thanchts breaking news is this. a widespread storm bringing messy winter weather for the south, leaving georgia and the carolinas covered in snow and that same system will creep into this area later this morning. a live look now at cape may where the streets are dry now, but this is one of the first places that we'll see snow later this morning. nbc 10's first alert radar shows that wintry weather as it nears this region. some of you will see nothing. others, though could get several inches of snow just in time for your morning drive. good morning, this is nbc 10 news this thursday. i'm chris cato. the impact of this storm all depends where you live. we have issued a first alert just to get those of you who will see snow to get you ready

for what you will see in your neighborhood. meteorologist bill henley kicks off our coverage. good morning, bill. >> morning, chris. this storm has been raging across the south. we're going to get a glancing blow from it. the highest amounts, southern delaware and into cape may county. but philadelphia could see a dusting of snow out of this one. it is a long way from moving in just yet. but we already have clouds over center city as you saw that live picture from the adventure aquarium. radar is showing the wet weather just to the south. you can see snow is starting to push into extreme southeastern delaware and eastern sussex county. very light snow is starting to move into the area. that is moving up the coast and will be headed for cape may. cape may will see accumulating snow during the morning hours. but right now the temperatures are on the warm side. we are at 31 degrees in philadelphia. and wilmington. 34 in wildwood. but as the snow moves in that 34 degrees at the shore will be dropping. so moving out the door, clouds are overhead.

a snow flurry or two at 6:00 in philadelphia. then light snow at 9:00 will be tapering off by lunchtime, could see a dusting. but definitely more south and east. we'll go through it hour by hour when i'm back in ten. right now jillian mele in the first alert traffic center. morning, jillian. >> good morning, bill. this is just south of lewis. still looking pretty dry right now. the roads are quiet. we're not reporting any accidents. as you can see, they're in pretty good shape. but this is going to change. we will keep you updated with all of our cameras. for now drive times on pennsylvania majors pretty average. blue route, no accidents there. drive time 15 to 16 minutes between 95 and 76. chris? as you just saw, bill mentioned there, we do have snow approaching the area this morning. the jersey shore could get some of the heaviest accumulation. nbc 10's matt delucia joins us live via telephone as he makes his way into ocean city. matt? >> reporter: chris, we just

drove into ocean city a few minutes ago. here on ninth street here in ocean city. you can tell there's not much activity at the moment. of course, we're not seeing any precipitation at this point. but of course this area here cape may county and also up in atlantic county they're expecting a little bit of that snow to fall. atlantic county government offices putting a delayed opening for their offices at 9:00 a.m. today because of what is expected out here. so we're going to be driving around here and then we're going to pull over and wait for the snow to arrive. we drove in on the atlantic city expressway. garden state parkway, looked like there was a little bit of brine out on the roadways. of course, at this point, there's not a whole lot of activity. we're going to pull over again and we're going to keep an eye on the conditions for you throughout the morning. but for now, things do not look bad at all here in ocean city. for now we're live i'm matt delucia, nbc 10 news. as bill showed us on the radar earlier, the snow we will see is coming from down south.

look at this video last night. this is the scene in the western portion of north carolina where drivers on an interstate there, that's i-26 had a tough time making it up a steep grade. heavy snow as much as five inches stuck to roads and dropped visibility down to less than half a mile. and hours earlier snow and sleet slammed northern georgia. that area had three to six inches of snow by last night. georgia's governor asked for patience in clearing roads in a part of the country that's just not used to very much snow. no matter where you live can you always get the latest forecast alerts and advisories on winter weather straight to your smartphone or tablet. all you have to do is download the new app, our weather app from the app store. it's a free download. new from overnight, philadelphia police are investigating two deadly shootings in the city. nbc 10 was first on scene at both locations. now, this one here is at 27th in the city's grays ferry section. police tell us two people were shot around 2:30 this morning. one victim died. the other is in extremely

critical condition. so far there are no arrests or no motive for the shooting as far as police have told us. now, the second shooting is in north philadelphia. police say someone fired 11 shots at a woman driving a lincoln town car on west westmoreland street. the 34-year-old woman was hit. she passed out, crashed into some parked cars. the woman was rushed to temple hospital where she died. police do not have a motive for this shooting either. and they don't have a description of a suspect yet. happening today in harrisburg, the pennsylvania house is expected to approve a bill that would privatize liquor sales. it would allow beer distributors and grocery stores to buy licenses to sell wine and spirits with some restrictions. opponents say the bill is a cash grab that will cost thousands of jobs. the state senate would need to approve the bill. governor wolf said he would veto the measure if it reaches him. and we have new information now on a fire at queenland

