>> there you go. >> that's going to wrap us up for sg, md. get a sneak peak of next week's show. we're going to talk about heart health and how you can actually reverse damage in your own heart. it's not too late. we'll have it for you here next saturday and sunday at 7:30 a.m. eastern. time now for the top stories in the cnn "newsroom." this is cnn sunday morning and it's sunday, february 19th. it's 8:00 a.m. in georgia, 5:00

a.m. in los angeles. good morning. i'm gary tuchman. today the family and friends will lay the pop star to rest. and a romney campaign chair steps down after he's outed. and also accused of threatening to deport his former boyfriend. we're getting his side of the story. plus, jimmy carter talks about his faith in a new book and how at times he had questioned his beliefs. but, first, a quick check of top stories. china is calling for an immediate cease fire in the nation of syria. he was visiting his syrian counterparts when the military opened fire on anti-government activists in the capital city of

damascus kus. as many as 17 people were killed in syria yesterday. china's vice foreign minister said both sides should sit down and negotiate and calling on syria's president to step aside. the new discovery of human remains and a possible serial killer on the loose in new york state and other sets of remains were found last year. police say they are not sure if the new discovery is linked to the other cases. and an arizona sheriff has stepped down as the co-chairman for mitt romney's campaign manager. he's accused of threatening to deport his former boyfriend if he revealed their relationship. the sheriff denies the allegation. he was also running for congress and for the first time says that he is gay but will not end his congressional run. as we told you, whitney

houston will be laid to rest later today in westfield, new jersey. the funeral of the new hope baptist church was the scene of the funeral yesterday. >> nice seeing you, gary. >> tell me what it was like inside that service. >> i have to say, being someone who's from new jersey, for three hours you literally felt like this was just a girl from new jersey who had a few famous friends and it was such a celebration of life. it is the same church service that will go on in so many churches across the country and it was singing and sill brags and praise for three hours and it wasn't until the very end that you remembered that this

was a funeral and a very sad day for a lot of people. >> raelyn, where did you sit inside the service? you said it was like a normal down home service but you turn around and there's oprah winfrey. >> i sat about 20 pughs back and there was about 1500 of us. there wasn't a lot of sitting because there was a lot of reveling and clapping and i knew every song and this was a group, church-going folks, i should say, and even where i was sitting, the casket comes by you, you see cissy houston completely broken down, oprah winfrey. and it was so hard to believe in the end what had really happened for so many people and to know

that such a beautiful service for three hours and like i said, gary, it wasn't until the very last moment thaw pinched yourself and said, there's oprah winfrey with a face full of tears, there's tyler perry with a face full of tears. it all really sunk in and got really, really heavy because the entire time we were on our feet clapping and singing. >> it was heavy. when you saw the casket going down the aisle at the end and heard whitney houston singing, it was so hard. and saw cissy and bobbi kristina, it was so hard. >> it was completely different and while it was a beautiful service, that was broadcasted. all of the musical performances, and i've seen a fair amount of that in concert. a lot of us have. there was nothing else like

being in that room and to hear -- i never heard alicia keys sound that way or stevie wonder sound that way. and to have the program -- you tried to follow along but you couldn't because people sang when they wanted to. they sang their own version to the songs. those were personal renditions of the songs that we'll never hear again. but to be inside, i can't even describe to you the feeling thaw just couldn't get when you watched on tv, which is sad for her fans but she wasn't owned by her fans. she was owned by her mother and the city of newark and she went home i should say the same way she was born and raised. >> that's the thing, raelyn, this church is where she sang gospel and prayed as a little girl. so it was so sad and appropriate that the service funeral was held at new hope baptist church. now, lots has been said about bobby brown. you were there. you saw it firsthand. what really happened? >> uh-huh.

