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Millions Face Ice, Snow Threat As Massive Winter Storm Bears down; Trump's NATO Remarks Offend Leaders Across Europe. State Of Emergency Issued In 16 States And District Of Columbia; Massive Winter Storm Stretches From Texas To New England; Hundreds Of Flights Canceled Ahead Of Massive Winter Storm; Dangerous Road Conditions As Winter Storm Moves In; Trump Frustrated By Immigration Crackdown Optics; Anxiety Rises In Maine As ICE Agents Settle In; FlightAware: More Than 6,000 Flights Canceled Sunday As Storm Bears Down; Airlines Offering Some Travel Waivers For Passengers Due To Storm. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired January 24, 2026 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:43]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to a special edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta. Smerconish will be back next week.

We're tracking a major winter storm that is now really ramping up across a huge swath of the country this morning. Let's take a look at where this winter storm is now starting to head to the Northeast, but it's still slamming the south and Midwest. The snow, sleet and freezing rain will stretch over 1,000 miles today and destructive amounts will start to build up in eastern Texas through the Mississippi Valley. Texas is already seeing more than 25,000 power outages. That's only exposure expected to continue to rise for the areas waiting on the storm and watching.

They're preparing as best they can. They're salting roads, getting supplies, getting electricity, crews ready for the outages. And neighbors are looking out for each other. In Washington, D.C. volunteers are ready to help out with help people who cannot shovel their way out of the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you come out today to pick up a shovel and volunteer with snow heroes?

MOLLY BURNS, VOLUNTEER: So funny enough, I actually used to work for the DDOT snow team and I changed jobs this year. And since I can't work for the snow team for the district, you know, that I decided let me just volunteer so I can give back in my own way.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: All right. The team here at CNN is covering this storm across the country. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar, correspondent Ivan Rodriguez, he's in Dallas, national correspondent Rafael Romo, he is in Atlanta.

Let's get to Ivan first in Texas, I got a preview of your shot during my last show and you were getting some snow down there. So give us an idea of what's happening now.

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. It was definitely snowing a lot harder than it is right now. It seemed like the snow eased, but that freezing rain is still coming down and the temperatures will, of course, it's still freezing out here as well. Within the last 10 minutes or so, we saw some people salting some of these sidewalks. That's an image that we've now begun to see here in front of American Airlines Center where we're standing here in downtown Dallas.

And in talking about preparations before this storm started, we actually went to a hardware store and we were speaking with the manager. They're talking about how are people preparing, what are they buying? And he told me that a couple of things. One was generators and they were completely sold out of generators. They were also buying a propane, faucet covers, just trying to prepare for this storm.

And of course, we're talking about ice here in Dallas, up to maybe half an inch of ice is possible, which could bring down tree branches. It could damage power lines. The power grid, Victor, has been a big topic of conversation. A lot of people remembering that storm from five years ago that left millions of people without power. But we're also keeping an eye on the airport, specifically here in Dallas. The two major airports, Dallas, Fort Worth and Love Field.

At Dallas, Fort Worth, more than 74 percent of flights there have been canceled. At Love Field, more than 60 percent of flights have been canceled. Today will be hectic at the airport. Tomorrow, a lot of cancellations across the country as well that we're keeping an eye on.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ivan Rodriguez for us in Dallas, thank you very much.

Now in the Southeast, people are preparing for what could be some of the worst winter weather in years in spots that really are not used to snow or ice or sleet. Florida and Georgia are working together to send road crews and electric crews to north Georgia to help out with equipment like plow trucks and salt spreaders. CNN's Rafael Romo joins us from Atlanta. How's it looking so far?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Victor. Well, it's a cloudy morning, but beautiful here in Atlanta. It's calm right now, but in the last 24 hours, we have noticed many people rushing to the stores to stock up on food, water and other basic necessities to get ready for the storm making its way to this part of the country. Snow and dangerous ice are already falling in the south central U.S. We saw Ivan Rodriguez's report just a few moments ago. And spreading east, this storm is spreading east towards states like Georgia. Here in Georgia, and it's already pummeling Texas and Arkansas. Earlier today we got images from Fayetteville, Arkansas, where it started snowing overnight and snowplows were already working on the roads before sunrise. Here in Atlanta, officials at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport announced Friday they had more than 100,000 gallons of liquid brine and deicer on hand along with nearly 100 tons of solid dicer and a sand salt mix for the world's busiest airport. The storm will impact more than 2,000 miles from Texas to New England through the weekend.

