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tv   Fox 45 Early Edition  FOX  February 11, 2010 5:30am-6:00am EST

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welcome back to fox fry morning early edition. you're taking a live look at the rogers forge neighborhood and baltimore county. snow-covered and those drifts are making it even more problematic as you head out this morning. just be aware of that. in metfield in baltimore city, the story is pretty much the same, lots of cars still snowed in and the few cars that have managed to get out on the road are the only ones that have made tracks through the snow, because the street doesn't look like it's been plowed to the paism. a lot of people will be dealing with that as they head out this morning. on the major highways, crews have been working since the last storm hit. you can see pavement on many of those roads, but as we heard this morning, don't be fooled, snow drifts are creating a problem even on the major highways. good morning, i am patrice harris. we're continuing to follow the
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snow storms and give you all the latest information today beginning with the fact that all public schools are closed today and some are even closed for tomorrow. so parents, you're going to have to deal with the kids one more day and then through the weekend, actually. so have fun with that. for a complete list of all the schools that are closed today or tomorrow. go to foxbaltimore.com or keep an eye on the morning news ticker because it has all the latest closings, the delays, the traffic conditions. that ticker updates automatically and even runs during commercials. and now we need to check in with meteorologist steve fertig to see just what we can expect today and cabin fever is probably hitting a lot of people. the kids have been at home all week, the parents snowed with them. that should be fun. even though the snow has stopped, it may look like it's snowing still, because the blowing winds out there. we are not going to add to these totals, do we need to? i don't think we want to. anne arundel 19.5 inches. and 17.5 inches in new haven,
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and crofton 12.8. it represents the county alone. the rains we had 10 to 24 inches in many places, depending on you were, 24 inches in carroll county. 24 inches in line borough, and the rain kept the snow totals down. obliterating the snow record of 62.5, and this winter season is not done so we could be adding to that. the winds causing the drifting snow is the next problem we will have to deal with out there. that is why we're telling you to exercise caution and you if don't hav-- ifyou don't have to, you really should not. we are expecting the winds to gust up to 20 miles per hour. as we move throughout the day, it will be windy throughout the day, 32 the temperature throughout the day and 32. we have a day where we will see
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sunshine. that will mix and make for a better looking day, but again the winds will present problems for another day. the winds will start to diminish as we head toward the weekend. more coming up on that. now let's head to the roadways with candace dold who has the traffic edge. >> reporter: thanks, steve. because of the winds, snow drifts are going to be a major concern this morning, not only o the roadon the roads but going d sharp bends and turns. if you don't have to go out, don't, stay in and deal with cabin fever again. we do want to talk to baltimore because the officials did reinstate phase 2, that means nonemergency vehicles are able to travel. if you look at the streets in north baltimore and metfield, you might not be traveling today. that is because the snow is covering that entire street there. and unfortunately, this is the scene in many, many neighbors this morning. now on the main lines, let's check in. here is the beltway moving at
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harford road, it looks pretty good, don't be overconfident. you could still come across icy patches or the low travels lanes because snow might be on them as well. patrice, back over to you. the snow might have stopped, but the damage is already done. crews worked overnight plowing the major roadways, but many side streets, again, across our region are still untouched. that might leave you stuck at home again this morning. megan gilliland is in rogers forge with a look at how things are shaping up there. megan, you have been out there when the neighbors have come together and dug out, now you see that it's snowy again. what is the difference? how bad is it? >> reporter: considering the conditions yesterday, this is remarkable. the roads are passable this morning. and when you talk about the snow drifts and the amount of snow totals that we saw yesterday, they have done a lot of work overnight. we know a lot of this was
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actually crews coming through here. most neighbors say they staying in yesterday and try to do the brunt of the work today. when they start venturing out this morning, a lot of shoveling to get outside of their cars and of course, this is round, 2, 3, and 4 for some of these folks. icy conditions as well, but if you heard, steve and candace, patrice, the big story is the snow drifts taking many by surprise. a lot of these snows are coming down to one lane. let's say a car is coming to you, and you move over toward the side. you think it's an inch and you start pulling forward, and the it starts getting deeper and deeper, next thing you know you are outside with a shovel trying to pull your car out of something like this. many of the side streets that could be an issue for many this morning and even on the sidewalks, a lot of people thinking they can venture on to the sidewalks this morning, really could be tough out there this morning and dangerous for little kids who have the day off from school. they might be out playing and the next thing you know you got snow up to your shoulders.
