tophic is terrific. sunshine and upper 30's. then there is friday. friday is not a good deal. this little tape is an appetizer of what is to come. we expect half inch to an inch at most from the little system tonight. then friday, saturday saturday night, sunday morning the national weather service put our entire region in green here under a blizzard watch. just to the west a winter storm watch. the difference between the two not necessarily different amount of snow. but blizzard watch is based on the expectation of high winds. at times 35 miles per hour. or higher in gusts. over several hour period. that could reduce the visibility to quarter mile or less. so it is adverse driving conditions blowing or drifting snow. over a long-term event that could mean power outage airports many will close down for times so a major storm with a high amount of confidence it will happen. future cast jump ahead to

friday everything and friday night. it's a complicated system. a low pressure area will come north and another develop along the coast. prime position to pull cold air in and get mostly snow. snow and a lot of it. how much? in broad terms we thinking by the time to snow ends sunday morning maybe one to two feet across the area. the closer to the beginning of the storm more computer model guidance under the belt we can define it better. this pretty much tells the story. one to two feet. the storm track now is the most critical element of the story. change in track this way or that way could be a game changer. we are confident this is what we will get. the entire storm team coverage will be here to get you through the storm. straight through sunday. that is the latest. back to you. michelle: thank you, doug. already schedules are changing. in the last half hour charles county and prince william county decided to cancel all everything activities tonight. we will let you know if we

hear about any other closings as they come in the newsroom. leon: the cold has been with us for days so much so white ferry closed down because of ice on the potomac river. the river looks chunky now. for your homes, you probably already have taken care of your pipes but you still have time to get the rest of your house ready for the weekend. diane cho is live in arlington to help you out. hey, diane. diane: good afternoon, leon. if you are worried about frozing pipes underneath your kitchen sink and it's on an exterior wall like this one here experts say you want to expose the pipe and apply some heat to it. if you are extremely concerned they suggest you might want to leave the water the hot and the cold water dripping as well. they say that applies to any area really where there are exposed pipe on the exterior wall of the home. but leaving the water dripping, they say it will keep the water moving inside the pipe so it doesn't stay stagnant and have a

possibility of freezing. you will also make sure that you know where the main water value ever is in your home so if there is an emergency you will shut the main valve off to stop the water from running if your house is flooding. also, experts at michael and son services say it is easy to forget about the hose outside your home which you definitely don't want to forget about that. because it can also cost you. >> so you want to remove the hose from the hose bid, because there is residual water. we all know that frozen water occupies more space than liquid water. that being the case the water could expand and go back up into the house bursting the pipe. diane: coming up at 5:00 we'll have tips to make sure the car is ready for the winter storm. in arlington, diane cho abc7 news. michelle: while you get ready around the house, we are

bracing for the storm as well and sam ford picks up the team coverage with a look at the plan mayor bowser announced today. sam? sam: the mayor says that d.c. is ready. this is part of the 39000 tons of the salt to treat the street and where it's stored. mayor bowser began the day touting the volunteer programs. she is seeking up to 2000 people to sign up and help the elderly and the disabled to shove the walks. she has provided shovels for those who want to help. the liners they want back by the end of the snow season. the volunteers come from many walks of life to be able to help. >> seniors and people with disabilities should call 311. >> my sons and i signed up for the shovel brigade. we will help seniors or

disabled people. >> the mayor says the storm is massive then the biggest concern is a power outage. >> we can move the snow. we will move the snow. but that will be my biggest concern is that we are able to get people who are vulnerable. sam: we're back live. coming up at 5:00, we will take you to a hardware store that is an institution in d.c. and learn more about the mayor's snow plan. that is at 5:00. reporting live from northeast washington, sam ford, abc7 news. back to you. michelle: thank you. we expect to hear more from virginia maryland and the various transportation agencies as well as utility companies in the next few days about their plan for the storm. as soon as we hear from them, we will pass along their plans. well we have already heard from the organizers of reach across america. they will postpone the retirement pickup event at the