[09:05:34

At the east coast is bracing for the storm. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the New York City and surrounding areas calling for heavy snow with total accumulations between 10 and 14 inches. New York -- New York officials say they're ready to face this challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK: We will over communicate with New Yorkers. We are going to tell you at every instance when we have new information about the storm what it is.

VINCENT GRAGNANI, NYC DEPARTMENT OF SANITATION: We prepare for this all year round. We have -- we'll have 2,000 sanitation workers working on every shift. They'll be working 12 hour shifts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Victor, the impact of the storm is already being felt at airports across the country as the number of U.S. flight cancellations continues to jump. According to FlightAware, more than 3,250 flights are canceled today and more than 5,900 more are canceled Sunday. Just to give you an idea about the situation at airports across the nation, Sunday is already the worst day for U.S. flight cancellations in the past year.

Victor, now back to you.

BLACKWELL: Wow. Rafael Romo with the reporting there from Atlanta. Thank you very much.

Let me take you to Quincy, Massachusetts. Officials are trying a pretty unique way to push people to move their cars so that plows and emergency crews can actually do their jobs. They're using fake tickets to get the message across. This really shows just how critical every minute is with a storm this big.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL GRAZIOSO, QUINCY PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSIONER: We put fake tickets on cars just to warn people that we will be towing. We try to give them some advance notice. We go out with the police on loudspeakers, ask people to move their cars because that's one of the biggest issues we have, parking.

MAYOR THOMAS KOCH, QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS: These people that have medical conditions that get very nervous and anxious or something like this and -- that's why we got to move those cars. So if there is an incident, we can get that ambulance to that house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with me now. This storm is huge. Some people still a day away from feeling the worst of it, but some people get hit now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. I mean when you look at the expanse of how many people are under these winter weather alerts. Again, it stretches such a large distance. Take a look at this. Winter storm warnings cover more than 1,400 counties.

That is the most on record since at least 2008. Again, just to kind of show you that it's very rare to get this many people impacted all by the same system. So here's a look at where it is now. You can see the light purple color that is the snow, the green is the rain, and then this pink color in between, that's kind of your sleet and freezing rain mix. But this system is going to continue to slide off to the east as we go through the rest of the day.

And a key element of that is really going to be the temperatures. What are they then this moisture rolls through. The warmer spots, the upper 30s, lower 40s, you're just going to have rain. Obviously, if your temperature is nine, 14, you're going to get snow. It's a lot of these in between.

Anything from maybe say about 24 to up to 32, that's where it could be sleet, it could be freezing rain. And some of these areas are going to get all three over the course of the next 24 hours. So here's a look as we go through the evening, you notice it really starts to spread eastward. Nashville, Knoxville, over into portions of Roanoke by the time we get tonight. So the Carolinas, Virginia, the Mid Atlantic starts to really ramp up later on this evening.

And then as we push into Sunday, that's when you start to notice more of the snow showers begin to spread into the Northeastern cities as well. But again, even by Sunday late evening, you still have a widespread up and down the Eastern seaboard seeing some type of impact from this system as it continues to make its way out. And maybe even a few wraparound lingering showers early Monday morning across portions of Massachusetts and Maine. When this is all said and done, ice, which is likely going to be the most devastating of the impacts, could be about half an inch to an inch of ice in some of these locations. And when that accumulates on things like trees and power lines, the weight just pulls it down, which unfortunately could lead to widespread power outages.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, we'll check back in a moment. Thank you.

Let me take you to Tennessee now. Also, folks staying in place there for the storm. Governor Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency. Temperatures are forecast to stay in the single digits through at least Tuesday. Live look at Nashville here feels like six degrees right now.

There were long lines of grocery stores, the same as in every city in the storm's path. But some say they're not panicking at least yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting water. I might get some chains for my tires too. Something to get prepared for the snow.

