next on fox 45 early edition. a significant winter storm is just hours away, when the first snow flakes will start to fall. don't wait another minute, if you need to stock up, what you won't find at the grocery store this morning. placing a bet on internet gambling, why some say it should be legal. good morning. it's friday, february 5th, i'm patrice harris. it's friday and this weekend that actually means a lot of things, but the first thing it

means that it's your turn to talk to us on 4boo facebook pagn anything you want, what is going on your neighborhood, what do you think about the snow whatever you want to talk about. let us know and your response could air in our facebook segment. the first fans to post our code word will win a great prize. we will reveal that code word, just be sure t to stay tuned to win. just go to faceboo facebook baltimore.com. to become a fan. many area schools are taking action. allegheny, charles county schools have decided to close for the day. meanwhile anne arundel county schools be going to school but they will be getting out two

hours early. howard county schools will close 3 hours early. and just remember, whenever severe weather hits, tune in to fox 45 morning news. our morning news ticker will have the latest closings and traffic conditions. our ticker will update automatically and it even runs during commercials. meteorologist steve fertig is here with a full look at what we are to expect with this winter blast. yes, patrice, we are expecting to see snow this morning. look at our winter warning it's from 10:00 to 10 tomorrow evening. i just want to show you the storms into delaware. even bigger concerns if you are traveling northeast, i wouldn't, not this day. let's take a look at what we have as far as the hd regional radar. you can see we have some snow on the way. it may start as sleet to the

south. i don't know that we may see sleet here. i think it may start snowing and continue and that is why we are expecting heavy snow totals. you see the moisture moving from the gulf. we have been watching it during the last several days. during the time we should pick up 2-4 inches during the day, it picks up in intensity as we climb to 34 degrees, tonight 27 degrees the overnight low and an additional 10-12 inches. there's more on the way with that. i will tell you how much we will end up in total. right now candace dold is here with the traffic conditions. >> reporter: continuing with the pending conditions in north carolina. most service south from washington d.c. has been completely canceled. so all of this corridor is okay, but again, south from d.c. has been canceled, most of them. now also some news for the marx train camden line, we have

cancellations, train 852, and from the brunswick, train 857. both of these are canceled. let's talk about the roads and see what it looks like right now. 695 at liberty road, the coast is clear but it won't be staying that way too much longer. the entire stretch from 795 to 95 looking at a normal ride, 11 minutes and a nice and calm 54 miles per hour. traveling in baltimore, nothing to complain about, from the fort mchenry tunnel toward the beltway, an 8 minute clip and 55 miles per hour there. that's a look at morning travels, patrice, back over to you. with a major winter blast expected to hit just hours from now, road crews are already in full swing preparing to keep up with mother nature. megan gilliland is live at the baltimore city falls road salt yard in north baltimore with more on their strategy heading

into the storm. here we go, megan. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. it feels like the calm before the storm. it's quiet at the salt yard and we are told that is because all of the crew members are at home resting preparing for a 12 hour shift that will begin 38 ter thilater thismorning. it's a huge job for all of these folks. we're talking about a major operation here in the city. over 300 workers will be out in full force. their top priority the primary roads out there. across the region plow trucks are loaded with salt and strategically located around and officials are gathering at the operation center staring the storm in the eye. a lot of work to be done here and there's even something you can do. >> don't go out if you don't absolutely have to he go out. i mean, that's a major, major help to the plows. if they can get to the streets because there's not a lot of cars in the way, we can get the

job done the way we want to get it done. >> reporter: if you really do have to go out, though, aaa has tips for you. they have 5 tips for you. dress as if you are going to be stranded. that means bring a blanket in your car, food, water, and good idea to have a flashlight. if you are going to go out and heat your car, make sure to open your garage door before you start it to prevent carbon monoxide buildup. pack a shovel, you never know how much snow is going to hit. check your antifreeze and never pour hot water on doors and windows. if they freeze up in this storm they could crack. the roads will be very busy as the trucks come in and out of the area. i know it's dark here. the crews are expecting to see al-- use all of that salt theren the next few days. megan gilliland, north baltimore, fox 45 early edition.

if you are planning a out of this area, you might be forced to make other arrangements. southwest airlines have canceled all of arizona lines. delta, and united are allowing passengers to make changes without any penalties at the bwi airports. you can check your flights at foxbaltimore.com just click on news links. you might also want to hit the grocery store sooner rather than later. chris from cockeysville sent us these pictures from the wal-mart there. he took them around midnight and as you can he see, or not see, eggs were extremely hard to find. bread aisle completely bare, milk just missing. they had plenty of other food and although there were a lot of people shopping at the time. they had extra check out lanes working so people could get out relatively quickly. how do the grocery stores look today joel d smith is live at