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be careful for the snow drifts and the concerns, probably still four-wheel drive a good idea this morning. >> even then it's tricky with four-wheel drive. >> yes. >> it's going to be a rough commute into the weekend and take the shovel in the car. >> yes, always. >> all right, megan, thank you. side streets were a main complaint after the last few storms so many homeowners are wondering how long it will take this time to see the pavement again. joel d smith is live in north baltimore with the latest on the situation there and some folks didn't see the pavement since the last storm, so who knows when they're going to dig out this time. >> reporter: good point, patrice. this particular street did -- at this time yesterday looked passable. it was down to almost the pavement, front end loader from the city had moved some snow around, that was good. but now can you see four-wheel drive vehicles on their own trying to come through here. you can see the tracks, and it's kind of a sloppy slushy mess, not too ice packed but still not
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passable. folks shouldn't have tried to drive around baltimore overnight or yesterday because of the state of emergency, the phase 3 going on for the plan for the snow. we're talking about how to dig out. yesterday i can walk right through here. this is an opening to get this car out, and now it's all filled with the snow drift that came through here. some areas are particularly hit like this and other parts are not hit at all. look at that gate over there. we were talking about the gate there. you trying to get through there, you got to dig yourself out of home first and then worry about the cars so much of a challenge for the folks as they consider the great big dig part 2. as for the clean up of the streets, the goal is to get to the streets but they will concentrate on the secondary roads. they have done a great job on the secondary roads because people have been off of them for a long time. let's hope they can make a dent
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right here. >> if i lived in that house behind you, i might have to hop that gate, forget about shoveling out. >> reporter: just jump it. >> , joel, thank you. mima has been keeping track of the snow and they have been working. ed mcdonough with mima is joining us this morning. we have heard the governor in a lot of his updates, that the goal is not to get the roads to pavement, it's to make them passable for emergency equipment. is that still the case? >> oh, sure. obviously some of the main interstates we will get to bare pavement and have multiple lanes open. for the side streets and the enteinterstates, like york road, it's going to be a while before we get curb to curb bare pavement. this sun precedented as steve was talking before. we are in territory that we have never monitored before. >> and in terms of the getting the streets plowed but you are
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monitoring emergency situations. i understand that we had 700 car accidents yesterday? >> well, that is mostly what the state police was handling and they have all fortunately been minor. we haven't heard of any serious injuries or fatalities from them. given the volume of traffic that is high, but given the conditions i'm not sure that is quite so bad. the thing we're concerned about looking forward is the weight of the snow on flat roof buildings. we're urging property owners, owners or operators of big box stores and shopping malls, and even residential homes with flat roofs to be careful. make sure if you see windows not operating properly, and make sure that the roofs are draining properly. as the sun hits these roofs, there's melting. when the water pools up there, that increases the weight load on the roofs. >> that makes sense, and that goes to people who have decks attached to their house. get out and shovel the decks.
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>> anything you can do to safely get up on the roofs and decks and have a qualified person doing it? >> ed mcdonough at mima thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. the snow makes it difficult for emergency crews to get to a two-alarm fire in northeast baltimore. the flames broke out at montpelier street after 1:00 this morning. firefighters had a tough time getting to the home because the snow piles are everywhere, but they were able to rescue the people inside fortunately and put out the fire in about 45 minutes. one person was hurt. there's no word at this time on the extent of their injuries, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation. amazing! coming up on the early edition, how much snow fell across maryland during this second round? meteorologist jessica starr will have that answer. and winds causing drifting snow could be a problem.
