arlington, fairfaxare closed tomorrow. in maryland, montgomery, bridge george's washington county schools are closed. charles county were already scheduled to be off tomorrow. alison: alexandria city schools will open but on a two-hour delay. d.c. schools plan to open on time. you can see the closings and the delays we have. check it out. one issue for the school system is getting kids to school safely. sidewalks are still cover and they're narrow for the school buses to passed. leon: jeff goldberg is life in alexandria. tough navigating out there, jeff. jeff: this is something you

have seen people do. you are trying to make a simple turn but instead of the traffic you see this. a huge mound of snow. it's causing collisions. they are big and nasty and they are making turning tough for drivers everywhere. >> i heard a loud crunch. a loud bang. >> adam martin captured this crash yesterday on the home surveillance camera on lee and broxton wood court in fairfax. he has seen more than enough people try to make a treacherous turn out of the neighborhood. so hearing a crash wasn't much of a surprise. >> not at all. it could potentially lead to serious dangers. arlington police sergeant rick rodriguez has this advice for the drivers peeking around the mountain looking for daylight. >> inch your way out slowly and you have a clear view and nothing else is coming your

way and you are back in business. jeff: if you have been driving around, you know what we are talking about. this is 66 onto nutley street to fairfax. there is a mound of snow making merging to the road difficult because you just can't see the traffic that is coming your way. got to take it real slow. michael harper will take a different turning route. >> the cars are moving at a fast speed. not worth the risk. >> definitely not worth the risk. the good news is the mountain of snow are getting smaller and smaller with each passing day. but they are here and creating challenges not just for the people behind the wheel. we'll explain more about that at 6:00. until then, live in alexandria, jeff goldberg,

abc7 news. leon: you got it. the last three commutes were awful for most drivers on the road. chris papst is in the mobile track 7 tonight out there checking out the roads. how is it looking? chris: getting here was simple. g.w. parkway, 495 and 270 to go to the rockville area and get here. this is the worth we have seen, so that shows you good it has been. this is pine tree road. you can see the road here is narrow. on the side. snow is built up. in some places up to two feet or so. one to two feet. this is as bad as we have seen. the road is dry here. not any ice on it. people make their way back and forth. two vehicles getting through here might be a challenge. but we have had no problems. a little on the beltway got tight. mostly because we were in

normal traffic. back to you. leon: all right. you got it, chris. be careful out there. alison: all right. well, as you know, sunday was a day for finals to get out and have fun in the snow. sledding on capitol hill legally for the first time this year. but four days later they are trying to keep the kids entertained. a look at how parents are coping. diane: good afternoon. the indoor play ground here at arlington has been busy all day today. parents trying to figure out how to keep the kids entertain and many schools closed. with the schools closed, sydney has been bringing her kids to parent's job. >> she comes with us. >> the parents own a production company in downtown

fairfax. >> it would have been tough for us if we didn't have an ips scheduled on the field. we try to do whatever we can. this is the first day out. >> with the schools close today -- >> it can be challenging. it's you have to wait to see what the school announcements will before you make plans and organize yourself. >> some say it's hard with the skids stuck at home several days. >> nice to have the kids at home but i have hit the limit of what is nice. >> that is why she and others decided to bring children to jumping joeys in arlington. >> we had appreciate i parents. diane: the owner says they have been as busy this week as the weekend day.

some school districts are closed tomorrow. in arlington, diane cho, abc7 news. leon: we have seen the toll of the blizzard on the road, traffic and the buildings like the church in silver springs. cheryl conner takes us to another business in silver spring that will be rebuilding in the springtime. reduced to metal. two feet of snow was too much for the awning to handle. even with the support of the large pillars. the collapse happened happened e blizzard saturday afternoon. >> this is the service lane. there were seven cars parked under there. >> the cars were pulled from underneath the awning.