[09:10:09]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We panic in the South. I'm not so much a panicker. I got gas and electricity, so as long as I got gas, I'll be alright.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People always get stressed when these kind of big weather events happen and people load up on groceries thinking this is the last time they're ever going to be able to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, Memphis Mayor Paul Young is supposed to be joining me. There he is. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Talk to me about how you're preparing city preps and pre staging.

MAYOR PAUL YOUNG, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: Yes, our teams have been working really hard over the past few days. We wanted to make sure that our community was ready. The snow is falling right now, but we applied about 25,000 gallons of brine covered over 330 miles of roadway before the storm. As of right now, early this morning, we've applied about 100 tons of salt to the roads. And so our crews are staged, they're ready, they're out right now as the snow began here, falling around 12 midnight last night.

And so our teams are ready and our local utility has about 39 electric overhead crews that cut trees and things like that. Ahead of the storm, we brought in another 50 crews from around the country. And so the teams are working hard and we just want to make sure that everybody in our community stays safe.

BLACKWELL: So you say the snow started yesterday. Will snow be the greater concern for you or is it the ice and when do you expect the worst of it?

YOUNG: Yes, the ice is definitely our greatest concern. Right now it seems to be mostly snow. It sounds like there's a little bit of ice mixed in. We'll know more tomorrow. The challenging part about this storm is that it's going to last until about 6:00' clock tomorrow.

And so we have a lot of precipitation that's going to fall between now and that time. And ice is our greatest concern. We, all -- those of us in Memphis that lived through the ice storm in 1994, remember how disruptive it was. You know, lots of branches falling, knocking out overhead utility lines. And we want to make sure that we're doing all I can, all we can to prevent that.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you mentioned the '94 storm, I just went back this morning and watched our archival of the storm of '94. The road slicked over, thick ice on tree branches, on power lines. The trees snapped, the lines were snatched down. And so are people taking this seriously?

YOUNG: I think so. I think -- I think people are taking it serious. You know, my message to the community is do as little travel as possible. If you do not have to leave the house, stay home. And that's the most important.

We have warming centers that are set up for those who may use -- lose utilities or individuals that are experiencing homelessness. We have warming centers for them that are 24 hours. You know, the challenge for us, if we get that ice, our plows don't work. It can't move the ice in the same way that it can move the snow. So it's really important that we have our residents stay home and off the roads if they can.

BLACKWELL: You talked about some of the resources, especially for getting power back up if it goes out, for coming in from around the country. Have you had any communication with FEMA officials, with federal officials in preparation for what is coming?

YOUNG: I haven't directly, but I know that our emergency management team has. We stood up our Office of Emergency Management just a day or two ago, and we have teams that are working around the clock. And just yesterday, I started a text thread with about 20 of the municipal mayors that are in the region between Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. So we're all communicating and making sure that we are supporting each other during this moment.

BLACKWELL: All right, Memphis Mayor Paul Young, thank you so much and good luck. Stay safe out there as the storm comes through.

YOUNG: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, next, President Trump is standing firm on his stance on taking over Greenland, but his bold stance fractured the U.S. and NATO's relationship. Has this done some irreparable harm moving forward? We'll dig into it in the conversation next.

[09:14:18]

Plus, a live look now. This is Chicago. Ice is forming on Lake Michigan. The temperature right now is negative 6, but it feels like negative 21.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, live look now from Houston. Warmer side of this winter storm, we're covering thunderstorms there. In fact, some heavy rain moving through the area, but cooling temperatures later in the week could lead to dangerous conditions there.

Denmark and NATO allies, they've announced that they will continue military exercises in Greenland in 2026 in the wake of President Trump's threats to annex the Arctic Nation. The plan, launched earlier this month, is dubbed Operation Arctic Endurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN, GREENLANDIC PRIME MINISTER: Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us. What we have said from the beginning is we want a respectful and peaceful relationship and a strong partnership as an ally, trusted ally through many, many years. But no doubt the rhetoric we have heard the last year is unacceptable for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:20:09]

BLACKWELL: Rufus Gifford joins us live from Copenhagen. He's the former U.S. ambassador to Denmark.