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> snow, snow everywhere as far as the eye can see, and we have team coverage taking a look at just how much snow is out there and what people are dealing with
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today. jessica starr is out in north baltimore, steve fertig here instudio keeping an eye on things. we're going to start with jessica starr. you were talking about how big the snow drifts are, as tall as you are and you're pretty tall. >> reporter: that is what is amazing. i was outside last night and i couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. you know, it's kind of one of those things, am i really seeing this much snow from friday's storm and then last night's storm, but you know, and also when you're digging out your car today, a lot of people have cabin fever from staying inside yesterday, and people are going to try to start out today and do a little bit of a dig. you kind of want to take your time with. you don't want to over exaggerate yourself. take a look at this car. it's a white car, so it's hard to h see. but there's so much snow, it's going to take you so much time
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to clean out your car and dig it out. if you haven't cleaned your car out since last storm plan to do it for 2 to 3 days. the good news is there are some roads that are clear. we are right on 41st street. we can see pavement, but don't let that deceive you. it doesn't mean that all the streets are clear. talking throughout the show that there are areas that are paved pretty well and then you can come to an area that hasn't seen a snow truck or a plow. another day as to stay inside and dig out your car and sidewalk areas. we got blasted again. just a couple of areas around the region. baltimore county, brie land gone 21 inches. parkville got 18.8, in the city within the city limits inside the beltway, pimlico got 16 inches. park heights got 8.5, let's go one more, carroll county got
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24 inches. car. >> reporter:carroll county got . everyone got at least an inch of snow on top of all of that snow that we got on friday into saturday. this is the snowiest season on record. i truly believe it, i'm glad to be here to live the house tory o-- thehistory of the snow 2009 to 2010. let's toss to steve in the sky watch center. you mentioned earlier that you're from michigan. does this feel like a lot to you being from michigan. >> reporter: you know, it's funny. i have been out here for a couple of years, but driving yesterday, yeah. yeah. >> it certainly does to us. >> let's take a look to us. hwe obliterated that record,
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83.9 inches. nothing in the immediate future. we at least have dry conditions right now but as we put things into motion, pardon me, looking off the new england coast, that storm out of there, winds are being created around that low. we're going to have to deal with a low pressure center that is moving to the north and east, with high pressure building in behind it. that is what makes for the strong winds. as we check out the temperatures, 32 degrees right now. it's going to feel chillier when you factor in the winds, 19 degrees in baltimore. only feels like 6 in oakland and as we check the future scan model, as you can see, no snow here. there could be snow in the he slope regions of the mountains. there's the low, our storm system that moves out. high pressure fills in behind it and the winds pick up. we could get gusts 20 to 30 miles per hour. this low pressure center when it looks dangerous like it's going
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it be a coastal low, it's going to steer out to sea and that looks fairly certain. this low pressure center which is an alberta clipper is going to bring us a chance of snow as that snow starts to move in our direction, president's day. we may be picking up additional snow fall. it may not be like we saw but we could get a few inches of snow or more depending on how fast it moves. generally it moves quickly, and it tends to keep the numbers down. down. 36 degrees is what we are expecting today. winds kawftin causing drifting . it's going to look like it's snowing with the winds gusting to 40. we should get to 35 degrees. the temperatures staying right where they start all day long they will be in the low 30s to mid-30s. 19 in the overnight low. it will feel close to the single digits with the wind gusting to 30. as we look ahead in the next 7 days. we get up to 36 tomorrow. again the winds calm down a little bit, calming down even
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more on saturday 34, 36 on sunday and in comes the clipper and bring us the chances, 36 for the high on tuesday and maybe we hit 40. that will be nice with the sun and clouds. we have a few days that we get to see plenty of sunshine. we get to see what is happening on the roadways with candace dold. she has the traffic edge. sunshine. if you are heading out and hitting the roadways not such an exciting drive this morning if you can even get out of your house. unfortunately we do have the snow drifts that are posing a major threat to this morning's drive out there. you will find them in the road and also on those turns when you try go around even a bend, that will impede your visibility there. now we do need to talk about baltimore, because, well, they have reinstated phase 2. that means nonemergency vehicles with k now travel and parking as you know, it's still prohibited in the snow emergency routes.
