washington. i'm jessica dean. we have school closings for you. you'lle them at the bottom of the screen right now. we have team three coverage with our reporters covering pennsylvania, new jersey, and then delaware. we start first with meteorologist kate bilo who is tracking things from the the cbs-3 weather center, kate. >> looking at cleve there in south jersey seeing those flakes starting to fly, this storm is really going to take hold of the area within the next three to four hours. by that i mean that is when steady snow will really start to fall for just about everyone, although we are hearing for folks that snow has begun in their area. lets look at storm can three. i'll tell you a few reports i'm getting from twitter. peter says that few snow flakes spotted. bob in west deptford says flurries just began. flakes began in wilmington says jim porter. kim day getting light flakes in north wales. just a dusting. those are our twitter reports. keep them coming. we love to know what you are seeing and when you are seeing it. if you want to get out there

with your yardstick and ruler send them to us. we love to see it. storm scan three showing heavier snow. look at this snow dark purple over portions of western virginia. it the is just thumping snow there at moment. band of heavy snow in eastern virginia as well, that band could lift up into maryland and perhaps, portions of delaware within the next couple of hours. you can see things are starting to saturate here in the philadelphia area once the snow gets underway it will be with us for quite sometime. right through tomorrow night even into early sunday morning. that one band set up over montgomery county, hearing reports around montgomeryville of steady snow there snow begins between now and 8:00 for everyone. saturday, heavy snow all day, strong wind, and then sunday morning we will clear it out. windy day. we will deal with blowing and drifting snow and low visability even on sunday. it is not a tech person we broke it down. in the poconos all snow six to 12 inches expected. twelve to 16 in the lehigh valley. in the city and suburbs, mainly snow, could be a sleet layer if you are somewhere 16

to 20 inches of snow for us. delaware and interior south jersey possible mixing, keep it to six to 12. that could over perform if it does not mix. the coastal delaware and coastal new jersey about three to 6 inches because of the mix with sleet and rain. we mentioned earlier a blizzard warning for the the area, lauren casey is with us from the sky deck and she will tell us more about that, hi lauren. >> i'm's out here on the cbs-3 sky deck, still on watch, we have in the seen anything yet. we have been getting reports from our twitter followers telling us flakes are flying. now scattered in nature across the the area. that is going to ramp up as we head into tonight. we have a blizzard warning in effect. it has been expanded further south into parts of the southern new jersey. we will see the entire area under the the blizzard warning. start to see it this evening and all day tomorrow and expires at the 10:00 a.m. on sunday. so what exactly is a blizzard. in our mind we will think of crazy snow but it really has less to do with the the snow accumulations and more to do with strong wind, and greatly reduced visability.

we will get heavy snow falling, blowing, snow, and with strong wind sustained at 35 miles per hour or greater or gusts of 35 miles an hour or greater and we will have that with wind gusts to potentially 50 miles an hour in the the city and suburbs. the close to 60 miles an hour down the shore. that will greatly reduce our visibility to less than a quarter mile. down to near zero at times, for extended periods, well over the three hour criteria. for that blizzard warning. so dangerous conditions, are going to will develop, as we head into tonight, and be persistent through much of the day tomorrow. good weekend, to just stay at home. >> lauren, new jersey shore has a major concern from the the the blizzard, and that is coastal flooding. >> eye witt the necessary news reporter cleve bryan is live in avalon where the snow has been coming down for about two hours now, cleve. >> reporter: that is right, jessica and ukee. two hours of snow and you can see what it has done. if you have been wondering how snow will impact roadways, well, through go, laying on the road, sticking,

accumulating as people go by and clumping up and starting to gather on the middle an inside of the road are ways as the the tires spit it out and chill out. we have not seen any of the tow trucks or plow trucks go through here just yet, they kind of want to let this sit before they start scraping. i want to give you an example how wind will affect things at the shore. we will get the flooding on the back bay so people have to worry about that, rising in to homes and streets but you also have to worry about snowdrifting. here's a very small example about how that will work. anywhere where snow can push up against it will stack. even though they are only getting possibly half foot of snow at the shore there could be spots, where it is much, much deeper because of that drifting. so, one thing you need to be aware of as you get the in and out of your house where you park your car it will make a big difference about how you get around in this days following this storm. the especially fur car gets flooded out. if you live at the shore and you. moved to higher ground that is

one thing thaw can do this evening. again, snow is just starting in this area we expect wind to pick up significantly tomorrow. reporting live from avalon, i'm cleve bryan, cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >> it is coming down pretty good there right now. mike just checked in on social media and said snow is coming down in middletown, at one point. speaking of which a state of emergency goes into effect in delaware at midnight. >> "eyewitness news" reporter alexandria hoff is live in newark where snow has started to fall, alex? >> reporter: well, beginning. we saw small flakes an hour ago and they are coming down, they are father, falling faster, so the storm is definitely underway this delaware. the accumulation is starting it is not a significant accumulation as we are seeing in the lower and middle portions of the state but when all said and done in terms of the inches top half of the delaware will be hit harder when it comes to the number of total inches.

