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Don Lemon Tonight

Record Snow In Boston; Bitter Cold, Wicked Winds In Boston; Seawall Breached In Scituate, Massachusetts; Better Safe Than Sorry?; How Do Animals Survive The Storm?

Aired January 27, 2015 - 23:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: All right, everyone, 11:00 p.m. on the east coast, and digging out after the blizzard of 2015. I'm Don Lemon out in New York City tonight. As a matter of fact, right at the foot of Central Park.

Exactly 24 hours ago, the city that never sleeps was a ghost town. Things are pretty much back to normal here right now, but not in New England. That's where the blizzard of 2015 is flooding homes, burying cars and it's snarling travel.

And the storm is not over yet. We are going to tell you what to expect come tomorrow. CNN's reporters are live all across the storm zone tonight, from the east end of Long Island through Boston all the way into Maine, we have you covered.

I want to get right now to the action with CNN's Brooke Baldwin. She is in Boston where the snow is piling up amid wicked winds and bitter cold. The blizzard of 2015 is one for the record books -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Say that three times fast.

LEMON: Yes.

BALDWIN: We have broken records here in the state of Massachusetts. Worcester has broken the record, and we are mere inches away, Don, from knowing whether or not the city of Boston will break their record, and I'm pulling out my trusty measuring thing. We are at 23.3 inches right now. We are, what, 4 inches away from breaking all of the records here in Boston.

LEMON: Wow. OK.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LEMON: So look at you. You southern girl are really getting into the snow, and handling it very well, serious question though, still under a state of emergency there in Boston?

BALDWIN: Yes, still under a state of emergency. They will be lifting that travel ban starting at midnight tonight, so Steve, if you want to pan this way, we can show you a whole lot of nothing and quiet, because this is what Boston looks like. We were just talking to a couple of guys who live here in the north end, I was asking them, because they have been out and about walking on the streets, and they said, Brooke, forget it, even the main streets are covered.

Secondary streets, the fire commissioner said no go on those, and at midnight, you can start driving, but everybody, exercise the caution. MBTA tomorrow, public transportation, that is open, but it is going to be slow.

So starting slowly but surely city will be coming back alive again, but it may take a couple of days, but we are hearing more snow for Friday -- Don.

LEMON: Goodness. I am not sure if you have a monitor, but I want to show the audience something, a picture of you reporting for the show just last night here on CNN around this time, the snow looks like a dusting 24 hours later, but look at it now. It's quite a difference there.

BALDWIN: Yes, I don't have a monitor, but I remember being here, and I was walking with you here last night, and saying, it is around maybe my ankles, and you can see it for yourself, and look at this, and you know, different parts of the snow.

And sometimes it is much less than in other parts, and this is the areas where plows were kicking up the snow, but in this area, a foot and a foot and a half up to my knees, and the city of Boston looking for the 27.5 inch mark set in 2003 where it is 23.3.

And I'm throwing a lot of numbers at you, but remember, four more inches to go, and four more inches until it is a record-setting snowfall -- Don.

LEMON: OK. Brooke, standby, because it could happen soon. Brooke Baldwin is in Boston for us. Worcester, Massachusetts, broke an all- time record for snowfall today, and joining me now on the phone is the mayor, Joseph Petty.

Mayor, thank you for joining us, and you broke all kinds of records here, and previous snowfall records. You are at 33.5 inches which is close to three feet. How is the town dealing with it?

MAYOR JOSEPH PETTY, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS (via telephone): Pretty well. We have had a lot of practice in the past, and a few years ago, e we were with the number one snowfall in the United States was Worcester, Massachusetts.

We have a great team with the Commissioner Paul Mousine and his crew there on the crew on the roads overnight, and taking some shift breaking overnight, and be back in full force at 5:00 in the morning.

There will be some cleanup over the next few days to try to widen up the roads, but we are handling it well. We have had no power outage here in the city of Worcester, and we will be picking up the garbage and the recyclables here on the street because the trucks will be fine.

LEMON: Yes, it sounds like you are handling it pretty well. Are people staying off the road -- the travel ban lifted?

PETTY: Yes, the travel ban will be lifted at midnight with the governor's order, Central Mass and Eastern Massachusetts will be lifted. Western Mass a little bit earlier in the day.

