i'm elizabeth vargas. a state of emergency in new jersey, next at 11:00, governor chris christie back from his campaign. snowplow trucks already out on the street. and lisa has york.

the first part of this big storm is here. snow already falling and a state of emergency now in place for new jersey. some mass transit about to shut down, snow spreaders and plows now hitting the road and moments ago, lee goldburg changing his forecast. more now for new york city and long island.

ad.of emergency. he says so we're fine tuning this forecast. >> reporter: the question is not is this system going to hit us, it's is it cold enough. there's some coatings on the car tops. long island, new york city. much of new jersey, winter storm warning to the near suburbs. still could get a foot in this area. it's winter weather advisories in pike county and still this late hour. just a watch in orange and putnam because of the uncertainty in this area. still could get six to 12- inches there.

close to 7-mile an hour gusts. the snow is cranking at the carolina coast. temperatures about to crank up. the heavy snow has gotten into dc. close to home we've seen a coating to a couple of inches in part of -- this is a tool we'll use throughout the storm showing the heavier snowfall in red. some of it not reaching the ground but you can see what happens as the banding continues to form. at least a few inches by dawn. roads are already snow covered. you can't travel during the morning hour especially from the city south. a.m. to 7:00 p.m. the early arrival tonight but then the early departure as we go through tomorrow evening. so now up to 12 to 18-inches for all of new york city and long island. highest amounts south and west of new york city. could exceed 20-inches. lower amounts to the south. here's the new snowfall map. 12 to 18. locally 20 right in this area

12 to 18 new york city, long island, coastal connecticut. maybe extreme lower new jersey. north of i80 six to 12. closer to that. and little to no snow as we get closer to the mountains. we will get you hour by hour night. bill, sade back to you for now. now to our reports outside. we're going to begin in the southern part of new jersey. the jersey shore still fragile and they're worried about erosion and huge waves and wind reports. anthony johnson with that part of rsey.since about 7:00. road conditions are already

the roads because conditions are getting worse. the blizzard we've been talking if you can. >> reporter: crews were also treating roadways before plowing began. some were waiting for this kind of storm, because piling snow could mean piles of money. >> i've been waiting for this snow all year round. so i can make some money this year. so i can do some plowing. >> reporter: around the jersey shore, volunteer evacuations in low lying area have been called because of concerns over high tide and strong winds. the lieutenant governor toured a central jersey utility to power problems. her boss returned from the

staff in newark. governor chris christie clearing reports that he was entos fuertes.home i would like pretty stupid. >> reporter: if governor is back, he does say there's some 228,000-tons of salt available to put out here on these roadways. you can see they are already starting to put salt on the roadways down here in brick township. we also talked about evacuations along the jersey shore. the one town that has evacuations is barnicus. the storm hit this area around 7:00 this evening. that is the latest live, anthony johnson, channel 7, eyewitness news. >> anthony, thank you.

northwest to new brunswick with a.j. preparing there. a.j. >> reporter: sade, snow is steadily falling here in new jersey prompting a lot of shoppers to rush out and get their necessities. come what may, people throughout central jersey is certainly hoping for the best and preparing for the worse. >> hopefully not too much snow. >> bring it on, bring it on. let's get it. >> i definitely don't want to shovel a lot but it looks like we're going to get a lot. >> reporter: a flood of shoppers hit area stores grabbing the essentials. >> i'm just getting all the things that i need. bread, water, milk. soup. >> just getting last minute stuff. you know getting some salt and stuff like that. >> i got some butter. >> i don't mean to laugh but --

>> are there vampires that come out during the blizzard. >> and i got chicken. some frozen chicken. >> reporter: to allow more space for plows on the road throughout the weekend, they are implementing no parking rules. and the snow has increased in its downfall. this parking lot still relatively full. they're going to stay open for another hour or so. right now they are out of shovels. they still have salt and other necessities people have been coming out for. new tonight in new brunswick. a threshold for city life suddenly not normal anymore and even dangerous. and the word from mayor deblasio is to make sure that

