust of the community. this as the manhunt for dorner becomes one of the largest in california history.

tonight, new surveillance photos of murder suspect christopher dorner one week before the killing spree began. at his mother's home just outside of los angeles, detectives serve a search warrant, bag evidence but make no arrests. >> we're looking for any evidence that would lead us to dorner's whereabouts. >> reporter: 100 miles away, helicopters with heat-seeking technology comb the sny mountains over big bear. but the trail here has gone cold. after a three-day sweep of some 600 cabins, the only sign of the former lapd officer, and accused cop killer, were his footprints which led nowhere, and his burnt-out truck. >> this is a deviant person who has the capacity, the knowledge, and i think is extremely creative. he has the police going a hundred different ways right now. >> officer shot multiple times. >> reporter: with dorner accused of murdering three and targeting many more in a chilling manifesto, law enforcement officers have been named a target. with nerves rattled, lapd has put six officers on

administrative leave after they opened fire on a vehicle thursday, thought to be dorner's. a 71-year-old mother and her daughter, shot multiple times by police, are now recovering. their attorney says the truck description was never close. >> color didn't match. the model didn't match. the make didn't match. they're looking for a larger black man. these are two older hispanic petite women. >> reporter: from the mexico border to los angeles, there have been dozens of false sightings of dorner. >> he's lapd blue from top to bottom. >> reporter: former lapd chief bill bratton led the department when dorner was fired for making false statements. >> i've now had the opportunity to look at three significant profiles on him. he is a very deranged, sick individual. as the world closes in on him, he becomes even more dangerous, because he's lost his ability to control events. >> reporter: tonight a region on edge, and an accused cop killer still on the run.

tonight a moment of silence was held for monica quan, she was one of the first victims in this murder spree. her father was a captain here at lapd. sources tell us that her father received a chilling phone call from a man claiming to be christopher dorner. he taunted mr. quan saying he should have better protected his daughter. lester? >> miguel, thank you. up next, the first lady among those honoring a 15-year-old girl who lost her life to gun violence.

a poignant reminder today of the toll that gun violence is taking on this nation. the president will touch on the issue in his state of the union address on tuesday, and today, the first lady was among those who gathered in chicago to say good-bye to hadiya pendleton, the teenager who was killed in a random shooting just a week after performing at the president's inauguration. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker has more. kristen? >> reporter: lester, good evening. the first lady is back at the white house tonight after traveling to her hometown to attend that funeral. it was an emotional afternoon that underscored just how fraught the battle over gun violence is in this country. ♪ in chicago, a day of mourning for 15-year-old hadiya pendleton. >> your angel has become the face, and the tragic reality of

this epidemic of gun violence. >> reporter: first lady michelle obama was there to comfort a community still in shock, and a mother in the grips of grief. >> no mother, no father, should ever have to experience this. >> reporter: pendleton, a majorette -- >> i'm hadiya -- >> reporter: -- performed in events surrounding the president's inauguration and was shot to death just a few days later. and while there were remembrances today -- >> on that day, the last thing i saw before they put her in the ambulance was her smiling, and from heaven above, i know that each day she's smiling down on all of us. >> reporter: -- there were also demands for action. >> we can put a man on the moon but we can't come together to figure this situation out. >> reporter: the funeral comes on the eve of the president's state of the union address when he plans to reiterate his push for stiffer gun laws, which includes universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and limits on high-capacity magazines. but this week, mr. obama acknowledged the political reality. >> there are regional differences here.

and we should respect those. >> reporter: political analysts say the measures will be hard to get through congress. >> and that's just not because of republican opposition to it. there are many democrats up in swing states where gun rights are quite important and are seen as part of the culture. >> reporter: but on chicago's south side today, young voices called on adults to do something. >> we have to stop the violence. it sounds different coming from adults than it does from another teen, and i say to you, we have to stop it now. >> reporter: senior administration officials say in his state of the union address, the president will talk about gun violence and immigration, but they say the speech will focus largely on the economy, and creating jobs for the middle class. lester? >> all right, kristen. we want to remind folks leading up to the state of the union address, nbc news is launching a special week-long look at gun violence. gun ownership. and gun legislation. it's called flashpoint, guns in america.

it kicks off right here on this broadcast tomorrow evening. one note from overseas tonight, an egyptian court has sentenced four men to prison for a year for the attack on the u.s. embassy during protests over an anti-islam film in cairo last september. the men were charged with trespassing, and destruction of property. after scaling the embassy walls and tearing down the american flag. when we come back here tonight, a different perspective on the blizzard of 2013.

finally tonight, as the northeast recovers from this blizzard, looking at some of the feeds across twitter today, we're reminded that a lot of us see snow through different lenses. for example, the snow made quite an impression for this homeowner. or maybe we should say their door made quite an impression on the snow that had gathered on their front porch. here's one toddler who won't be venturing out. at least not until the snow melts below his chin or he grows another foot. we're not sure if this woman was posing or frozen in place. for the sake of argument let's say frozen in place for this pooch's ears. for some of us, all this snow was something to take a huge delight in. let it snow, let it snow. but if all this makes you miserable, well, you're in good company. i don't know if this guy believes in santa, but right about now he is seriously questioning that darn groundhog and his prediction of an early spring. remember that? that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today." then right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

public safety and the police profession, turn yourself in. >> they're determined to hunt him down. tonight the desperate search continues for a former los angeles police officer considered armed and extremely dangerous. good evening, i'm terry mcsweeney. >> and i'm diane dwyer. there's a manhunt happening right now at a ski resort in southern california. s.w.a.t. teams took advantage of a break in the weather to search for one of the most wanted men in america. christopher dorner is a former los angeles police officer and he's suspected of killing three people. kimberly tere joins us from the newsroom with the latest on the search including an update from police that just came into our newsroom. >> reporter: los angeles police say they will reopen the investigation into the firing of then officer christopher dorner, which happened exactly four years ago today.

it was ann incident that investigators believe led to the killing of three people. >> it is an injustice collective. he collects injustices and never lets them go. evidently they finally reach the tipping pointing that led to the series of violent acts the last several days. >> reporter: police continue to search the snowy big bear lake resort for 33-year-old christopher dorner. his burned-out pickup truck was found there thursday. >> my understanding is that the car got stuck in the mud up there, so there was some thought that it was a diversion to draw our attention 80 miles outside of los angeles, but there was some speculation that he actually got stuck and it was unintended. >> reporter: dorner is suspected in the shooting death of a police officer, a university security officer and his fiancee, who is the daughter of a retired l.a. police captain. that captain is named in dorner's online manifesto, declaring war on the people he believes to believe responsible for his dismissal from the los