elementary in allentown. the district superintendent says that school will be closed for eight weeks for repair. classes are canceled today. starting tomorrow buses will take students to two other allentown schools. the fire marshal told us that it appears that an electrical problem sparked the small fire that caused a lot of smoke damage. in bucks county this high school will open on time after a water main break sent students home early yesterday. school officials that busted pipe did not cause any flooding or damage to the school. check out these flames from a fire in bucks county. sky force 10 brought you these images as breaking news last night at 11:00. it was a business called spencer's landscaping at reese and lincoln avenues. no one was hurt and no other buildings had major damage but the fire raged out of control for about an hour. it is out this morning. nbc 10 spoke with the company's leasing agent. he says he knows what started the fire. >> from what i understand

harvey spencer from spencer's landscaping was at the shop grinding something, some sparks hit a gas can and he couldn't put it out. >> firefighters say their biggest challenge was having to deal with frozen hydrants. this morning the firefighters injured in that steph stating blast are talking about surviving that blast. tracy davidson joins us live from our digital operations center with more on what those men call the most frightening moment of their careers. >> can you imagine that experience? after suffering concussions and temporary hearing loss the volunteer firefighters continued with their rescue efforts. and yesterday they took a look at new video of the aftermath of the explosion that happened on tuesday. six firefighters were hurt but they didn't stop. they went back in for seven injured gas workers including two who were covered under a pile of debris. the crew talked about the moments following the blast.

>> surreal. your body couldn't process it fast enough. >> somebody or something, someone above was looking out for us. >> i got, in my heart, the best fire department there is. >> investigators say a crack in a gas main caused a leak that led to the explosion. 15 people in all were injured. a gas company worker remains in critical condition this morning. those firefighters tell us they responded to hurricane sandy aftermath of hurricane sandy and a tornado that happened a couple of months later. they say neither event even comes close to comparing to what they experienced after that explosion. live in the digital operations center tracy davidson nbc 10 news. eight minutes after 4:00 now. happening today, a man accused of beating and raping a woman in a philadelphia parking garage will find out if he'll go to trial. steven woodson is expected in court for a preliminary hearing. he's charged with attempted murder aggravated assault, robbery and rape. now, police say the violent attack happened in this parking garage in spring garden on new year's day. investigators say a 33-year-old

woman was walking to her car when woodson came up from behind and attacked her. a couple happened to witness the assault and called police who arrested woodson near the scene. also today, this man reginald green, the man accused of trying to rape a woman at a septa station in center city will appear in court for a preliminary hearing. it happened earlier this month. police say the woman asked green for directions and he dragged her to a secluded area beat her, robbed her and tried to sexually assault her. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> it's a waiting game now. clouds are here and we're waiting for some snowflakes to move into the area. we will see some light snow in philadelphia, but not much. could see a dusting in the city. it's the shore and southern delaware that we'll see higher totals from this storm coming up the coast right now. doylestown, 24 degrees. might be a snow shower today in doylestown philadelphia some scattered light snow this morning. gone this afternoon. cape may, we are waiting for the

first snowflakes to fall. and the temperatures well that will be coming down. it's 34 right now in cape may. that's a live view of beach avenue. clearly there's no snow just yet, but it is not far away. philadelphia radar showing it's completely dry at this time but you can see snow moving into portions of maryland and there it is, southern delaware the first snowflakes are starting to fall from the sky. now, what's typical, when you have very dry air like we have had is that those first snowflakes don't reach the ground. they ee vap waitvaporate before they get to the ground. that changes with a little bit of time. in the next hour we should see the snowflakes in southern delaware and cape may as well. you see the wet weather is just offshore. it will be very light to start with, but this is the area that will see the most snow from this system in our region. and cape may, it will get its share, but the farther inland you go the less snow you will see. you can see some very light snow showing up on the radar in ocean city and corbin city. not yet on the ground.

so that will happen this morning before sunrise. we will see snowflakes in philadelphia and wilmington where it's 31 degrees right now. in fact that's as warm as it will get during the day. we'll actually see the temperatures come down this morning before they start coming back up a little bit this afternoon. cape may harbor is at 35 degrees. indications snow is not falling yet. a little colder for woodbine and ocean view. just cold enough for snow. hour-by-hour forecast shows by 6:00 this morning, southern delaware south jersey will be seeing snow and it will be reaching to the north, slowly moving towards philadelphia at 7:00 in the morning. and light snow even possible north and west some scattered snow showers. not expecting to see much in the way of accumulation here either. it is the shore, look at those darker blues that will see the heavier snow totals. at 10:00 in the morning. by 11:00, it starts to taper off north and west. still falling at the shore. by noontime it's pretty much done in philadelphia. by 1:00 this afternoon, it's

