covering. several areas got hit with flurries on friday and a

that was the case in whitmire. snow blanketed the ground, making roads slick. several residents say they were looking forward to seeing the snow -- but driving in it was a different story. "on my street i live on sim street..it's up the road there...and it is slick." "i have a 2 year old son so i was excited to hear about it..it's nice to have for a day...not for months though." county public works crews are continuing to monitor the roads in newberry county with the help of sc-dot. they encourage drivers to remain cautious -- as black ice can form on wet roads as the temperature drops. sc-dot is reporting all interstates are open and passable with conditions rapidly improving. but if you plan to travel to the upstate use extreme caution. black ice could form overnight due to dropping officials say many secondary roads in northern counties are impassable due to snow

more than 55-hundred tons of salt are being moved to the upstate dot county facilities to help treat the roads. if you haven't, you should download the wis weather app to stay on top of the weather wherever you are. it's free; just search wis in your app store. standard data rates may apply. nasa released a stunning photo of the massive blizzard that has engulfed most of the east coast. this picture was taken from the international space station overnight, and shows a thick cloud cover hovering over states from texas to virginia. the lights in the picture are from washington d-c, baltimore, philadelphia, and new york, all have been hit hard heavy snow. the historic blizzard is packing a punch. so far, the storm has left at least 17 people dead. states of emergency declared in washington, d-c and several states -- and thousands of travelers stranded. nbc's jennifer johnson has the story from

the first blizzard of 2016 is making its way north tonight....after burying major east coast cities in as much as three feet of snow. the storm shut down air...rail...and highway travel. in pennsylvania and kentucky thousands of drivers were stranded. "what are you guys doing to pass the time? sleeping, eating and playing games on my phone." washington and new york city were buried....enjoyable for pandas... and children who sled down the u.s. capital lawn.... and these snowboarders who couldn't get to a mountain. "was that legal? pretty sure that wasn't legal...pretty sure." the blizzard slammed over 70-million people ..hundreds of thousands lost power....and now there's wide-spread flooding in new jersey and other mid-atlantic states. "we have shelters in every county of the state set up....they are ready to take people in to keep them warm and try to move the snow. officials are begging people to

"all it takes is one car to get stuck and the situation quickly descends into chaos." a chaotic...historic and blizzard....which many are now happy to see go. jennifer johnson. nbc news. washington. when the blizzard hit washington, d-c... a couple of officers couldn't resist joining a pick-up game of football in the snow... and it was caught on tape. that's an officer catching the ball... who knocked down one young man... and then rumbled down the street for what looked like a touchdown. if the washington redskins need some help on offense next year... maybe they should call the police. the snow and cold won't stop the carolina panthers from pounding on the arizona cardinals tomorrow in the nfc championship game. if the panthers win this game, they will be headed

raycom's alex giles has the latest from bank of america stadium in charlotte. alex giles- "the calm before the storm here at bank of america stadium in come tomorrow this site expected to be buzzing as the carolina panthers face their last test on the road to the super bowl. take vo saturday night the charlotte skyline lit up with the panthers colors.... winter weather may have impacted the special playoff weekend for some fans- the panthers pride rally was canceled this week! however, the gridiron should be good to go for football... earlier today crews cleaned up ice and slush surrounding the stadium.... and the arizona cardinals made it into town...the airport tweeting out this photo.... the panthers had a first round bye in the playoffs and then escaped a close call with the seattle seahawks in the second round.... fans outside the stadium tell me they're ready for the nfc championship...... "did not see this coming in a million years so hosting an nfc championship, pretty sweet" "it's been unreal, absolutely unreal you know. who would have thunk that all these things would come together." "it's just been a crazy season.

right when it normally goes wrong, so that's great." the game tomorrow set to kickoff at 6:40 pm. in about 24 hours, we should know if the carolina panthers will keep pounding all the way to the super bowl. still ahead on the news at 11 - tim miller has your full forecast. plus -- some local celebrities rock the night away. erica lail mattox, lake murray snow three months since historic flooding ruined the pavlovich ballet school,

classical ballet debuted its

the company was looking to make a strong comeback for its annual lifechance performance and gala tonight. the dancers faced several barriers at the end of last year, losing their studio on forest drive and nearly losing their artistic director to a heart attack. several performances had to be cancelled. and now, the winter weather actually forced a shortened program tonight because many of the dancers were unable to fly in -- including internationally known elgin native, brooklyn mack. but the show -- a beautiful program, still went on. "we are trying to encourage people to come and see the production and the proceeds are going to an organization...this year its the special olympics..so we're trying to combine the arts and also their need...so i think that was my goal when i started the gala that we do every year and i bring dancers from all around the world." this year's charity benefiting

the company's next event is in march when it teams up with columbia city ballet to welcome copeland and brooklyn mack. pause for nats - 5 seconds sheriff leroy ravenell and his wife angela dancing to 'jailhouse rock.' they won 'most entertaining' tonight in the first 'dancing with the orangeburg stars.' the fundraiser supports local schools and was hosted by the orangeburg consolidated district five education foundation. our own von gaskin emcee'd the event and mary king and len kiese were judges. some of the other winners of the night: josh ridley and his daughter delaney won 'judges choice.' and dr. stephen and dr. angela peters won 'people's choice.' beer lovers were able to keep warm -- at the 'world

