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. we will see the temperatures

drop more. it is evaporating. more from the west before the cold front. the future cast shows around 10:30 tonight but overnight it will clear out. tomorrow is beautiful. bright and sunny throughout the day. but friday it will change. the initial snowfall from a tenth of an inch to an inch. that will be that. enjoy sunshine through the day tomorrow. friday it turns and not for the better. the area has been placed under a blizzard watch. from late friday to the everything. to the west, the area in blue and to the east, they are under a winter storm watch. the snowfall totals across the area is similar. but the reason we are under a blizzard watch, along the western shore and points west

we have high winds. it will reduce the visibility. that is the reason for the blizzard watch. tomorrow or tomorrow night the watches would be upgrade for warnings. the future cast shows the snow moving in. friday afternoon and steady and heavy late friday night, overnight, through saturday. it will depend how much it will move off. the broad brush is one to two feet of snow. could there be differences? yes, but this is all predicated on how it's set. we are confident, pretty confident that this will be a major storm with high impacts all across the area. with a lot more to share, steve rudin will join me in a few minutes.

alison: thank you. this set off flurry of activities the rails, the airports are all ready. the major airlines have initiated waivers to allow people to change the time of their flights for free. stephen tschida tracking the transportation tonight and joins us live from the dupont circle metro station. stephen: metro management is gearing up for a major storm. they have equipment and personnel ready to keep it moving once the snow starts falling. they are bracing for a big storm and a blanket of snow. >> it is too much. the metro management is mobilizing the personnel and the equipment to confront what

could be a paralyzing snowstorm. >> it could result in service above ground. >> don't wait for it to run above ground if snow is as bad as some prediction. >> airport management is stocking up to informing the employees they will be working the long, hard hours to deal with the snow and ice. and stranded passengers. >> we have plenty of supplies on hand. airlines have it on hand for deicing planes. >> heading to north carolina to beat the snow.

steve some passengers rebooked. >> once it starts it never seems to end. i can see one front after another coming through. >> they are advising them to take off from d.c. friday and saturday to call now. and reschedule the flight. leon: there is a race underway in the district to get in place for an historic storm. sam, how are things shaping up there? >> well, we are at the salt dome. i am by one of the many, many trucks. that will clear the road. you talk about the historic storm. in 1996, the city was defenseless. in 2010 it was better.

they insist it's best now. >> they say hardware stocked up on the snow stuff. and the customers are beating a steady pass. >> they were buying everything. shovels. ice melt. regular stuff. >> it's friendly for the dogs. >> keep it safe. >> mayor bowser unveiled a volunteer program. she wants 2,000 volunteers to pair up with the elderly and the disabled. >> they are dedicated. >> i'm 82.

>> of course! >> while this is the year that the new fines kick in for those who don't shovel the walks, $25 for home and $150 for businesses, mayor bowser sidestepped it saying she was focused to clear the snow. >> our approach has been to ask the residents to help each other. we pulled together the d.c. snow team. >> she invited in the snow board. >> we try to put variety in it. >> oh, yeah, they want the snow shuffles back in the spring. >> we are back live with the trucks and the crews are waiting for what will happen. she sent residents out saying regardless of how much or how

little snow, we are ready. reporting live, sam ford, abc7 news. leon: thank you. >> at 4:00, john gonzalez shows you the rush for supplies. at the hardware store there. shovel and salt selling so fast they were littering the aisles. you can expect that through friday. alison: you stock up on the supplies but there are certain things you need to get the home and the car ready. diane cho will walk you through things you may not have thought of. that is coming up at 5:30 today. "7 on your side" in severe weather. we have the largest team of meteorologist and the reporters in the d.m.v. count on us to keep you up to date on the timing of the storm and the closings that will come with it. on air and online. at wjla.com. leon: now we want to get back to the breaking news earlier. teenager stabbed near wilson high school. richard reeve is live working the story. do we know anything more? or anything about the possible