arlington national ceremony this saturday. all airlines have been issued waivers so you can change your travel plans for this weekend. we will have more on that coming up at 4:45. right now of course great time to head to wjla.com and sign up for the school closing text alert. that will give you the latest closings and the delays on your cell phone. be sure to charge up your devices because if you lose power this weekend, you will still be able to stream our coverage through wjla.com. we will also have constant updates on the abc7 facebook and twitter feed. get the forecast at your fingertips by downloading the storm watch 7 weather app. leon? leon: michelle, we have breaking news from wall street where thankfully the closing bell rang a few minutes ago. this is the big board. fluctuating a bit. stocks were off 300 points when the market opened. at one point they were down 500 points in the middle of the day. so far 2016 is working out to

be the worst start to the year for the stock market in history. you can see it looks like the market entered the day down. down 249 points. michelle: thanks. maryland governor larry hogan proposes a state budget worth $42 billion for the next fiscal year. the plan unveiled this morning promises a variety of small tax cut and puts a large amount of money in savings. the state's general fund for fiscal year 2017 is about $17.1 billion. the budget plan will go to the general assembly. jonathan: new at 4:00, new information on the plane crash that killed three people in gaithersburg. financial transportation safety board is released a slew of documents this an. tom roussey is live in the newsroom with details. what do we have and what do we know? tom: the crash happened in december of 2014, the ntsb said at the time it could take a year for the investigation to be complete. it took a year and a month.

one of the new things we've gotten is new pictures of exactly where the engine of the jet that crashed into a gaithersburg neighborhood landed. you can see the number two engine here. nurm one here. a mother and others died when it crammed. the big thing we have learned from hundreds of pages of the documents that the ntsb released today is that the ntsb investigators believe ice may have been a factor in this jet crash. i was a cold early december day. when this happened there were reports of other planes having icing issues in the area. there was a deicing switch according to the documents was not -- de-icing switch according to the documents that was not turned on. they had it turned on earlier and a stall warning would have gone off and it could have given him time to still land instead of crashing in the neighborhood. short of the runway. total of six people dying in

this crash. tragedy. the ntsb saying they believe ice probably was a factor in this crash. live in the newsroom tom roussey. michelle: thank you. breaking news in the freddie gray case. minutes ago we learned officer william porter will not be forced to testify in cases of three other officers charged in gray's death. that includes the next trial for officeer that is due to begin february 22. the case against officer porter ended in a mistrial as you will recall. in all six officers are charged in connection with gray's death after he was arrested in baltimore last spring. leon: mayors across the country say they all have one pressing issue in common. find out what it is coming up. michelle: plus michigan's governor asks the federal government to reconsider. we'll tell you what he wants in the midst of the water

crisis. >> and hardware store. what are you buying today? >> rock salt. >> rock salt. they can't keep it on the. long enough. we'll talk to folks that are getting ready for the big snow blast. leon: plus, you expect to spend money on vacation. stay with us.

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leon: development in the story on the flint water crisis. michigan governor rick snyder promises to release e-mails that could shed light on the state's response. it follows apology to the affected residents and the vow he said to take action at the state of the state address. elizabeth hur has more. >> i'm sorry i let you down. you deserve better. reporter: rick snyder apologized to the residents of flint but not everyone accepts it. the protesters outside the state capitol want him to step down and even be arrested. >> they were silent. they were staring at a public health emergency and they sat

on it. reporter: they represented families and have filed three class action lawsuits arguing they should have acted sooner. according to e-mails, officials in an attempt to save money waited five months to warn the public of the toxic levels of lead in the water source. >> we haven't had it tested. so concern. >> shouldn't have gotten to this point. we are surrounded by the great lakes. >> i'm increasing the support from the michigan national guard. >> in the state of the state address, in addition to aid the governor pledged greater transparency. the mayor met with president obama and the white house officials lobbying for your help. >> i'm really glad to be here. i know we are going to get more resources to continue to move flint forward to give us clean quality water.

