[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> abc 7 news at noon on your side. : we are tracking 12 punch on this president's day. later on this afternoon is expected to switch over to sleet and freezing rain, making for treacherous conditions. the national weather service extending the winter storm warning for much of the d.c. area this noon. doug hill is tracking all of it for us. when could the changeover happened? doug: still snow

across the area and after 3:00 or 4:00 is when we will see the transition. precipitation may come to a total stop for a couple of hours. not a traditional winter storm at all, it is a process of warm air overrunning the cold air and squeezing out snow. purple, winter weather advisory and lesser amounts of snow. areas in pink, that is a winter storm warning for more significant amounts of snow. by the time it does the transition from snow to sleet, we will g -- be generally around 10 inches to the south. , virginia, 8.3e inches so far. plata, six -- la inches.

the situation for the stormwatch, the weather came is trying to figure out when these transitions will occur. overhead, the air is going to warm up first so instead of snow falling it will melt on the way down, then it will be sleet and then plain rain. then you get to the ground level or it will take longer for the temperatures to get above freezing. that will develop and we will not have much of anything happening for a couple of hours, and a bigger slug of moisture will start to over slug -- overspread the area. that is when we will see the transition with significant sleet through the late afternoon. thisll -- weve 3:00,ave this lull around and overnight areas will be icy.

tomorrow we will probably mostly see rain. we see that from time to time. it is a bloody mess to deal with, especially since we do not have control over the temperatures ahead. we know the transition pattern. in the precipitation, a little more snow and sleet, eventually mixing with an changing to freezing rain and plain old-fashioned rain. good thing it is president's day because the roadways are pretty messy in some spots. john: let's get to gonzalez live in burtonsville, maryland. hey, john. is pretty impressive how quickly things have deteriorated in upper montgomery county. we have been getting snow for several hours and it has been coming down in bands. the first

fluffy snow and the second was a lot more snow for a lot longer, and it is wet, heavy snow. the problem, the temperatures are so cold whatever has been falling has been quickly sticking. this is route 198 in burtonsville, maryland. crews have been coming through with the salt quite often. pavement but in another 45 minutes, it will be covered again. if you take a look at my feet, we have several inches of snow in montgomery county and whatever is falling is quickly freezing to surfaces, pavement. let's talk to john russo, a private contractor. you have been busy today. obviously this is not a blizzard but sometimes it is storms like these that really wreak havoc. people take advantage and they think they can get around, and when you put on the brakes you will slam right into the other vehicle.

today. the roads look like they are good but they are not. john: how long will you be out? opening parking lots and trading them and waiting for it to stop. when it stops, we will go back and clean everything up so tomorrow morning it will be passable. we want to make sure the streets and sidewalks are all passable. shot,as we get another walk over here, we are going to ,end it back in to you, jummy this is the intersection of old columbia pike and route 198. please take it very easy out here. , 23gs freezing very quickly degrees in burtonsville, maryland. jummy: thank you for the good advice. the slippery roadways as you saw causing accidents this morning,

frederick county, virginia. a tractor-trailer overturned and lost its load of cattle. they ended up roaming on the interstate. police and fire crews were called in to round them up. of theouter loop beltway, a tractor-trailer crash at van dorn street. a wps tractor-trailer jackknifed and several lanes were closed. those are just some of the many crashes reported throughout this morning. jamie sullivan has a look at traffic. jamie: we do still have closures. if you travel on metro bus, delays are expected because they do have a severe snow service plan in place which means they are limited to the major roads only. on the red line, we are single tracking between dupont circle and van ness because of a disabled train at woodley park. heading southbound on the bw parkway at the offmp

onto the capital beltway, that is closed and 95 is a better route to take. we are suggesting no one gets outside and travels and less you absolutely have to. the bigger picture, a lot of green. who did lot of people not go to work and kids that did not go to school, which we are very fortunate to have. 27 at tuckerman lane0. getting to these interstates, that is the problem for us. you are going to see a lot of slush. the ramps are not in good condition. this is in the area of arlington, clarendon, court house neighborhood. we got this picture, inc. is so much from d.c. food safety, but you can get an idea of the slush that you will see and that will pull you either way when you are driving.