suspects? richard: they have a look out now for two hispanic juveniles. six to 17 years old. you can see the detectives here, working the phone and trying to talk to people to find out what happened. we will show you the scene. this is in front of the sears appliance shot. it was a scuffle and a juvenile male was stabbed. we don't know if that person was a student at the wilson high school across the street or not. this is a vague description now. they will continue to look. reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. alison: thank you. an f.b.i. counterterrorism agent caught on video hitting a teenager will avoid serving a day in jail. as montgomery county reporter kevin lewis shows us, the decision will led the agent keep his federal job and his

gun. >> the f.b.i. agent said he was acting in self-defense in a domestic altercation. a jury found him guilty of second-degree assault. but today a judge waved all jail time. he could have received ten years in prison. >> i don't think he learned his lesson. he got away free. >> the victim says the agent was so violent that he broke the teen's wrist and caused a kidney to bleed. today in court he apologized to assess for what he referred to as a shove. >> no jail time for assault.

>> if they see the case and how it turned out they might think they have a chance to go to court. >> by avoiding any jail time, he will be able to keep the f.b.i. service weapon. that is crucial because he needs it to perform his job. he had no interest talking to the media. >> new developments in the freddie gray case. officer william porter will not be forced to testify in the trial of the three other officers. officer porter was the first officer to go on trial. his trial ended in a mistrial after a hung jury. porter's retrial set for june. the next officer's trial is for edward nero set for february 22.

alison: still to come at "abc7 news at 5:00" -- outrage after a list of people who didn't pay their rent in time is posted on facebook. where it happen and what is done now. >> wild ride on wall street. where the market ended the day after plunging 540 points at one point today. the government version of prestorm run to the store for milk. the rush to get this stuff. i will tell you how they keep the salt dome full. alison: "7 on your side" during severe weather. tonight, charge county and prince william county public schools canceled the evening activities. right now on wjla.com you can sign up to get a text alert the instant your child's school announces a closing or delay.

leon: new tonight, we are getting information about a plane crash in 2014 that killed a mother and her two children inside the home. everyone on board died. tom roussey is live with the new information. tom? >> we have been looking over the new documents about the december 2014 crash.

this jet that crashed is coming from north carolina. hugging isle-81. it made a turn southeast to land at the montgomery county air park outside gaithersburg. in the last ten minutes the conditions were ripe for icing. that is what the ntsb believes happened. when this occurred it crashed before the neighborhood. we knew it stalled but we didn't know that the stalling was consistent with the plane had been contaminated by ice. they released new photos today as well as the two engines wound up in the gaithersburg neighborhood. when it crashed the pilot as well as two passengers died. on the ground, marie and two of her young children died in their home after a fire that was caused by jet fuel. the report says there was a

deicing switch on the net in the off-position. in the on position, it could have been a lot different in this case. they recovered a lot of things and one thing was the iphone of the pilot of the jet that was recovered in good condition. the crash happened over a year ago. the ntsb said could be a year before they would finish the investigation. leon: sad day on wall street. at one point the dow plunged 350 points. the nasdaq dropped five points the s&p 500 ended 22 points

down. >> let's get back to the winter weather alert today. they are traying to keep the local roads passible. >> despite the forecast, they are looking in their favor. brad bell is live to explain that. brad: we are the the prince george's county salt dome. guys that have been working all day have gone home to get rest. if you are going to get a snowstorm, you need a yardstick to measure. you will need a lot of this stuff. they have plenty. from baltimore to the salt dome in beltsville. a steady parade, dump truck carrying salt. the department of public work

crews doing their version of stocking up on supplies in advance of the blizzard. tons upon tons of the road salt. operators heading home to rest up for an intense 48 hours. before this salt degins to fly, the state highway crews will begin pretreating roads with liquid grime at 9:00 p.m. >> we actually mobilize last season. mobilized once this season. we in good shape. >> the timing hes? >> it is happening on the weekend. we have to put the same resources out. >> if they get all the snow they still have to plow it. i will be easier since they won't have to deal with the

run hour. another request we heard is in advance, people in the residential areas if they could park as they normally park to be street. you will see this tonight so they can mitigate the pain we are all going to feel. brad bell, abc7 news. leon: thank you. alison: mitigate the pain. that could be the theme for the next few days. doug: pretty much. two things working. first in the here and now we have a cold front tonight. start with what is happening now. >> the snow is falling in frostberg at the frostberg state university. this is the weather bug. winds at 2 miles per hour.