that state of emergency will go in effect midnight tonight. that means non-essential travel on the roadways should really be limited from now, until tomorrow afternoon, but especially after midnight, many of those roadways will be closed off to just anyone who may be traveling. so stay in place if you can, leave those road opened for emergency personnel, and delldot has about 13,000, roadways to keep clear during this storm. so you can only do so much when it is coming down this fast and for that length of time we are here in newark, delaware so keep in mind, this is a college town. so people will be making it out of this situation. little while ago we saw, i saw two guys walking down the street. they had shorts on and they tweeted out a picture. we stay connect on social media people are making the best of this but it is something to take serious. state of emergency goes into effect at midnight tonight, all non-essential travel should be left off of the roadways. the reporting live from newark delaware i'm alexandria hoff

for cbs-3 eyewitness naus. >> thank you so much for. that it the has been a eventful first few weeks, for mayor jim kenney and today a state of emergency has been issued in philadelphia kenney spoke about the city's plan for clearing the streets. >> first phase is to get us up and moving again. second phase cleaning up, lifting up and getting us back to normal. look, i lived on a little street for a long time. up until i think mayor street my street never got plowed. so since his administration we have been plowing smaller streets. obviously they have come after the the primary routes, and we will get to that and we will, plow through it and get it done. >> the state of emergency takes effect at 9:00 p.m. tonight. salt yards at penndot facilities are very business. crews loading up plow trucks and deploying them for the snow fight. "eyewitness news" reporter walt hunter is live in norristown where officials just updated us on preparations, walt? >> reporter: well, busy spot here at norristown penndot facility here if you look over there to my left, you can see

salt trucks getting loaded up. front end loaders scooping up the salt. this is one time when high salt content is a good thing. not a bad thing. it has been busy here, all day, take i look at this video from earlier, and this was the the scene, throughout the afternoon, and as you can see this very penndot facility just a few minutes ago penndot secretary leslie richard briefed us on the battle against the storm. 4,000 penndot employees across the state, 12 hour shift, it is going to be a huge battle. keep in mind that these plow and salt crews only come through on two to three hours cycles, and secretary richard saying that it will snow one to 2 inches an hour. that means you can get between plowings four to 1 inches of snow. that is a lot of snow. one of the main points that the penndot and the secretary was making was that everybody should stay home. here are some of the secretary's word here just a few moments ago.

>> i cannot stress enough, please stay home, if you do not need to be outside on our roads, please do not go outside. we know that there will be emergencies, but the less cars, that are on the road will allow our equipment operators to do what they need to do and then clear the road during the storm. >> and in case you are wondering just how dangerous, it is during ice and snow events, the secretary is pointing out last year, 552 accidents, 279 injuries, and four fatalities, all during snow and ice storms. so, penndot is busy, 120,000 tons of salt, ready to be spread, and the important thing is for you to use caution, when you are out there don't pass a plow truck and stay at least six car lengths behind it. we will be live with updates for now live from norristown i'm walt hunter for cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >> give crews their space, walt, thank you. lets talk about saturday. due to the storm septa a is

suspending most of the services beginning at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. all regional rail lines, bus and trolley routes and norristown high speed line will be suspended for 24 hours. the market frankford and broad street lines will be running continuously, and officials say those routes are staying opened so emergency personnel and hospital workers, can travel. time is running out to catch a flight out of philly international, today officials announced the airport will shut down tomorrow because of the storm. those looking to fly through southern destinations today, are out of luck. airlines canceled many of those flights. and you can help us, tell the story of our major winter storm, share your snow photos on facebook, twitter and instagram with the hashtag cbs-3 snow and you could see them being shared on "eyewitness news". "eyewitness news" has you covered as you brace for the storm, we have expanded coverage of special addition of "eyewitness news" coming up tonight at 7:00 o'clock right here on cbs-3. that follows the "cbs evening news". well, our coverage on this major winter storm does in the

stop now. >> still to come on "eyewitness news" at 6:00 the approaching storm has hospital emergency departments, busy, and we will tell you why hospitals are gearing up to see more injuries, and some potentially deadly incidents. health reporter stephanie stahl will explain how it is making medical conditions worse, kate. the snow has arrived in much of the area right now we will continue to have our eye on this major winter storm, you can see those steady band making it to philadelphia, with the heavy snow down here, and it is going to continue to move through overnight, we will have the latest on the timing, how much snow will fall and when this storm gets out of here, for some people that is the the most important detail, we will have that coming up when we