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let's take a look at what it looks like in baltimore. here it is in metfield, you can see the road is completely buried underneath those inches of snow. unfortunately this is what you will find in many neighborhoods out there in baltimore county right now here is rogers forge. cars can barely get out of their parking spaces much less get on to the road. unfortunately it does seem that a lot of people are going to be stuck in once again today and all in all you can see by the roads, not a bad idea to stay inside. on the main lines, let's check on the beltway at pulaski highway. that looks pretty clear but the officials are saying don't get overconfident, because you could find that the travel lanes do start to squeeze down a bit because of the snow on the road. one incident to talk about in that area in baltimore county, in fact, in dundalk, there's low hanging wires. now on north point boulevard at new battle grove road. just as you know, high-profile vehicles are adviced to avoid the area.
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unfor at any timely we could find this throughout the region because of all the snow that is now on the wires. please be careful if you do have to travel this morning. that's a look at the morning travels, patrice, back over to you. we are going to continue to take a look at conditions across our region and we want to hear fr
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anne arundel county has put several programs in place to check on its elderly and needy residents in all of this snow. help like that could be needed for the foreseeable future while the county continues to dig out. county executive john leopold is joining us on the phone with an update on conditions there, good morning, sir. >> good morning, to you, patrice. >> what are you seeing out there, how are the roads? >> first of all the snow stopped and that is a good thing. you mentioned the sun is coming out, but the gusty winds will make it feel like it's very chilly out there. we are continuing to work to clear the roads. it's going to take a couple of days to get to everybody's residential street. as indicated the county government is closed today due to the weather, although essential employees are required to report on time. we will continue to deliver salt today. we have a new salt vendor who will bring us more salt that is needed. we were down to 2,000 tons but
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we will be up to full capacity which is 12,000 tons of salt. you indicated the programs we have in place, neighbors helping neighbors. i started a program which i call the snow angels program, where i go out and give a certificate to citizens who have gone over and above all duty to help their neighbors. we also have a telephone reassurance program where we reach out to the frail and vulnerable, elderly, including individuals with disabilities to make sure they're okay. we do that by phone. if we don't an answer, then we have emergency contact lists where people go to the door and check on these elderly to make sure they're okay. again, these neighbors helping neighbors, they make us do a better job and we very much appreciate their help. >> that is what needed in this snowstorm because you can't do everything alone. it's going to take everybody working together to get through the storm. >> that is correct. >> county executive, john leopold, we appreciate you
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talking with us this morning, thank you. >> you bet. we want you to let us know what your neighborhood looks like. give us a call at (410)481-4545 or talk to us through facebook. just go to
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we have been getting through this storm together. all of us here and all of you
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out there who have been watching. we have really enjoyed listening to some of the stories you have been telling on facebook about what you're dealing with. we want to hear more about that, are you digging out today? what do the roads look like on your neighborhood. we do have a caller, our first caller is melanie. >> melanie? >> how are you doing today? >> i'm doing great. how are you? >> i'm looking outside and looking at the mess outside. i don't know where to start honestly. >> i think a lot of people are with you, where are you? >> northwest baltimore. >> when was the last time you got out and drive out somewhere? >> we are underneath the storm since friday. >> you haven't driven anywhere else from last thursday. >> the only thing i was able to do from the last one is go out on sunday and shovel around my car. this one came and i don't know when the plows are coming down
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our streets. >> i think that is the case for a lot of places. good luck and stay safe when you do manage to get out there. let's go to our next caller, terri, what is going on in your neighborhood. >> it's terrible. the streets are blocked off. i haven't seen no lights since the storm started thursday, and friday night. >> you know what, so many people are saying the same thing. you know with have been here at the station. we leave the station and go up a mile up the street to a hotel. the main road is clear, but the other roads are impassable. impossible to 35 through. good luck to you, terri. >> janice wrote on facebook. she says it's really a mess out there. i live in kearny and all i do is see mountains of snow, omg, omg. >> you know that is bad when
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people say omg. the roads are terrible at the eastern shore, stay home. >> the eastern shore is getting hit hard. everybody, there's nobody that has been spared from the back-to-back storms. everybody is feeling all of the same frustration across the state of maryland. >> we want you to become a fan of fox baltimore. it's easy to do. a lot of you have done it in the last few days. go to foxbaltimore.com, you can
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