Winter Storm Nemo hits the Northeast

>>> storm hitting the northeast.

>> alex, thanks to you. i'm craig melvin. here is the very latest on that winter storm . new york transit authority has suspended the system that goes into kkds. rhode island and new york with limited in maine as well. governors have issued travel bans this afternoon for all nonessential vehicles. nearly 5,000 flights have been canceled so far. amtrak suspended northbound service out of new york 's penn station earlier tonight. this was governor chris christie earlier tonight.

>> the overall safety issues is an obvious one, stay home.

>> let's go to bill karins with the latest on this. what can you tell us?

>> we're halfway through with our blizzard. that we know for sure. some areas are fairing well and some are doing as bad as we thought they would, rhode island up toward the boston area . let me show you the wind gusts. now we're cutting it to the peak winds of this storm. new haven, north wind at 47. that's not even off the water. that's impressive. gust gusts from 50 to 60 miles per hour all up the eastern mass and rhode island as we've gone throughout the last two to three hours. we have about 50 to 100,000 people without power estimated right now, especially in eastern new england. the white on the map shows you where the snow is. heaviest snow band right up through the center of connecticut. already reports of 12 to 14 inches widespread throughout the state of connecticut. even rhode island reporting over a foot. we're well on our way to getting our two foot totals. if you look down to the bottom of the screen there, you notice new york city and jersey didn't have a lot of snow over the next couple of hours. now it's starting to fill in a little bit. it's a little too late. this storm is moving very quickly. look at it on satellite imagery. you can see it just to the south. it's even past cape cod now. for new york city , you have two to four inches on the ground. you'll get another two to three by the time it's all said and done. new york city it's a tough forecast from the start. if there's one city that would be considered a bust, maybe that would be it. heaviest snow shifts, rhode island , massachusetts , new hampshire, coastal maine. we'll be ending the snow in the overnight hours. adirondacks, catskills, poconos and new jersey. we'll have blowing snow out there. heavy accumulating snows will be ending during the overnight hours. if anything, the storm is moving a little faster than expected. a lot of us will actually wake up with no snow falling from the sky saturday morning. the storm total forecast, new york city at 6 to 10, down to 4 to 8. we have a shot of getting 18 or so around hartford. boston, somewhere between six to ten inches. you have a shot of getting up to 24 or 306789 may have to lower that a little bit. you still have a good chance at a two foot snow storm . portland you are going to end up getting your 18 to 20 foot. bottom line is we have a crippling blizzard shutting down all transportation.

>> want to bring in weather channel meteorologist mike seidel live on the ground in revere, massachusetts . what's the scene there, mike?

>> reporter: hey, craig . we're still checking the brunt of this blizzard. we've had wind gusts nearby logan airport 60 miles an hour. to the south and east of here toward the cape we've had gusts to hurricane forces, 74. nantucket, 69. it's these east and north facing beaches that we're concerned with tonight and tomorrow with extreme beach erosion . high tide right now. that's going to go out, come back in. the worst of the high tides will be the next one, saturday morning around 9:30 or 10:00 , we'll have surge issues. also big breakers as high as 20 footers hitting these beaches south of here. like sedgewick where police have asked those in beach front homes to get to higher ground . no stranger to flooding. and power companies saying if power goes out, it could be out for at least three days. speaking of that, the two major power companies in massachusetts , end star and national grid now reporting 143,000 customers without power. that number has tripled in the past 90 minutes . that will likely go up with these wind gusts over 60 miles an hour. that's taking trees and limbs down over power lines . the wind is beginning to shift a little bit. now an east-northeasterly wind, blowing the snow sideways. the sea wall is keeping the water out of the street here on revere beach boulevard. long way to go. measuring two-foot drifts as the snow continues to come down. we get these winds up over 60 miles an hour. we'll likely have five, six-foot drifts before this wraps up later on saturday morning. a big storm. already tomorrow they've canceled at least 240 flights at logan airport . another tough day to fly out of the northeast. although things will ramp back up, i think, in short to full service certainly by sunday midday. craig , that's the latest from revere beach . we'll be hunkered here all night and updating you from the weather channel .

>> mike, do appreciate that. stay safe, good sir.

>>> i'm craig melvin. when we come back, alex wagner is is in for laurps o'donnell on this friday night. she'll show you why democrats believe they might be able to take back the house from republicans.

>>> plus, howard dean and chris