move and it may be a little deceiving, you can get out there but we are still not advising it. jummy: a lot of those roadways snow covered in prince william -- prince george's county. jeannette reyes is live in fort washington with how things are looking for us. jummy, it has been a long morning. we saw the snow start up early this morning and that it stopped, came down really heavy at one point and now it is just no flakes that you can barely see. .e are off of austin hill road this is a side street and this is probably what you are going to find if you head out. if the snowplows even pass by your road, there will be a thin coating, but you still have many slick spots. we decided to talk to the people heading out for the first time today, cleaning off their cars.

and danielle. what did you think when you walked out? >> i was not ready for it. it was a complete shock. jeannette: you do not sound happy. >> i am just ready for it to be done. jeannette: what would you say to drivers heading out? >> please be very careful for any streets that are not plowed and stay safe. jeannette: they are doing something that many drivers should do. i have found this morning, people not cleaning off their cars and the snow blows off and heads into traffic. that is if you even have to head out today. i think we have been hearing from the maryland highway administration as they are running into some cars on the road more than usual and that makes it difficult for them to do their job. the temperatures have kind of resin a little bit but there were concerns they would have issues removing some of the snow and ice off the road.

be an all-day thing with sleet and ice coming later this afternoon so just stay home all day. this is not very good for snowballs but i think it is good to play in. some fun, stay near your home, and stay away from the roads. live in fort washington, jeannette reyes. jummy: most of the plows have been out since last night. rand carter is writing along with plow crews -- brianne carter is riding along with plow crews. anne: trying to figure out what the process is to keep the roads as clear as possible. we are with at the vdot maintenance center. we are mixing the sand and salt, two third

sand. the sand invite does provide a little bit of grip for the cars on the road so we are mixing it up here at brianne: just trying to give people the best opportunity if they have to get out, is that going to be the most challenging part of the storm? >> ice is treacherous. it is hard to treat. if they do not have to be out, lee's do not travel. brianne: you all are stepping up your efforts with the amount of snow we are getting. had 28 hundred trucks and equipment and that is going to be changing. we have beenunty, in our highest mobilization level. prince william and fairfax, they are all going to a level five is well. we will have over 4000 pieces of equipment out this afternoon. heedne: asking people to the

room to do the work. we will get a closer look at the roads this afternoon. it is a holiday and if in fact please do.y home reporting live, brianne carter. jummy: we have much more coverage coming up this entire hour. make sure you stay with abc seven and the stormwatch team as we track this winter weather. you can stay connected by downloading our app to your phone or tablet. coming up, we of course have continuing coverage of the winter storm. doug hill will be the -- back with the latest on phase two of the system. -- sam: i am sam sweeney in springfield.

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>> you are watching abc 7 news at noon, on your side. a live lookg outside right now at the white house, you can see it is definitely a white house with all the snow coming down. dmz, spread all across the so let's head over to sam , live at irving middle school in springfield, virginia. jummy, it is perfect, i got the best gig of the day. it is still snowing in springfield and it is making for perfect conditions. we have two dozen people lined up at irving middle school. i have volunteers and they will

count in springfield, virginia. what have you got? >> about four inches. sam: we are going to race. i have everyone on board. everyone ready to go? i had to brush up on my skills earlier. ready? 1, 2, 3, here we go. i need a little push, they are beating me. i am getting beaten a bunch of 10-year-olds. good job. how was it? >> it was really fun. sam: better than being in school? >> way better. sam: not a bad day at work. jummy: great reporting. it is the perfect day. kids have the day off. doug: i would still be faced first and the sn

-- me. every winter storm has its own personality. this one is a little different from anything we have had this winter, and that is the modality, the change in types of precipitation. the snow is just about done, then we will have a break, and then when it starts again it sleet,art as fleet -- freezing rain and eventually it will be regular rain tomorrow. , allthing you see in pink continuing under winter storm warnings through the rest of the day and the night. the area and purple, those are areas with winter weather advisory's. underare isolated areas winter storm warnings here and not so much there. just be advised that the entire region is under the effects of the system.

snow to sleet to freezing rain to plain old-fashioned rain when temperatures get above 32 degrees, just to do not know the exact minute that is going to happen. five to 10 inch snowfalls to the south, and lesser amounts to the north because the moisture has been taking a track mainly to the south and southwest. maryland, that is in st. mary's county, seven inches of snow. inches.maryland, 5.7 half.church, two and a clearly the further south you are the heavier's the snow has been -- the heavier the snow has been. it is two different areas we are ,atching, what happens overhead the temperatures there will determine what type of precipitation forms and falls. temperatures on the ground will affect what happens once that stuff falls.