You don't have to be on the roads, urging you to keep off of the road, and two-hour delay for city workers tomorrow for the nonessential personnel, but it is to give the people time to do the cleanup around the homes and drive safely to the work, and urge people to do the same, and the employees to have some flexibility to get to work safely tomorrow.

But we have been handling it well with a lot of practice. We have a good crew here in the city of Worcester, and we do a pretty good job at it.

LEMON: Mayor, we have been seen some really terrible video of a house fire in Worcester, what can you tell us about that?

PETTY: Yes, at 1:30 this morning, a house fire out on Eldorado Avenue where there was a pregnant lady transferred to the hospital. My last communications is that there was some smoke inhalation, and the fire department did a great job in the freezing conditions, and the water freezing on top of them.

They managed to get everybody out safely and took care of everybody. The fire department and the police have done a great job throughout the day and at that fire.

LEMON: We wish all the best and we thank you for joining us. We know that you are busy in dealing with a lot. Mayor Joseph Petty, mayor of Worcester, Mass.

The effects of blizzard of 2015 are being felt as far as north of Maine, again. Thank you very much, Mayor. And George Howell is in Portland and when last we saw you, blowing snow and ice, and look like a big ice drift there?

GEORGE HOWELL, CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you look around and I have not seen snow like that in a long time. If we can pan around, George, you are looking at the snowdrifts bigger than me, and it is going to go all of the way down the street here, and the snowplows are doing the best to clear the streets.

It is not something unusual for the folks here. They are used to getting the snow, but it is all one big storm system, and just like they are dealing here in Boston, but what they understand here, some 16 to 18 inches of snow.

And they are expecting, Don, possibly another seven inches of snow before it is all said and done, and we have the biggest snow bands come through here. We are kind of in a lull right now. We saw a pretty heavy band come through right when we got here, and expecting a few more before it is done over the next three to four hours. But I mean, you look around and looking at the temperature here, and it is 11:04 here, and 19 degrees here.

It's plenty cold. You see the man down the street walking, and look at the snow blowing around. That is with what you are dealing with here in Portland. It is -- yes, a lot of snow.

LEMON: Yes. I was going to ask you, but like 40 snowplows, and I wanted to ask you if it is passable, but that snowplow is looking closer than it was -- George. Did you see that thing?

HOWELL: Yes, and you know, they come and go. They are all over the place. This is something they are used to doing here. The streets are really passable. Quite honestly, when you look at all of the snow that came down here, it is surprising how quickly and quite frankly how efficiently they clear these streets. So right now, the question is how long does it take for this to melt and go away.

LEMON: Yes. All right, George Howell in Portland, Maine, thank you very much. So where does the storm strike next? I want to go to CNN's Chad Myers for that. He joins us now with the very latest from that. So Chad, the big question everybody wants to know, really when is this thing going to be over?

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: Well, it should have been over already and it's not because it's lingering. It is doing a little do-si-do out there. And next it hits Nova Scotia and then Halifax, and then the British isles. The next band of snow coming into Boston is right there, and it is all of these bands that they are talking about.

And George is talking about how one was right there, and right here and right here and they will continue to rotate into the storm system and into the dry air picking up the moisture from the Gulf Stream.

I know the fishermen out here, and the water is 42, 47 degrees depending how close you are to the coast, and it is not seem warm, but you would not want to be out there, but it is for a particle of air.

So it will pick up the moisture, and it is like you are sitting on a summer lake and you see the steam coming off because it is warm. That is it. It is the steam coming off of the ocean making the snow.

Here are the totals, 36, the winner or the loser is Lunenburg and Auburn 35, Clinton 34, and Worcester. And some of them report every two to three hours.

Auburn has been stuck at 35 for three hour, but it has been snowing for the same three hours, so more places will be breaking records and not just Worcester -- Don.

LEMON: Chad, I want to ask you this, and can we take the other desk camera here. Can you look at the big drifts here? It is not that big this in New York City, because we didn't get that much snow, but look at this, when is that going to be going away? MYERS: Well, considering that Boston gets above freezing for two

hours over to the next five days, and you will get above freezing for the next two days my best guess is May.

LEMON: That is a very, very good answer, May. All right, what else would you like to zing me with here? What else you got here? You threw me there.

MYERS: Well, you know, you are doing a great job out there, and I know how cold it is. I have stood out there and you know, when you walk outside, and you are warm for 30 minutes, but the duration is the problem.