the event wrapped up at 10 o'clock tonight at the columbia metropolitan convention center. the beer list included more than 20 south carolina breweries as well as regional, national and international breweries. new to the festival this year was a cider garden and a section of hard root beers and sodas. storm system is pulling away from the state. still a bit breezing this evening as temps fall into the 30s.clearing skies and colder temperatures by morning, lows in the middle 20s. high pressure build in for sunday and monday. mostly sunny highs in the middle to upper 50s. next rain chance arrives by wednesday. these pictures were taken this morning of my son jack gagliardi. pictures taken in spring valley in northeast

devere scott was found today in a residence hall. scott was a junior art studio major from north charleston. an autopsy is planned for tomorrow. the mother of a six year old girl, killed in a crash in orangeburg last weekend, has been charged. 29-year-old tiffany brown is facing several charges including felony dui resulting in death and child endangerment. troopers say brown was under the influence when she caused a crash that killed her young daughter and injured two other people. according to the 'times and democrat,' two of brown's other children were in the car at the time. brown bonded out of jail and is now able to attend her daughter's funeral next week. a sumter mother who went missing a week ago has turned herself in. 27-year-old shardae davis has been charged with two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. last week, officers responded to

after neighbors called 9- 1-1. that's when davis took off, leaving her two small children alone. police say davis was reluctant to come forward because of an outstanding shoplifting warrant out of horry county. sumter police are still looking for herbert butler on a domestic violence warrant from a previous incident. initially, police believed butler had information on davis' disappearance. if you know where butler is, call crimestoppers, 1-888-crime-sc. 21-year-old harold jacobsen turned himself in this morning after columbia police say he assaulted a man in five points this week. jacobsen is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. he was caught on surveillance cameras near the scene. police say jacobsen punched a man in the head on greene street early thursday, causing the victim's head to hit the concrete. the victim is still in the hospital. coming up in sports... we look ahead to tomorrow's nfc championship game between the panthers and

the gamecocks stumble on the road. highlights and post game reaction next in sports. a career best performance sinks the gamecocks.

tennessee today in search of back-to-back conference road wins. unfortunately... vols senior kevin punter... had different plans for carolina. he scored a career- high 36 to send usc home with a loss. === the gamecocks hung around though in beginning. chris silva... strong inside... hooks home two. === first half winding down... michael carrera.. finds room to shoot... cans the triple. carrera team high 22 points. gamecocks trail 29-28 at the break. === second half... punter kicks it into high gear. sets up in the corner... drills the three. vols starting to pull away. == usc's defense keeping them close... jamall gregory picks up the loose ball... then works the give and go... before throwing down the two handed rim rocker. === still punter a problem.... off a screen... he's free to get his shot off... and he makes carolina pay in a big gamecocks try to claw back... laimonas chatkevicius brings carolina to within five... with this slam. === unfortunately...

the second... scoring 27 of his career high 36 in the final 20 minutes. to drop to 17-and-two on the season. martin: "we got outplayed. with the exception of michael carrera... we got out played. we didn't get out played... i got to do a better job." the road unkind to the men today.... tomorrow the usc women hope for better fortune away from home. the second ranked gamecocks play at 10th ranked mississippi state. tip-off is at five. away from home. the second ranked gamecocks play carolina enters this top 10 battle perfect... and winners of the last six meetings against mississippi state. the bulldogs... hungry to snap their losing streak to the gamecocks. usc though... pays little attention... to other teams intentions. instead... the only thing carolina cares about is its own mindframe heading into game day. head coach dawn staley believes focusing in on gamecock basketball will set usc up for success in

staley: "really don't worry about mississippi state and what their mindset is. as long as our mindset is where it needs to be and we stay in character i like our team that we're going to put on the floor on opponents and a number next to their name isn't going to change what we're trying to do... we've been doing the same thing most of the year so we're not trying to change too much to what we're doing." meanwhile... the s-c state men's five game winning streak was snapped. the bulldogs lost to norfolk state on the road 87 to 74. eric eaves led the bulldogs in scoring with 21 points. sc state drops to 10-11 overall... 5-2 in conference play. also on sunday.... the nfc championship game. the panthers host the cardinals for a 6:40 kick. the team is not concerned about the wintry conditions playing a factor come game time. all the snow and ice has been removed from the stadium. so the field good to go. both teams ready too....

kickoff. carolina's excited for the opportunity to punch a ticket to the super bowl for just the second time in franchise history. beating the cards would certainly be near the top of the list of memorable moments this season. panthers fullback mike tolbert reveals one his thus far... prior to the championship bout in the queen city. tolbert: "i would say earlier in the year we had a team meeting and coach brought in his super bowl ring and trophy that he got from the super bowl as an put a stride into it."

residents was out in the snow. the big daddy of the giant pandas at the national zoo seemed to be enjoying the snow. tian tian is 19-years old, weighs 264 pounds and is a father, but he is still playful. cameras at the national zoo caught him today sliding down hills and frolicking around in his enclosure. some even said he was making "snow angels" today. the zoo is actually closed to visitors because of the massive snowfall in washington, so we don't know if the younger panda boys have joined their father outside for a big snowball fight. one final check of your forecast

he was rated a+ by the nra. not for his promises, but for defending the second amendment... he's a man of deep faith, who fought time and again for the right to life. he laid out a plan to destroy isis months before paris. he'll strengthen our border and use conservative principles to put washington's broken fiscal house back in order. jeb bush. he's the conservative you can trust, to fight for our beliefs. right to rise usa is responsible