we'll be right back -- the winter weather advisory set to go into effect. it's one to two inches of snow. this is nothing moving through the next several days. frederick is 27. there is the light snow moving to western maryland. it's moving our way to the east. we will look for snow flurries and the snowshowers to come to an ends. midnight tonight. tomorrow is a nice day out there. the snowfall totals not a lot. the big story that will arrive here friday an is well ways off.

then over our area. doug with details and what to expect and a huge, huge storm on the way. >> this area of low pressure, this is the general sin of it all. we -- genesis of it all. this is a l to make this as straightforward as possible. in actuality, this is changing in the upper level low. issued a warning that will go into effect on friday afternoon. so well ahead of time. the area under a winter storm watch from the east, east, south. the big difference is the blizzard watch will suggest the concern over the high winds. high winds will reduce it to quarter mile or less.

that is dangerous. blowing and the drifting snow. and the winds could contribute to the lines down and the power outages. major storm. though we will see sunshine tomorrow. that will disappear on friday morning as the storm will under go one of the transformations. the snow will rank up. we have the evidence off the coast. then we are in the middle of the major snowstorm. it's the story overnight friday and sunrise. the worst effect with the heavy accumulation and the strong winds. east coast is battered. some computer models are suggesting 65 to 70 miles per hour wind gust on the midatlantic beaches. enormous breach erosion and flooding possible.

this will be all snow except for the del mar. by 7:00 saturday morning. we are on the storm and depending how fast it moves out will determine how soon the snow moves out. it could taper off by 3:00 or 4:00. if the storm slows down it could can't late in the night. a general amount of snow in the area. don't get hung up on the numbers. this area is going to get 22 and they will get 26. what is the difference? one to two feet. once the storm is going, once we are into it, really have a really good data on it we will finesse the number and the inches. there will be pockets that could get more than two feet of snow. the worst time frame is 2:00 saturday. winds gust over 35 miles per hour. visibility is a quarter of a mile or less. a couple of things to think about. flashlight and batteries, have

them on hand if you lose power. bottled water and blankets. charge devices. stay in touch with us. we are live on wjla.com as well as when we're on tv. generators. if you use them for heat, please never bring a generator inside the house. we will be on top of this every step of the way. we will clear this out on sunday. it will be breezy sunday afternoon in the upper 30's. next week, temperatures will start to rise. and melting will begin. alison: see you in a minute. we'll keep saying it. like doug did. this is very important. you have to prepare now for the storm. leon: just ahead here. diane cho will walk you through what you need to do know for your car and your home. >> i'm going to be on tv. here we go. leon: this week harris' hero.

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leon: a d.c. student has the kids jumping in class. a reason might surprise you. the fourth grade language art teacher is using the movement to engage the human body and brain together to learn about words. meet this week harris' hero. high-energy and enthusiastic

teacher demitrius lancaster from the public charter school for the performing arts. >> word on the board. pierce. what word is that? leon: the students in the lancaster sports language arts class are practicing spelling. it might be hard to tell, though. >> p-e-i -- leon: theyen corporate movement from jumps. >> p. e. leon: spelling to -- >> do the best jabs. here we go. h. leon: lancaster discovered the power of movement when he first taught younger students. >> the problem is solved. >> the students are engage it would entire time. they are focused on the task at hand. >> it increases retention and it gets the students excited to learn. >> get my arms moving and stuff.