Mr. Ambassador, thank you for joining us this morning. I want to start in a different place, actually, with the dismissive statement from the president about NATO allies and their contributions in the war in Afghanistan. The president started this line during his speech in Davos saying that he didn't know if he could rely on NATO allies. And then he followed up with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've always said, will they be there if we ever needed them? And that's really the ultimate test. And I'm not sure of that. We've never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them.

You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And we've heard some sharp and quick condemnation from world leaders. What's your reaction to that, and what are the implications of that from the U.S. president?

RUFUS GIFFORD, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO DENMARK: You know, Victor, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I am not sure that there has ever been a more offensive statement, at least in the mind of American allies, that an American president has ever uttered truthfully. And I was a man who used to go to the prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister of Denmark, and ask them to send their young men and women into harm's way. And with that reservation, every single time they said yes, they lost the highest per capita rate of their young men and women in Afghanistan than any country in the world equal to the United States. And it is just -- it is either completely clueless as to world history or it is so callous and heartless because these men and women have families, they have children, they have spouses that are continuing to mourn them.

And so, you know, I feel like I don't even know if an apology is good enough for this one, Victor. But we need universal condemnation on the part of Americans, and I mean every single American, every single member of Congress, Republican and Democrat. I don't have any expectation that the White House will apologize for this, but we got to do better as Americans, because this is extraordinary and extremely painful for our allies who were on the front lines and who bled alongside us.

BLACKWELL: On the question of the president attempting to gain ownership, U.S. ownership of Greenland and then this deal that he says gets the U.S. everything they want. Sources say the president and NATO chief, Mark Rutte, they resolved to discuss updating the 51 agreement between the U.S. Denmark and Greenland that governs U.S. military presence there. Is there anything -- or let me switch the question this way, what does a potential deal look like that stops short of a question of sovereignty and ownership, but gets the president more than he wants? What's that window?

GIFFORD: I think, Victor, it's a great question and I have more questions on this than I think that there -- than there are answers that exist because as I have stated over and over again, there is nothing that the United States could not do from a national security or even economically as it relates to rare earth minerals or whatnot today that we would need another agreement for. So to me, all this has done this really kind of extraordinarily damaging chapter in American history. All this has done is pushed some of our biggest allies away, make them lose trust, one of my favorite words in the English language in the United States, to come up with some bizarre framework which we have no details for, that the Danes and the Greenlanders evidently haven't been invited in the room to discuss, which likely ends us exactly where we started.

So, Victor, I think this is extremely puzzling and it is challenging. We're going to have a lot of work to do with our allies to earn their trust back after this.

BLACKWELL: A lot of work to do. I wonder if you believe that any of this has caused irreparable harm to the alliance.

GIFFORD: Look, Victor, I am an eternal optimist and someone who's an avowed transatlanticist. I think NATO has led to this just truly remarkable chapter of peace and prosperity in the West. So I never believe anything has gone for good. I can tell you as someone who's been in Europe for the last week, there are a lot of Europeans who think this is irreparable. But I think we as Americans who believe in this and think this is worth fighting for, as I do, without any doubt believe that we just got to do it.

It is going to mean getting past this chapter in American history it will mean that. But we got to fight tooth and nail to ensure that our best allies in the world, who have again fought and died alongside us, don't lose all faith and trust in us.

[09:25:11] BLACKWELL: All right, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, thank you so much.

GIFFORD: My pleasure.

BLACKWELL: All right. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, the cold, the massive winter storms covering more than a thousand miles across the U.S. today. Allison is monitoring the storm's track.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Right now, this brutal winter storm is battering the south central part of the U.S. We're in the early hours of this potentially catastrophic storm, but already at least 16 states have declared a state of emergency. Preparations for the severe weather event is just beginning. Like this -- in Pitt-Greenville Airport here in North Carolina, they're preparing plows and deicing material.

This is the rush at the grocery store in Waltham, Massachusetts. Shoppers were trying to get their fill of nonperishable items ahead of the storm. And some people in north central Connecticut wanted to catch flights and escape the worst of the storm. Instead, they faced a change of plans as cancellations and disruptions took hold to the airports, the bus stations and other transportation.