reporter: again this is as we wait for e-mails to be released to learn what the governor knew when. >> most mayors say aging infrastructure is one of the most pressing problems. 81 participated in the survey and they listed mass transit, roads, water as the challenges facing t city. a water main break caused problems on the roads in alexandria overnight. and throughout this afternoon. opened up around 7:00 last night on u.s. 1 at north patrick street. but yous weren't able to locate it until 7:00 this morning. the water gushed out and created slippery conditions which forced crews to shut down several lanes. the work finally wrapped up around 1:00 this afternoon. leon: well, i-95 in prince william county is back open after a tractor-trailer overturned there and spilled a

load of rocks and gravel. this is the video from the abc7 news chopper 7. it overturned to northbound i-95 woodbridge before noon. driver suffered from minor injuries. no word what caused the crash but it was cleaned up. don't need more things that happening on the roads before the everything. jamie sullivan is watching it for you. jamie: we don't. that is one of the more boring things we have seen that spilled. i have seen beer spill out of a truck. rocks and gravel is not a bad thing. river road eastbound, if you travel near counselman road, all lanes are blocked. democracy boulevard is the best alternate to use. that is potomac. heading to bethesda macarthur there is an accident involving a pedestrian. on the inner loop we are in the teens. considering on the inner loop for silver springs we drop to 12 miles per hour. coleville at the beltway you

get an idea. this is outbound. reported crash at this point. this is the traffic on the inner loop. bumper to bumper. no crashes to report on the inner loop right now. back to you. leon: we'll get into it in 48 hours. michelle: for real. doug: everything is coming together. it's computer models that are consistent and impressive. authoritative. but the finer details of exactly how many inches -- we don't care about that. whether it's 20 or 23. what is the difference? michelle: right. doug: the deal is we are going to get one to two inches of snow across the viewing area. we have a lot to share with you. update the information. first things first, we have the weather event tonight. a weather alert. it's a winter weather advisory for coating up to an inch of snow this everything. ittle energy. spin through with the cold front. light snow already on the doppler radar. a fair amount evaporating before it hits the ground. the air is dry.

it's getting more moist. it is going to overspread the area tonight. we could have slick spots though we are talking about a small minor accumulation at best. the future cast gives us the timing around 7:30 tonight. there should be a band in southern maryland. 10:30, patches north and east of washington. we will get early friday. before i go give you a look at possible accumulations tonight. the clouds will increase on this storm that is still in the early stages of development. the national weather service has a large area under a

blizzard watch. i have been doing this for 38 years and i don't recall ever having a blizzard watch issued more than 48 hours ahead of time. sometimes we have big storms and the winds kick up and the heavy snow warning and the heavy snow warning will be upgraded to blizzard warning. the difference between that and a winter storm watch to the west is the winds. it's not about the snow. it's the winds and the visibility. high winds affect visibility. clouds roll in quickly on friday. this model that is on target about noon. snow will approach charlottesville and moving in our area for rush hour on friday. rain farther south. the storm will continue to develop and draw in more and more cold air. the snow is heavy and wet. cold enough and it should dry out a little bit. farther south is where we will see the real action. thunderstorms are possible by midnight on friday night into

saturday. saturday morning there will be saturday morning there will be 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts on the coast. beach erosion and the heavy rain. the worst effect the heaviest snow and the highest wind is 2:00 a.m. saturday to 2:00 p.m.ment winding gusting over visibility. and a broad brush forecast right now. two days before the first flakes hit. we are thinking one to two feet as we get closer to the storm, we can refine the numbers. that is the starting point. historically, probability wise, we have 80% chance of one to two feet of snow or more. 50% chance quarter or less and

small chance of six inches or less. major storm. often the storms don't happen one day in the week. they happen like this. friday friday night saturday sunday morning. three-day total. the biggest three day storm was knickerbocker storm in washington. 28 inches. the number two was 1899. so getting 20 inches in washington to make it the second largest snowfall is a possibility. go back to the weather center for updates. 100% possibility of snow. breezy weather to sunday a warmup next week for the 40's. slowly turn the snow the pristine snow cover to mushy brown, gray stuff. the swind a bigger story. doug: especially it is heavy when it starts. power outages. the traffic is dangerous to impossible. it will be a major storm.

we have seen it before. another on the way. leon: combine to make it dangerous for folks that have to work out there. we will keep an eye on that. abc7 has the largest weather team in town. send us your picture and video and we'll share what we have for you as well. send all of that for us to pics@wjla.com. michelle: still ahead at "abc7 news at 4:00" -- we are refining the plan for what could be the most extensive stadium in major league soccer. >> a big day today at the national harbor and the m.g.m. casino and hotel. they topped off the structure today. i will tell you what it means.

