parts of the region. this is dover, delaware, for instance, from news force 10 onboard. this is a blizzard warning. that's where this is in effect, some areas will see more than 20 inches. >> and take a look at this major snowstorm on radar right now. higher snow totals and earlier arrival than initially predicted. you can see the snow already in cape may and in delaware. the nbc 10 first alert weather team is tracking the storm as it quickly moves into our area and have new information on how much snow could fall in your neighborhood. >> let's get right to glenn "hurricane" schwartz. glenn, this storm is moving qu quickly. where is it now? >> the center of the storm is more than 1,000 miles away, but that is not stopping it. the snow is already moved into part of our area. it's snowing and accumulating in cape may. not just on the sidewalks, it's on the main streets. it is accumulating, and it's going to be all snow all night for the entire area. as you can see in the past hour, all of delaware covered with the

radar echoes, although not all is reaching the ground in northern delaware, but in cape may county, you saw it, it is snowing. the darker the blue is, the heavier the snow. we're still not there at the real dark blues, but it's a little bit darker than it was even 30 minutes ago. coming into southern berks county at the moment. the visibility tells us if it's snowing and how hard. it's not snowing in philadelphia or millville, atlantic city yet, but the visibility is now dropped to one mile in wildwood, that's significant snow, and in dover and georgetown, delaware, that's some fairly heavy snow, especially for the beginning of the storm. and as we go through the evening, more of that heavier snow is going to be moving up from the southwest. by 7:00, some heavy snow, even heavier than what we're seeing now in southern delaware and that moves up through the entire area and you can see it. there's no rain/snow line anywhere, it is just all snow,

all night, until tomorrow morning where you finally see a little bit of a rain/snow line. it does not make it all the way to philadelphia. looks like all snow here. the other issue is the wind, we could be seeing winds close to hurricane force along the coastline, creating major coastal flooding. more on that coming up a little bit later. as far as how much snow is going to fall, meteorologist sheena parveen has that. >> yeah, and we've increased the snow totals across the area, so depends where you live. either way we're looking at a big snowstorm moving in with accumulating snow overnight tonight. look at some of these totals, 17 to 23 inches around the philadelphia area, including major interstates. important to note the snow is already falling and accumulating in parts of delaware, sticking to the roadways and that's where we expect high amounts. let's zoom in at northern delaware, chester county, delaware county, salem, gloucester, camden counties through the philadelphia area,

lower montgomery county and bucks counties, we could have isolated areas with a little bit more snowfall moving in, especially once we start to see that heavy snow overnight and early tomorrow morning, so that will be accumulating quickly. by the time it's all done, that's what these totals will be. parts of berks county, into the lehigh valley, upper bucks county, 12 to 17 inches possibly. other parts of the lehigh valley, eight to 12 inches, four to eight closer to the poconos, so we'll be watching up near there. for areas in interior new jersey, atlantic county, cumberland county, kent county, delaware, eight to 12 inches also and higher amounts farther to the north of that. closer to the shore, that's where we need to watch that rain/snow line, so we expect about four to eight inches of snow, but again any change over to rain or mixing that will occur will be lowering these numbers here. we'll be watching that closely through tonight and into the day tomorrow, but a lot of snow on the way. coming up we'll be zooming around and show you more

counties and what you can expect and a closer look at the timing update. >> we'll keep checking with you, sheena. here's another look at the storm on radar, conditions are changing constantly, so nbc 10 wants to make sure you know what's going to happen in your neighborhood. >> first alert weather team has been giving you county by county breakdowns over the last hour. we'll bring you the forecast for the lehigh valley in the next 15 minutes. right now, though, we want to go to nbc 10's aundrea cline-thomas. >> she is live in cape may, you see the snow is already collecting there. aundrea, how's it looking around you? >> reporter: it's not even snowing that hard. what makes it more difficult is the wind, so it feels like it's snowing sideways and hard to keep my eyes open, but i want to show you this car right now, it's been here at least an hour, the snow is accumulating just a little bit. the concern out here is that heavy snow. that's what's going to knock out power to folks and this wind if it keeps up or gets stronger, it's gone to be hard for crews to restore lines, because they