yes. >> so the four people that you're watching on tv right now, those are the same four people, including bobby brown and his wife, i believe, that came into the church, they came in not with the family -- i want to be clear like that -- he came in like any other v.i.p. person did, came in and sat in the front row which i saw was very clearly marked off for the family. that's not to say that bobby brown isn't family. what i mean by family, in this type of religious church service, people who want to sit in the first, second, or third row, you need to gather with the family at the funeral home and then properly process in with the body or with the family and that's just how that goes. bobby brown sat somewhere else. and i want to be very clear, because i saw this with my own eyes, he was not the only person who was doing this sort of dance and shuffle with their seats. there were a lot of people who moved around. i saw vivica fox who moved around. government officials would arrive and they had required

security that needed to be there. i also want to point out that when bobby brown walked past me, i thought that he was so emotionally torn. his eyes were red. he looked like he had been crying. i thought he was moving to a more private area so people couldn't see him so upset. he walked up the aisle. he made it very clear for all 1500 of us to see him. and we only -- there was no commotion inside. people were asked to move very nicely and like so many other people, i thought he was moving to a different area where he could be more private because he looked so emotionally upset. i didn't think he had it in him to last three hours for that funeral. and if it weren't for the tweaks or the statements that were published, anyone inside, you would have not known and the thing that's for us in the media covering a story, we wonder what's the real relationship between cissy houston, bobbi kristina, bobby brown. and you have to think that

publishing a statement while your ex-wife's body is still laying in a church, that can't make that rift, no matter how big or small it is, that couldn't have made things better. >> you described it so well, it sounds like we were in that church, too. thank you so much. >> thank you, gary. you're welcome. the south is getting a double dose of bad weather this weekend. severe storms to another blast of cold. it's not over. meteorologists reynolds wolf is with us. reynolds? >> along the gulf coast it's going to be a primary rain event. you may have thunderstorms and maybe even an isolated tornado. we'll talk about that coming up in just a few moments, gary. >> thank you, reynolds. he's no stranger to writing books but it's jimmy carter's face that is the center of

attention. more on the fallout over a racial slur about jeremy lynn just ahead. exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- okay... wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

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it's 11 minutes past the hour and reynolds wolf is here to tell us about the weather. >> absolutely. i can tell you that the rain is all across the state of louisiana. in fact, let's take a look at this. this is a shot of centennial park. it looks pretty good for the most part if you don't mind the rain or cloud cover. we have both in atlanta. in tennessee, our friends are going to be dealing with that today. in fact, we'll zoom into a couple of spots. you're going to notice a lot of orange and yellow. what we're dealing with is very heavy rainfall right along parts of 40. the problem that we have for the time being is not that we have flash floods or warnings. we don't yet. you see more development in

huntsville. as it makes its way up to the i-40 corridor, you see additional amounts and runoff and delays. in atlanta, birmingham all due to the weather, we have to throw in the chance of snow in raleigh. now, in terms of the snow that we might see in the highest elevations of parts of the appalachians and north carolina, three to six inches of snow in the high points. even closer to eight in the highest peaks but the warnings that we have, the winter storm warnings are in effect for not just today but for the evening, too. now, plenty of sunshine across the transformation that you'll deal with once the area comes out of the four corners. tail end of this, light to moderate snow in arizona.

even the mountains might get a slight touch of snowfall. and then we see yet another storm system that brings snow to places like bend, oregon, and even into the cascades. temperatures in seattle and portland, a bit warmer and 40s there. 55 in san francisco. 63 in l.a. back east we go into billings and denver. 30s and 40s. 40 in minneapolis for the high. 39 in chicago and wrap it up in atlanta and washington and new york, even boston in the 40s and 50s. 84 expected in miami. there you go. gary, back to you. >> reynolds, is that a windshield wiper? >> the tricks and gadgets that they have up there is just amazing. i would hope that it is a windshield wiper and that we had someone out there -- i was hoping that it wasn't somebody out there perched on the roof.