When you're out there for one to two hours, your feet get cold, and so does the pet's feet, and so it is still gusting, but Nantucket had a gust of 76 miles per hour.

And even tonight, the windchill factors down to zero, so put the pets in some shelter, and put them inside somewhere they can sleep -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, I have found that, when it is snowing for some reason, it is not usually as cold. It is like the day after it snows that it is very cold. But it's interesting, though, because two storm-related deaths reported at least so far in the New York area considering the size of the storm, it could have been much worse.

MYERS: You know, we went through this and this is Monday morning quarterbacking, even though it is Wednesday, the governors, although, and mayors, everyone is saying, maybe a little overreaction here in New York City, the mayors did the right thing with the amount of knowledge that they had, and that is why we had such few fatalities out there.

And one was a sledding accident and one was a walk-out in the snow from the dementia patient, and those are two obviously avoidable things, but at this point in time, you know, the number could have been much worse.

The number could have been in the dozens had the roads not been shut down, and the forecast not been truly at least for New England as good as it was, New York, a little overdone. New England is right on the money.

LEMON: Yes. You are sort of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

MYERS: I'm a meteorologist, I know.

LEMON: Yes, I know you do know. When we come back, live from the storm zone, CNN reporters are out all across New England.

Plus hankering down in the blizzard, what are the zoos doing to protect the animals from this storm? That is a real issue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: CNN reporters are stationed all along the battered north east coast where this storm has been hitting. Alexandra Field is in Scituate, Massachusetts, Brian Todd is not far away near Marshall, Massachusetts and Ana Cabrera is in Montauk on Eastern Long Island in New York.

I want to get to all of our reporters in just a moment, but I want to get to what we call our man on the streets here. And this is Dr. Hubert Dolizel and I asked him where he's from and you said Chicago, right? Where are you living?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lincoln Park.

LEMON: That's where I live at Diversity and Sheridan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is a very good place.

LEMON: How is this? This is nothing, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would not characterize it as nothing, but the temperatures here in New York are average for the winter, but this snowfall is horrendous and not for New York but up state.

LEMON: When did you get here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friday.

LEMON: And so you saw the change? Were you expecting more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frankly, yes, for New York City, yes. It's from the predictions, yes.

LEMON: What did you do today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, I spent time working and I went to the opera.

LEMON: So you got out in it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LEMON: Thank you. Dressed very nicely and properly for the weather. I knew you had to be from Chicago. Thank you, Doctor. Nice meeting you.

I want to get back to our reporters. I want to talk to some people because they have been walking by here asking us why we are out here freezing. Alexandra Field, earlier today, you were up on the seawall as water was spilling over the seawall, how bad is it and has it gotten any better?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, talk about freezing when you feel the saltwater whipping up at you. That's what we were experiencing with that high tide came in and they had it really honestly much worse when the first high tide came in early this morning. That is how all of this junk ended up out there on the sidewalk. We have a basketball hoop at the bottom, at the base, which was broken off, and pieces of plywood and buoys and, Don, this wood just whipped across the road.

This is the seawall down at the end of these streets. The water breached the seawall. It came around through all of these houses leaving people stranded inside, if they hadn't gotten out already.

The National Guard had to come in and get some of these people out. A lot of people, you know, decided to just call it quits after that high tide came in, a few of them stuck around, but then the late high tide come in. We saw more of that water coming over the seawall.

And I think honestly, tomorrow with daylight, we are going to get a much clearer picture of what kind of damage people have sustained the homes out here. We spoke to one woman a little while ago. She got a quick look at her house. She was not in there during the high tide, but she saw it afterwards and the aftermath was shocking.

It ripped the porch right off the back of her hour. It ripped open the wall, blasted out the window. So she has got a huge mess on her hands. She is hoping that that house will stay standing. But you know, right now she decided to just get away from the water, Don, stay in a safer place tonight.

And then get another look tomorrow when some of this has really died down. I think a lot of people are going to wake up and see what they are left with out here.

LEMON: Let's hope. It looks worse than it is. Thank you, Alexandra. Stand by.

I want to CNN's Brian Todd now. Brian is in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Brian, you've been driving around there, but there was another major breach in the seawall, what happened?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, at least a 50-foot section of that seawall was breached earlier today just after the early version of high tide hit a little after 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time. When we got there, we shot some video of that seawall.

