a winter blast is hitting the east coast and the south: traffic to a standstill in nashville. >> the storm is causing treacherous driving conditions in central north carolina. more than 70's collisions have been reported as snow and ice covered roads in the area. we've got team coverage of this historic storm. >> reporter: hey, josh and jen. 10:19 am is a time that will live in infamy. that's the time it started virginia. and is it's been coming down at a pretty good clip.

section of richmond. but look. looks like a ghost town. we have some sensible drivers and is also some drivers that aren't too sensible, and they're not respecting mother nature. we've been out here since 10:00 this morning. and it has just been a bear. this is not the light fluffy stuff. this is the torturous kind of sleet. and it just peppers you. just punches you in the face. i don't have a rural, but the snow is just a couple of inches deep. that's why city officials are asking folks to stay inside. so i know you're roughing it in your 60 degree weather. here. >> i almost feel guilty for the nice sunny warmer weather

[ laughter ] the bay was affected by this front. but we got rain instead of snow. steve jerve joins us now. >> we had a severe thunderstorm watch earlier, and warnings for much of the area. winds switching out of the northwest. now we're looking at cooler conditions and a few clouds conditions. a few sprinkles slated to move into the area. very light stuff. that strong squall line moved through and prompted that watch for this morning has weakened. back to the west, when you run that cooler air over the warmer gulf waters, it tends to generate these warmer looking clouds. the storms are history. sprinkles, they're possible

windy conditions, very rough surf conditions. not good beach conditions. and tonight 50 degrees, tomorrow 55. it's just gonna be 50s the next few hours. high pressure to the north. low pressure crawling up the east coast. and a lot of snow. as much as a couple of feet, 30 inches close. this is really gonna shut things down for a lot of these folks in that part of the country. this is gonna paralyze portions of that huge area of cities that goes up and down the northeast, washington, new york. this wet windy weather threw a wrench into the plans of cleanup crews in sarasota.

this week's tornado. >> reporter: they have been working and is preparing for this all week. you can see all along this road here, these houses, the homeowners prepared in advance putting down these temporary roofs, fastenings them in place. they have a lot of work ahead of them with cleanup. and they didn't want the wind or rain to make the problem worse. the rains were coming down this morning. but workers were still out. >> we're right down to the wire. >> reporter: restoration teams have been out here at these tornado-ravaged condos for about 70 hours this week. it. and that's it. whatever it takes. >> reporter: crews have been working around the clock to secure a tarp on the exposed building. they had to reenforce it with plywood. >> we don't want uplift under the tarp. >> reporter: they're protect damage.

it's powering devices inside each of the condos to prevent mold and algae from forming. this is just the start. cleanup continues by land and water. all throughout the canals you'll find pieces of roof and torn decks. debris and rubble are floating all along the waterway. kathy flemming wonders how long it'll take to clean up. in our neighborhood work had to be put on hold to deal with today's weather. >> everything is batoned down. roof is secure. >> reporter: these locals feel weather. >> reporter: we're looking at the intracoastal, you can see some debris laying out there. and pieces of roofs and tiles and debris out there county

monday sending teams to recover some of this debris. and the project could take a couple of days. >> that takes a couple of days. i know a lot of residents have this question, when will life itself get book to normal with all those tarps and all that debris? >> reporter: just looking at houses like that, it's going to take quite a while. that's unclear right now. although the condos that we covered earlier, officials tell me that will take 6-9 months to restore those. >> that's a long time for those folks. a tragic anniversary. it's been almost ten years

her parents are 80% sure that she is not with us anymore. they still have hope that someone knows what happened on that day. and all they want is closure. >> it's so past time to have closure. and that's the hope that i v. >> even ten years later, police tell us tips are still coming in. case. the majority of florida's 67 counties charge a fee when someone is cremated. but there's not a similar charge for burials. lawmakers want to end the so called cremation death tax. >> reporter: when your loved one is lowered to rest for eternity, the state doesn't impose a charge. but two of every three families are opting for cremation.

up to $50. >> we're talking about a billion dollar tax break for businesses. i think it's time to put some money back in the pockets of the everyday citizen. >> reporter: counties say the fees use to pay the cost of the medical examiner. >> you can't exhume it if there's later questions. >> clearly. there is no going back to look at any evidence that might have been lost on that body. >> reporter: the staff analyst association says there does not appear to be a correlation between the fees charged and the services provided by the medical examiner. 25 of 47 counties don't charge the tax. a funeral director says the fee was likely appropriate when this was first in service. but not since the switch from looking at paper records to a

>> and it's probably just a fraction of the time spent that they want spent on that. >> reporter: the fee raises about $4 million a year statewide. >> counties also share $13 million a year from issue death certificates. the legislation does not seek to end those charges. paving scammers busted. an investigation pays off. >> how the cops caught up with pavers accused. ripping off bay area

hosting saturday night live. she will take the stage along with salenna gomez. miley cyrus is engaged to again. last song. that wedding was called off in 2013. cyrus was spotted wearing her engagement ring recently. a pennsylvania judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit against bill cosby. hill is one of more than 50 women who have accused cosby of sexual assault. the judge dismissed her claims

