Tonight, there is a life-threatening brutal arctic blast of cold air and strong winds that are sending temperatures plunging for tens of millions. Our forecast tonight in just a moment. Plus, the other big story tonight, a Marine veteran working as an American aid worker killed in Ukraine in an ambulance while trying to help some civilians. Tonight, we speak with his widow about his heroic actions as Russian missiles rain down. But first, all eyes are on the sky tonight, tracking that Chinese balloon as there are new questions about what the Chinese are spying on? The White House tonight saying it’s keeping all options on the table, the Pentagon revealing they don’t believe there are any weapons on board. And yet it’s another hit to the already strained relationship between the US and China. And now, America’s top diplomats postponing a high-profile trip to Beijing just this weekend.

The Chinese balloon is enormous, carrying a payload of cameras and antennas as big as two or three school buses. It’s powered by solar panels and steered by a rudder as the prevailing winds push it east across the United States at an altitude of sixty thousand feet. China says it’s simply a weather balloon that lost its way. But US officials don’t believe it. And the reason Secretary of State B canceled his trip to meet with China’s President Xi. It came over the Aleutian Islands in Canada, passed over Montana, where intercontinental ballistic missiles are based. Today, it was spotted over Missouri where commercial pilots were warned to be on the knockout. One official told CBSN President B initially wanted to shoot it down, but the Pentagon leaders said it was too risky. The balloon is expected to be over the US for a few more days then out over the ocean. That will likely be the best chance as one official put it dispose of it when it’s safe.