are expecting power outages. so it's the wind that really makes this a lot harder he i also want to show you another thing. look at what is open, a fudge shop. all of the stores next door have shut down, closed, people are home right now, but the fudge shop is still open. some people have stopped by while we've been here, but right now otherwise, other than the fudge shop, everything kind of looks like a ghost town. we've seen a few cars coming through, a few people, even saw a runner, which is amazing to us, but still, right now folks are inside hunkering down, just waiting for the storm to come and for it to pass. that's the latest here in cape may, aundrea cline-thomas, nbc 10 news. >> aundrea, thank you. brave runner out there, too. no doubt with the truck there, that's the vehicle you want to ride in early on like now, right? >> yeah, and i love the fudge shop is open, little sweet to accommodate the salt. >> let's go to tim furlong driving through delaware in our

new news force 10 vehicle. >> the snow hit delaware first, how have conditions changed since we last saw you? >> reporter: it's unbelievable. in fact, delaware's governor just literally kicked the state into a state of emergency. what we're seeing out here, you can see the snow, you can barely see legislative hall, the capitol building, when we passed it. driving restriction goes into effect at midnight, which means drivers need to use extra caution. you can see right now why, the snow is piling up almost quicker than it usually seems to in a situation like this. as for the driving restrictions, at midnight they are talking about maybe kicking it a level two restriction in the state of delaware, basically means unless you are an essential person for your job, you need to be off the roads completely, so you need to stay with nbc 10 for the latest on that. again, we found lots of people who at this point are still racing to get where they need to go before the snow. we found one woman racing back

to her home at the delaware beaches. >> pennsylvania visiting and we heard about the weather, so we're heading home. >> reporter: after a quick stop for gas, helen was headed home. >> we're safe, but i have another property over there i'm kind of concerned about and really the high winds that are concerning me. >> reporter: the high winds could mean power problems and then the potential for flooding. the area is projected to have similar water levels this weekend. >> we're going to get a lot of flooding, yeah. >> reporter: wherever you are, you're going to get some sort of weather, heavy snow or flooding. >> i'd rather have nothing, but if i had a choice, probably just the snow. >> reporter: now is what we have here in dover right now from news force 10. i just talked to my wife, she's not yet seen a snowflake, but this is on a normal day about 45

minutes south in dover and this is what we have, snow piling up quickly, we've seen accidents, cars swerving. stay with us for more on the delaware state of emergency and what it means to you. be safe on the roads and we'll do the same. tim furlong, nbc 10 news. >> great warning, good piece of advice, tim. our fleet of vehicles are out on the roads to show what's happening across the region. harry, where are you right now? >> reporter: right now we're going across the flat bridge. we've been riding through most of 95, 76, trying to take a good look to see what people are doing, most trying to get home as quickly as possible. the situation is like this, they know that this snow is coming, they are trying to get prepared for this storm. we have ran across a few minor accidents that were along i-95. state police have been out there trying to handle that. as you can see at this moment

some of the traffic that we're looking at right now is pretty light, but i'll tell you if we get back on to i-95, the volume is starting to pick up there more as folks are trying to get home, hunker down, and get ready for this monster storm that's headed our way. back to you guys. >> thank you. let's get an overview of what he's driving on. here's what it looks like south philadelphia i-95, philadelphia declared a snow emergency starting at 9:00. you see a lot of people still out there on the roadways. you can't see much snow that's falling in philadelphia. we're waiting for our first alert weather team working hard to get you prepared. parking restrictions along snow emergency routes will be in effect in philadelphia. we want to mention that. also septa will suspend regional rails. bus routes, as well, starting 4:00 in the morning. trash pickup will be delayed over the weekend. >> let's take a look at new jersey now, this is the view from our camera in cape may. the shore will not only see snow, but serious coastal flooding. governor chris christie has

returned to new jersey from the campaign trail and will hold a news conference coming up at 8:00. you see the snow there covering the ground. >> staying in the garden state, let's check in with cydney long in camden county. last time we checked in with you, the grocery store was packed. what's it like now? >> reporter: keith, i can tell you it's still bustling. a few minutes ago the self checkout lanes were four or five baskets deep and i wanted to get a grocery cart and use it as a prop, but there's not one cart left. take a look, all the shoppers are out and about in the store and the clerks are on almost every single register. these carts, i'm seeing a lot of breakfast items, eggs, sausage, pan kaikcake pancakes. so far people are beating the first snow. >> i hate snow. so i might just hibernate. >> reporter: still she plays the snow planning game well to feed a family of seven, her cart stocked full of everything she