We got there as the second high tide was hitting and it was a dangerous situation. The waves were really violent against that seawall. It is already been breached. It caused a lot of significant flooding in the streets and the homes right next to the seawall.

Several people had to be evacuated from their homes, had to be rescued from them. We heard that rescue teams had to man a front end loader to get up into one of the houses, to pull out an injured person.

Luckily, no more significant injuries to report from that, but it was a very scary situation earlier today, and we are going to -- you know, what we are showing you tonight at our dash cam window here and inside our vehicles. We drive around Marshfield, Massachusetts, is what first responders, and others, utility workers. Everybody is up against tonight as they try to dig out. We have two gentlemen here coming and trying to dig out businesses.

We are going to pull over here and show you our dash cam and other capability here. We've got three cameras in our vehicle just pulling into this area where some people are trying to dig out, and I will get out of the vehicle in a second right here and talk to you in the camera.

Don, this area is plagued by whiteout conditions right now, which are hampering some of the efforts to go around and see if people are OK, in the flooded areas, and elsewhere, it's been a total, kind of whiteout situation here in the area in Marshfield. It is still going on. It is still a driving wind and heavy snow.

And you see people digging out over here. They are digging out for a business owner over here, and here is a snowplow coming around, trying to get some things done.

But look at what they are up against, huge snowdrifts in some of these parking lots, and a maze of snow are in this parking lot, Don, but again, this is what they are up against, whiteout conditions, and driving wind and driving snow as they try to help people in these flooded areas, negotiate out of their homes, and other things like that.

We will get out of the way, don't worry. They are trying to get into these areas. It is difficult to move around and we have to help them out sometimes. That's what we are up against. That's what they are up against, but the flooding here at that seawall, Don, was the big problem today, luckily no injuries from that.

LEMON: All right, Brian, stay safe. Stay out of the way of the snowplows, Brian. I know that you are doing your best there. We're going to get back to you later on in the show. Brian Todd, thank you very much in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

I want to get now to Ana Cabrera. She is in Montauk and Ana, you know, you were at the tip of Long Island right now and reports say there was at least two fatalities in Long Island. Tell us about those.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is one place in New York where the snow forecast and the storm forecast really did hold true. We are dealing with more than two feet of snow here in parts of the New York/Long Island area including here in Montauk.

Where we know just down the street here, and a couple of miles, more like 20 miles down the road where they have official forecast and snow measurements. We saw 28.8 inches recorded in South Hampton across the bay over in orient.

And also about 28 inches so near 30 inches of snow falling in this part, and yet a lot of the people here are breathing a sigh of relief because they didn't see the coastal flooding that was threatening at one point.

You can still see the waves battering the seashore here. We know they were up to 16 feet high at one point today. We did have wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour that could have potentially been damaging.

They were more of a nuisance blowing the snow across roadways and really kind of burying some people inside, trapping them inside their homes and businesses, but by and large, people stayed safe because they heeded the warnings prior to the storm when it really picked up -- Don.

LEMON: Ana, you talked to some surfers today. Did they actually surf out in this weather? I can't believe it.

CABRERA: It sounds crazy, right, but no, people did come out and surf. Even the snow continued to fall and the winds continue to blow. It felt blustery out there and yet the guy, who shot the video that you are watching right now, who works for "Eastern Surf" magazine said, it was epic is how he described it as he was watching the five, who went out in their wetsuits and got into the water and --

LEMON: Did we lose our -- all right, Ana, thank you very much. Ana, we'll get back to you. All right, appreciate that. Ana's shot froze, literally.

New York's mayor says he said he dodge the bullet, but many are asking, did officials moved too quickly to shut the city down as the storm approaches? Is it really better to be safe than sorry that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You guys have no idea how cold it is out here. Blizzard warnings for New York were dire so the city shut everything down really, but the storm was not that bad at least in New York, and the officials are saying better safe than sorry.

So joining me now to discuss all this is Juliette Kayyem, a former Homeland Security assistant secretary and CNN national security analyst. She is with us via Skype. Ben Ferguson is the host of the "Ben Ferguson" show and a CNN political commentator, Michael Brown, who was the director of FEMA when Hurricane Katrina struck, a devastating blow on New Orleans in the gulf coast, and CNN's severe weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers.

Chad, the big thermometer here says 21 degrees here at Columbus Circle. It is colder than 21 degrees, what is the windchill?