>> if emergency vehicles can't get through, they can't save lives. >> new yorkers being urged to park off streets wherever possible. new york city sanitation trucks and plows preemptively hitting the streets tonight. >> reporter: well bill, they're starting to fill the sanitation trucks with salt then send them out into stand by positions. it is a wet snow that's falling here in brooklyn. it is sticking but there's not enough on the ground here for them to put plow to the ground. this as sanitation workers throughout the region get ready for what could be a long night into an even longer weekend. >> reporter: south beach on staten island, not to be confused with south beach in

the sand suffer is another sandy type flood. >> the really terrific thing with our system is we have trap eggs underneath the sand which is really substantial. and they are made to actually take the impact of the wave and the currents. >> meanwhile garbage trucks today got crowned with plow, more buses and chains. the city gearing up for a whopper of a snowstorm. residents in the outer burroughs getting plenty of comfort food to fill the shelves. >> the drinks, snacks for the kids. chicken, the soup. broccoli cheddar soup for tonight. >> i want some soup. >> reporter: hot soup sounds

this is about how much snow is coming down. our channel 7 logo here. new yorkers are being urged not to drive tomorrow so that emergency vehicles can get through our streets. we're live in brooklyn. and whipping winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion. now even more snow. booker continues his coverage. he's in the suffolk town. >> reporter: for coastal residents there's a third concern and that is flooding. they dread that more than anything. >> reporter: we're going to move the couches and the chairs. the tv. on the south shore of long island families live in fear of flooding. the brojenkies move their furniture out tonight so they

>> if we don't, we'll have to evacuate it. >> some homes can rebuild. >> i will use whatever i have in the house to keep the water from coming in. >> reporter: with high winds in the forecast, the power grid is a major concern. >> pse & g has 1,000 personnel on the ready. so they're doing everything they can to prepare. >> reporter: long island's electric company has been clearing lines for months. >> this program has increased the reliability and reduced the number of outages so more of our customers during storms will stay up and have power. >> reporter: plows and sanders are loaded up. and thousands jam the supermarkets. as if long islanders didn't have enough to worry about, the state dot issued a blizzard warning this afternoon for parkway. >> well lee goldburg didn't say

no blizzards so far but snow is now beginning to fall across the north shore of long island tonight. >> no shocker the storm hurting air travel. 675 flights have been cancelled today and tomorrow. let's take a like live at newark. nationwide 4,100 flights cancelled tomorrow. most of them headed to and from new york, philadelphia and washington. and airlines trying to avoid what happened at o'hare airport. the brakes apparently failed while landing. only light snow was falling at the time. the snow flakes are already falling throughout our area. some flurries are coming down in time square. broadway shows went on as scheduled tonight and the plan

is on you like being picture perfect. you should want your banking to be too. stop into td bank and we'll help set you up with picture perfect banking. new customers, open a checking and savings account and you can get a polaroid cube+

and right now you're taking a live look at bricktown ship new jersey. you can see the storm moving in. the snowfalling down at a pretty nice clip. lee's updated forecast is up next. the state is prepared for the storm tonight even though they may not be hit as hard as their neighbors to the south. in west chester county, residents were busy today stocking up on supplies. the home depot was filled with customers buying shovels and salt. excuse me so far this storm

people in accidents because of the slick roads down south. look at this. traffic at a standstill on interstate and west virginia. mean while the dc area more than 2 feet of snow expected in this blizzard. the capital. >> reporter: it's great talking to you. the snow here has been coming at a fairly steady pace. it looks honestly a little bit more like a winter wonderland than the snowcopalypse. we're told it's only going to continue to get worse at this point. and check out these streets, washington, d.c. completely empty. this never happens. the only people we have seen go by recently have been snowplows. remember the city does not want to be caught unaware like they were earlier this week when one inch of snow basically turned dc into an ice skating rink and there's no excuse with all the publicity that this storm has received for that happening, the dc authorities are taking

warning people to stay off of the streets, shutting down entirely the metro transportation system. buses stopped earlier today. i have to tell you bill and sade i'm counting it down. 150 days until summer. in washington, channel 7. >> washington is not a place where they're used to counting the snow in feet but they're doing it. >> you just said the totals, why the change. >> you get closer to the storm and you get the set up. over northern new jersey and new york city. there's also a computer model that's been screening all week that new york city could get up to 3 feet of snow. and that almost blasted up last

not the most reliable of models. that's my thinking right now. it's just this little shift in bands that we gusting at 45 by daybreak. already blizzard conditions as we go through the day. on the jersey shore we could see gusts of 60 or 70 miles per hour. we have the heaviest snow in the afternoon and then things start to taper off.