needs this weekend. >> deli meats for sandwiches, snacks for the football game. >> reporter: he told his boss he needed a day off to prepare and said it wasn't a problem he beat the late afternoon rush. >> right now the storms are not that bad. shelves are emptying out slowly, but around 5:00 p.m. this afternoon it's going to be a mad house. >> i ask that our residents stay home this weekend if they can. >> reporter: so everyone stays safe, gloucester township police and emergency managers say they won't let the lights go out at key intersections. they've installed transfer switches and portable generators after a hard lesson learned during the summer june storm when two officers each had to man 28 powerless intersections for five days straight. it was wind and rain then, but the snow could lay heavily on lines and poles to do the same. >> plug it in, hook it up to a generator, throw the switch, and that transfers power running to the light. that would turn the light on by running from the generator.

>> reporter: and javon smith predicted a mad house and he was close. salt and shovels on hand, as well as scrapers and movies for the kids. in case you need to turn two errands into one before the snow gets here. live in gloucester township, cydney long, nbc 10 news. >> good advice. there's a winter storm warning in effect here in cape may. elsewhere, though, blizzard warnings. this storm is coming in fast. you see it here on this camera. the streets will coated in the snow, aundrea cline-thomas was out there, she showed us not many people are hitting the roads. that's good. expecting eight to 12 inches of snow in south jersey. coastal flooding, as well, at the shore. stay with nbc 10, our weather team is out tracking conditions in your neighborhood. stay with us.

you're watching nbc 10 first alert winter weather coverage. >> all right, folks, snow has arrived at the shore. here's a live picture in avalon this time. you can see snow there on the ground on the dunes. nbc 10 wants you to know how this storm is going to affect your part of the region. >> the first alert weather team has been breaking down the forecast county by county. sheena parveen joins us with more. sheena? >> that's right. we're going to look at the lehigh valley right now, because

that is one area of concern because we expect heavy snow at some point, too, but again this is an area we'll watch closely for heavier snow bands moving in tomorrow. here's the radar currently. we have snow falling in south jersey and delaware, up near the philadelphia area at this point approaching the major interstates and north and west we're seeing snow moving into parts of montgomery county, but here's the lehigh valley. berks county you're seeing the snow moving in. this is on the lighter side. some of this that you see may not be reaching the ground just yet, but in allentown across 78, 476, also including north hampton county, starting to see the snow moving in. here's what you can expect through the lehigh valley as we go through the storm. all snow we expect, we do not expect any mixing. temperatures right now well below freezing, snow will be sticking as it falls. this is going to be the dry snow, fluffy snow that's easier to push off your car, but heavy snow expected early tomorrow morning through 2:00 in the afternoon.

lowest snow amounts near the poconos, but could see 12 to 17 inches in areas like reading and berks county, through parts of the lehigh valley, maybe eight to 12 inches closer to the allentown area. that extends closer to the poconos. that is the lehigh valley. coming up a closer look at south jersey and a couple more counties, too. >> we've been bringing you all the county forecasts since 4:00. in the next five minutes sheena is going to take a closer look at south jersey. right now let's check in with nbc 10 jersey shore bureau reporter ted greenberg. >> ted, people in atlantic county will definitely see snow. their other big concern during this storm is the coastal flooding they say could rival superstorm sandy. >> reporter: yeah, or at least the worst flooding since hurricane sandy, jackie and keith. people here have been getting ready for that flooding all day. take a look, the owner of this house put these sand bags down earlier today. he's hoping they will help keep the water out. and the main thing that people are worried about here and what

they will be watching are the water levels. how high will the water get when it spills out of the back bay starting with that first high tide of concern tomorrow morning. screen doors coming down. >> i want to get things up. >> reporter: expensive crimineqt raised off the floor. >> i will be on this property, this is my life. >> reporter: the owner of mike's sea food isn't taking any chances when it comes to protecting his business from what could be the worst flooding since hurricane sandy. >> just being really, really proactive. you have to be here. you really do. sandy taught us a valuable lesson. >> reporter: crews with atlantic city's electrical bureau has been removing traffic light control boxes from about 20 flood-prone intersections in the resort to save them from salt water. those lights are now set to flash. >> we lost a lot of our equipment and a lot of boxes in