sntonis' with a look at how they're preparing. i'm looking at the facebook. i never understand why people don't have food toilet paper and make a mad rush to the grocery store but it happens every time. >> reporter: it happens every time. here are the salt crystals. they're putting an extra couple hundreds of bags like ha that. you he think of the essential, the food and the toilet paper, but they're putting these out so you can get out. we are here with rob santoni junior. >> amazing what a weather man will say for $50 nowadays. >> reporter: it was cheap this time. are you guys ready for this? >> we are ready. it's been well reported on, so we brought in milk and egg ordered a day ahead of time. we are bringing in our grocery orders, you know hours earlier to make sure they're here ahead

of the big inches. >> reporter: you have been through this before so you know how this is. how much is the super bowl adding to the top of the mix. >> we have been doing this for a long time with super bowl we don't need the city to be paralyzed and lose that business. snow business is typically great but it's better to give some back before the inches fall and get around. >> reporter: is it the obvious stuff, the milk, the bread, those kind of things. >> milk, eggs, toilet paper, butter. today i showed you our chip aisle which is blown out. i didn't know that man could live on chips alone. >> reporter: how fast can you replenish stuff. all the other supermarkets want to get the milk in. you have sort of empty and trying to get the stuff in. how difficult is it with competition trying to get the milk in. >> some of our chain

competition, we don't use the same supplier. you just bring it earlier as long as you have a place to store it, bring it ahead of the heavy inches and block up your order like we did last night. >> reporter: i have an idea for you, store it outside, it's cold enough. we will show you the crazy chip aisle and all the stuff that is missing. i guess people are ready for the supervisor better bowl and the snow -- super bowl and the snow better. snowbowl. >> people are shopping already, it's 5 clock in the morning. we will have to check with joel in the morning. whenever the storm hits your area, up load your pictures, just go to foxbaltimore.com and click it on the see it, shoot it, send it icon. you can up load photos from your cell phone at fox baltimore. a shooting leaves one man

dead and an officer hurt. it happened at the 3700 block near oak mont avenue at reisterstown road. police were investigating a homicide from earlier in the week. when they walked up to a group of people one man shot an officer in the arm. police shot back is shooting the shooter and another man. yoone of the men that the man st at the scene died at the scene. mayor rawl rawlg blake rowling t won't be tolerated. one went to shock trauma in serious but stable condition. many those who didn't work for the city get tax forms that they did. 500 kids signed up but inner ner worked for the youth program

mistakenly received a letter stating they received income. a computer glitch is to blame. they are notifying the parents and working to correct the problem. coming up on early edition, sheila dixon steps down as mayor. >> it was sad to see it come to an end. >> the harsh words she heard from a judge before leaving office. and snow moving into the southern parts of the county later this morning and into the central parts early afternoon and bringing with it some intense snow for tonight and overnight, how much next. after last week's th

with a huge winter blast expected to hit our region, you can expect prime skiing conditions. here it herb stevens the skiing weather man with more. >> reporter: today i'm skiing at saddle back, a huge mountain that tops out at 400 feet, all of the trials here named after the fishing lines. saddle back is through a halfway

development program. next year they will add a lift and they really came in handy after the recent thaw. with two meaningful snow falls in the past week, conditions throughout the region are as good as they can. he they are sporting beautiful packed powder. the homestead is enjoying their best snow season in years, and the same is true in the chute. south central pennsylvania picked up snow midweek and conditions are outstanding at liberty, white top and snow trail. weekend snow will reach snow mown near scranton. light snow fell a couple of times in vermont. you will find great conditions in killer stone and hobblers nog. jackson hole started the week with a foot 1/2. half a foot fell on monday in the canyon and the week will end with additional snow in the

wasatch range of utah. make your plans this weekend. i'm herb stevens the skiing weather man. around either i here it mige croscross country skiing. the winter storm warning is from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night. in new jersey is where the stronger winds will be. as far as the winds are calm. we expect the winds to pick up, 15-20 miles per hour, gusting at 40 miles per hour. not quite blizzard conditions but certainly going to present problems out there. we urge you not to head out especially later tonight and into tomorrow as you will certainly notice the intensity of the snow picking up. we look at the sky watch hd radar right now. you can see it looks like it's on the edge down toward d.c. moving in our general area. this looks like a little snow falling downtown already but not

saturated quite yet. we will see it later in the mornings and into the central counties by 9:00 this morning or so, by 11:00 or even into the noon hour and beyond we expect the snow to pick up into the central part and northern part of the state and pick up in intensity by later tonight all coming from the moisture we have been watching out of the gulf. you are talking about a rich source of the moisture. we won't be talking about sun storms, but we will be talking about our share of snow. the high surface to the north, that is going to slide off to the east. watch as the snow begins to move in. this shows it later this evening, picking up in intensity 8:00 tonight. notice overnight, notice the green areas indicating rain staying to the south. we are thinking that the moisture mighting in the mid layers are sleet producing around here. it doesn't appear ta there might be anything but snow for the most part. starting off with snow. it seems to be taking more of a track to the east. that means the snow totals are