>> hopefully a robot. >> thank you, reynolds. >> you bet. it's not his skill on the court dominating the headlines but a racial slur used to describe the knicks' jeremy lin. the latest on the controversy coming up. ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. can you enjoy vegetables with with y saucec advisor, and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

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well, he's the nba newest sensation, jeremy lin has skills on the court that has dominated the headline and made the knicks very happy. but the latest headline about espn issuing an apology to him, i'm joined by a sports anchor jeff fischel. >> yes. cnn took all of the headlines. it talked about how lin had a struggle in the beginning. he's chinese-american and his parents grew up in taiwan. espn made a racial slur that we will not say here. the headline was removed at 3:05 a.m. we are reviewing complete

cross-platform to make sure this does not happen again. we regret and apologize for the mistake. there were a flurry of jokes. >> dan, back me up. >> i apologize to viewers at home about the comments who are lin-sensitive and lin correct. you guys have been fired. >> so jeremy lin and the knicks take on the mavericks today. check this out. this was yesterday in the third round. phil mickelson's shot goes stray and ends up in that guy's shorts. there it is. he said he was worried he might hit somebody or hurt somebody. he might have hurt somebody.

mickelson signed one of his gloves as a keepssake. what happenses is he basically drops the ball right where it was sitting though the guy. >> i was going to say -- >> that term takes on a whole new meaning. >> he got a par. yeah. you can't help that a guy happened to be where the ball was landed. there was no harm done to mickelson's day. >> i hooked the ball so badly that it hit a house and it was a disaster. >> that's why i leave it to the press. >> it's a tough game. >> all right. nice talking to you. a tough local sheriff with the growing national profile. now he says he will not stop his congressional run just because he's been outed and accused of something else. we'll hear from him. plus, cnn sits down with one on one with former president jimmy carter. he opens up about his faith and

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i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. time now to check out other news across the country. >> we start in start lotsville, virginia. george huguely left it up to his

attorney to explain that he left her injured but not dead. they called the death an accident. the prosecution and defense rested their cases. the trial resumes on wednesday. to hawaii where elizabeth smart in a married woman. she married on the north shore. they moved it up a couple of months because of all of the media attention. you'll remember that elizabeth smart was kidnapped when she was just 14 years old and held for around nine months. she's now 24 years old. finally, let's go to las vegas where the stars came out to say happy birthday to muhammad ali. >> he's the most interesting person i know and you know what, my dad doesn't want to spend his birthday getting gifts. he wants to give back to the community. >> he's the most unselfish person that i've ever met. >> he's an icon.

ali has changed us all and impacted us all, whether we acknowledge it or not. >> president obama sent a video message to ali. people paid $10,000 for a ticket. now to arizona. a popular sheriff has stepped downs as his role as co-chairman for the mitt romney presidential campaign after being outed by a phoenix newspaper. in the phoenix newspaper, the sheriff is accused of threatening to deport his former boyfriend if he revealed their relationship. he denies the allegation about the deportation but is admitting for the first time publicly that he is gay. listen. >> i am here to say that all these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are

absolutely, completely false. except for the issues that refer to [ bleep ] being gay. because that's the truth. i am gay. this is a moment of truth for me and i want to set the record straight so we can get on to the business of what is most important to arizona because i can tell you this is probably the least of concern to real families and real people throughout our state. we're not hiding anything. but i'm standing up saying, that, yes, i'm an actively campaigning for congress in the fourth congressional district and i will continue to earn the trust of the people by talking about the real issues. i actually called the romney campaign and said, hey, look, i'm actually going to step away from the campaign and they said, we support your decision, sheriff. this is my private life and now it's out for the whole world to see. that is very difficult and i wish that didn't happen and i

can tell you for those who may seek elected office that are out there, there's not one person without some transgression or something that could be very embarrassing and the measure of who i am is how i'm handling this today. >> as you heard, the sheriff is running for public office, he's running for congress as a republican. he says the news is not going to change that. he also said he's kind of relieved that the news is out there now. he served for 20 years in iraq and made news in arizona for his tough stance on immigration. i met with him in 2010. he showed me back then a lot of clothes and equipment left behind by those illegally crossing the border. a call for syria to stop the violence. you are now seeing the bloodshed. and former president

carter's faith is the focus of this new book. our sit-down interview with him just ahead. montgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced.