they need body work but it is amazing there is not more damage. >> the general manager says the cars may have prevented the weight of the awning from pulling down the doors leading to the show room. >> gave stricture places to fall to. >> the cars are loaning so customers respects blowing their horn. mo one was injured. >> it will take a month and a half to rebuild. this time the dealership is going for enclosed area and taking some advice. >> silver spring, cheryl conner, abc7 news. leon: some part of the melting somehow refreeze this morning. but what about tomorrow morning? alison: your chief meteorologist doug hill in the belfort furniture weather center. doug: the temperatures are not as cold overnight as last night and this morning.

it's 39 in the capital. cold front will come through in the morning and flurries. the winds will become gusty. then a warmup ising on hand for the weekend. we have details coming your way in a couple of minutes. alison: thank you. to politics now and we turn to vote 2016. donald trump's plan to skip tonight's debate in iowa is the topic. scott thuman is live in des moines. why is trump passing on this

one? scott: he will tell you his relationship with fox news has soured. he says he is not treated fairly so he is taking the ball and going home. but instead of going home he came here. and is holding an event for the military veterans. he will be speaking out about the veteran affairs and yudeing that as a platform instead of taking part with the debate. but doing it at the same time as the debate. so you can imagine that it is splitting tension. he's still polling top so it's significant. leon: it is interesting that the other candidates are going to his rally. scott: yeah.

alison: this is so hard to understand and predict. we saw more of that when mike huckabee who won iowa in 2008. so while he is not polling well right now. he knows a little bit about how this goes. he is free at 8:00 and done with the undercard event. he said i will come join donald trump. we have seen rick santorum coming over. this is an anti-establishment gesture from a couple of candidates. does fox news care that donald trump is not going to the debate? scott: they say they don't. but there within odd interview with bill o'reilly pleading with donald trump to barter, citing the bible and say you should forgive and forget and turn the other cheap and go to the debate -- turn the other

cheek and go to the debate. donald trump didn't relent. alison: we will watching both events. you will cover all of it. >> we are efforting an interview with donald trump before he takes the podium tonight. if so we will bring it to you. we will ask him the questions. >> we'll be watching. thank you. alison: still to come at "abc7 news at 5:00" -- 30 years later and a look at how people remember the crew of the "challenger." >> it happened at a busy time just like this. in rush hour at the gallery place metro station. why six teens are facing charges. leon: later, people forced to walk in the street because of the snow. how a fire station may have done for harm than good.

>> get text alerts at wjla.com/text.

alison: covering metro about a decoupling incident on january

6. today, metro officials say they found water in airlines anded the equipment made to connect cars together didn't have a firm connection. as a result, metro is recommending the airlines get drained each day. the springs that help connect the cars get tested regularly. snee plenty students take -- leon: plenty of students ride metro to get to school. but today many were taken into custody and brianne carter has details. brianne: caught on camera. fight on the camera of the gallery place metro train. metro transit police say a 35-year-old man was getting off the train at gallery place at the same a group of 30 teens waited to board the train. the man and the group exchanged words. a teen punched the man.

the man fought back. a fight broke out. look at the video on the station's camera. all of a sudden you see a larger move away from the train. >> this took place quickly. they had time to board the train and get back on it to shady grove. >> all six teens were arrested. reaction tonight from metro's general manager. >> proactively, you know, trying to deal with the situations on our system. leon: that was brianne carter reporting. alison: a spanish paraglider makes history capturing the beauty of the northern lights in a unique way. check out the video. this is courtesy of red bull. horacio laurens battled below freezing temperatures in norway to take a flight right under the northern lights.

he became first person to perform this feat. amazing. he calls at it challenging and a magical experience. leon: of course now he glows in the dark. alison: how many red bulls did he drink? leon: drink enough and you will see the lights on a regular basis. alison: beautiful, right? leon: cool. alison: warming up around here. doug: a little bit. enough to melt it off. last night we had a bad refreeze. tonight not so much. tomorrow a bigger refreeze. then saturday through monday no more refreeze at all. nature will help us deal with it. time lapse. 40 degrees at the high school. beautiful sunrise. see if you notice melting. it will be subtle today. it wasn't all that warm. but enough with plowing and the shoving here and there. starting to make progress on the deep snow pack. high clouds moving in today. 40 degrees right now from the campus in aldie.