michelle: new information. mu photos are out detail what is the new venue for d.c. united will look like. the team plans to move from r.f.k. stadium by 2018. it is expected to be the most expensive stadium in the mls. it will be at but saturday point in southwest near fort mcnair. mayor bouzer says the plans for the stadium remain on course. leon: speaking of big projects in the area. a big step forward today for the new m.g.m. casino project at national harbor.

you can call it a cherry on time. >> this is the customary way to celebrate topping off. so today in the air by the small evergreen. it looks like a christmas tree. those at the m.g.m. casino say they feel like santa just came. >> the he sell is now toppled off. it's as tall as it is going to get. >> it's still mostly a skeleton but you can see things taking shape. this is a theater, at it trium and then the hotel rooms are starting to get interior walls. >> this would compete with those celebrity chefs.

>> they are expecting the casino to buck national trend for gaming and be a success. >> location, location, location. interstate 95. we are putting a project together to draw from a large region. >> grand opening for next fall. michelle: those in nevada say las vegas cabs are overcharging to the tune of $47 million a year. auditor in the governor's finance auditor says the fee is excessive. they criticize the authority for approving taxi rate hikes

even though gas prices are going down. leon: coming up at 4:00, we're tracking a major storm heading our way. we will check in with doug

leon: abc7 on winter weather alert as we track a storm that left two feet of snow in the sierra mountains. the system is heading our way. it looks dicey wrives

here. doug hill has a check of the forecast. doug? doug: the storm system will go through all kind of evolutions in the next 48 to 60 hours and will eventually redevelop off the coast of the midatlantic. in the process, a lot of snow coming our way. we have a winter weather advisory. nothing big. maybe a half inch to inch of snow tonight. as the cold front with the energy pushing through and the temperatures are below freezing everywhere and expected to fall in the mid-20's later. a steady progression of snow moving through. the best chance time wise is 6:30 tonight. we will pick up inch and a half and clear quickly overnight. then sunshine tomorrow. but don't let it fool you. friday it will go downhill in

a hurry. tenth an inch here to an inch. through saturday and sunday morning with a large, impressive storm center we expect to develop in the area. or area entire is under a blizzard watch for the system. the same snow of the area that is under winter storm watch. stronger winds are in this area. westward and the reduced visibility and the strong gusty winds that will make a difference between the winter storm and the blizzard conditions. one to two feet of snow is a possibility in much of the area. get flash light, baptry water. extra blankets. one thing to do on the phone or the tablet or the iphone is

watch abc7 live at the website. never bring a generator inside a house. we have more to share in the next day or so getting ready for the storm. michelle: the lines are forming as people rush to get supplies ahead of the big storm. we went to look at the items that are flying off the shelf. >> i can't believe how busy the hardware store has been all day long. box after box. pal lot -- pallet after pallet brought in.

>> this is what you need? this is all you need? >> it's all i need. >> i think we are going to get enough snow to go skiing. this is nova i like her style. work and play. >> work and play. >> i will not be doing the shoveling. >> you get the kids to do it. you want to show the viewers how busy the store is. the lines have been nonstop. folks in and out of the store. >> we have been here all morning. it's nonstop. >> lunch break and itñp

explodes. >> how do you keep up? >> we have other coming in. stock it as fast as we can. get ahead of it before the store arrives. michelle: people start to stock up but did you wonder why? blame it on new england. it's the blizzard of 1978 when some were trapped for weeks. it brought three feet of snow to pittsburgh in november of 1950. there you have it. folks aren't just making french toast. >> do you want to explain what the folks were doing to make

them need that much toilet paper? >> i think it's a generational thing. anyone your age ever gone out in a storm and bought milk? michelle: not milk but other stuff. leon: exactly! one thing you don't want to be concerned about the storm is the snow. snowflakes can absorb the carcinogens in the car exhaust. so avoid to take advantage of the snowstorm. michelle: stay a step ahead of any storm with the storm watch 7 weather app. download it from the google play or itunes store. leon: you always felt that people in d.c. was smarter than everyone else? the district has the most educated metropolitan area in

