Nor'easter dumps snow, brings wind and rain to NYC, NJ

>>> i'm extraordinarily disappointed. i put a lot of time and effort into the mitt romney campaign from last october going to new hampshire to endorse him through my last trip for him the friday before the storm in north carolina . i was surprised, you know, that it ended as quickly as it did. but that's the way it goes. people decide elections. and so my job as an elected official is to move forward after that. i'm not going to spend a lot of time looking in my rearview mirror . it doesn't make sense. it's not productive for the people who have elected me.

>> all righty, then. good morning. it's thursday, november 9th . a snowy day on the east coast . you're looking at danbury, connecticut . can you believe this?

>> no, i can't.

>> november 9th . welcome to " morning joe ." with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle and national affairs editor for "new york" magazine and analyst john heilemann. and we have a weather story to start with.

>> this is the new normal.

>> it's unbelievable.

>> across the northeast and connecticut last year, we had a hurricane first, and then we had a snowstorm at the end of october. the same thing's happened again. i mean, the fact that people on long island, people on staten island , people across new jersey have no power right now and are having to deal with another nor'easter, this time they're shivering in their homes instead of what we always did in florida which was sweat in our homes. much better.

>> in some places there's no place for people to go. it's a devastating situation. we begin this morning with hundreds of thousands of americans remaining without power during an unseasonably cold spell in the northeast. adding to the damage left by hurricane sandy. a nor'easter blew through the east coast yesterday, dumping snow and rain on a region that's barely begun to dig out from sandy. we've got new pictures from staten island where several inches of wet snow are threatening to topple already weakened trees. power was knocked out to some 60,000 homes in newark and new jersey overnight. many of which had just had their service restored after many days in the dark. there's also renewed headaches for millions of commuters as passenger trains grind to a halt, and at least 1,300 flights are kept at the gates at the airports. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for a look at what is unfolding here. bill.

>> good morning. before i get to the details, talking about joe's point there, nine days apart between these two events. i can almost guarantee you go back through history of hurricane landfalls, and i don't think any area has ever seen a snowstorm nine days after they dealt with a storm surge like we had with sandy. i mean, it's just ridiculous that it even happened. we showed you how rare of the times we are in. the fact you think about what happened to this region the year before that with irene and then that freak halloween snowstorm, makes you scratch your head. the details this morning to get you out the door. i know a lot of schools have delays. and that's because the snow is ending, temperatures are warming up. we're supposed to go into the 40s today. that's why a lot of people didn't get school cancellations. you see the white. the snow has ended in all areas with the exception of connecticut . you see the spin south of the island. it's still very close there to cape cod . so as far as the snow totals, really impressive for this time of year. i mean, we talked 6 to 12 inches in many areas of central and western connecticut who is by far the hardest hit. a couple random reports, high totals in new jersey, but even new york central park, only five inches of snow this time of year is virtually unheard of. and it was the heavy, wet snow and there were some downed trees. i mentioned winds. if we're going to get any more damage, it's out there on cape cod . they're kind of battle tested. they're used to 50 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts. in general, things will improve. this afternoon we go up into the 40s. i think the airports will be running no problems as we go throughout the late morning into the afternoon. the roads will dramatically improve. and tomorrow looks to go up into the 50s, guys. nea there's no more storms on the horizon. we warm up towards the 50s and 60s towards the weekend. nine days apart is ridiculous.

>> it is ridiculous, bill. and again, you look at what happened last year where we had a hurricane in september. again, in new england.

>> yeah.

>> and then a snowstorm three weeks later. now it's nine days apart. we're looking at these pictures.

>> this is what's supposed to be inside people's homes.

>> yeah, inside people's homes. you know, bill, you and i have actually -- gosh, we've gone through actually a lot of hurricanes together. certainly when i was in florida talking about them. and when you usually deal with a hurricane , and i've probably been through five, six, seven in my lifetime, you're used to the power going out and basically taking off as many clothes as you can, wearing shorts around the house.

>> humid.

>> because you're sweating. it's 95. it's humid. it is just miserable. but that is so much better now than what people are facing. this is a nightmare scenario. if you've never been through a hurricane -- and even my friends in florida that have been through so many, i can't imagine the pain and misery and the suffering that people across this region are experiencing right now without power, with freezing temperatures, with snowstorms. this is so dangerous.

>> i mean, you live in new england, and we haven't been hit by a lot of hurricanes, but historically they have happened through history. if they do, usually they're typically in the month of september. so sandy was about a month later than what maybe we typically would find a hurricane . and this nor'easter was about a month earlier than we would typically find a nor'easter. so just the weather patterns, just the extremes, you know, really are getting everyone's attention.

>> all right. we'll follow this throughout the morning. bill, thank you very much.