this morning, impressive. 7 in frederick. 14 in leesburg. 10 in manassas. 11 in culpeper. 17 at b.w.i. there was so much ice around this morning. tonight is upper 20 to lower 30's. patchy ice but not as much. 37 in annapolis. fredericksburg at 41. 38 in hagerstown. 38 in martinsburg, west virginia as well. the next item to talk about is the cold front swinging through ohio, west virginia tonight. behind the front is not that much colder. 43 in columbus. it's warmer there. 42 in indianapolis. see a change. the front comes in, the cold air in the morning that could produce flurries here. gusty winds in the forecast. we will continue to increase the cloudiness tonight. lows are 27 to 33. flurries by dawn will be in the mountains. as we head to the mid-to-the late morning the chance of flurries the light southwesterly winds when the front passes will get gusty.

winds in the day tomorrow increase in the area here. satellite and the radar shows rain to the south. no effect. so maybe measurable snow tomorrow. rest of the area with flurries and the gusty winds average. the sun and wind should dry things up. the future cast of the wind speeds running in increasing velocity tomorrow. sustained winds 20 miles per hour. gusts to 30 miles per hour. winds will diminish tomorrow afternoon. cold night coming. blustery and cold tomorrow

with partly cloudy skies. a warming trend. low 50's on sunday. upper 50's on monday. tuesday, ground hog day and on groundhog day phil comes up. the question is will he see the shadow? will he not see the shadow? i don't care but people in punxsutawney punxsutawney -- punxsutawney do. the day after punxsutawney's phil predictions with the shower and the thunderstorms to turn cooler next week. six more weeks of winter or early spring? only the little rat knows. >> the camera lights is on

phil. doug: it's a fix. but the people make money off of it. leon: not that you're bitter. >> not a bit! alison: you want bring more three hours of liquid and gels but what else could be banned when you fly? leon: how a traffic stop turned into something different next. al

leon: new developments in the "affluenza" teen case. ethan couch violated terms of his probation. in a trial defense expert said couch was coddled so much as a

youth he didn't understand consequences of his actions. alison: this morning an lex lec police officer pulled over a car that was driving erratically. but there was a good reason. the driver wasn't focused on the road. stephen: resting now, but baby joshua was ready to go about 2:00 this morning. >> it was really quickly. stephen: her con stractions came on fast and strong. she knew the baby was arrive soon since she had two other children. she told her mother miria to get her to the hospital but joshua was in a real hurry. kenya was frightened. >> i don't deliver him, means the baby would die. stephen: she was driving down duke street and acknowledged she was weaving and driving erratically.

pulled over here. behind her pulled up officer michael garcia. when he went to check things out he got called into action. >> help! i say help! the police go what is going on? baby come out. he saw the head and i pushed one more time and the baby came out. >> garcia delivered the baby in the car. tonight mother and six pound, 15-ounce joshua are doing fine. >> i want to say thank you so much for helping us. i'm really glad. god sent him to help us. stephen: stephen tschida, abc7 news. alison: how nice. leon: you mothers. ahhh. alison: it's such a sweet story. you know they will keep up with each other forever. he will be part of the family. leon: i'm sure. little joshua was smart to wait until today to do that. if he had done it last

thursday, it could have been a different situation. alison: big problem there. coming up at 5:00 -- >> a week ago on saturday was really one of the days that i enjoyed the most as secretary of state. alison: we will tell you what secretary kerry is talking about just ahead. >> 30 years ago today the hopes and dreams of a nation lifted off with the space shuttle "challenger." we will take you to some of today's remembrances of the disaster coming up. >> after a pedestrian forced to the roadway by snow, is struck, fire department brings in heavy equipment to clear struck, fire department brings in heavy equipment to clear the sid having lots of devices in your home