pretty much done at the shore as well. so inland for philadelphia today, temperatures will range from 27 to 31 degrees. 31 is where we are right now. it will come down this morning. come up a little bit this afternoon. light snow this morning, will be done this afternoon. got the weekend forecast when i'm back in ten. 12 minutes after 4:00 now. it could be a slippery drive for some of you especially in southern delaware and at the jersey shore. our jillian mele is watching the root roads for us right now. >> right now the roads are looking good. dry roads, no delays or accidents. chester county from route 113 to 130 will take you five minutes. route four minutes eastbound from 340 to route 113 and 202 is clear and quiet in both directions. chris? well a local school district is dealing with a new blow now. the hit that has leaders scrambling for a backup plan. plus the man accused of abducting his daughter from her mother in delaware faced a

judge. his emotional reaction and what he was holding in his hand while in court. and a major drug ring taken down in the montgomery county suburbs. how a tip from a citizen landed dozens of suspected dealers in handcuffs.

4:15 on this first alert weather day. the snow that is headed our way has already been falling overnight in the south including this area. you're looking here at a live picture from charlotte, north carolina, where they already have several inches of snow on the ground forecasted to get eight to ten inches in charlotte. a rare event for them. it certainly has roads in that area looking slippery this

morning. meteorologist bill henley says we can expect that snow to start arriving in the southernmost regions of our viewing area southern delaware and extreme jersey shore starting around 5:00 a.m. southern delaware could see three to six inches out of this system. bill's back with his full forecast in just a moment. and remember any time there's winter weather like we're having today, there could always be school closings and delays. find out instantly when your child's school has one of those situations through our nbc 10 school closing alerts. sign up through the nbc 10 app or at nbc10.com. happening today, the southeast delta school district will hold its first board meeting since two families filed a lawsuit claiming that administrators did not protect their kids from an alleged child molester. the suit involves elementary teacher paul hoshwender. he's awaiting sentencing after pleading no contest. the families of two 8-year-old

victims say the district did not check hoshwender's background and that would have shown similar abuse complaints in his past. new this morning, officials with delaware's christina school district say they'll reconsider their options after voters rejected a pair of tax hikes to fund schools. on tuesday, voters shot down one tax increase that would have covered the costs of growing enrollment and expenses and another that would have funded investments in after-school and arts programs. district officials say they may go back to the voters with a smaller tax hike proposal or make painful budget cuts or both. and trenton's mayor is asking local, county and state leaders for help to fix that school district's $19 million budget shortfall. mayor eric jackson says over the past several years students have left the district to attend alternative schools, and that has led to a drop in revenue. >> the district administration must do more to retain our students in our districts. we must promote our successes, talk about our improved

graduation rates in 2014 and our reduction in our dropout rate. >> now, the district may have to lay off several hundred employees in order to close that budget gap. officials in massachusetts have arraigned a man accused of kidnapping his 3-year-old daughter. he cried and held a picture of his daughter during the arraignment. police say he assaulted his girlfriend monday and took off with her child. an fbi s.w.a.t. team found them tuesday night in spencer, massachusetts. the girl and her mother are now back together at home. police in montgomery county have rounded up more than 30 suspects accused of running a suburban drug ring. nbc 10 was there as police walked the suspects into the courthouse in norristown yesterday. these arrests cap a year-long investigation. the montgomery county district attorney says they busted the alleged dealers after a citizen concerned about a loved one gave a tip to investigators. >> the call that i received from a family member of one of the

addicts was very poignant because it really just reflected that that very deep personal impact that these dangerous drugs have on our community. >> now, police say they seized drugs including cocaine and crystal meth along with cash and guns. investigators say some of the accused drug suppliers worked out of blue bell and philadelphia. new jersey authorities are revealing some new details in the death investigation of the cooper university health system ceo and his wife. john and joyce sheridan died last september. the state attorney general's office confirmed to nbc 10 that joyce died from a stab wound to her chest. investigators ruled her death a homicide but they're still looking into the cause and manner of her husband, john's death. now, firefighters found the couple inside the master bedroom of their home in somerset county after a fire broke out there. so far there are no arrests or identified suspects in the case. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley.