tremendous moisture being vacuumed down the storm. and heavy moisture. we see heavy snow. that puts down snow very quickly one right over i80 and that's what i saw in lucy's live shot. light snow starting to break out. see it's having a tough time everyone in the -- even in the hudson valley. hour by hour, obviously the snow moving in now. accumulating a little faster. in the wee hours in the morning. but heavy banding and really stacking up. this is really confirming what i was just talking about. look at the darker shade. all of long island, new york city, new jersey. we're cranking in the morning hours and through the afternoon, the edge of the snow trying to get a northern most suburbs and then we start to move out. all of new jersey, new york city, the lower west chester

six to 12-inches north of i84 three to six inches or less. coastal flooding is a huge concern. i just want to address that. it's worse on the jersey shore. waves will be coming in, 15 to 20-footers. property damage and historic snow totals. heavy snow, strong winds, 28. tomorrow is up to 29. a blizzard heavy snow and wind and coastal flooding. tomorrow night, the snow tapers blowing and drifting around and what a rapid recovery on sunday. it's a big clean up but it will be sunny and 36 and milder and more melting as we go into early next week. we'll have an update before the end of show. >> okay, thank you. and lee smith, and jamie

including sade and i ha, ha, great job. woo! good job. here, here, here. new game, everyone in the car. new game! your 2016 honda accord with apple carplay support is the perfect distraction. now the cool stuff from your iphone is right here on your touchscreen display. ok, enough music, everybody out. well played dad. hurry in to get this great least deal on an accord plus our best prices on all 2016 hondas.

technology is great because we can show you this live shot from downtown philadelphia. the streets are deserted, snow already there. the city of brotherly love. now getting the city of brotherly and sisterly snow. there comes a bus going very slowly and you saw a snowplow

>> new at 11:00, some people that live in manhattan are getting an icky surprise when they turn on the tap. the city says there's no worry. just run the water for a while and then it will start coming out clear. there was an issue with the water earlier but has been fixed. and several people have been confirmed to have zika virus.

lease a 2016 lincoln mkx for $399 a month only at your lincoln dealer. in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and university partnerships, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in utica, where a new kind of workforce is being trained. and in albany, the nanotechnology capital of the world. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov the common core rollout was a disaster. parents knew it. teachers knew it.

state tests don't unfairly count against students. and test scores won't be used in teacher evaluations. less testing. greater focus on learning. that's a start, but there's more to do. let's work together to support sensible and fair learning standards that help every child -- in every neighborhood -- succeed.

news about a hot property. >> it's big news too. within the last few minutes, john hayman has announced mets made a deal with cespedes. it was a battle for several days. the mets brought in the opt out clause so cespedes could be out on the market again next year. basketball now the nba has already postponed tomorrow's games in philly and washington. the knicks are scheduled to play in charlotte. that game is on for now. knicks at home today against the clippers trying to win a seventh straight game. jordan and the clippers will have plenty to say about that. jordan seven for seven from the floor.

coming at the knicks. carmelo anthony scored 16. lopez two technical falls he's ejected. paul ended up with 16 points. knicks lose ugly in a couple different ways. tight game early, donovich scored 14 off the net. 29 points, nine assists. the mets score by 20 and the game just kept slipping away. that was the final score. the rangers at carolina having won 11. but against the hurricanes they played well. tonight scored twice in the opening period. mcdunna and yendel. this is mcdunna on assistance. carolina would make it a one goal game in the second period. j.t.

how snow -- how nice is that. they just kept beating carolina.

and let's check in with lee

lee. the area. and we're looking at snow that's really steady south of the city. look at that, that's going across the empire state building. it's lighter on the ground. it's over ocean county right now. snow getting steadier overnight. areas are getting three to 6- inches by dawn. especially south. brunt. snow ends late tomorrow night. 12 to 18-inches even more south and west of new york city. locally 20-inches. north and west of i287 six of 12. we got a big storm and blizzard coming our way. we'll be with you every step of the way. >> you've increased the side of the snowfall on long island and new york city. that pink line the 12 to 18 has gone farther north. that's great news for tonight's 11:00. great job. thank you. >> thank you lee. that's the news for now.