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alison: neighboring helping neighbors has been the scene in days after the blizzard. one attempt to clear a sidewalk and driveway created more of a hazard for those around them. maryland bureau chief brad bell live in hyattsville to show us what seems to be happening all around prince george's county. brad? brad: alison the problem is sidewalks that haven't been cleared. last night a pedestrian was struck right here. this happens to be in front of a volunteer fire department. we brought it to the fire department attention. take a look at what is going on now. they are clearing the snow to make it passible for walkers. pedestrian walk in travel

downs up and down annapolis road. the sidewalks not shoveled or blocked by massive plow piles. at almost exactly the spot a man was struck last night by a hit-and-run driver. >> the victim was walking in the street. not sure. we haven't been able to speak with him. not sure of why he was in the roadway. brad: the only clue to the driver's identity, this side view mirror. police believe it belongs to a silver navigator or expedition. the man was hit in front of the domino's store in violation of the county 48 hour rule. the sidewalk here is not shoveled. we speak to the manager. >> it's a county code. what businesses do to the sidewalks.

brad: even if he had shoveled it, it would have been blocked by this pile of snow. late this afternoon the fire department crews move in to clear the hazard. these pedestrians say that it's about time. >> this is too dangerous. brad: the pedestrian there, we walked him watch four blocks in the travel lane of 450 before he got to clear the sidewalk area. we can tell you tonight that prince george's county has announced that after allowing a grace period, they are now beginning to ticket businesses which do not clear their sidewalks. they have to get it done under county code in 48 hours. there has been a grace period. but now prince george's county says it is time to get the sidewalks cleared before kids go back to school on monday. there will be a lot of melting but the snow piles are likely to remain an issue. in hyattsville, brad bell,

abc7 news. leon: maybe maybe there -- neigs along tucker after in mcclain took matters in their own hands. they posted this. kathy gallagher shared it with us. you can see a lot of video in photos from the tomorrow. it's at wjla.com. alison: a big day for the "washington post." paper held an official opening at the new headquarters in northwest washington. several people attended it including angelo muriel bowser,y hogan and secretary of state john kerry. it was an emotional homecoming for the freed "washington post" journalist jason rezaian. he was one of four americans held in iran for more than a year. he described the ordeal and thanked those who helped him get home. >> i'm truly thankful to have

the opportunity to thank secretary kerry for negotiating with the iranians for my release. no other country would do so much for ordinary citizen. alison: rezaian was accused of being a spy but was eventually released. leon: few people forget where they were january 281986. this day, 30 years ago the "challenger" exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. >> many watched the astronauts strap in for the historic mission. what happened next changed the space program forever. the 25th shuttle mission designed to make history. krista beat out other athletes to be the first teacher and

civilian in space. a minute after launch, disaster. the below freezing temperatures damaged parts. >> it showed us we can learn for mistake and be better for them in the end. >> today, nasa remembered the crews of "challenger," "apollo 1" and "columbia." there was a wreath-laying at the arlington national cemetery and events took place at kennedy space center in florida and mission control in houston. >> we will continue to strive to be better. to rise from the mistakes. to reach out beyond our known

limits. >> the crew held a moment of silence for the fallen comrades. >> their spirit and the legacy lives on in our achievement in space. >> the shuttle program returned to flight in 1988, teacher did not fly in space until 2007.kw: nay now want employees and experts to come forward with any concerns they might have. leon: thank you. i don't think anyone watched the shuttle launch since then without thinking of that. leon: coming up at "abc7 news at 5:00" -- after years of criticism we look at how the district fared with the snowstorm. >> nobody completely safe.

>> taking steps to protect us all from zika virus. >> ahead at 6:00 tonight, the roads and the sidewalks are visible after days of plowing and digging

steve: one more day until the weekend. it will warm up nicely around here. 46 degrees on saturday. a nice mix of sun and clouds. by sunday change in the wind direction will allow the temperatures to warm to the lower 50's. take you out for the next seven days. monday, chance for showers and 60 degrees. lower 60's wednesday of next week. "abc7 news at 5:00" continues after this. [mother] yeah but this neighborhood,i feel like

it's got a lot of what we were kinda talking about. we shod definitely go see it. [agent] hi. melanie. maggie. living room. [dad]what about this? this looks good. [brendan] no. [mother] isn't it great? [announcer]redfin pays its agents based on your r happiness... that's real estate, redefined.