the country. they examine who had had the most bachelor degrees of the residents. and more than 49% of the district has a bachelor degree. i just like we beat b michelle: go us. >> it's nice out here. it's cold but it's nice. >> turning weather to art. look where the elements are becoming the

michelle: one of the two fiats that pope used on his visit are going up for auction. the bids will be accepted in person and online. proceeds will go to the select archdiocese ministries and the children hospital of pennsylvania. leon: it's cool. they may have discovered

planet "x." thought to be as big as neptune. but it's never been spotted. michelle: pluto gets disrespected. look at this. this is amazing. mother nature is turning lake erie's waves to ice sculptures in ohio. it hasn't frozen over yet but as the wind blows the arctic air across the wavers ice over to create intricate block of ice that change when the waves and the wind shift. >> it coats the ice

sculptures. michelle: they are expected to last for a while. you think? leon: as a person who has grown up there, it's plenty to look at but that is all you want to do is look at them. don't want to be out there. rather have the snow. michelle: we will get plenty of that. leon: coming up at "abc7 news at 4:00" -- what the rockslide could signal for weekend weather. michelle: first, changing plans. a look at what you can do before the storm if you are expected to travel this weekend. leon: sign up for school closing text alert. though it is going to hit this weekend. it could have an impact friday or next week. you need t

wow. the internet is crazy fast here. i know, right? it's so nice to have everyone over. hi hey. mmm. i just laid an egg. does anybody want it? joey, you want some gasoline? yes, please. mom, guess what? i married a clown and we're having tiny little clown babies. mhm. i just bought a hammer. with internet fast enough for everyone your guests might get a bit carried away. get out of the past. get fios.

michelle: breaking news in the newsroom. richard reeve is live near wilson high school where a teenager was stabbed. richard, what else have you learned? richard: yeah, i can tell you

this first of all. this is a busy crime scene here. let's pan over to show you. police are still here trying to gather information about what happened. here is what we know so far. we will let duane pan over and show you the actual scene where it happened. it happened on the sidewalk, across the street from the rec center located next to wilson high school. this happened outside the sears appliance store. what we are told happened a juvenile male teenager stabbed outside the store. we don't know how seriously stabbed. we know there is a lookout for two suspects. they are also teenagers. we saw students being put on buses. there wasn't a lot of panic here. vague description. 15 to 17 years old. teenagers. they are trying to figure out

what happened. leon: thank you, rich. get to the winter weather alert. what you can do if you were planning to travel this weekend. mike mcnair owns mcnair travel management in alexandria and joins us on the phone. mike, thank you for giving us moments to talk about this. if they have a ticket for this weekend they have to come up with plan b. what can they do? mike: there are waivers out there for travel to and from d.c. maryland, west virginia for the next few days. so i know we have sorted through the customer list. we have a thousand impacted customers we're triaging now. work with the travel management company or call the airline directly and use the waivers to change the plan or cancel the trip. leon: what happened if you didn't lose a travel agent and

booked online? mike: they are travel agencies but they don't take as many calls as we may be. go to the airlines with them. there are travelers out there depending on the status. you could have better luck to get through to the source. leon: how long do you think the disruption will go? tomorrow or saturday morning? is this for the next week? mike: i grew up in upstate new york. i panic less than others. i think it will ramp back up sunday morning. that is my guess. the model that the airlines are using and we work together, there is a lot of communication tools that the airlines have to the

travelers. leon: atlanta and chicago is not affected this time around. thank you for the advice. take care. mike: thank you leon. leon: michelle, over to you. michelle: thank you. great advice. steve: this shovel can measure. to give a perspective for you this is one inch. we could look between one to two feet. two feet is up here. this is the time of show if you are not in good shape, help others out. this is cold. we have light snow on the way

moving through the an hours. the remainder of the afternoon. 29 at the reagan national airport. you should know the winter weather advisory in effect at 6:00 this everything and runs until midnight. prince george's county and southern maryland. upward of one to two inches of snow. we have more on that in a moment. satellite and radar shows light snow from the west. heavier snow no the west. the core of this from 6:00 to midnight this evening. it should move out. we have a nice day tomorrow. not so nice on friday. the latest for you. the blizzard warning. all the area shaded in blizzard watch. fairfax arlington alexandria, montgomery. the district.

