>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news at noon in hd. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> this is a live picture from the skycam. the area is bracing for the hit another winter storm, expected to cover much of the mid- atlantic region. good afternoon. i am mindy basara come here with meteorologist tony pann. it has begun. >> we have light snow this

afternoon, and it will get heavier and heavier and heavier and so on and so on and so on. first of all, let's look at some of the temperatures. this will help today, because the temperatures are above freezing in the roads will not be that bad. 35 at the airport, at 37 degrees downtown. this is it in a nutshell. light snow expected this afternoon, a couple of inches on the ground by this evening. sometime this evening this will mix in with a little bit of sleep and then change back the heavy snow overnight tonight, and a lot of it did the worst of the storm will be late tonight and early saturday morning. blizzard conditions are possible. you might feel a little under and see a little lightning. the snow and by saturday evening. 15 to 22 inches. an outstanding storm system, to say the least let's take to sandra shaw. she can confirm that it has been smelling a the but downtown. they have been looking on the radar on the web site -- it has been snowing a little bit

downtown today and looking on the radar on the web site. >> it is a consistent white snow. it is really not sticking to the ground. you mentioned temperatures playing a role in that we will not see accumulation -- not see a lot of a commission until the heavy snow tonight. but this will be a long store for us. things are busy over here at the safeway still jam packed. it was really bad over there yesterday. look at that dirty snow, all looted, and everything piled up from us know that we had, -- all polluted, and everything piled up from the snow that we had. the white snow is coming up on the date tonight and tomorrow. as far as the computer goes, you can see that we are looking like it is a lot worse than it is out there. basically, there is an area of high pressure to our north, so it means it is kind of dry out site. the dew points have not reached a level where it will mean a

full-fledged snow just yet. but we noticed that the dew points rise in adjusted the but so don't freak out if you see the radar and it is not really doing that outside. ultimately, it will materialize into something important. >> gov. martin o'malley is holding a press conference outlining how the state plans to handle the massive storm. let's listen in. david collins is life. >> the governor is expected to announce a declaration of emergency. >> let me give you an update on this snow emergency. it is going to be a big snow. we are prepared, as the storm that bears down on maryland, to deal with it whenever mother nature throws at us. we have had some experience already this year, and this looks like it is going to be an even bigger event, i guess, than the last one, if the predictions come through. right now, as you probably know,

the latest forecast we have seen indicate that maryland could get anywhere from 20 to 30 inches of snow. it appears from the track of this that is bearing down right on the 95 corridor, and that is where we anticipate the snowfall will be heaviest. we are also on guard for a couple of the facts on the eastern shore -- couple of the facts on the eastern shore. because this is a nor'easter, we are on guard and highly sensitive to the potential of coastal flooding, because this is a nor'easter and because of the winds on the eastern shore, far more likely to encounter blizzard conditions, although we may still encounter those here. the director will provide more specific in a second. a few moments ago, i issued the emergency declaration for the

state of maryland. what does that allow us to do? a few things. it allows us to activate the maryland national guard and summoned local first responders, especially with the humvees, which are very helpful to local paramedic units that may have trouble getting into the side streets, if any of our neighbors are in need of transport to a hospital. for the past two days, the national guard have been discussing potential needs and the deployment. assuming the storm follows the predicted path, as i said, guard units will assist local first responders. the declaration says to begin the process to obtain federal assistance depending on the amount of snow, which i am told is 28 inches. for couples and to participate with us in this battle, we will have to hit about 28 inches, they say. also, this morning, for state government employees, we

implemented a liberal leave. it took effect at noon. given the magnitude of the storm we are expecting, we want to encourage all citizens that if you don't have to go out in this, do not go out and a desperate this is a great time to stay home and that quality time -- do not go out to stay home. this is a great time to stay home and get quality time with your spouse and your kids. we need to keep the highways open for emergency vehicles and do our best to get back to normal once this big event passes. also, i want to encourage everybody to check in on our neighbors, particularly senior citizens, who might not have had occasion to do their usual grocery run before the storm came upon us. reach out to your neighbors. nothing more important than neighbors looking out for each other in these events, particularly our senior citizens. we all need to work together and help each other. for those of you who are counting along and like the measurable, we have more than