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and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. good morning. it's 29 minutes past the hour. welcome back to cnn sunday morning. i'm gary tuchman. checking top stories right now, egypt is recalling its ambassador to syria saying the syrian government has an obligation to stop the violence. the move comes as activists say soldiers attacked protesters. meanwhile, the regime is blaming the opposition for what they say are targeted officials. macy's will ramp up hiring. the chain will add about 4,000 full-time employees to its payroll this year. that's about the same amount of

new employees last year. and mitt romney accused by rival rick santorum of using earmarks to keep the games afloat. romney dismissed the claims saying that he asked to help with security issues. he's no stranger to writing books but the new focus of his book is faith. >> gary, people may have different opinions on the politics of president carter, but there's one point you cannot disagree on and that is he's a writing machine. he has put out more than two dozen books and this latest one he hopes that people will read every single day. >> first of all, mr. president, thank you very much. >> it's a pleasure.

>> this is your -- what number book? >> 26, i think. >> how do you keep being so prolific when it comes to writing? >> well, i have my duties. i have a wide responsibility but when i'm at home i enjoy writing and it's a major source of income for me since i've left the white house. >> well, this is definitely a book that interests you. it's an inspirational book. it's very deep in your faith. and and it seems to be a book not only for people to read but a book for people to use in their life. i'm wondering how you hope people will use it. >> well, my hope is that people will take it and maybe read through it first and then maybe put it on their bedside table each night and it really is -- each page is an abbreviation of a 45-minute lecture. >> for sunday school?

>> sunday school lessons, yes. i abbreviate them sometimes quite thankfully. this last summer i had both my knees replaced and i was incapacitated. >> in many of these lessons you bring out specific instances of when you were in the white house. you apply both faith with the political -- what was going on at that time. have you ever felt abandoned by your faith? >> just once in my life. i was disillusioned of my faith. it's when i ran for governor in 1966. and i was basically running against a well-known segregationist. and when he didn't win but the legislature appointed him later on, that was a constitutional provision then, i really felt letdown by god. but my youngest sister, who was

a very famous ee van gentleman lift, took some scriptures from the book of james, i remember, that setbacks in life should be an tuition that results in perseverance and patience and self-analysis and renewed spiritual commitment and she convinced me and so i -- my faith was renewed at that time. >> but you put the date of the lesson at the top of the page. what was your reason for doing that? >> i just felt it was worthy to explore at what point in jimmy's life did he write this? they could take a look and see whether it was 1990 or 2010 that i wrote the lesson and maybe judged by my maturity, if i have increased wisdom and so forth, or maybe they want to compare it to that particular era. >> these are based on lessons of more than 30 years, right? >> yes. >> in the book you say that the

bible doesn't change but i'm wondering, have the religious attitudes of the students that you now see, has that changed? >> i have a very diverse audience each sunday. i do relate to them based on the current atmosphere in the world. right now there's a much more negative prospect of the future than there was, say, ten years ago or 15 years ago with wars breaking out and a lot of tragedies taking place. and the insurance being constantly involved in combat overseas. so i would say that the audience doesn't change much in that basic character. it's a circumstance that surrounds that particular sunday that affect their lives that does change. >> this is a book of religious meditation. so of course it's got a heavy religious feel to it but he mixes in the politics of the

presidential office and how his religion helped him through crisis and many difficult decisions. it's a very intimate look into the faith and soul of a man who was once the most powerful man in the world. gary? >> marty, thank you very much for an interesting interview. go to our belief blog at cnn.com/belief and share your thoughts. differences over theology and debate about birth control. social issues moving to the front of the 2012 campaign. you see candy crowley there. i will talk with her about it next. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