MYERS: It's 10, 10 right now, with a sustained wind at 10 miles per hour, but the wind gust is 20. So when the winds gust at that time, your windchill is 2. There you go. It is cold.

LEMON: So if the we had gotten more snow, and no, listen, listen, I am telling you that it is cold out here, and I will stand here to do my job all night, but it is freaking cold out here. BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just ordered you some electric socks out for Christmas so I'm going to send them early, all right.

LEMON: I wish I could say expletives on television.

FERGUSON: They will be there in a couple of days.

LEMON: Did you just say that I get no respect, Michael Brown?

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER DIRECTOR, FEMA: I just wanted to let you know that you and your weather guy know that we almost reached a record today in Denver, 75 degrees.

LEMON: Yes. Let's get back on the track here. So Chad, this is the issue, because of the temperature, right? Because it is cold, and when you had -- if New York had gotten the snow amounts that they thought they were going to get, that is why the mayor and the governor really shut the city down, is it better to be safer than sorry, Chad?

MYERS: In my opinion, it's better to be right and maybe now we know a little bit better of our new model that we just spent millions of dollars. The government did fixing up making much better. Maybe they didn't trust it because it was the first time out.

You know, when you take your racecar out the first time and goes as fast as it will go. Now, you don't know if it is really that good or not. If the wheels are going to stay on, but here's what happened in Massachusetts, 3 feet of snow everywhere.

Here is what is happened across -- from New England to New Jersey. Notice the swirl back here, lots of snow here, not much snow here, and then snow again on Long Island, that's what happened.

Here's what the models said was going to happen, Eastern Long Island, a lot of snow and the models that we typically look at were very, very wrong. They just got it wrong.

You know it is going to happen again. The model that got it so wrong that the weather service in New York City looked at the most in European NAM had the low very close to the coast so therefore a lot of snow coming back.

What happened was that the low was very far from the coast so it never got back to New York. It was just -- it's part of garbage in, garbage out, and this time, we got garbage.

LEMON: OK. I want to bring everyone in. I hate to cut you off because I want to bring everyone in. I want to keep in this conversation, Chad. I want you guys to listen to what Mayor Bill De Blasio said today speaking on CNN and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK: Better safe than story and we had a consensus of the meteorologists across the board that this thing would be easily two feet. That's what we were hearing until late into yesterday, it was still being projected to be close to two feet, two feet of snow would have paralyzed this city.

So we did what was necessary to keep people safe, and by the way, by getting everyone off the road, the sanitation department could get out there and clear the way so now we will get back to normal much more quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, Ben, you heard the mayor there.

FERGUSON: Yes.

LEMON: You are conservative and he is a liberal, do you think that they over overreacted? Do you think he did?

FERGUSON: No, I think he is spot-on. In political careers, you never remember long-term a mayor who overreacted to a natural disaster type scenario. You always remember the people that screwed it up on the days when they had to come out afterwards and play defense or say they are sorry.

But you are talking about what could have been an issue legitimately of life and death. When you are dealing with the safety of the public, and the safety of children going to school or not going to school or the safety of the elderly or the safety of the workers out there putting their life at risk trying to deal with all of the people driving around them as they trying to clear the roads and everything else, they got it right.

LEMON: All right, Juliette, I hate to rush you along, but Chad and Ben ate up most of the time. So what could they had done if anything differently?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They are perfect. I would not disagree with anything they said. It was exactly the right point was given, what science was telling the mayor and this seems like it is silly, not a silly argument. It's just you are never going to win, but all that matters is that very few people died.

LEMON: And Michael?

BROWN: Well, I think that they are right, but the thing that concerns me is that there is a difference between giving a weather forecast and talking about, you know, here's our prediction, and here is what we think is going to the happen.

And then on the other side of the studio the news people really start hyping it up about how bad it is going to be. It's going to be Armageddon and then gets everyone riled up, and then people like Governor Cuomo say, look, I am going to tell the MTA to shut the subways down.

But from everything I read, they did not shut the subways down. They were still running. They were just empty trains. Those trains may have been helpful to somebody that needed to go to a hospital.

So it goes back to the point if people would tell the freaking truth when they were doing these things and not hype it up, we'd all be better off.

LEMON: All right, we have to go. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Juliette. Thank you, Chad, and you, too, Ben Ferguson.