>> cloudy skies and temperatures just below freezing in philadelphia right now. 31 degrees at philadelphia international. look at those winds. they're out of the northeast at 12 miles an hour. those winds are going to bring our temperatures down a little bit. right now allentown is 22 degrees. could see light snow in allentown, northeast philadelphia 30. but it's atlantic city that's going to see more accumulating snowfall. and still waiting for the first snowflakes to arrive in cape may this morning. they're not that far away. you can see the storm system producing lots of snow in virginia into north carolina and moving to the northeast. so glancing blow is what we'll see from this storm system. by far the heaviest snow is destined for southern delaware. you can see the reach of this storm. even producing some light snowflakes into lancaster county at this hour. take some time before the snowflakes reach the ground but they will be accumulating especially at the shore. by 7:00 this morning, could see a dusting in dover, in

millville, close to half inch in cape may and rising. as we go through the morning, expecting most of the snow to fall between 7:00 and 10:00. we'll see an inch and a half on the ground in millville. at 9:00 could see a dusting in philadelphia by midmorning and closing in on two inches in cape may. and as this one starts pulling away from the shore at noontime today, this is just updated information. looking at two to three inches in the cape may area. farther to the south, more for southern delaware. but half an inch is possible in wilmington. and you could see a dusting to a half inch in areas farther forth and west for reading and allentown. stand by. you could see snowflakes. not a big storm system. light snow for philadelphia this morning and cloudy skies this afternoon with temperatures into the 20s and low 30s. they'll be holding pretty steady for much of the day. this weekend, brilliant sunshine saturday. a high of 30 degrees. but clouds will be on the increase on sunday. and come sunday evening, there is a chance of some rain and

snow. full seven-day forecast coming up in the next half hour. it's about 4:22 now. time to check in with our first alert traffic reporter jillian mele to see if there are any obstacles for our early thursday morning drive. jillian? >> nothing serious. no accidents on the highways. starting off in the lehigh valley, route 22 at route 309. 22 is clear. 309 looks good. so does interstate 78. and if you're traveling the pennsylvania turnpike you can see all of the lines of green out there. that is indicating no delays at all. drive times pretty average as you can see. about 22 to 23 minutes is what we're seeing right now. both ways between ben salem and valley forge. chris? killing family pets. that's what a new lawsuit claims a popular dog food is doing. next purina's reaction to those allegations and the food under scrutiny. plus one man's creativity and craftsmanship has him in trouble now with the law. the alleged illegal upgrade he made to his car that cops say helped him avoid paying tolls.

x@ñ look at this. it's a retractible truck bumper. it may look cool but authorities arrested the driver who installed it. they say he used this device to cheat ez pass tolls on the george washington bridge yesterday. when the front bumper goes up the license plate becomes impossible for cameras to read. they charged ortega with tampering and burglary of tools. they say he pressed a toggle switch on his dashboard to lift the bumper. there it goes. the device costs about $2,000. they also said the truck's rear license plate was covered in grease and unreadable. undercover officers say they

busted several unlicensed moving companies who were violating state laws in new jersey. six of those 19 companies are from this area. new jersey state police and immigration officers posed as household movers and hired these unlicensed companies last november. most of the companies use online listings to solicit work. now, the acting director for the division of consumer affairs says, quote, too many consumers have been ripped off by movers who held their furniture and other goods hostage while demanding outrageously inflated prices. before you hire a moving company, officials say you should really call the division of consumer affairs to verify that company's license. also be sure to get a written estimate and never pack jewelry, money or valuables with goods to be moved. well a pet owner claims thousands of dogs have gotten sick or died after eating a certain brand of dry dog food and now he has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer. the man says he fed his three dogs beneful and in a month two became sick and one died. the pet owner says over the past four years there have been thousands of similar complaints

online. he filed suit against nestle purina pet care company, alleging that the food contains an animal toxin used in antifreeze. purina said, quote, there are no quality issues with beneful. that's it. the food and drug administration has not issued any warnings about the product. now your nbc 10 first alert weather. >> 29 degrees at 4:27. boathouse row is dry but clouds are overhead and we are tracking snow. it's headed for delaware south jersey and a few snowflakes for philadelphia as well. they'll be here this morning. heading out the door right now, jillian is in the traffic center. good morning. >> good morning, bill. 76 at the vine clear right now but actually delldot officials just tweeted light snow has begun in sussex county. what they say to do coming up in the next few minutes. new at 4:30 the closures on the i-495 bridge in wilmington

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nbc 10 first alert weather breaking news. >> snow is shutting down cities to our south, georgia and the carolinas are waking up snow covered as a widespread winter storm moves through. and the system will swipe part of this area later this morning including cape may. a live look here which will be one of the first places to see the flakes start falling. the first alert weather radar shows the wintry weather as it nears our region. some people will see nothing, though. others could get several inches. good morning, this is nbc 10 news today. i'm tracy davidson. >> and i