leon: "7 on your side" with health matters. tonight the world health organization says zika virus is spreading explosively in the americas. as we report, the agency says the level of concern is high. reporter: health officials are raising alarm over the zika virus. but in brazil the warning sirens have been blaring for months. over 4,000 babies in brazil have been born with microcephaly.

resulting in abnormally small heads that can cause brain damage and long-term developmental problems. >> the babies have brain damage, to differing degrees so that means inserting this generation in society will be very complicatedded. reporter: the world health organization organization now says the virus is spreading explosively. with the potential of three to four million cases in the next 12 months. >> so this virus has been on the move for some time. so a lot of people have been exposed to the virus already in those areas. but it will continue to move is the expect. >> up to 1.5 million brazilians are affected. the symptoms are mild to none for most people. the serious risk is only in pregnant women. there is no treatment for the zika virus and no immunity either. it has been around for decades but only arrived in the americas last year. spread to 24 countries and 31 cases in the continental u.s. all of them brought to the u.s. from abroad. >> people who are pregnant,

think about becoming pregnant, we recommend you consider traveling to the 2 affected areas. reporter: the w.h.o. will hold emergency meeting next week but is not you remembering women to put -- not urging well to put off getting pregnant. but trying to avoid mosquito bites the only known way virus is passed. alison: all right. coming up at "abc7 news at 5:00" -- mobile track 7 out on the roadways. we will show you how tonight's commute is shaping up. >> area ski resorts are opening but what will next

alison: back with this. beautiful look at the slopes in white hill resort in pennsylvania. last weekend's blizzard and menty of kids out of school this is a boom for the local slopes. leon: suzanne kennedy went to liberty mountain to see how business is there today. suzanne: call it payback for warm december and the inability to hit the slopes. >> we came here yesterday, today, schools are closed tomorrow we'll be here

tomorrow. suzanne: that is just what the area ski resorts need after not being able to open last month. 26 inches of snow fell in the blizzard here at liberty mountain. conditions are ideal. >> all the natural snow has been mixed in with the snow death. we have carvable snow. it's nice and soft. >> they took to the 16 runs here and that is double mid-week. >> they are teaching the kids to ski. >> we have days off and the kids are with us. >> we played board games and it's finally time to get out of the house.

>> what will it mean for next week "it" may improve things. it will melt the snow to make it softer and better for skiing. leon: jamie sullivan has traffic watch for us. >> it seems like it last week. it was the roads. this week we are getting closer to normal. that means the slow traffic. in silver springs. some of the volume we have on the road. we have slowing on the inner loop. but it's not back to tysons corner. only river road to get to silver springs. virginia outbound 395 in the teens right now. they are doing the snowplowing. it's sixth street northwest, expect delays.

metro bus on a 45-minute delay. let's head outside to mobile track 7. chris, not too bad for you? >> it hasn't been. now we are starting to hit the traffic. we have been traveling g.w. parkway, 495. everything has been great. but now as you can see we are starting to get in a little more traffic. if you look behind us, cars behind us as well. after seeing a lot of really small amount of traffic, it's now picking up. but it's probably not snow related. if you look to the side of the road, left and the median, there isn't snow. a little on the right. people getting back to normal after the big storm six days

ago. alison: a united nations panel doesn't think the lithium chargeable batteries should be allowed on the aviation. the batteries can start fires and that could bring down a plane. it also says if better packaging could be developed for the batteries, such a ban might not be necessary. leon: look at what is coming up at 6:00 -- digging out continues. remember the challenger. 30 years after the disaster. the special connection to the fateful day even though they didn't know anyone on board. that's coming your way at 6:00 >> what is the latest? doug: nice and quiet here. high cloudiness moving in. earlier this week this is a storm we were keeping an eye

on. it might bring moisture our day. it will not. look at the rain and the thunderstorms continue. tornado through north of fort leaderdale. hanging out in if breezeway. look at the wind damage from this. it's minor damage. more storms in that area tonight. we are concerned we could have potential for freezing. isn't it nice we still have light in the sky. the temperatures 30 to 40's. they will drop overnight. but only upper 20's to the lower 30's.

