What's up, sunshine?
Happy Monday.
Hope you're having a nice day and not too much of an icy cold day.
I'm Coy Wire.
This is CNN 10.
I hope you are warm and safe, as this enormous winter storm is blanketing nearly half of the United States.
We'll talk about that a bit later.
Let's kick off this week with a positive attitude, lots of gratitude, and your 10 minutes of news.
We begin with a gripping story ascending to the top of search charts online.
Famed free solo climber, Alex Hano, has taken his sport to new heights yet again scaling one of the world's tallest skyscrapers with nothing but his bare hands and a chalk bag.
Can't spell Honnold without the hold.
Move over Spider-Man.
Honnold is now the only person to free solo Taiwan's towering Taipei 101.
No ropes, no nets, or any other safety gear.
He did it in a blazing fast 92 minutes.
Our Ivan Watson has more on the death-defying, downright dizzying feat.
Alex Honnold on the top of Taipei 101, over 500 meters, 1,667 feet above the Taiwanese capital.
He got there in just over 90 minutes on Sunday scrambling up its 101 stories with no rope, no harness and no net to catch him if he fell.
It's what's known in the climbing world as free soloing.
One wrong move would have sent Honnold plunging to his death.
The climb streamed live by Netflix in a glossy production.
But while millions tuned in, Netflix kept a 10-second delay.
If Honnold fell, the feed would have cut.
In the end, the world's most famous climber completed the anxiety-inducing challenge.
He even performed for crowds and cameras along the way.
The biggest challenge was staying calm, having all the people around.
It just makes it feel a little more intense.
And then as I climbed, I relaxed more and more.
I was like, oh, this is so fun.
I mean, this is why I do it.
It was incredible.
Honnold's Achievement Sunday is the world's largest urban free solo effort.
It came a day later than planned after Honnold postponed Saturday for bad weather.
I sadly will not get to climb the building today because it's raining.
Before he took the climb, he told CNN he wasn't afraid at all.
There's preparation, there's training, there's rehearsal.
There's the 30 years that I've spent as a professional climber practicing this exact kind of thing.
I mean, I would consider that a safety net.
But no, if you mean, is there an actual net deployed?
No, there isn't.
For Honnold, the appeal of free soloing comes in the total focus he must display.
It is the ultimate example of living in the moment.
In 2018, Honnold shot to global fame as the hero of free solos. a nail-biting and Oscar-winning documentary on his successful climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, again with no rope.
But free soloing is controversial.
Many of its practitioners have died.
And many in the climbing world, outdoor communities and brands feel they can't encourage it.
The live TV-rigged cameras and drones for Honnold's Ascent of Taipei 101 didn't seem to faze him as he completed what he says was a lifetime goal, one that may never be matched.
Pop quiz hot shot.
Why does snow appear white?
It reflects all wavelengths of light.
It contains trapped air bubbles, ice crystals, scatter light in all directions, or salt content.
Answer is ice crystals.
They scatter light in all directions because the most common shape of a snowflake is a hexagon.
This past weekend, winter weather started to go in full effect across nearly half of the United States.
This powerful storm started rolling through with Arctic air, ice, and loads of snow.
And if you were among the half that did not get any flurries or flakes?
Allow us to be your window to the world.
In New York City.
A time lapse shows snow falling in Times Square as the snowstorm arrived in the Northeast, coating the city overnight.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, snow blanketed the roads and the skyline.
Farther south in Denton, Texas, the weather conditions slowed traffic.
And in Plainview, it brought out Good Samaritans, people working together to push a stuck car to safety.
Outside Nashville Tennessee, plow trucks cleared the streets while kids did what kids do best in snow sledding and building.
Forecasters say snow, sleet and freezing rain affected millions of people, disrupting travel and causing widespread power outages in several areas.
Why do snowstorms have wildly fluctuating forecasts?
I mean, I've once seen a mayor say there'd be between 3 to 16 inches of snow.
But why?
To help forecast the precipitation and temperature, we use models.
None of them are perfect.