266,000 tons of salt on hand. we have 2400 pieces of equipment that are out there and on the road, some 2700 personnel. we also are calling in contractors, private contractors, to help with this big event, as we have in the past. our transportation team can manage the response to the storm from the central operations center. all of you can see that about 150 cameras are stationed all around our state. if you are watching closely, you would have seen president barack obama's motorcade passed around the 495 beltway g -- going to his small business event in our state. he is always welcome, rain, sleet, or snow. our goal is to keep mta buses and trains running as long as possible. we probably have kept them running a little too long last time. it ended up meaning that we had

to deploy some assets tto -- to tow buses. we will try to improve upon that in this event to be made of light buses to snow emergency routes. -- a deployment buses to it snow, to see rats. i thurgood marshall airport, we have to put pieces of specialized snow removal -- 200 pieces of specialized snow removal equipment. some of the airlines have already discontinued for the time being serviced to our airport, as well as other airports in washington and also philadelphia. if you have travel plans, you need to check in with your airlines before you go to the airport. for updates on road conditions, all citizens can go to w

ww.roads.maryland.gov, and citizens can see any of the same cameras that we are monitoring. for nga updates, you can call 410-539-3000, or if you prefer not to talk to a human being, www.mta.maryland.gov, and for b.w.i. thurgood marshall information, check with your individual airline. where do we turn this over now? do you want to tell us a little bit about this snow, how it is different from the other is n -- the other is knows, particularly the moisture and what that may entail in terms of possibility of power outages and things of that nature? >> what we are expecting with

this storm and what we're being told by the national weather service -- >> you have been listening to gov. martin o'malley, saying that they are ready to go bge is expected to take a hit from the storm as they prepare for power outages. workers at the woodland warehouse have loaded up supplies in case the heavy snow and wind take out electrical lines this weekend. hundreds of employees are on standby. they are gearing up for the kind of damage we saw back in february 2006, when the snowstorm left many customers in the dark for days. >> we certainly believe that if we have power outages in excess of 100,000 customers, it would be several days before we could get everybody back. >> bge adds that he should never assume that you -- that you should never assume that your power is out. the first snow had not even hit the ground for several school systems started planning

for early school closings and shutdowns. you can see the list on the bottom of your screen. several airlines have decided not to fly in and out of b.w.i. thurgood marshall airport. southwest, united, airtran, and u.s. airways have decided to ground some if not all of their flights. amtrak canceled most planes heading south of d.c. - -- most trains heading south of d.c. on our website, you can look at pictures and check out the block, wbaltv.com. still to come, the latest on the police involved shooting in northwest baltimore and toyota says it is ready to fix the vehicles affected by the recall. what it hard to breathe.

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or high blood pressure before taking advair. we had a great day, grandpa! we sure did. ask your doctor how advair helps improve lung function for better breathing. (announcer) find out how to get your first full prescription free at advaircopd.com. >> city officials are also preparing for the big storm did just hours after the new mayor was sworn in. jayne miller is downtown with the details. we have lost her. we will try to get back to her in a moment. in other news, fire crews responded to a fire at east north avenue an hour ago. there were no reports of any injuries. no word on just what started the blaze. an exchange of gunfire in northwest baltimore

neighborhood ends with one in shock, and two suspects shot pit one was killed, the other injured. police say they responded to 3700 block of oakmont avenue after receiving news of an on the -- of an armed suspect. >> one of our detectives was hit right away but was able to return fire. his partner engaged at least one suspect in a gunbattle. >> a scene all too familiar to officers to just two days earlier, officers were called to the same street to report a shooting that they believe was a drug-related. the wounded detectives suffered two gunshot wounds to his right arm. doctors at shock trauma say that that does not appear to be any permanent damage. police commissioner fred bealefeld and new mayor stephanie rawlings-blake recommending the officer's action. -- are committing the officer's action.

>> this is the heroic action that the men and women of the department are willing to do to put bad guys in the jail. >> our citizens deserve to have safe neighborhoods, deserve to be able to come out at night without fear. i am very grateful that these officers were doing what we asked of them, which is to provide safety for our community. >> rawlings-blake says that instances like this were the reason why she wants to focus on and tougher sentences for violent offenders. >> we are not going to back down. >> she has a full plate of issues in front of her. >> hi, stephanie rawlings-blake -- i, stephanie rawlings-blake -- >> she took the oath of office, accepting her new role as the top official. she acknowledges that she must hit the ground running. but former colleagues expressed

confidence in her ability. >> we have a budget deficit of over $120 million. it will take serious work and hard decisions to close the budget gap. >> with the snowfall this weekend, it will snow is under the next few months. it will be a trying time, but she is up to it and we will be able to look forward. >> rawlings-blake says she remains committed despite challenges to moving the city forward. jayne miller is live downtown with a look at how the city is preparing for the storm. >> let's hope the city is doing better in their snow plow and then we are at getting you the information at this moment it was exactly 24 hours ago that stephanie rawlings-blake was sworn in. this is a big challenge for a city mayor, when you get into over the situation like this. -- in a weather situation like this.