superstorm sandy, so this is a preventive maintenance this time around. >> reporter: in barnegat township, a mandatory evacuation ordered for a flood prone section of the community. people who live between the barnegat municipal bathing beach and east bay bridge must leave the area before 10:00 tonight. >> only reason i'm scared here is because of the flooding at the beach. >> reporter: emergency management officials say they know people have heard it before, but they are really urging folks to stay home if at all possible because the combination of snow and flood waters on the roads will make the conditions very dangerous. live in atlantic city, i'm ted greenberg, nbc 10 news. >> ted, thank you. you heard ted say it there, people at the shore are prepping for the worst flooding since sandy. sheena parveen is back now with her forecast for south jersey. sheena, ted said they are up against snow, coastal flooding, too. >> that's right. if you're in interior new

jersey, you're just looking at the snow. the coastal flooding, obviously, cape may county, atlantic county, sussex county and delaware, here's a look at the radar, this is what we have happening right now. the peak of the winds will be around noon tomorrow. not as much tonight, but then we're going to watch the high tide times, too. we have snow moving into delaware, south jersey areas north and west of philadelphia, this is on the lighter side but it is cold enough to see the snow sticking on surfaces, approaching the philadelphia area, we have light snowfall here, wilmington, delaware, we have light snow falling but around the major interstates this is approaching parts of gloucester county. then it will be camden county next and is moving in quickly. faster now. cape may county seeing snow there, salem, cumberland county seeing the snow moving into atlantic county. here's a live look at cape may right now. the snow has not been falling long in cape may, but there you've seen tire tracks in the snow and now the tire tracks are getting covered up again by snow.

so you really see the rate of the snow, how cold it is, the surface is able to hold on to the snow, dangerous driving as we go through tomorrow especially. what you can expect in south jersey, salem, cumberland, gloucester, camden, and burlington counties right now. the highest snow totals closer to the i-95 corridor, possibly 17 to 23 inches, the heaviest snow before sunrise through noon tomorrow and the strongest winds closer to the shore would be an onshore wind and that's where we'll be watching for the rain/snow line. closer look at more counties coming up. next up sheena will look at the forecast for the suburbs in montgomery, bucks, and mercer counties. >> more snow starts to fall in our region. jessica boyington is here with an update. this is rush hour, not a good time to be stuck on the roads. >> not at all, keith and jacqueline. especially because rush hour started earlier than normal. we are seeing problems out there, not snow related yet. 95 around cottman avenue,

penndot on the scene right now of a disabled vehicle taking out the left lane. north and southbound 95 right now pretty much jammed. if you take the northeast extension, beginning at midnight they'll have 45 miles per hour speed restrictions, double trailer, oefrpty trailer, tow behind trailer ban. so definitely pay attention to that. moving over to delaware, water main break repair right around brandywine parkway to watch out for. mass transit, septa service is suspended at 4:00 a.m. starting tomorrow, saturday, all day for at least 24 hours, but that's excludeing the broad street line and market/frankford services for emergency purposes only. northeast corridor running on modified service. be prepared, no parking on snow emergency routes or your car will be towed. check online for a full list of

streets. more traffic and weather updates to come on nbc 10.

you're watching nbc 10 first alert winter weather coverage. >> sky force 10 is live over ridley park in delaware county. below you can see a fleet of

salt trucks being loaded up. a major winter storm is baring down on the area. let's take a closer look at some of the other suburbs. >> sheena parveen is breaking down the forecast for different parts of the region. sheena, it's already coming down heavy. >> you know, in some parts it's coming down heavy enough to be coating the roadways, but we've already seen that in cape may county, in delaware right now, and now we're seeing more widespread light snow trying to move into parts of the lehigh valley and approaching the philadelphia area, so the major interstates around wilmington the snow is falling here through south jersey, cape may county, down into sussex county. we're going to watch the rain/snow line start to develop offshore, so we are seeing indications of that on radar, but as you can see, we are all snow at this point and all snow is still expected to be moving in. it's way too cold to be seeing rain anywhere right now. right now we're looking north and west of philadelphia, lehigh valley seeing light snow trying to move in, philadelphia area seeing the light snow, but now take a look at montgomery county, bucks, and mercer

county. see the light snow starting to move into the areas. across 476 in montgomery county, the pa turnpike moving near bensalem, this area will be seeing snow very soon and it is also trying to move into trenton -- mercer county at the moment near trenton, so these areas we'll be watching closely across the major interstates so now is a good time to get home and stay home because the snow is going to keep moving in tonight. snow expected in these areas, heaviest around 4:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, gusty winds between about 40, 50, 55 miles an hour. remember these areas we have a blizzard warning out, so low visibility is expected also for most of new jersey, the blizzard warning is out through the philadelphia area. we could see 17 to 23 inches in lower montgomery and bucks county so that includes newtown, bensalem, abington. and even in parts of mercer county we could see 12 to 17

inches. keep in mind heavy snow bands moving in overnight tonight and early tomorrow morning. coming up a closer look at the timing and totals as we go across the area. stay tuned, we'll be right back.