cosby and his lawyer did not support the defamation claim defined by pennsylvania law. it took month bus these con artists are finally behind bars. a victim shares her feelings of relief. it all started with our investigation. we found terrible paving jobs with grass growing through crack asphalt all over tampa bay. >> today they made some arrests. >> these two pavers come here every year from up north and they've made so much money. they bought three houses in pasco county. but that is what led investigators to find them. >> chunks that are missing. >> reporter: ten months later, and is roxy is still dealing with this mess. >> we're just trying to deal

you can see here, the grass keeps coming up. >> reporter: two roaming pavers, professional rip off artists swindled her for more than $10,000. in return she got asphalt so thin that within day, grass grew right through it. >> i came out and he was gone. >> reporter: that was last march. our investigation into shady pavers caught the attention of the hillsboro county sheriff's office. and now after ten months, this scam hit a roadblock. samuel morris stanley and is his son-in-law jesse cooper were arrested, booked into the pasco county jail. >> i'm so happy. they need to pay for what they've done. it's not just to me. it's to many people. my neighbor, three or four people down the road. >> reporter: there were a lot of others. sheriff's office spokeswoman, debbie carter.

scams are hot. she advises: the license number should be written on the side of the vehicle. research it. if it sounds too bad to be true, if they're say we go have leftover material, that's not true. >> reporter: it's not worth the deal you're offered. >> it cost me a fortune to have it put down. >> reporter: so she's thrilled these guys were finally stopped. >> i'll be happier when the state says you have to pay restitution. [ laughter ] >> and you can't be here anymore. >> when arrested sam stanley had $13,000 cash in his pocket. the pair's heavy vehicles and paving equipment were placed out of service by the florida highway patrol. >> obviously they're not the only ones doing this scam. so are there other arrests on the horizon? >> the sheriff's office has a long list of people they're looking for.

need to get out of town. because they're gonna go to jail. we travel to washington dc for this live image of the white house as the snow is coming down in the dc area. western suburbs could get a couple of feel of snow. it is coming down there. no snow in the bay area. cool for us, windy. 64 degrees. abnormally high tides. running a couple of feet above normal. combined with that strong northwest and westerly wind, we'll see some beach erosion. a little rainfall here at this location. 0.20 of an inch.

our gasparil lala children's extravaganza, a light shower. chilly in the afternoon. chilly temperatures throughout this period. so definitely a jacket, dress warmly for this one. andrea walker got these dark skies earlier today. weather max very handy to have. you can sign up for these warnings. tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and the app will warn you. you'll hear my voice come over and tell you about it. it's a free download for iphone and android. at 7:00 am, 50 degrees, 55 degrees at 3:00 pm. cool temps and windy conditions for us in the afternoon for tomorrow. 64 degrees in clearwater beach. temps aren't too bad yet. we haven't worked the cooler stuff in yet. we're just switching that wind out of the northwest. tends to lag. that combined with a lack of sunshine tomorrow morning, it'll be a very cool feel to the first half of the day.

in venice 60, crystal river. sebring 66 degrees. the winds are strong. this area of low pressure, that's the nor'easter, and you can see it spreading snow all over southern pennsylvania, tennessee, colder high pressure filtering in that colder air from the north. not extreme cold but cool enough to snow for these areas. just a little bit below freezing. and that goes up to the south of new york for the dc area, back into the northern parts of alabama and mississippi. there's our cold front. rain pushing ahead of that. everything moving along quickly because the jet stream is running at 150 knots. that moves everything along much faster. and it partly helps to create our tornado threat that we have had with the recent weather events and is the tornadoes.

western sections of manatee and sarasota county. forecast lows for tonight in the 40s, near 50. 51 in clearwater. 53 in sarasota. highs for tomorrow don't change too much. they're mostly in the 50s. windy, cool. by the afternoon, we'll break out some of that sunshine and hold onto it into sunday. 63 degrees this evening. storms are history. a few clouds, windy conditions, 50 to start the day. partly to mostly cloudy skies. the next three day, 55 degrees, that's our high for saturday. not much better on sunday. but you combine that with nice day. 30 to start the day. 63 degrees on monday. average. a pretty day too. and another round of showers and thunderstorms.

strong on this day. the weekend. donald trump amps up his star power with another reality tv endorsement. >> and a texas father charged

duck dine easily star willie robinson backed trump at the sports center in vegas. the robinsons appear to be a family divided. phil robinson has endorsed ted cruz. clinton and sanders are both on the campaign trail in new hampshire. in some cases sanders has pulled up. clinton has stepped up her attacks. she calls sanders' policies unrealistic. a new poll shows sanders could have an 8-point lead in iowa. a father in texas is accused of trying to sell his

was all caught on camera. he offered to sign off his parental rights for a $1,000 check and a truck. human remains have been found at the crash site of an, if 16 fighter jet that went down in arizona. no other crew members were aboard the plane. determination. keith and stacy are here with what we're working on for 6:00. >> millions of dollars worth of sunken treasure recovered. >> the ancient artifacts some treasure hunter recovered from the bottom of the atlantic. >> and instead of snow we had thunderstorms. some of the damage the severe weather caused. >> the kingpin in a roofing scam we uncovered three years

>> a major winter storm

a winter blast is pounding the eastern u.s. tonight as many as 85 million people are in its path. >> the storm also has air travel at a standstill. a look at the impact. >> and justice nearly three years in the making. victims of a scam uncovered by 8 on your side finally have closure. i'm keith cate. >> thank you for joining us. tonight wild weather, a winter blast is dumping snow on the