>> this is a stormwatch 7 winter weather alert. leon: just hours away from what could be an historic blizzard in the district, with feet of snow on the ground, white out conditions, treacherous roadways, and strong wind. opm will be closing at noon tomorrow. school closings in

anticipation, including loud and county, montgomery county, and d.c. public schools. there is a complete list at the bottom of the screen. leon: we don't think we have shutting this -- metro down the entire night for the entire region. we will have more on that omar team coverage. first, the latest on the strength in the track of the storm with meteorologist steve rudin. steve: a lot going on from the belfort furniture weather center. we just have a brand-new computer run, and the wild swing with increasing snow amounts. this is just one computer model and a lot can change between now and tomorrow. the latest, the winter blizzard warning in effect for the district, arlington, alexandria, fairfax, all the areas in bright red. this will continue for the daytime hours, afternoon hours tomorrow. as we move further west, a winter storm warning, with windy conditions, but not quite as windy around the immediate

metro. nonetheless, a lot of snow will fall, and it will start during the afternoon tomorrow. nothing to worry about right now. if you have late night plans at the supermarket, a 24-hour hardware store, go for it, no problems. the core of the system is well to the south, eventually rising from the north and east. the huge area in pink is the winter storm warnings, pretty much the entire state of virginia, all along north carolina, kentucky, tennessee. millions impacted by this powerful storm. , overnight through tomorrow morning, no problems at 10:00. through noontime, 1:00, make advancement towards the north and east. of it moves upse fast enough with the government closing at noon, we may be caught with a short change in terms of people getting home from work. a quick call on that part as you go to bed.

some of these models may speed rings up a little more. the heaviest of the snow in the darker blue areas, lifting off to the north and east. heavy snow will fall from tomorrow night into early saturday morning, through saturday afternoon. we will see, fingers crossed, this will end by early sunday morning. during the weather, the potential snow accumulations. i will show you one model that has parts of the area getting upwards of 36 inches of snow. interesting to look at. more coming up in a few minutes. alison: "interesting" is one word for it. back to the unusual move for a metro, shutting down service this weekend altogether. bus service will end at 5:00 tomorrow night, rail service will stop at 11:00 tomorrow night. these services will stay closed saturday and sunday. they will resume monday, but no word on when. metro iseeve has what

saying about this. rich? richard: alison, this is something new and different. cannottro managers recall a time when both train service and bus service was shut and sunday.y this will inconvenience some folks trying to get to work, but metro says this is all about safety. the metro center packing them in tonight. >> this is my first time hearing about the trains being shut down. richard: many learning because of the blizzard conditions the train service will close starting at 11:00 friday night, and buses at 5:00. the sense noxious in that it's the lifeline of the entire city. richard: there is more. train and bus services will be stopped both saturday and sunday. >> with all of the equipment outside, we have to dig out all

the cars. the utmost concern is the safety of riders and employees. we cannot risk putting our customers out there in leaving them stranded and conditions we are all expecting. anacostia metro station, antwaun at is wondering how she will get to work this weekend. what is your plan? >> i'm not sure. richard: she normally takes the bus from aspen hill, maryland, into d.c. staywill probably have to at work. that is the only other option. richard: many are caught between the storm and no way to get around. sessione a review saturday. i don't know how i will make it to school. richard: during the storm, tunnels.ll be kept in there will be a huge cleanup job, nearly 300 miles of track. all of this is being done in the name of safety is the storm

approaches. richard reeve, abc 7 news. leon: amtrak is modifying service schedules because of the storm. if you have a reservation, you're being asked to keep a close watch on the schedule. the northeast service will be in operation tomorrow, but several trains have been canceled. there is a list of cancellations and changes on our website, wjla.com. alison: 3000 flights canceled because of the storm, all american airlines flights into dca and bwi canceled saturday. all major airlines expecting cancellations over the next few days. they are scrambling to give out waivers so passengers are not strained it. tom roussey is live at reagan national airport. tom? alison, those american airlines flights are canceled saturday, but some have been canceled tomorrow. badlotte is expecting weather, and that is a major hub. airlines flights to

charlotte canceled as of tomorrow morning. most of the flights that are scheduled to take off tomorrow our own time. however, if you are trying to get out of town, the longer you wait tomorrow, the more dicey things get. a spokesperson for reagan in dallas said this. >> you want to get your flying done by tomorrow. getting tomorrow, airlines will increasingly cancel flights through the day. don't expect any airline flying in saturday. tom: you may be wondering, what about sunday? that depends on what happens. if there is a lot of snow blowing around, that will make it difficult to clear, which will make it difficult to get the airport ready to open for flights in and out. sunday is also up in the air, although he was talking at , bwi, as well as dulles expect the same thing. it will be a lot of cancellations all over. tom roussey, abc 7 news. inn: concern over travel