this is nbc 10 news first alert weather. >> right now at 5:00, nbc 10 has you covered as a major snowstorm

hits our area. this is a live look at cape may. people at the jersey shore tell us they are prepping for the worst coastal flooding since sandy, but you see down there an inch or two of snow on the ground already on that road. there's a blizzard warning in parts of our area also, including here in dover. this is a live look from our new news force 10, tim furlong is onboard and has the first state covered. governor markell just declared a state of emergency. tough driving conditions here and we're just getting started. >> right now let's go to a news conference taking place, update on how they are going to handle this snowstorm. let's listen in. >> carry an emergency kit, including items such as nonperishable food, water, first aid supplies, warm clothes, a blanket, cell phone charger and small snow shovel. drivers should tailor their kits to any specific needs that they

may have, considering adding items such as baby supplies, extra medication, pet supplies, or even childrens games. another part of winter preparation is making smart, safe travel decisions. we should always think safety first and postpone travel if necessary. motorists should remember that while in snow roads will not be free of ice and they will not be free of snow. penndot is responsible for 40,000 miles of roads. roughly the same number of miles maintained by new york, new jersey, and new england combined. when winter weather hits, penndot's primary focus is on interstates and expressways and equipment may be redirected to these routes during significant winter events. there will be 13 state farm expressway patrol trucks roaming our expressways throughout this

storm through sunday morning. the more traffic a roadway has, the more attention it will receive from plows. so motorists may find deeper accumulations on less traveled routes and should adjust for those driving conditions. if motorists encounter snow or ice covered roads, they should slow down. increase following distance and avoid distractions. please be on alert for the reduction of speed limits. we will be monitoring conditions very closely and we do expect to have to reduce speed limits at times during this snow event. last winter there were 552 crashes resulting in four fatalities and 279 injuries on snowy, slushy, or ice covered roads. these were results from aggressive driving behaviors

such as speeding or making careless lane changes. if you do drive in winter weather, be sure you do not pass an operating snow plow. leave at least six car lengths between you and the plow. it is very hard for our drivers to see and there are plow blind spots. please keep out of the way so they can do their important work and keep our roads safe. to help people make travel decisions during this storm, i strongly encourage all motorists to check the 511pa.com site before you leave home. they have traffic conditions for all state-owned roadways and winter information for nearly 3,000 miles. we recently added the option to view more than 700 plow trucks on interstates and expressways statewide, while this won't show

every single truck or even all of the ones on our interstate, it will show where trucks have been and will allow you to pick the safest routes. 511pa, which is free and available 24 hours a day, also provides access to more than 770 traffic cameras. you can also download our hands free app. it's hands free and eyes free, 511 in the itunes and google play stores. in fact, roughly 100,000 people have already done so. using these tips to prepare yourself and driving and knowing what to expect from penndot is very important to help us keep our roadways as safe as possible through this storm. i cannot stress enough, please stay home if you do not need to be out on our roads, please do

not go out. we know that there will be emergencies, but the less cars on the road will allow our commitment operators to do what they need to do and clear the roads during the storm. at this time i'd like to turn the microphone over to our a.d.e. for maintenance and operation and he'll give you details -- >> telling us much that we needed to know in terms of interstates and expressways that we know are the priority. a lot of times people wonder about the smaller streets, but they say those streets that are most traveled are the ones that will get the attention first and stressing that 511pa is a great tool you can use to get information enfind where the plow trucks have been. >> if you have to leave, use the tool, 511pa.org, also stay six lanes behind the plow trucks and don't pass them, whatever you

do. it's a blind spot. >> right now we want an update from our team of meteorologists tracking the storm and they have updated snow totals. >> right to chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz. glenn, what's the latest? >> that snow continues to advance through the area. it has come in a little faster. we've increased the snow totals over earlier today. the storm seems to be approaching its full potential and just about all snow in all of the area, that creates the higher amounts. it's already accumulating in cape may and much of the state of delaware. remember it sticks immediately to untreated surfaces and gets heavy pretty quickly, too. you can see what happened in cape may on a treated road. it is all white now because of the snow for a couple hours now. it's snowing in all of delaware, all of cape may county, darker blue indicating heavier, we're still nothing close to the heaviness of the storm that's going to happen overnight.