We're tracking all the developments as they happen. We have CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the weather center. First, we got CNN's Ivan Rodriguez out there in the elements. What are you seeing and feeling?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor. Good morning. Yes, I mean, it's been interesting. Not necessarily pleasant, but interesting to watch this unfold over the last couple of hours because we were getting heavy snow. And then it stopped a little bit. Now we're just getting like sort of plain ice.

Behind me you can still see a busy intersection here in downtown Dallas. Some cars still driving around earlier today. We saw people salting some of these sidewalks. You can sort of tell how much ice has accumulated here.

Just in the last 30 minutes, I'd say, is really when we're getting all this ice here building up. This is sort of what we're seeing just now falling. And this is what's falling on these roads. And that's obviously a big concern now over the next 12 hours or so, when we continue seeing this freezing rain, ice falling on top of us, how much ice is going to begin to accumulate on these roads.

We know the forecast was showing between a quarter of an inch, possibly all the way up to half an inch of ice. Not only is that going to be a problem when it comes to the roads and people getting around, crews trying to keep these roads clear, but also when it comes to power lines and possibly damage to some of them, we know that that quarter inch to half an inch mark is just enough ice for them to be damaged. Also, possible branches from trees could fall because of that much ice. So, that's something else that we're keeping a close eye on. But although the streets may be a little calmer right now, the airports, it's a whole other mess there. Nearly 74 percent of all flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth International have been canceled. A lot of cancellations tomorrow as well. Love Field looking pretty similar. Nearly 60 percent of flights canceled there.

And in terms of preparation at this point officials are hoping everybody has what they need because a lot of businesses here are also closed down for the day. And officials have been saying now that people should be prepared to hunker down to Tuesday, possibly even Wednesday

BLACKWELL: Yes, Ivan. I've been listening to your hit and when sleet hits your jacket, I can hear the difference between the rain. Because, you know, I remember from the years out there that you can tell as soon as it switches over you're dealing with ice. Ivan Rodriguez for us there. And it's good to see not too many people driving on the roads. Thanks for the reporting.

Now this ice and the snow is not the only thing we're tracking this morning, for millions of people across the country, it's also the cold. Let me take you to Chicago now. The temperature is sitting at five below. The wind chill has it at 21 below.

But the weather is not stopping one man in Chicago. Oh, my goodness. He's known as the Great Lake Jumper. Fifty-eight years old Dan O'Connor has been flipping into Lake Michigan every morning for the past five and a half years. And even in this bitter cold yesterday, no different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN O'CONNOR, KNOWN AS "GREAT LAKE JUMPER": It's something positive and I just -- I love the internal rush that I get and it's an amazing feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I don't get it, but it's his thing. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back. You can rush and just rush back inside apparently.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Better him than me. That's --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes, both of us.

CHINCHAR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: It won't be me. All right. So, we talked about the precipitation, but just the bare numbers of the temperature for a lot of people. That's -- that's causing some discomfort. CHINCHAR: In the wind, I want people to understand it's not just the temperatures. Those are cold enough on their own, but you also have 20, 30, 40 mile per hour wind gusts. And that makes that wind chill drop back even more. That wind is a problem also for power outages, but also the temperature.

So, it's kind of the two-fold there. You take a look at some of these temperatures then we factor in the wind. And you get the wind chill or that feels like temperature. Look at some of these numbers again it feels like minus 19 in Detroit, one degree in Pittsburgh. Feels like negative one in New York City.

Again, all of these numbers, it's that combination of the two. But that also means that all that cold air is dipping very, very far south in places we wouldn't normally have such cold temperatures. But that's allowing that change over -- into snow, into ice and sleet coming down across some southern states here.

So, the purple color, that is where you have the snow. This pink color in the middle, that's where you have that sleet and freezing rain.

[09:35:00]

And that system itself is going to continue to slide off to the east as we head through the next several hours. So, here's a look. By the time we get to the overnight tonight, that's when it really starts to filter in across portions of the mid-Atlantic, eventually spreading up into the northeast as we go through the rest of the day on Sunday. Not just the northeast, but also say like the Ohio Valley, that's when you're really going to start to see a lot of those snowfall numbers begin to tick back up.

By Sunday afternoon, now spreading into areas of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont again. And it's going to be very heavy snow at times. Even for multiple hours you could be looking at an inch or two an hour in some spots.