tomorrow's blizzard is worse because of what happened last night. drivers were stranded in their cars for hours. that was all because of less than an inch of snow on untreated roads. d.c. mayor muriel bowser apologize for the situation in the district. we had serious questions for all agencies in charge of keeping the roads say. the i-team has been digging into the situation. jay korff has what he is uncovered. lastas in the thick of it night. we're just glad to see you because we did not think he would make it home last night. yeah, and for a while, i did not think i would make it home last night either. able tos of people were get through a really rotten evening and morning. but now, transportation leaders are saying it's not going to happen again. roads in the

area have been pretreated, but what about wednesday's debacle? wednesday evening, a dusting of snow turned rush-hour into a disaster. regional transportation officials did not bother to pretreat at a lot of roads, which placed over during the commute home. interstates turned into parking lots, trapping drivers for hours. nearly sixck, too, hours on a stretch that kenexa dulles toll road to i-66 w hich vdot is responsible for treating. mayor bowser: we are very sorry for the inadequate response. >> what happened last night was not ok. that cannot be repeated. jay: what did virginia's leaders say? >> if you don't pretreat, that is when you get them problems. jay: thousand like governor terry mcauliffe did not see what we and others experienced. the agency the governor is

praising did not pretreat major roadways in time. officials did not respond until late in the day, when a spokesperson said they did not put down liquid treatment based on a concern for pavement temperatures. fives started laying salt 5:30 p.m., but by then it was too late. vdot said they could have done a better job of telling folks to stay off the roads. one driver stuck in the mess movingght with me said forward, transportation officials should stick to the simple adage, pretreat first, ask questions later. live in the district, jay korff, abc 7 news. leon: that sounds good to us, thanks. it's the classic scenario you see before every big snowfall, eggs, ande milk, bread from the grocery store. stores have been packed all my, leaving empty shelves.

safeway in bethesda, with a steady stream of people all night. is your headquarters for complete coverage of the 2016 blizzard, including a team of meteorologist. we will have complete coverage before7 and updates seven on our sister station news channel eight. & sign up for text alerts for school closings. just go to wjla.com/text. still ahead -- an incredible rescue. -- police officers had saved how a police officer saved a child who had fallen through ice. alison: we are expecting to be smack in the middle of a blizzard tomorrow. smack in the middle of a blizzard tomorrow.

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. leon: we have sad news to pass

on about a fixture in washington and baltimore. jack burton died of leukemia yesterday at age 82. he finished his career right here at abc 7 and retired in 1998. he for that come he was a reporter and anchor in baltimore

for 24 years. for a while, he had his wife coanchor the news. alison: the right place at the right time to save a life. an off-duty fairfax county police officer spotted a nine-year-old in danger after falling through ice. reports, what he did next was nothing short of heroic. >> i saw a group of neighborhood kids. they were all waving their arms. tom: fairfax county police officer chris had just left his neighborhood for work. >> i observed they were dragging another child with them. tom: the kids said the nine-year-old boy had full and through thin ice in the neighborhood and had pulled him out. >> the child was in trouble. tom: he quickly put the shivering boy in his truck. clothing off as much as i could and wrapping him in the warm clothing, turning up the heat, calling for rescue. tom: rescuers took the child to

the hospital. despite the fall through the ice, it looks like you will be ok. the officer said he helped because he is an officer, but even more so because he is a neighbor. >> every neighbor should watch out for each other. i'm just glad i was in the neighborhood at that time. jay: tom roussey, abc 7 news. leon: very good. alison: thank goodness for him. we have some new models moving in quicker? steve: one model has it moving in earlier, which has concerns for the government workers getting off at noon. there is a lot a fluctuation with the models coming in an hour or two later, but what about earlier? i have beenck that passing out today, a lot of people like it. we could have snow from one model covering 36 inches. it is many crazy run everyone who saw this was like, really?