and it's starting to come up towards the lehigh valley, although a lot of this is not reaching the ground. the lower levels of the atmosphere are pretty dry and the visibility tells us that. if we see a ten, it's not snowing, but when we see these lower numbers, it is snowing and the lower the number, the heavier the snow. that's proof the storm has started in our area. as we go through the evening hours by 8:00, it is snowing throughout much of the philadelphia area and getting mighty heavy in central delaware, where it's been snowing and also in cape may county. you can see the darker blue colors now as we go through the night tonight and as you can see even at the shore it's all snow all night and that's why some of the numbers have gone up. unfortunately, the numbers are still up for the wind gusts at the shore. gusts over 60 miles an hour, creating major coastal flooding. we have a lot of problems to come with this storm that is just starting.

meteorologist sheena parveen has more on how much snow to expect. >> that's right, so we did increase the snow totals, so if you missed it earlier, we have some of the highest amounts along the i-95 corridor, especially in parts of northern delaware, up towards philadelphia and we could see some isolated heavier amounts. take a look at the map here, 17 to 23 inches around the philadelphia area by the time this whole thing is said and done, which wouldn't be until overnight saturday, into sunday. now we're seeing the snow moving in, going to last for 24 hours and the snow will be accumulating the entire time. so if you are in parts of northern delaware, chester county, new castle county, salem, gloucester, camden counties through the philadelphia area, montgomery county and bucks counties you may be able to expect up to 23 inches. going with a range 17 to 23 right now isolated spots could be heavier, especially once we get heavy snow bands moving in. 12 to 17 inches for parts of mercer county, upper bucks county, parts of the lehigh valley moving into berks county,

including reading 12 to 17 inches. farther north still through the lehigh valley, eight to 12 inches, four to eight into the poconos. for south jersey, going to see amounts near 12 to 17, but closer to the shore, eight to 12 and lower amounts for sussex county and cape may county especially where we could be seeing the rain/snow line starting to move in. either way we expect a lot of snow falling for a very long time. again, this is going to be about a 24-hour snowstorm through most of the area, so we'll be tracking this as we go through the rest of tonight and tomorrow, even tomorrow night. coming up, closer look at the timing and snow totals. that's straight ahead. >> thank you. nbc 10 has you covered onair and online on nbc10.com and the nbc 10 app. as you see here, live picture on the roads from news force 10. we understand they had to pull over to fix their windshield wipers. as you can see, the snow is coming down hard, it's wet out

there. you want to make sure your windshield wipers are working. penndot said don't do it if you don't have to. there's a blizzard warning in some parts of the area, including delaware. our first alert team coverage continues next.

you're watching nbc 10 first alert winter weather coverage. >> a live look right now at cape may, where there is a winter storm warning. all of the other areas have a blizzard warning, but here it is a winter storm warning. here they also have concerns over coastal flooding. the most flooding that they could receive since superstorm sandy. let's check in now with nbc 10's tim furlong, who we just understood had to fix the windshield wipers there. >> driving through delaware in news force 10. tim, where are you now? >> reporter: we are on delaware route 1 just north of dover almost to the smyrna area, kind

of getting close to the new castle county, kent county line. we had to pull over, you can see the snow coming at the windshield of the car of our jeep because we had to sort of decake, i don't know if that's the word, decake the wiper blades because it is coming down fast, hard, and kind of wet, heavy snow right now, at least here at this spot in delaware. wherever you're watching right now, hope you're doing it, whether on tv, app, tablet, i want you to know you need to stay where you are. it is not a good idea to go out on delaware's roads. this road right here not doing very well. the onramp to get on was an absolute mess, we saw people swerving to try to get on and through the e-zpass lane, we saw people shimmying to try to get through there. deldot is on the roads, we've seen them, but they are fighting an uphill battle against a storm just getting started. we have a state of emergency in delaware. at some point they could kick it to a level two restriction in delaware. when that happens, we'll let you know. if you're not an essential