Now, we do notice once the temperatures warm back up late into the day you could see that change back over either into rain or a little bit of freezing rain. But then the backside comes back around and you could end up finishing out the rest of the storm with some snow showers as we round out the rest of Monday morning.

In total, the ice is going to be the biggest concern along the mid- Atlantic down to the south, but snow is going to be a big concern farther northward. Yes, we could see totals exceeding one foot.

BLACKWELL: All right. Allison, thank you. Speaking of snow, let me take you now to Little Rock, Arkansas. And you see the roads here are covered.

Now, this shot is just out of -- this driver is out on the road to give us a look at the roads. The good thing here is that we're not seeing traffic. People are heeding the warnings, staying at home and -- it's only going to get worse over the next hour and more than a day. Of course, we're covering all angles across the country. Two hundred thirty million people impacted by this massive storm.

Up next, though, another U.S. mayor is pushing back against the presence of ice in his community. We'll speak with the mayor of Lewiston, Maine, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:21]

BLACKWELL: Freezing rain, snow, powerful winds led to dangerous driving conditions across the south. Got a live look at the roads here in Chattanooga. We are just seeing a vehicle being towed away that drove off the road, crashed off the road because these roads are slick. You can see the backup here.

We spoke with Paul Young, the mayor of Memphis, a few moments ago, talking about preps there. The state of Tennessee expecting ice to be their bigger problem. Although, they've been experiencing snow over the morning.

So, folks, heed the warning. Stay off the roads. Things are starting to clear up there on this road in Chattanooga.

All right. Also this morning, CNN has learned that President Trump is privately expressing frustration with the optics of his immigration crackdown. The ongoing protests and images coming out of Minnesota have many Americans alarmed by the chaotic scenes.

ICE's detention of a five-year-old preschooler is raising new questions about the agency's heavy handed tactics. Sources tell CNN the president is determined to reshape and retake control of the narrative by highlighting violent criminals who have been captured and deported.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Minnesota's so much in the -- in the fray, and I say to my people all the time, and they're so busy doing other things, they don't say it like they should.

These are all out in Minnesota. Just Minnesota. I say, why don't you talk about that more, because people don't know?

So what ICE does, and border patrol is incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Right now, anxiety is rising in some communities in Maine. ICE agents are moving in there. Homeland Security launched a new operation in Maine this week. They say they've already arrested more than 100 people. But local leaders are asking questions about the scope of the operations.

The mayor of Lewiston is condemning their actions. In a statement, he said, these masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long-term damage to our state and to our country. Lewiston stands for the dignity of all people who call Maine home.

Mayor Carl Sheline joins me now. Mr. Mayor, thank you for being with me. This is so-called Operation Catch of the Day that's happening in Maine. What can you tell us about the level, the degree of ICE activity in just the past few days there in Lewiston?

MAYOR CARL SHELINE, LEWISTON, MAINE: Thank you so much, Victor. Happy to -- happy to talk to you today.

Listen, so ICE has been here going on now five days, and they are targeting our citizens. They are -- you know, and this idea that they're targeting dangerous criminals is just not adding up.

You know, they're targeting a mom of four. They arrested a mom here in Lewiston who has an autistic son. And we saw recently in the news that they arrested the Cumberland County corrections recruit. You know, the idea that they're taking dangerous criminals off the street is just not what we're seeing here.

BLACKWELL: Well, here's the statement from the Department of Homeland Security. Exactly what you said, that they characterize this as immigration enforcement efforts across the state of Maine targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities. I want to hear and everyone to hear from Janet Mills. This is the governor of Maine and some of her concerns and criticisms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JANET MILLS (D-ME): I'm hearing that many of the people who are being detained, or on that list, I think, are family members here in Maine, people who are working here in Maine, people who have children in the school system, people who have children in homes in Maine, and people with no criminal record.

[09:45:16]

And that's concerning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And so, what is the impact on the people who live in your city?

SHELINE: So, yes, I mean, they're targeting -- right now we think that they're targeting asylum seekers who have work permits. They aren't targeting the worst of the worst. They're targeting our neighbors.

And so, yes, I mean, you have people who are afraid to go to work, who are afraid to go to school. Lewiston is not cowered by this fear. In fact, we are mobilizing.