FERGUSON: Stay warm.

LEMON: All right, we'll do. When we come right back, keeping animals safe in a blizzard and not just house pets we are talking about. We are going to hear from the presidents of both zoos, New England and the Columbus Zoo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, the blizzard of 2015 has been tough on the people throughout the northeast, but what about animals in zoos? Joining me now to discuss this is John Linehan. He is the president and CEO of Zoo New England and Tom Stalf, the president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo. Appreciate both of you, Gentlemen, for joining us.

But John, to you first, you oversee two zoos with a total of 1,800 animals, and hundreds of species from environments all around the world, but temperature at your zoo in Stanton, Massachusetts, is hovering about 11 degrees, 10 degrees -- what are you doing to keep the animals safe and warm?

JOHN LINEHAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ZOO NEW ENGLAND (via telephone): Well, we have a team that's been there over the entire night, and throughout the day today, and we've got all of our heating systems functioning and continuous checks being placed on all the animals throughout both the day and the night.

And some extra food, some extra beddings, but the key is in actually preparing up front and making sure you have the right facilities to begin with, and then making sure that you have backup plans in place.

LEMON: We are looking at video now of the flamingos at you zoo, how do animals that are used to warm weather, how do they manage in these conditions?

LINEHAN: Well, one of the keys is that birds, especially, there is a reason they make down coats for people. Feathers are great insulators, and the key with flamingos is to keep open water for them. Believe it or not, they will be perfectly fine.

We have created one of the most prolific flocks of flamingos anywhere and part of that is not moving them seasonally the way we used to so animals have a lot more ability to adapt than you would ever think.

LEMON: All right. Well, interesting. All right, John, standby, because I want to get to Tom. Tom, who do you have there with you? You have brought a friend? TOM STALF, PRESIDENT/CEO, COLUMBUS ZOO: Yes, we have a mountain lion rescued from Montana, and one of our animal ambassadors at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It's a great story. I'm glad you have us on tonight because it is so important to talk about welfare and you know, we've done such a great story talking about making sure that people are cared for.

But we want to make sure that we are taking care of our pets and especially our animal ambassadors when we talk about inspiring people about conservation, we also want to talk about animal welfare. It is not always about the zoo animals. We want to talk about pets at home and making sure that we care for them.

LEMON: Yes. Which animals like to stay outside during the winter?

STALF: Well, for us we definitely have here at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, we have our arctic fox, the timber wolves and the polar bears. It's the animals that you would find in temperate regions in the world.

Today, it was in the teens and right now, it feels like it is 4 degrees outside. So for a polar bear or arctic fox, that's perfect, but for the cheetah or an exotic animal that we'd have in the tropical area, that is way too cold.

And so like John was saying, we want to make sure they have the proper accommodations and make sure they are nice and warm.

LEMON: How do you protect your animals at the Columbus Zoo?

STALF: So, we have a great system here that's not only do we have the proper facilities for heat and backup generators, but we also have an alarm system. It's our incredible staff. They give 110 percent to animal welfare, making sure that we are caring for the animals.

The animals that are found in cold regions are enjoying this weather. As a matter of fact, we would have to do the exact opposite when it is very hot for them.

When it is a very hot summer day, we want to make sure that they are kept nice and cool, but with the weather cold, we have to make sure the animals have proper shelter.

I don't care if it's a polar bear or an arctic fox or a mountain lion here, they need to have the proper shelter and make sure that they have fresh water, and they've great care.

It's very important, though, that we make sure that people at home could have their dogs and cats, make sure that they are giving the proper shelter, and bring them inside and make sure that you are caring for your pets. It is very, very important especially when we get this horrible cold weather.

LEMON: All right, John and Tom, thank you very much. I want to stay with us, and this is Harper, and Harper has to come out, because, you know, Harper has to take care of business, and we want to know what you can do to keep the animal safe. Has Harper been eating snow? All right, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm back now with Harper, who is a mini golden doodle and Greg is here with Olive. Olive is -- what is Olive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Lab mix, a Lab ridgeback.

LEMON: And they are out walking the dog, and you have to put the mic up close. Thank you very much. And so, listen, when you are going through the tough storms here, and the blizzard of 2015, a lot of attention is being paid to the animals.

Harper is right there, and mommy is right there, and you are back with Tom Stalf as well, who is the president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo. So, Tom, these guys are out here walking their dog and he has on booties and so does Olive because the sand and the salt can hurt the paws, right?