some ice could form. tomorrow, cold front and gusty winds. highs of 42. 40 miles per hour. warmup over the weekend. low 50's on sunday. groundhog day, 57. not bad. then windy and warm with the showers and the thunderstorms on wednesday. a wild week of weather ahead. for the snow lovers don't see anything more than flurries tomorrow before the warmup. that is it. back to you. leon: good deal. big matchup tonight. robert: best team in the big ten. probably hottest team in country. big game for terps tonight. hosting iowa. they are digging out at college park. the first time they have ever met at xfinity. tonight, one of the biggest fan favorites is the smallest guy on the roster. he doesn't play that much. but he does come up big in

other areas. glance at the student athlete you probably see more of a student than the athlete. >> trouble convincing my professors that we have travel letter to give them. missing practice. >> that is not the only thing to make the student stand out. there are only five players of indian descent. he is one of them. >> is that crazy or what? >> it's cool. paving the way for the future indian americans and asian americans to play basketball. raising awareness that there are colleagues and the culture and the ath lesssy as well. he wanted to play for an ivy league school but he was denied by every one.

it helps me appreciate it. >> no words. i was laughed. for me, twofer been an honor to play at any division one school. dream come true. >> 4.6 out of high school. i would hate to see what they would say to me. what dead you challenge him to? robert: not math or science. none of those. alison: glad to see him doing so well. that is great. leon: coming up at 5:00 -- i'm sam ford.

we walked around eastern market with a board to ask how we walked around eastern market with a board to ask how the city handled blizza having lots of devices in your home can really slow your internet down.

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sam: i'm sam ford. if it is clear the mayor is concerned about how the city is perceived in handling the blizzard, today we talked about with the board around eastern market and talk to people who asked him what they thought. >> we moved around eastern market and eastern market metro with the sign and the marker for people to tell us how well they thought the city handled blizzard. >> we knew the storm was coming. why we weren't a little more prepared, our guys are sitting out on the side of the anniversary laughing and joking. >> excellent. we're both survivors of snowmageddon. i thought they handled snowzilla better than snowmageddon. sam: in general, people from

d.c. were more positive. people from colder cities were questioning. >> i was shocked how the city shut down. i'm a chicagoan, and for us that's just regular. >> i think it was okay. i'm from new york. we would have kept going. they are not used to this so they don't know what to do. >> only one person said d.c. failed. >> i'm from new york. >> some good fuse for motorists who may have been ticket and towed for parking on the snow emergency roots mayor bowser is forgiving all tickets written friday. so of the 5,500tility -- 5,500 tickets written, she is forgiving more than half. in a statement she said i understand that some who received citation friday may not have known about the parking restriction or may have been running errands in preparation for the storm. for the towing and the storage fee, you still have to pay those. the city wrote $1 million of

tickets in the blizzard of 2016. so the mayor is giving half of that back. alison: okay. thank you very much. that does it for "abc7 news at 5:00". but right now at "abc7 news at 6:00" -- the danger on the area roads and sidewalks as more and more of the snow is cleared. donald trump turns down a debate. what he is doing instead and which other candidates may join him. >> and remembering the "challenger." why one family with no real connection to those on board feels a special connection to that fateful day 30 years ago. jena six tarts rights now -- "abc7 news at 6:00" starts right now. announcer: now severance at 6:00. -- now "abc7 news at 6:00". leon: digging out 2016. according to noaa the blizzard

was the third most powerful storm to hit the northeastern. a continued impact is the school closing. only d.c. public schools and alexandria city schools are open tomorrow. alexandria schools will open two hours late. we are awaiting word for the federal government plan. metro is running the full weekday schedule. maureen? maureen: the effort to make the roads and the sidewalks safer by removing the snow is now creating its own unique hazard. northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg joining us from alexandria to explain. jeff? jeff: maureen, it's the mountains of the snow. we have seen them making turn on the main road. the snow piles up. this one is relatively tame compared to the others you will see in a moment. the other issue is the sidewalks. a lot of them still remain covered in snow and ice creating challenges for the pedestrians to make it clear we are not yet done with