end, but look at current washington,, 26 in 25 in manassas in fredericksburg. happen is wheno we get the sleet and the rain it will freeze on contact. that is a real concern for later this afternoon and this evening. we have a couple little snow flurries here and there but generally there is going to be a break, and after about an hour and a half, the next -- of precipitation is going to move in. we think enough warm air will, in that it will be sleet and freezing rain for a while. when we get in this part of the andmass, the air overhead on the ground is much warmer. that is where it transition into rain. they are having severe problems with thunderstorms and tornadoes. the snow moving out and at about 3:00 this

reforming, and sleet and freezing rain. this will continue through tonight through the overnight hours and eventually we will wind up with some heavy amounts of rain moving through the area by tomorrow morning, as the back end of the system finally moves out. improve when and only when temperatures get above 32 degrees. sometimes the cold air is very sluggish to move out of the area. this is not the snow, this is how much rain we expect when the snow ends. flood threats are a possibility. as we get through the rest of the day, we will deal with improving conditions once we get into wednesday and thursday. look at that warm-up we have for you. saturday, 60 degrees, we will take that. jummy: we will absolutely take that. switching gears to some other

half-staff at the u.s. capitol for justice antonin scalia. his coffin arrived in virginia this morning, but before the funeral plans are set the political battle is already taking shape. lana zak has the latest. mana: antonin scalia was arguably one of the brightest legal minds in virginia and his passing could not be more profound. ande automate the 2016 dusty referendum. lana: mitch mcconnell declared this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. it is a president's constitutional right and there is no exception for an election year. >> there will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility. lana: the senate has

constitutional right to confirm or deny that nominee. >> they have a chance to send qualified nominees of their philosophy to the senate, and i will vote for them if they are qualified even if i would not have chosen them. lana: among the names being most unanimously confirmed to weigh judgeship he would be the first asian-american on the supreme court. lana zak, abc 7 news. storm isday's canceling two famous celebrations. the city of alexandria canceled its annual george washington parade and there is no makeup date. up,nizers are packing it saying they will try to do it again next year. old guard is being

at mount vernon, but the grounds are still open until 4:00 p.m. and admission is free. are five days away from the south carolina primary and the battle to name a new supreme court justice is turning out to be a key issue. called fordidates his replacement to come after president obama leaves office. donald trump sparred with jeb bush. >> while donald trump was building a reality tv show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe, and i am proud of what he did. >> the world trade center came down. meanwhile, george w. bush is hitting the campaign trail tonight for the first time since leaving office. he is giving his younger brother a helping hand down in south carolina.

i team is doing business with potential scammers to show you how easy it is to get your tax refund. >> this is probably what happened to you. what do you think about that? >> that is insane, it looks authentic. 11, the 7 ont at your side team shows the fake documents being sold online at can be used to steal your money. sale, how states are fighting back to protect you. coming up, we have snow, sleet, and ice. we are tracking the latest on this winter storm. a devastating air strike in syria.

jummy: doctors without borders says one of its hospitals in northern syria has been hit right airstrikes. nine people are dead and eight are missing. the hospital was hit at least four times according to a statement. it is not clear who was responsible for those airstrikes. have you ever heard of the he roin highway? it is the name police gave two sections of highway that run through maryland, or jeanette, and west virginia. see the devastation up close and personal. what happens when you have a city that is just decades old, within driving distance? how about cities like hagerstown and winchester? all this week you hear from every angle of the crisis, including families of those who have died.

crisis that is getting worse, and seven on your those numbers for you. you have not heard the heroin story like this before. kicking off tonight at 5:00. still ahead here on abc 7 news at noon, the latest on the winter weather alert. the dangerous conditions and the dramatic rescues it is prom

i lead the 11 o'clock news with stories of gun violence. and like many of you, my family lived through the beltway sniper crisis. in congress, i'll fight to expand background checks on guns and ammunition, ban assault weapons, and mandate gun safety locks, because too many kids die from accidental shootings. let's show the nra we're not afraid of them; as democrats, as americans, as parents. i'm kathleen matthews and i approve this message.