>> i don't usually don't laugh in school but he makes me laugh. when i laugh i'm happy at school. i feel better about doing my work. >> for lancaster it is preparing students to be successful in life. >> let's talk about the big goals. >> i believe when we set high expectations for the students about give them rigorous opportunities to learn they rise to the occasion every time. >> we want to to create a culture of excellence. every single day because he is intentional we know we are getting closer to the goal. >> if you go to college -- >> if you go to college -- leon: school administrators say it's a role model. in addition to engaging the students there and learning, research shows movement decreasing behavioral problems like fighting and bullying. alison: great story. leon: great benefits all the way around. alison: to hear a child say he laughs and makes him enjoy the work. leon: that makes it work. that is what we want to see. alison: that is great. leon: absolutely.

alison: our winter weather alert continues coming up next at 5:00. >> plus, coming up, we talk to the expert to find out what you can do to prepare your car and home ahead of the winter storm. leon: abc7 has the best meteorologist in town. led by chief meteorologist doug hill. he's working in the storm watch 7. you can take the team with you wherever you go. download the weather app for

announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 5:00". on your side. leon: a big story, winter weather alert as we prepare for what may be a blizzard. alison: we watched as the crews repair roadways for snow on the way this weekend. some snow tonight. metro and local airports also going through the steps to make sure they are ready. leon: of course, supplies are flying off the shell evers and the stores and hardware -- shell evers and the stores and hardware. doug has more of what the forecast shows. doug: a little system coming through. dusting to an inch of snow. the skies will clear out tomorrow. it's not all reaching the ground but some of it is. it's moving ahead of the cold front. enough to give us a dusting and glaze up the roadway and the sidewalks tonight. watch for that as we remain below freezing.

accumulation, we are talking an tenth to an inch to around an inch of snow. tomorrow we will get sunshine. friday, we will get ready for the big event. that is a major storm that is still early developmental stages. over the eastern slopes, rockies at this hour. enough confidence that blizzard posted from late friday afternoon to saturday night. potential is big. one to two feet of snow. plus on tom of that, strong enough winds to create possibly saturday conditions. this is a tough deal traveling. it will be a point as we get through saturday morning and beyond traveling that may be downright difficult to impossible. that much of the storm. airport, some of them are closed. for how long we don't know. ajuror storm with the -- major storm with beach erosion. steve rudin will be back and we have more looking forward to one of the biggest storms in a while. alison: this type of storm we are expecting is the kind that can put your car, your home and even your life in danger. tonight, diane cho is showing

what you need to be doing to get ready. she continues the storm watch team coverage live from arlington now. diane? diane: when it comes to your car, you want to make sure you have a half a tank of gas in your car. according to the car care council to decrease any chances of water getting into the fuel line and potentially freezing. before the winter storm hits the area -- >> if you have de-ice or anything like that, use that. >> you want to make sure the car is geared up. >> the best thing to do is check the tire pressure. most vehicle you can put 35 psi. >> corey, capital auto land says in the winter months it's not a bad idea to check it once a week. >> when the temperature drops, the air pressure will drop. >> he says you will also want to check the antifreeze level to make sure it's full and test the batteries. >> the batteries are the weakest when it's cold.

that is why most of the time people have problem starting with the winter. >> if you don't want costly repairs in your home -- >> experts say to make sure to remove the hose from the hose bin. >> there is some residual water. we know frozen water occupies more space than liquid water. >> you should first expose the pipe and apply heat to it. if you left it overnight not too serious. but it's tough to come out. >> he make sure you know where the main water valve is in your home if there is an emergency and you have flooding issues.

leon: the abc7 web team working to make sure you have the information you need. alison: still ahead right here, the live team coverage of the winter weather alert continues with the new step an actual weather service is taking to get the most up to date information.

steve: winter weather advisory from 6:00 until midnight tonight. we have snow, white snow on the way. moving in the commute to the everything. it will sweep across the midatlantic to bring us a nice day for tomorrow. once the skies begin to clear we will see a lot of sunshine. 37 for a high. but get ready for the storm.

a big one on the way. we have a blizzard watch. it includes the prince george's county, fairfax, district and montgomery county. areas in the west to the lighter blue. it will upgrade to blizzard winter storm warning. we could see one to two feet of snow by saturday evening. then the melting process will begin. we have upper 40's on tuesday. stay with us. you are watching the "abc7 news at 5:00". we are

alison: a big step forward for the new m.g.m. casino at national harbor. a small evergreen tree was hoisted to the roof of the 24-story hotel for the customary topping off celebration. the event celebrates reaching the resort highest point of construction which is the placement of the final concrete layer. watching the construction where he is set to open a locally sourced steakhouse.