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state of the union is coming up with candy crowley at the top of the hour. rick santorum is in the headlines slamming what he calls president obama's theology while an all-male birth control debate in washington. it sounds like an interesting topic today. >> absolutely. one of the things that i think is interesting is there is a wing, a portion of the republican party that social issues are really something that ought to be back burner. mitch daniels said this a while

back. he said, look, we've got to focus on the economy and jobs and yet this whole week has been about in one way or another social issues. whether it's women in the forefront of combat or birth control and who should pay for that, if it's a religion, the catholic religion that does not believe or condone birth control or it's rick santorum, as they said last night, questioning -- assuming to question the president's theology saying that he's not a christian, which santorum says that he did not say. but all of these issues that democrats can immediately cease upon, particularly the women and contraception. we saw women saying, no, we're going to stand up for women's issues and they have turned it to their advantage by stirring up the base of the republican party and republicans can make headway with their conservative but do they want to do that looking forward into the fall.

we want to dissect it politically this sunday. >> so the question is, if we put it on the back burner, a political reasoning, is that why they want to do that? >> in general. and also because they would argue that that's not so. that there are a lot of cultural conservatives and that the u.s. is right of center on social issues. but more than that, there is also -- it's just not on the top of most people's minds. two weeks ago i don't think we would have thought that we were going to have a discussion about birth control. so the fact of the matter is, most republicans say, look, it's still the economy and to put this sort of thing out there only allows democrats to stir up their base. >> i've known you for a long time. nothing surprises you in a presidential campaign. >> it's true. it's true. >> who else is on today. >> mitch daniels, michele bachmann, a tea party tied to a

former presidential candidate and ron paul to talk about where he thinks his campaign is headed and how he will view the rest of the campaign and a panel discussion on what are the u.s. interests in syria? should we be doing something? is there some reason that folks out there in tv land watching this should be concerned about what is happening in syria. >> candy, thank you very much. good show today. keep it here for state of the union at 9:00 eastern time, 6:00 pacific time right here on cnn. whitney houston wanted to be a back-up singers for a group of friends at the height of her career. stories shared at the funeral revealed the intimate side of the star. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is...

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and costner was raised a baptist, too. those are a few of the stories that family and friends shared at her funeral yesterday. >> your mother and i had a lot in common. many of us are thinking, really? she's a girl, you're a boy. you're white. she's black. we heard you like to sing. but my sister could really sing. so what am i talking about, whitney houston we both grew up in the baptist church. and a lot of guys, a lot of guys

could have filled that role. >> and she and i sat in a restaurant in atlanta, just the two of us, sat there talking for about an hour and a half about fewer years ago and during this time she was telling me about her life and i was very surprised at how candid and open and revealing she was as she was talking to me and she would talk about things that she went through, things that made her sad and things that were tough and as i would see her talk about this, i would see this heaviness come upon her and i'm the type of person that when i would see this with anyone, i would want to say something encouraging. but before i could get words out to encourage her, she would say, but the lord. >> whitney told us we had to come over. so we came over to the house and she said, okay, we were sitting in her closet and i heard her closet was about as big as this

church so we wasn't crowded. and so we're sitting there and she says, all right. so, i have to tell you what we going to do. i went and i had some uniforms made we looked at it and she said, i got the background dresses for the three girls and they are cream and i got the band and i got the cream for the shirts and bebe, i got you a cream suit made and cece, i got you a melon. yeah. a melon dress made and i got me a green one. she made her a green one. she said, because we going to headline and she was determined and i know clyde was here and she made clyde so mad. she decided in the height of her career she was going to come sing background with bebe and

cece. and so we sat there and said, whitney, you can't do that. nobody told you to do that, girl. this is not a material relationship. she said, okay. you're my brother and sister, right? we said, yeah, we're your brothers and sisters and i'm your sister, right? and we said, yeah, you're our sister. and she said, okay, and we love each other, right? and we said, yes, we love each other. and this is what i'm going to miss. and y'all are broke, right? >> very bittersweet. whitney houston will be laid to rest today. she will be buried next to her father at the fair view cemetery south of newark and will happen during a private family gathering. it could be another storm ree day across the united