down.l break this we will get through this. by sunday night we will be saying, wow, this was easy. no, i don't think we will be saying that. it is cold right now, partly cloudy skies, 27 leesburg, 23 manassas, luray 19. elkins, west virginia, in the single digits. overnight,grees clouds increase, staying cold with the wind out of the north at five. the blizzard warning now in effect for the areas in red. it includes everything around the capital beltway and inside the capital beltway, the district, arlington, alexandria, montgomery county, prince george's, all of southern maryland. to the west and south, the areas in pink are where we have the winter storm warning. the reason they have the winter storm warning, the wind will not be quite as strong. we could have when gus of 35 to 50, even stronger across the

delmarva saturday. in terms of right now, doppler radar, nothing. if you have plans this evening to grab something at the supermarket, go for it. it will be dry, all the moisture well to the south. the low pressure continues to develop. winteras in pink are the storm warnings for north carolina, virginia, tennessee, kentucky. and this is us in red. we are the bull's-eye for the storm. to be. what it appears this time tomorrow we will see the effects of powerful storm as it moves across the mid-atlantic. 10:00 in the morning at strike, but the snow approaches quickly. 3:00 moving into the beltway. the areas in blue is the heaviest snow. , say it is to hours behind. that would put this over our area much earlier. tomorrow's rush-hour commute for the government at noon time could be messy.

dinnertime, heavy snow over spreads the region, the darkest shades of blue indicates the heaviest snowfall. during the time early saturday morning, mixing in a little bit of sleet across southern maryland, don't be surprised if you hear rumbles of thunder. thunder snow. unbelievable. 5:00 in the morning, still heavy snow across the metro. through the day saturday, things begin to slowly improve. morning, looking for much better conditions, most of the snow ending. this is the model that grabbed our attention the past couple hours. notice about two inches of snow at 7:30 in the evening. keep in mind what one inch of snow did yesterday. got quickly the snow totals increase overnight. waking up 7:30 a.m. saturday, this model has 16 inches at reagan national. winchester, and we still

have to get through the rest of the day saturday. 36-inch marker on this model. we are holding tight on our forecast. we think this model may be on the high side. inches in the d.c. metro, higher amounts to the west. if you are on the higher end, this will probably make it the second strongest storm, the second highest snow total since we survey keeping records in washington. 28 inches for the knickerbockers storm in 1922. low 40's monday. this will be a wild storm. we have extended coverage coming up on news channel 8, abc 7, and wjla.com. it's a serious storm, but if we take it cool, we will be fine. alison: we have had enough warning. we have been talking about it for a week. leon: what's the latest?

robert: we have some ugly stuff. john wall got snubbed. sports is coming up.

>> and now the toyota sports desk, brought to you by your local toyota dealers. robert: the capitals have been moved up to 5:00 friday, hosting the anaheim ducks, and the wizards are still scheduled for 0 saturday. the starters for the 2016 nba all-star team were announced today. here is a hit -- john wall was not one of them come even though he was the conference player of the month. ade and indiana's paul george were also named.

the only thing missing from this list is no big men. the reserves will be announced tomorrow. the game is changing. on the college level, some people hoping for snow. georgetown announcing this promotion -- if it snows less than five inches, tickets for two games will be 10% off. each incremental five inches, the discount goes up 10%. inches, which20 is possible, tickets for both games will be 50% off. the high school level, the best dish ever behind the basket. distraction ever behind the basket. alison: yes. robert: yes, allyson. i've never seen this before in my life.

this was working, by the way. i guess you could say they gave birth, the student distraction. men'sinal note, the gw basketball game has been postponed to five :00 saturday. admission is free to all fans, hosting rhode island this weekend. idea!that's a great robert: exactly, it was worth it. alison: could you warn us next time? robert: will do. alison: that was upsetting. steve: wait until october, with the blizzard babies.

alison: as we brace for the storm, a reminder of some family fun. this year you will be allowed to go sledding on capitol hill. d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton pushed for the measure that was worked into the 2016 omnibus bill. capitol hill is an iconic place for kids to enjoy what could be an historic snowstorm. leon: that's the only hill kids have around here. just will have problems getting there. steve: so we had a good laugh

between the brakes, now seriousness. this will be a really heavy, dense snow. for those of you who think you may be able to handle it, it is a lot of snow over a short time. look at the snow totals as we move through the day saturday into early sunday morning. this model wants to put out close to three feet of snow in winchester. i don't know if that will materialize, but we will tweak the numbers again tomorrow. adjust them every model run because this will change back and forth and this may just be an anomaly. we are trending towards the higher amounts for the d.c. metro area in that 20-22 inch range. leon: is there really a range. leon: is there really a difference from 22 to

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.

>> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight -- zac efron. from "billions," malin akerman. and music from ben harper & the innocent criminals. with cleto and the cletones. and now on top of all that, here's jimmy kimmel! [ cheers and applause ] ♪