good stuff. >> my mom and dad went there. my dad played basketball and my mom did track. alison: while he is following in the family footsteps in more ways than one. >> we track a storm headed this way. it's available wherever you are. follow us on facebook or twitter on download the storm watch weather app.

leon: check of the road situation this evening. jamie sullivan watching the brake lights backing up. jamie: this is the american leon bridge. we have a stalled car. maybe a bus there. keep in mind with this everyone will get more congested because we are looking over to see what is going on. it looks like the police are not on the scene yet. this just happened on the american legion bridge. let's go ahead and move to the maps as we talk about how slow we are. inner loop we are used to it.

tysons continuing north to the american legion bridge getting to clara barton parkway and river road. we will get a little break. we are still heavy through bethesda and silver springs. we will get relief. now in the 20's. if you are traveling in d.c. we are seeing slowing. talk about southbound on d.c. 295. from the baltimore washington parkway to the 11th street bridge. that is where you see the solid red line. we have a crash coming in southbound near pennsylvania avenue with the right lane blocked. because of that, you are seeing the bumper to bumper traffic. new york avenue. that is a good option if you have to get to d.c. right now. that a look at traffic. alison: thank you. well, the national weather service is about to launch a weather balloon at the site in sterling, virginia. this is a goal to get a better idea of how strong this approaching storm will be.

jay korff is live with when this will happen. jay? jay: we expect the launch to be in the next 20 to 30 minutes. maybe longer than that. depending how long it takes for them to get all of this, the internal working if you will of the weather balloon on the weather balloon. this is a radio tong. this is a device that collects the barometric pressure and wind speed and dew point and the other things that are necessary to put the full picture together so the talented scientists and the immediate roll gists can come to conclusion about what will happen. right now that storm, you can see it on some of the monitors. you can see where it's forming now. this is right over the heartland of the midwest. the bottom line is they now feel fairly confident that we are looking between 18 and 24 inches of snowfall in the d.c.

region. they may believe there is a potential to get the blizzard condition with the storm. we could get the white-out. that is serious stuff. you don't mess with that. they are suggesting people in the storm stay off the roads. a lot more information coming up on the "abc7 news at 6:00". of course, later on at 11:00. reporting live in sterling, virginia, at the national weather service, jay korff, abc7 news. leon: thank you. you mention the blizzard conditions. that means a lot of drifts could be going as well. last time around we had a big storm like that, they stayed out there for months. alison: it took a long time for it to melt. doug, a lot to talk about this heads our way. doug: to give hope to people that dread snow. there are a lot of snow lovers that love big storms. but for those that don't the good news is the longer term forecast for next week and the week beyond that look like a general warming trend again or at or above normal temperatures. good news for you and maybe make everybody happy. the deal tonight is a little snow. winter weather advisory up.

half inch, inch in spots. flurries showing up in fairfax. a lot of this is not reaching the ground. most of the snow, thed cod front is off to the west. it is coming in later tonight. we think as far as the time goes between 8:00 and 11:00 tonight, most of the light snow will move in. we have widespread area. weather alert all over the place. blizzard watch up we are watching. tomorrow we get to sunshine. big storm over eastern colorado and it is going to dye south to the gulf coast. a lot of changes with it. spheressicly. the net result is the same. blizzard conditions are possible. the biggest part of this is the wind and the drifting and the reduced visibility. near zero. that is what white-out

conditions are. we could see the snowfall at times to three or four inches an hour. once the storm is off to coast and senators to crank we have high winds. beach erosion and flooding along the coastline. bithe time it ends we could have one or two feet of snow in the area. once the snow is going and it's wound up and we know the central pressure and more of the dynamics of it, we will finesse the numbers and get it accurate. for now it's a good starting point. leave you with the seven-day. 100% chance of snow developing friday. blizzard watch through the day on saturday.

warmer weather next week. now robert burton is sports. robert: thank you. to play at a private school enticing. the best public school goes to the big fame private schools like st. john's. james butler is where he belongs. >> he has the power. he has the touch. james butler 6'8" senior is one of the leading scorers in the d.m.v. area. >> it's very nice but it's not about that. it's about winning games. i want to have a great season my senior year. >> he has been in charge of the program for the last 15 years and he believes that james is one of the top players to come through lake brad doc. >> james as far as the whole package, the commitment to get better and be the best player he can be. top of the line. off the charts.