personnel to the state, you need to get off the roads. things are just getting started, where they need to be and again, folks, this is just the beginning. i assure you as we come back inside news force 10, i can assure you the safest place to be is not out here on the roads. we're going to keep an eye on it for you and tell you how it is out here and let you know when it's safe to go back out again. tim furlong, nbc 10 news. >> tim, thank you. we'll check in with you later. let's go to nbc 10's george spencer live in sky force 10 with an aerial view. george, you showed us a walmart parking lot before was packed there. what else have you seen from above? >> reporter: keith, a busy night as people get ready. right now we're above ridley park area, a live look at the work of the people keeping our roads safe during this storm. we have been watching salt truck after salt truck line up at this salt shed where at the bottom of the screen you can see the front end loader going into the shed there on the right, loading it

up with salt and dumping it in the back of these trucks, which will, of course, be plowing the roads in this area once the snow begins to fall. we also have to show you what's happening across the street from this location on the other side of chester pike. see the jam packed parking lot there, that is a shop rite and as you can see that parking lot is essentially at full capacity, even at this hour, with people who are apparently stocking up on this friday night ahead of the storm with their groceries, really not a free spot to be found in this shop rite parking lot down here in ridley park area. certainly, we are hopeful a lot of these people will get what they need and head home before the snow starts falling heavily down in this area. obviously, at this point, a lot of people still out on the roads and getting their final supplies. that is the latest live from sky force 10 over ridley park, i'm george spencer, nbc 10 news. >> we've seen this storm move very, very quickly.

hopefully they do wrap that up quickly. george, thank you. let's go from the air in sky force 10 to the ground in storm force 10. >> harry hairston is live at philadelphia international airport. harry? >> reporter: well, here's something you won't be seeing tomorrow. take a look right in front of me, there is an suv just unloading people here, still trying to get out of the airport. traffic has been heavy at times, then it lightens up, then it gets heavy once again. as we're starting to roll down from the international flight area, you can see there are a lot of taillights in front of us, folks still optimistic about getting out of here before the storm comes in. tomorrow, as you well know, this is going to be a ghost town. we've been checking it out and just about every airline is still taking in passengers. folks going inside trying to get through security, only hope is make it out tonight before they are stranded at the airport. reporting live at the airport from storm force 10, harry

hairston, nbc 10 news. >> all right, harry. now a live look at the ben franklin bridge. they are ready for the snow heading our way, responsible for all of the delaware river bridges, including the ben franklin, betsy ross, walt whitman, and commodore barry bridges. motorists are asked to allow for extra time to get where they need to go and watch out for snow removal equipment. salting and brining all of its parking lots, also prepared something called an ice train. that car will drop deicing fluid on the rails. they plan to run on schedule every 25 to 30 minutes but may have to make adjustments as the storm moves in. septa trains will be running as normal tonight to get you home, but beginning tomorrow morning at 4:00, all septa service will be down except for the market/frankford line and the broad street line. septa says those closures should last about 24 hours, again, beginning at 4:00 a.m. that is subject to change.

a snow emergency in philadelphia goes into effect at 9:00 tonight. at that time all cars must be moved off snow emergency routes or risk being ticketed or towed. the city is providing $5 parking in philadelphia parking authority garages but some area residents feel it should be free. >> emergency situation i feel like they should let you park there for free. >> the city is asking drivers to stay away from corners leading to those snow routes. parking there can make it harder for plows to turn. officials warn your car could be damaged or towed. by now you know pennsylvania declared a state of emergency, so let's start there. delaware county, council members signed a declaration of emergency. it allows them to access more equipment. this is a look at their emergency operations center. tonight it will be online. neighboring montgomery county, officials authorize a declaration of disaster emergency, they also put in a

code blue that, in effect, helps the homeless. and in the first state down in delaware, the national guard says it is now on standby. governor jack markell about an hour ago declared a state of emergency. in new jersey, gloucester county, learned about power outages the hard way this past june, you might remember they were struck by the huge electricity outage. to this afternoon they announced new emergency measures, including a new emergency charging stations for residents. atlantic city crews are removing the traffic light boxes to spare them from coastal flooding, of course, the sea water doesn't really do well for those, especially if the flooding gets worse. they are expecting the worst flooding, by the way, since sandy in some parts. if the electricity goes out, nbc 10, telemundo 62, and comcast has you covered. plug-in and power-up stations will be set up throughout the region for you. by the way, it's a free service.