going to be higher in some of the central county areas with the system moving straight off to the east. we are going to see the snow totals being higher across the state rather than moving southwest and northeast, i think. here is what we're looking as far as totals today. this is through tomorrow, during the day today, 2-4 inches, we pick up more snow tonight and overnight, we end up with 15-25 inches in the western part of the chesapeake bay. 12 to 18 inches, steadiest we were saying 5-10 we thought it was taking more of a northerly push. instead it brings more snow to the southern part of the eastern shore. temperature wise right now though, 35 degrees, these temperatures will drop through the day. expect temperatures to stay in the low 30s to mid-30s. 36 for the eastern shore, the snow picking up about an inch of snow during the daytime times only in the eastern shore. during the daytime 2-4 inches in the central part of the state before we see the intensity pick

up later tonight when we add 12 he inches tonight. 3-6 inches during the daytime before picking up additional snow overnight 30 degrees for the daytime high. 27 for the overnight low. as the snow intensifies. another 4-8 inches tomorrow morning with a high of 30 degrees. we will certainly be cold enough for plain snow and taper off. 29 degrees on sunday with a drier day, a little bit of a relief. 32 degrees on monday, 34 on tuesday as snow makes its reappearance later on tuesday into your wednesday. 35 and 37 for benz and -- wednesday and thursday's high. fox 45 i-weather is at your finger tips. you can go to foxbaltimore.com and use the powerful radar to track incoming storms. the interactive tools will let you know when rain or snow will be over your house. go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. here with candace dold with the

traffic edge. >> reporter: thank you, steve. because of all of the impending weather we have a lot to talk about out there. we will start with amtrak. this corridor we have no word of any delays. however most service south of washington d.c. has been canceling due to the impending weather. again, if we get more information, we will let you know but that is the latest as of right now. we need to talk about the marx train on the camden line, 852, that train has been completely canceled and the marx train, brunswick line train 857 has been a canceled as well. the good thing is extra trains will be running to accommodate, but this is going to be completely canceled for today. as for the mta buses, the commuter service just in the afternoon, those buses will actually be 3 hours early. so just keep that in mind as well. as for the roads, let's check on what is happening right now. not too much to complain about. 60 miles per hour on the beltway traveling on the west side, and

65 on 95 moving right through baltimore. we do have a new traffic pattern to talk about on charles street. it's all because of road work that completely shuts down the left turn lane from southbound charles street on to the inner loop side of 695. to get around that, you will want to go up to the roundabout on belona hop

e transition is complete, mayor stephanie rawlings-blake has replaced she have addiction on. the change in power follows sheila's sentencing in an embezzlement conviction. we were in the courtroom to hear the judge give sheila a strong message. >> reporter: after spending more than 20 years in politics, mayor sheila diction came to an end today just blocks away from here at courthouse east. for mayor sheila dixon the two criminal cases she faced are now bind her. >> it was sad to see it come to an end. >> reporter: it follows her sentencing on perjury and misdemeanor embezzlement charges. she received probation before judgment under a plea deal, a deal that required diction tonto step down. >> it's the end of one period of her life and the beginning of another. >> as far as the state is concerned, this ugly chapter in

baltimore history is closed. >> reporter: during her sentencing judge sweeney had harsh words for dixon. she leaves the office of mayor in total disgrace describing her crime as a badge of dishonor. >> the good thing about being the judge is that nobody responds to her. >> i felt the judge gave miss dixon a dose of reality. >> i think she owes the citizens of baltimore the truth. >> reporter: the state prosecutor called dixon's conduct shameful and arrogant. he also explained the reasoning behind her plea deal sighting sg the potential cost to taxpayers. >> i wasn't sure whether in part he was having second thoughts about the deal that he had struck. >> reporter: under the deal dixon sacrificed her seat of mayor but saved her $83,000 a year pension. a point of contention among her

critics. judge dennis sweeney admit in open court that he thought the state's case against the mayor was strong and she should consider her lucky jurors didn't find her guilty on more counts. as for judges he commended the job they did despite all the scrutiny following her trial. the mayor left the courthouse out the back without making any public statement. coming up later on fox 45 early edition, a winter blast is on the way. get a list of the most recent school closings. but next unemployment numbers are on the rise, but one

global economy worries and jobless claims weigh down wall street, while heigh heightened s send stocks stumbling. >> reporter: the dow losing 268 points, dipping below 10,000 for the first time in 2 months. jobless claims unexpectedly rising last week. the government releasing the big january jobs report on friday. discount chain dollar general hiring 5,000 new workers as it opens 600 new stores. retail rebounding in january. sales of existing stores rising

3% compared to last year, that is better than expected. toyota coasting a $1.7 billion quarterly profit, that was before gas pedal problems caused the massive recall. now the government investigating new prius models after receiving complaints about the brakes. customers complain that the catsup packages are too messy. the new design rolls out this fall. that's a look at business, i'm adam shapiro. coming up internet gambling. my house in foreclosure. >> why some are worried about making it legal. and hours away from a major winter storm. i'm megan gilliland. how road crews plan to keep up with mother nature, straight ahead. i'm joel d smith, live in east baltimore where the grocery stores have been slammed. you can still get your shovel but if you're looking