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back on eyewitness news now with a look at storm scan 36789 you can see major storm making its way up the east coast. the the snow, that blue, ape white color starting to fill in. kate will be back in just a couple minutes with an update on the storm. people have been flooding in to philadelphia emergency departments before the storm. >> health reporter stephanie stahl joins with us more on that part of the coverage. >> reporter: yes, busy now ahead of the storm. doctors say during the actual snowstorm, tomorrow, hospital emergency departments usually are not the that busy. but they are expecting a big up tic on sunday for the dig

out, and in the days before the big storm, yesterday and today, typically, pretty crazy too. the the emergency department at hahnemann university happies extra busy, before the snowstorm, and, anxiety is up, many fearful, that they will be stranded. >> we definitely see a bum in volume. >> reporter: doctor eric stander, an emergency physician, says there is evidence the that the lower barometric pressure with an approaching storm worsens conditions. >> colds, stomach viruses, we are getting people with chest pains, coronary artery disease kind of issues, congestive heart failure. a couple people with seizures. anything that causes stress increases all those incidents. >> reporter: trauma bays are equip with heated blankets to warm up people, coal weather increases the risk for frostbites and hypotheria, low body temperature. for more severe cases iv fluids are warmed. >> that keeps the people warm as we try to warm them up actively. we take this out and hang them on a person.

>> reporter: biggest dangers is heart attacks that canning triggered by cold weather and exertion shoveling. they are expect to go see an increase in patient was broken bones, and, flipping and falling in the snow. >> people need to slow down, take it easy, no matter what they are doing, walking, driving, just slow down and take it easy. >> reporter: take it easy, right. the snow can be irresistible for some. if you insist on venturing out make sure you are bundled up, layers, hats, gloves are critical. also the poison control center asked to us remind people, about the the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, from gas powered generators. they a it always happens during snowstorms, first symptoms of that, flu-like symptoms. but doctors every where said priest tell people to stay home, relax. >> yes, just don't go out immediately. >> watch a movie, et cetera. >> i think it will be difficult to be outside tomorrow because of the wind will be harsh. >> not comfortable. >> stephanie, thank you. >> you don't want to risk, the snow man in the 40-mile an

hour winds. wait until sunday. >> save that for sunday. do sledding on sunday. it will not all be that bad on sunday. in addition to what stephanie mentioned about generators if the snow is high and you start your car make sure you clear off tail pipe with the car. same store which the carbon monoxide there. be safe, take precautions. the most folks at work or school on friday will be home before the the brunt of the this storm starts and you can just stay put. lets look at is what going on right now. we will go outside to our potent winter storm. this has not even started to develop yet. it the is a coastal component yet. what we are looking for is phasing, this storm moves off the coast transfers energy to the coastal low. that low then strengthens in the warm waters off atlantic seaboard and that will ramp up snowfall rates. it looks rough now. it will get worse before it gets better. one thin band of steadier know in southern lancaster county and chester county. i heard someone in my hometown of phoenixville saying it started to snow there. this is very close to philadelphia hopefully everybody will get home before it does. another look at your blizzard

warning for the entire region. we have covered this many times, blizzard is a function of win and visibility, not so much snowfall. wind, over 35 miles an hour, visibility under .25 miles an hour and that is for three plus hours. the coastal flood warning is another part of the storm that a lot of people tend to overlook worried about how much snow will fall in their backyard but this is a major deal down the the shore, coastal flooding, could be on the major scale across portions of cape may and atlantic counties, back bay flooding, we will be dealing with property damage and very strong damaging wind there lets talk about precipitation type and wind sheer. in the lehigh valley, berks county, expect all snow from this. gusts to 30 miles an hour from this storm. north and western suburbs of philadelphia, thinks all snow for you. wind could gust to 45 miles an hour, if you are south and east, philadelphia, into the jersey suburbs and northern delaware, it could mix with a little sleet, mostly snow, and wind could gust to 50 miles an hour and off to the south, down the shore, it will mix with rain at times, wind gusting to 50 or 60 miles per