Neighbors are taking care of each other. We're working to make sure people get to school safely, get to work safely, and that neighbors have groceries. BLACKWELL: We know that there is a significant Somali population in Lewiston, as there is in Minnesota, where we've been watching these protests and the ICE operations there. What's your biggest concern as this stretches into next week?

SHELINE: So, I'm worried about the economic effect that this will have on our city. And I also want our -- I want our residents to be safe. You know, I want people to not be afraid.

I fully support our First Amendment rights. And I've told people from the beginning that we need to protest peacefully. We need to not block the street, not block the sidewalk. We cannot impede arrest. But I fully support people protesting and exercising their First Amendment rights.

BLACKWELL: Mayor Carl Sheline of Lewiston, Maine, thank you so much for your time today. Let's give you a live look now from New York City. People are bracing for the arrival of this, what could be a record setting cold with wind chill temperatures between negative 40 and negative 50 degrees. The final check to your forecast in a minute.

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[09:51:45]

BLACKWELL: Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport here bracing for ice coming in this storm. More than 3,300 flights canceled across the country today. More than 6,000 flights canceled tomorrow as airports across the country are grappling with a monster storm. That's according to FlightAware.

Major hubs have been gearing up for the onslaught of cancellations and delays and other changes, not just during the storm, but afterwards. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean has the latest.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Things for travelers only get more maddening from here on out, and Saturday and Sunday stand to be the worst days for U.S. air travel in the last year. We're talking cancellations in the thousands.

Some major airline hubs in the path of the storm. Dallas, Fort Worth, Memphis, Nashville, all planning on getting a major hit from the storm, including some places like Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world where airport officials insist that they are ready for this storm. They have the plows ready to go and they have the deicing equipment ready to go.

Here is what airlines are doing. They are offering passengers what's called travel waivers, meaning they can change or cancel their flights free of charge if they're on a long list of impacted cities. Airlines are trying to move planes out of the path of the storm, along with their crews, and bringing in extra employees to the airports themselves to try and make it so that when the storm passes, things can get back to normal more quickly.

But the big issue, the lingering issue is the cold. And here at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., the highs next week are anticipated to not crest above 30 Fahrenheit. That will make it especially tough for the workers on the ramp here at the airport. Meaning, it will be a slow, tough go for airlines and travel from here on out.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Pete. Let me take you outside now. We're seeing the snow coming down across much of the country. You've got Oklahoma City on the left of the screen. You can see snow blanketing the city, especially the streets there.

And on the right, Little Rock, Arkansas, roads covered in snow. Be careful out there. Stay in if you can.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back. Last look for the hour.

CHINCHAR: Yes. So, let's take a look at it real quick so we can kind of see where the storm is itself. Again, you can see a lot of snow coming down across Memphis and into Nashville. Just a little bit farther to the south, this is where we have the sleet and freezing rain.

Even though your temperatures are 21, 23, things that you would normally think of would be completely snow we don't have that in these spots. We've got more of that frozen precipitation, kind of more along the lines of ice.

Now, this is going to continue to slide off to the east. So, it's going to start to move into the Carolinas, into Georgia, into Virginia, eventually, as we go on through the rest of the day today. And again, a lot of those temperatures kind of hovering right there near that freezing mark.

So, this is what we can expect as we go through the rest of the day today and even in through Sunday. Again, you can see a lot of this line making its way through. It will finally, finally end and make its way all the way through all of the eastern seaboard once we get towards Monday morning.

The key thing to note, though, too, Victor, is going to be that it some of that will refreeze.

[09:55:00]

Any of that water that is left on those roadways will likely refreeze once we get through the overnight because temperatures are going to drop and they're going to drop very quickly as we head into early Monday.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So, that's the important part to remember is that although the precipitation is gone, the temperatures will still be low in many of these places. The ice and snow will still be there.

CHINCHAR: And the wind is still going to be there. So, even after the precipitation ends you could start to see, you know, some more trees, some more power lines become issues even as you go later into the day or later into the evening, rather, Sunday night.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the event will not be over. All right. Allison, thank you so much. And thank you for joining us this morning. Stay home. And if you can't, stay safe out there. "TABLE FOR FIVE" is next.

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