as of 6:00 p.m. today, there will be no parking on snow emergency routes. the mayor has ordered the suspension of the rotating closures of a fire houses because of the storm, and also as of 6:00 p.m., the city will be suspending the charm city circulator service. that, of course, is a bus service that runs around downtown. the mayor was briefed by emergency management officials, the fire chief, police chief, the transportation folks, about 10:30 this morning, and to our questions about what it's like to face this in 24 hours on the job, she talked about that half an hour ago. >> when we have these tests, these challenges, there are two ways to look at it. we have no control over the whether or what mother nature is going to do, but we do have control over how to respond to it, and we have a very integrated, cooperative system, assisted by technology, to clear our streets. i am looking for the opportunity to show what we can do. >> mayor stephanie rawlings-

blake has been making automated phone calls. they are going to start going out to particularly vulnerable citizens, senior citizens, with an automatic message about preparations for this storm. that is essentially going to be to make sure that you have batteries, battery powered radio, a basic supply of food and water and medicine. a little later, we will talk with the transportation official about the unique challenges this -- of this particular type of storm. i am alive at what is 8 snow emergency room. as of 6:00 p.m., no parking. >> still to come, the latest on the total recall. >> -- the toyota recalled. >> the snow will get heavier and heavier and heavier. temperatures are above freezing. that will help this afternoon, wayne and mary met in kindergarten. they've been together ever since.

for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. vows that were tested and kept. thanks, hon. even when cancer hit and cost wayne his job. and scleroderma hit and cost him his hands. and then the wall street crash hit and cost them their life savings. still, they struggle on just to get by, to keep food on the table and to heat their home. mary: the wood stove helps us save on oil, but it's getting harder and harder. at citizens energy, we know the hurt you must feel. we know it's hard for proud people to ask for help. i just want to let you know how happy we are that we can lend a helping hand. wayne: we never thought we would be cold in our own home. mary: thanks to citgo and the people of venezuela. hi, i'm joe kennedy from citizens energy, your nonprofit oil company. if you need help staying warm this winter, give me a call at 1-877-joe-4-oil, because no one should be left out in the cold.

>> from wbal-tv 11, this is an insta-weather-plus alert. >> the snow has started for most of you, and hd doppler is confirming that. we have had interesting phone calls. people are going on line and had been looking at a doppler since 5:00 and 6:00 this morning. it looks like it was snowing all morning long. but really, the atmosphere was so dry that most of it was not hitting the ground it took several hours for the atmosphere to saturate, and there it is. early this afternoon, it will not be that big a problem on the roads. we might have a couple of inches on the ground by the evening. but if you are out in the next hour or two, it should be ok. this will help out a lot today. we are above freezing. 35 at the airport, 36 at randallstown 334 at parkton. any edsall that goes down on the road should create eight smith got -- any salt that goes down on the road should create eight

smooth driving service for you. we have had high pressure blocking all of this since early this morning. the highs are now moving off the coast and opening the doors to the monster, the big storm coming in from the south. there is a bit of a question about how much warmer air will push out ahead of the strong, especially in the middle levels of the atmosphere. if we get enough of pushed in the atmosphere in maryland, we will start to see some sleet mixing in this evening. i think that will take place especially in baltimore down south. if we do, it will cut into the overall snowfall totals of the storm appeared don't get me wrong, even if it starts to sleet, we will get a monster storm out of this, but initially there will be a bit of a mix going on, and that will change to a pure snow later on. light snow, maybe a little bit of a sleek mixing in this evening, one to two inches. tonight, this all changes. everything starts to freeze up,

and changes over to snow, heavy snow likely. late tonight after midnight, don't be surprised if you see some lightning and hear some thunder late tonight. it will come down at a pretty good clip. temperatures will drop back into the mid-20's. let's look at the futurecast. it starts at 5:00 in the morning on saturday. this is when the worst of the storm will be. the storm will be deepening rapidly over the coast. we will have a blizzard conditions on saturday morning, with the visibility down to maybe a quarter of a mile and the snow coming out at a rate of 80 two inches per hour. the worst of the storm -- of maybe two inches per hour. the worst of the store will be early saturday. by the time to get to the evening hours, things will start to clear out. i think there will be a swath of the very heavy snow from baltimore on the north, 15 to 22 inches, and most of you will be closer to the 20-inch mark by the time is all over with. down south, more mixing, 11 to

16 inches, from annapolis down south. a lot of mixing will be going on this evening from southern maryland across the lower eastern shore. in the mountains, there could be some spots. up to 30 inches. the elevation will help out with the lived there. sunday looks like a good day. super bowl sunday looks fine, with a high temperature near the 39336 on monday. and then another chance for some snow on tuesday night and wednesday. one store and a time, right, mindy? >> out next, the maryland lottery numbers, and we have live team coverage of the snow that is starting to fall.

>> and now the maryland lottery pick three and pick four numbers. >> i am shari elliker or for wbal radio, and your pick 3 numbers are -- three days remaining to enter the final ravens tasha fantasy prize drawings. don't miss a chance to win season tickets for life. the drawing official is said and your pick four numbers are --

next week, the multi-match drawing on monday and tuesday at 11:22 p.m. at the maryland lottery, let yourself play. >> still ahead on an extended edition of 11 news at noon -- >> governor o'malley out lines emergency snow removal plans. >> all the moore's new mayor at work preparing for the storm. work preparing for the storm.