you can see a complete list of stations on our website, nbc10.com. just download the nbc 10 app to find the location closest to you. . >> keith, thank you. the race is on to get homeless off the streets before the storm hits our region. the salvation army in wilmington is opening its gym tonight for the homeless. the next two nights are code purple nights up and down delaware. the salvation army expects a larger than normal crowd in their shelter on what will be a dangerous night outside. >> that's absolutely correct. we can't have people outside, it's unsafe and unhealthy and we're happy we can be there and give them a nice warm meal and warm place to stay. >> the salvation army says all that money you kick into the kettles at the holidays helps fund shelters and extra emergency housing like they will have here this weekend. let's take a look at new jersey now. this is the view from our camera in cape may. you can see all of the snow

covering the ground there. the shore will not only see snow, but serious coastal flooding. governor chris christie has returned to new jersey from the campaign trail and will hold a news conference coming up at 8:00 tonight. winter is hard on your nose.

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you're watching staig staigs first alert winter weather coverage. >> we've been showing you conditions all over the region. >> let's check in with deanna durante who's live now in west chester. deanna? >> reporter: yeah, take a look here, it's business as usual, the calm before the storm, quite literally here in west chester. people have been coming here going to the ymca working out. i spoke with the mayor of west chester, she told me residents can go to two warming shelters set up, the first presbyterian church, as well as the methodist church. while many people appear to be heading home from work, they are certainly preparing to stay in to weather the storm. >> i bought some boots. >> reporter: when you tell kelly woods how much snow her town is expecting -- >> that would be great. >> reporter: really? >> no. i'm from arizona. i don't look forward to these. >> reporter: she is out today amongst hundreds of others

shopping at grocery and big box stores getting ready for the storm. >> yeah, had to get ready. >> reporter: didn't have any gloves or snow boots before now? >> i do. my daughter's not getting off the hook, she's going to help shovel. >> reporter: a lot of shoveling will be happening once the storm clears and this snow plow will clear two lanes at a time, but be warned, it's big and you need to stay behind it if you see it. >> slow down. better to arrive late than not arrive. >> reporter: and again, that's what people here in west chester are urging. snow emergency, the entire county is, which means cars need to be off the streets. the bur ro reporting live in west chester, deanna durante, nbc 10 news. and coming up next on nbc 10 news at 6:00, we have you covered from the jersey shore, to delaware, and the philadelphia suburbs. live team coverage next. i'm tracking just how much snow you'll get in your hometown. don't miss my first alert forecast next.

and here's a live picture on the roads as news force 10 drives on delaware route 1 north of smyrna. we have more live team coverage from around our region next on nbc 10 news at 6:00.

nbc 10 first alert weather breaking news. >> right now at 6:00, a snow emergency. the season's first major winter storm.

the storm moved up the coast quickly and started in our area about three hours ago. the nbc 10 first alert winter storm team is across the area. >> in pennsylvania. >> in new jersey. >> in delaware. >> we're covering every county so you know what's happening in your neighborhood over the next 48 hours. >> and right now we are under a blizzard warning. good evening, everyone, i'm jim rosenfield. >> the snowstorm is finally here. we have been talking about it the entire week, this is a live look at the snow down in cape may. time to get off the roads and indoors until this major storm ends. the snow should be arriving any minute in philadelphia. >> nbc 10 is tracking the conditions in news force 10. the snow really starting to fall and stick to the roads in middletown, delaware. check out the snow on the live ray door right now over the next 30 minutes we'll take you across the area so you know what to expect in your neighborhood. our team of meteorologists warned you for days this storm

was coming today. >> we have the timing, track, and new snow totals. we begin with glenn "hurricane" schwartz. >> yes, this is going to end up being in the top ten biggest snowfalls in philadelphia history and maybe even in the top five. because we've raised some of those snow totals. it's already accumulating in cape may county and much of the state of delaware. sticks immediately, especially on untreated surfaces and gets heavy fairly quickly like it did in cape may, covering the roads in a fairly short period of time. you can see we're just loaded up on the radar. the darker blue indicating heavier snow, nothing like what is going to occur later tonight. it is covering cape may county, sussex county, delaware, kent county in delaware, all those places have been snowing for more than an hour. now it's reaching the ground in reading and parts of chester county. that will continue to spread across the philadelphia area within the next hour. the visibility is reduced in reading and pottstown, even a