STALF: There is no question about that. When people are out to buy types of salt for their driveway or the sidewalk, make sure you look at the bag because it says pet-friendly, and that is what you want because it can be sore on the pads.

Right now, I have a mountain lion right here and their foot, their paws, they are huge. It's really good for them when they are walking through the snow. They actually have fur on the bottom of their feet, so it is like a built-in insulation, but it is also very sensitive.

And for our pets at home, if they are walking on sand or salt, it will really irritate them and then that's going to be even harder for them to walk in the snow.

LEMON: Greg, do Harper and Olive get stir crazy here? Look, mommy is right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They love the cold. They are probably twice as active in the cold.

LEMON: He is good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they love playing in the snow.

LEMON: OK. There you go, Harper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes our lives easier because we have to focus on throwing the ball because they can run and play.

LEMON: What about, because Harper had eaten some snow. Harper buries his face in the snow, and is it safe for them to do that? Tom, is it safe for them to do that?

STALF: Well, no, it all comes down to when you are walk around in Central Park, and off of the beaten path, you don't want the animals to be eating the snow, because you don't know what is in it, and if there is chemicals on the sidewalks or the roads, and it splashes into the area.

We are not going to want them to ingest something that they don't know what they have, but if you are out in the woods or walking around, sure. They will have fun, and they are great pets, and love to play and it's good to have an activity.

When you are talking about earlier, when you have cold weather, and you have a lot of snow going on, a lot of time you don't want to go out the walk the pet. So when you give them the opportunity, it is if fun to let them play and have a lot of exercise.

LEMON: Does it make a difference because -- Olive and Harper have different fur, and does it make a difference with dogs?

STALF: Absolutely, it does, and that is a great question.

STALF: When you talk about a Siberian husky or an animal or breed that has a thick fur, the thing you don't want to do is to take them to the groomer, and have them shave that all off because it is built- in insulation.

So it is important to look at the breed and we look at the animal, and we have some dogs that are short fur and, you know, I see a lot of times, people are walking around with sweaters and booties, and if it is 3 degrees outside, we want that coat, and they want it as well. It is very important.

LEMON: Some people have outside dogs, right. I grew up in the country, and we have outside dogs, and so if it is extremely cold temperatures or really, really hot, we'd bring them inside. But you have to do that. You cannot leave the animals out in these conditions?

STALF: I completely agree with you and as a matter of fact, there are cities or state laws that say, look, we want you to be protected, but we also want to the think about the pets at home. So, yes, when it is in the teen, and when it is getting down to the single digits, you want the pet with shelter.

It has bedding in that shelter, and you want to make sure they have fresh water which is important. When it is really cold, folks, we have to bring the animals inside.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely. We want to leave you tonight with the CNN pets, and Harper is just off camera, and he can't wait to get back to mommy, and so thank you, Harper, and thank you, Olive. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back to the coverage of the blizzard of 2015. So where is the blizzard of 2015 going to strike next? When will it be over? Hard-hitting questions for CNN meteorologist and weather expert, Chad Myers, I have been asking you all evening, and people up and down the east coast want to know when is it going to be over? MYERS: For Boston, we have been pushing it back, probably 4:00 a.m. There is still one last batch of snow for you, and probably an inch or two to get you over the historic amount. The next place to be hit is Nova Scotia and then Newfoundland and then it will take the wind with it.

I know that the duration out there is two hours that you will get cold after an hour, hour and 20 minutes, because the windchill is everywhere. Where next? Everywhere, the windchills are at zero or below zero at the northeast, and feeling that way to everybody out there, including those pets, Don.

LEMON: Yes, and you don't have this loaded up, chad, but you know everything. You know how we talk about the life tracker, and everything, do we know where we are with the flight tracks and everything and the delays?

MYERS: Well, I am surprised that I called for a flight tomorrow, and I thought no way to get out of this town until Saturday with the backed out flights, but I'm on 3:00 to get back to Atlanta so it seems like it should be worse, but the problem is now that if you have a very early morning flight that the plane is not there, because it did not fly in tonight, so it not waiting for you, and so it is going to be later.

LEMON: Chad Myers, thank you. I appreciate it. All right, our live coverage continues now. I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching. Our live coverage continues now with John Vause and Zain Asher at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Good night.