the area in blue is a winter storm watch. this time tomorrow we convert this to blizzard warning and a winter storm warning. most of the area is under blizzard. that means the gusty winds and the heavy snow. the footure cast early in the morning until the news time is not a problem. on this model. then we move through the evening hours overnight, heavier snow will overspread the metro area. the dark blue that is heavy, heavy wet snow. notice the rain. not so far away in norfolk. then this lifts out of here. but not until late day on saturday. how mump snow. this is a broad brush from one to two feet. some areas could see more the further south and east you go. a little less. a lot of this will defend on the track of the area of the low pressure. le will keep you updated on abc7.

the next seven days. friday, saturday, outdoor is not a good idea. breezy on sunny. we'll see sunshine. lower 40's monday. upper 40's on tuesday. check on the rush hour commute. jamie: outdoor activities, that is when you are supposed to go out outside and enjoy the snow. you may not see it again for a while. let's talk about the slow traffic. on the capital beltway inner loop passing by the g.w. parkway. you will see 10 miles per hour. we are still on the brakes. if you are traveling on 95 so far, so good heading north toward laurel. 95 in virginia. no problems heading south to dale city. we are clear on 270 in that stretch. from the spur continuing north toward frederick. we have stop and go but we do not have any accidents to report. dill ver spring georgia at

flora lane. we have fire e.m.s. and police all on scene. i want to show you a live look in downtown silver spring. this is an idea of how jammed we are. this is not because of a crash. this is just normal. michelle: thank you. a storm system heading our way left a mess in california over the weekend. take a look here at the rockslide. that caused a road closure on highway 41. no cars were hit by the rock but road blockage did cause a minor accident. crews work to move the rock to the big bolders and the debris.

he rain is affecting the area around us. >> they kept the highway shut down. i quent sliding. they are inspecting the area. michelle: all the talk here and around the area has been about abc7. on our facebook pages what will happen when that storm system gets here? >> the storm watch 7 team says this could be historic here. we are stocked with essentials. movies games puppies and blankets. bring it on! stephanie posted this -- you are not alone there. michelle: jenna had to say she fears she is making a big pot of chili.

if anyone can make it to my house, you have to shovel out your three cars. you should make sure you have your digital devices charged. so you can stay connected with the storm watch team. once the snow starts falling. we will stream all the coverage at wjla.com. you can get constant updates on the facebook and the twitter feeds. download the storm watch 7 app on the smartphone or tablet to have it at your finger tips. leon: 2015 officially the hottest year on record. both the national oceanic and atmospheric association and nasa say last year was 20% warmer than the year before. scientists say the heat was fueled by one of the strongest el nino patterns in recorded history. >> coming up next we are tacking the winter weather alert and the massive storm that seems to have the area in the bullseye this weekend. we g

leon: tonight doug hill breaks out to b word. blizzard! the area waits, the abc7 team coverage is in full swing, at the airport on metro, on the road and in your neighborhood. we are on storm watch. tracking a winter beast. announcer: now, "abc7 news at 5:00". on your side. alison: first at 5:00 today storm watch team coverage of the severe weather alert that prompted a blizzard watch. leon: we have the team around the area to prepare for the storm. chief meteorologist doug hill standing by. we'll get to him in a few moments. alison: tonight we are seeing the effect of the arctic blast that is gripping the area. white ferry is shut down because of all the ice that is forming on the potomac river. that is a kind of cold ready to greet that blizzard.

come friday. leon: the university of maryland announced it will be closed all the way through the reason. but before we get to friday's blizzard we have the opening act. snow on the way now. alison: we begin with the chief meet roll just doug hill. hi doug. doug: right now cloudy skies outside the belfort furniture weather center. taste of snow tonight with the cold front coming through. look at the graphics. this evening we have a winter weather advisory. with the temperatures in the 20's well, what will happen tonight is we will see slick spots. this is colder north and west of the metro getting past the sunset here