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it's time for this morning's

passport. nadya has a story that i guarantee most of you have never heard this. when you're an orphan in china, you can sometimes be given demeaning names? >> yes. in china what they call orphans up until now, this new regulation is party or state. >> so they name you the communist party? >> absolutely. exactly. so this year the ministry of civil affairs have said we are no longer going to do that. children in orphanages are prohibited and would rather be given the sur names of the last names of 100 of the most popular chinese last names. it's interesting, one particular orphanage said that up until 2010 every single orphan was called -- or their last name was party -- because as you just said they owed their lives to the party.

and one particular welfare worker said, we don't want children to grow up in orph orphanages to imply that they are different from those who have parents. of course, that goes with them throughout their lives. there are about 100,000 children in 900 orphanages throughout china. it's really going to impact a lot of children. >> does this happen in other countries? >> india i did a story so they were given names that didn't identify them as being unwanted. change in regulation it will be implemented and these children will have sur names that have much more dignity than simply party or state.

>> i think psychologists and welfare workers, they say that this move shows the government is paying more attention to these children's psychological needs which helps their development. so certainly some kind of movement to understand what are the long-term ramifications and it talks about what is in a name, gary tuchman? >> now i do. >> that's why i'm sitting here with you. >> do you know what your first name means? >> gary? it's a british name. >> do we know if it was a king or queen? >> definitely king. >> nadia means a gift. what does your name mean? what does a family name mean and what does it mean to have a wonderful new last name? there's going to be a whole generation of chinese orphans that are going to be proud -- >> tuchman is a german name and german speakers would know this,

it means cloth or clothes. >> that says a lot about your warmth and wisdom. >> nadia, thank you very much. you should be my agent. >> it's always good to talk about what's in a name. >> it very much is. well, now it's time to check top stories. the syrian government has an obligation to stop the violence. this comes as soldiers attacked a funeral for protesters. meanwhile, the bashar al assad is blaming the regime for targeted attacks on officials. macy's coe says they are going to add 4,000 employees to

their payroll. and the 2002 salt lake city olympics are backing a talking point in the presidential campaign. mitt romney being accused by rick santorum of using earmarks to keep the games afloat. romney said the money was used for security issues. and now it's time to go to reynolds wolf with one last look at weather. huge blizzards across north america? >> very true. we haven't had a lot of that activity. we might get a touch of winter weather across parts of the appalachians in new orleans we have the video for you there you have it. people are dodging the

raindrops. not only strong winds but a couple tornado reports along portions of the gulf coast. we can expect that system to pull more to the southeast. a better day in new orleans. so where did the rain go? as we did so, we will follow along a bit more to the north and up into tennessee. heavy rainfall from knoxville to getting the action. the greens, yellows, and orange spots to something different. pink and white. we can expect that snow to begin to pile up in parts of the appalachians. we have the colder air aloft from charleston up to roanoke. perhaps in places like washington, d.c., before the day is out, we may be dealing with snow. we'll also deal with areas and boom of thunder. high pressure building in and

trailing cold front brings snow into the rockies. and snow coming in there. also snow in portions of the northern rockies. so great news for them. 55 in atlanta and 64 in houston. okay. so you've seen the weather forecast. what will it mean to travelers? in shashville, some of the cold air and washington, d.c., rain early and i would not be surprised out by reagan and dulles if you get a few snowflakes out there. heavy stuff? probably not but at least a light dusting.