hour. if you have a generator make sure you have gas and everything you need ready to go because power outages will be around with this storm, wind are very strong, and the snow is heavy. we will talk about that in a moment. again 16 to 20 inches, philadelphia and surrounding suburbs in new jersey and pennsylvania. and 16 to 20 in wilmington. twelve to 16 for the the vast majority of the rest of our area. lower totals near atlantic seaboard thanks to some mixing. uncertain factors here how far north and west does that mixing occur. where does heavier snow band set up. those are areas over achieving. dry slots dry air pulled in the storm could mean a slow down in snowfall rates and that could limit your snow totals as well. looking at our power problems, 40 to 60 miles an hour gusts, heavy wet snow, sticks to the lines and trees, power outages are likely all across the area with this system. and overnight snow arrives, and it turns windy, tomorrow, heavy snow, blizzard conditions, all day, and you're witness weather seven day forecast, it is getting a lot better, sunday is whipped i. still some blowing and drifting but then we're in the 40's next week and it looks quiet. so the the snow will start to

melt. now lets check on those road with meisha johnson, hi there, meisha. >> we have to get through this weekend, and then it will get a little bit better. so right now we are going to start to see those snow flakes coming down, yes, we are in bucks county. you can see them fluttering past our camera lens right there. doylestown road at county town road traffic levels are starting to ease up just a little bit. with that being said, there is still plenty of vehicles, out on the roadways. we are looking at center city, schuylkill moving in the eastbound direction at the vine. we are not seeing any snow flakes just yet but you can see volume levels still out there, plenty of vehicles here, also on i-95 north at girard, and get home, get where it is safe and then hunker down. if you have to be outside on the roadways, make sure you have that gas, maybe even an emergency kit, whatever you do, because that storm is coming, i'll have have another update but first lets take a quick break first with

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glad you are with us, our eye on the storm coverage continues o the the right side of the screen you are looking at avalon, new jersey. yeah, snow started to come down there. on the left that is storm scan three as this storm comes up from the south, i'm more concerned with that pinkish color that change over line because sometimes that has icing. we will check with kate on. that but we are watching this storm, very are, very carefully. weather is affecting sports world. leslie is here with more on that. >> i know, tomorrow, nothing going on. if you air a local sports phantom is a excellent day to get a head start on the spring cleaning. most have the local teams will be snowed in. wells fargo center was scheduled for a basketball double header, fourth rang villanova hosting 16th ranked providence at noon. then sixers taking on the tell tics at 7:00. both have been rescheduled for sunday. providence and nova at one. sixers at 7:00. right new flyers will be the only local team in action, their game against islanders tomorrow in brooklyn is still on. and last night pens napped

their eight game losing streak, with the flyers with a four-three victory. also, temple game against smu is postponed until sunday at noon at the liacouras center. mustangs led by former sixers head coach larry brown and they are the only undefeated team in the country. big news out of the nba, cleveland cavilers have fired head coach davis black, second year with the team. he led calves to the finals last season, and right new cleveland has the best record in the eastern conference. tyrone liu will replace him on the bench and already signed a multi year deal. sunday will be full of action, nba college hoops along with the afc championship game. we have new england and denver, tom brady against payton manning for 17th and probably last time our coverage starts with the nfl today at the 2:00 followed by the game right here on cbs-3. we have basketball, on cbs-3. maybe in the locally, in philadelphia, but georgetown

and duke and other games. >> go ahead. >> yes. >> look at you. >> yes. >> go ahead now. >> just watch the game. >> we will be right back. >> before you but before we go we want to show you newark, where the snow is beginning to fall steadily there. alexandria hoff telling us little flakes started there and now you can see, steadily falling, as the the storm makes its way up, and to the northern part of our area. >> that looks warm, doesn't it. >> we will be right back. apparently, people think i'm too perky. so now i'm not being perky, telling you that drivers that switch to progressive save an average of $548! whoo! i mean, whoo.

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thanks for watching "eyewitness news" at 6:00, and be sure to join us for our extended addition of "eyewitness news" at 7:00 and then at ten on the cw philly and then back here at cbs-3 at 11:00.

up next, "cbs evening news". we will see you in 30 minutes. >> pelley: the snow's coming down, the warnings are up for the blizzard of 2016. >> they said it's coming. i'm trying to get out of here. >> pelley: also tonight, a new air bag death, for the first time not in a honda. the recall expands by millions. the conservative "national review" calls for the defeat of donald trump. >> i guess they want to get a little publicity. but that's a dying paper. >> pelley: and steve hartman "on the road" when tim met captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: the snow is falling and it will only get worse. this is washington, d.c. tonight in the leading edge of what's about to become the blizzard of 2016. the storm is