>> james comes from an athletic family. james has decided to play basketball at navy following some serious family footsteps. >> both my mom and dad went there. my dad played basketball. my mom did track. my grandpa and my great grandpa went there on my mom's side. >> a family name rich with tradition in annapolis. >> having insurance you will have a job coming out of college for a good cautious you are helping your country, it's a really good deal. >> a life-long bruin turning into a midshipman. scott abraham, abc7 sports. robert: thank you. big shoes to fill. coming up we have a one-on-one after the warriors upset the coming up we have a one-on-one after the warriors upset the fifth ranked

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alison: being late on a bill can be embarrassing, especially if it's rent payment. but imagine online they posted a list of everyone paying their respect late. as jeff goldberg reports it's what happened to a woman in stafford county. she is now fighting back. jeff: sierra with her daughter considers herself a calm person. >> you pick one and i'll pick one. jeff: but not after what she saw on facebook two weeks ago. >> i was angry. i was angry. jeff: she lives in the sky terrace town homes in stafford county and earlier this month she was two days late on rent because of elbow surgery. soon after she found her private information with that of 54 other tenants also late on respect. >> my unit number and my name, my phone number. jeff: was on a private group facebook page followed by disparaging comments. hope the air jordans keep them comfy. maybe too much ice coffee and

morning wine keeps them comfy. jeff: one property manager posted the information and comments. >> this is a really big problem. >> natasha castro is another tenant who believes her name is on the list. >> it's shocking because this information should never be released on social media to the public. jeff: we tried to get information from the property owner. >> this is jeff goldberg with abc7 news. we had no luck. sierra has been told the employee that posted the information was fired last week. yesterday she filed a lawsuit against the former . manager accusing her of illegally publishing personal information with the intent to harass or intimidate. she is also planning a civil suit but what she wants most is an apology. in stafford county, jeff

goldberg, abc7 news. alison: that is it for "abc7 news at 5:00". "abc7 news at 6:00" starts now with the very latest on snow totals expected to hit our area. announcer: now "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. leon: all eyes on the weather at 6:00 tonight. we are under a winter weather alert. right now snow totals estimates are measuring in the feet of snow. maureen: it is important to know the totals could change a lot between now and friday. of course we should all plan ahead for some snow to be with us. leon: that is right. get to chief meteorologist doug hill for the new information at this hour. doug? doug: a few flurries outside. it's not related to the big storm. it's related to a cold front moving through the area. the front and the possibility of minor accumulation tonight the region is under a winter weather alert, winter weather advisory from 6:00 p.m. a few seconds from now will kick into effect and runs until midnight. a lot of this is flurries. farther west, steadier or the

heavier snowfall that we are dealing with. that will move through later tonight. as as a result of that, we will pick up a little bit in the way of accumulation. a little bit. .32 or .6 of an inch. maybe some spot toward the bay, to pick up over an inch. but it's not the amount. it's that the temperatures are below freezing. it could make for dicey driving conditions late tonight and tomorrow. through today tomorrow, looks great. sunshine. nice day. upper 30's. then friday and friday night. and saturday. and saturday night. those are the hours that our whole area is under blizzard watch. the blizzard watch is surrounded by winter storm watches. sometime tomorrow the watches will be upgraded to the blizzard warnings, the winter storm warnings or a combination. not only the heavy snow but the strong winds develop with the powerful storm. time to finally end late saturday night and sunday morning. we are talking generally one to two feet of snow across the area. lesser amounts getting closer to the ocean. a lot of wind drifting, lower visibility.