It's impossible to perfectly map out mathematically or measure the atmosphere.
There are well over 50 models with a lot of assumptions.
Two that you'll often hear about are the European model or the GFS, an American model.
The European model costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for full access, while the GFS is totally free.
Let's start basic, though.
A rough estimate is that for every 10 inches of snow, there is an inch of liquid.
Few would care if the forecast called for 0.3 inches of rain and 1.6 inches fell.
But in snow terms, that would be the difference between 3 inches of snow and 16 inches of snow.
Beyond that, nobody cares if a forecast is off by a degree if it's 77 degrees versus 78.
But 32 degrees versus 33 degrees could mean the difference between snow and rain.
So which is it?
Which model reigns supreme?
Well, statistically speaking, the Euro model has been proven to be more accurate over the past two decades.
Of course, it's not perfect all the time, like the time it famously botched the 2015 blizzard here in New York.
But that is why forecasting is no easy science.
Last week we told you about all of the important financial and diplomatic issues being discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
But the gathering of the rich and powerful in an alpine paradise sometimes seems a bit far removed from the problems of people in the real world.
With all of that turmoil and division in the world right now, CNN's Richard Quest went looking for answers.
The question is, what gives you hope?
I'll give you a choice of color.
Here we go.
You get to choose your poison.
Write your answer on the board, any way you like.
Economy.
I'll be a little bit unoriginal and circle economy.
I'm going to put here economics.
Technology.
Because we're going to be able to proliferate economic growth in a way we've never been able to.
What gives me hope is the inventiveness of people.
Stability.
Oh.
Human adaptability.
That's all we got to go on in my view.
Oh, that's good.
Shared interests.
Oh, interesting.
Cooperation.
Oh, that's a good one.
The world is still full of good people.
Madam President, choose your color.
The blue of Europe.
Blue of Europe.
Yes.
Oh.
Voila.
Purple.
Purple.
I still believe people can make a difference and leave a good legacy.
As you can see, the board is filling up what gives you hope.
Oh, an appropriate one at the top of the boat.
I think it is what has transformed humanity for the better.
Reason.
Trust.
Something everybody should be thinking about.
Very important.
That's very good.
But you know what it is?
It's humanity.
We need to relax.
I mean, everyone gets so excited here.
I will join those who said history because things are moving in the right direction.
The word calm.
Oh!
Whatever situations we have, we always need to keep calm and carry on.
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10 a dynamic duo educating their community in a seriously cool way.
These unique little libraries have started popping up all over Colorado Springs, Colorado.
But instead of books, they feature Hot Wheels.
They take a car, they leave a car.
These stands are a big hit, but their purpose is bigger than just trading the tiny toys.
They're helping raise awareness for cars for everyone.
A local program that's helping spread automotive knowledge to anyone who wants to learn.
It kind of went away of like you know there's no more like teaching cars in shop class kids aren't excited about, you know, loud cars.
We were noticing that people just uneducated about checking their oil and checking things that matter about a car.
The program hosts free community events, mechanic workshops and youth outreach programs to educate their community.
They even host a mentorship program to help those with disabilities get under the hood.
I like to learn things even though I'm disabled.
I do Want to learn things and be better in life than not knowing something that I've never been taught before.
And from Hot Wheels to Real Wheels.
The program also helps make racing a reality for a new generation of auto enthusiasts.
For the last gosh three years, we've probably put a thousand different people in the front seat of this car.
Without the help of you know everyone that we work with this car alone wouldn't be on track.
So it would be selfish of me to keep this to myself.
Vroom, vroom.
We have two shout outs for you.
This first one goes to my old stomping grounds and my friend and former teammate, Mr Madeline, and all of my 717 wonders at New Cumberland Middle School in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.
Rise up.
And this shout out goes to Miss Penny at Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington.
Thank you for subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube channel.
Take care of yourself in this winter storm, everyone.
Stay safe, stay warm, and be kind to one another.
I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
I'm Coy Wire, and we are CNN 10.
