per hour or higher. but the area to the west of us, east of interstate 81 bears watching closely. some of those could develop the parameters and the winds and the areas farther south as well. so it will be for the next few hours that the highest risk of damaging winds. this is predicated on a warm pattern we have. warm temperatures d.c. and south and colder west. most of the action is metro and point south and east of washington in the next few hours. live doppler shows the area clearly, the heavy rain moving through the metro with the traffic. jamie sullivan will let you know how it is affecting the rush. then we have a large area of the heavy storms. what happens and the environment we have, strong winds just off the surface. means the air rises in the storm they could rotate and develop the winds not only splash down to the surface but the winds that rotate. strong rotation could reach the groun t

we have watch area from jersey, pennsylvania, south carolina. this is a long line. this is the line all the way to south carolina that will continue to advance eastward and affect us in the next few hours. a decent chance that part of the area will deal with a tornado in the next few hours. when the storms develop that show any kind of tornadic signature, any indication that they are not garden variety storms, ones with a twisting, rotating nature and could produce a tornado in quick order we will let you know. the key to the storms the actual storms are moving at 45 miles per hour. when they form up and get warned they are a short amount of time to make it in the area. look at the future cast how we look now and who it thinks we will look at 6:00 p.m. with the heaviest storms bearing in. after that it should move out. by 8:00 or 9:00 the weather should improve. but we ain't there yet. jonathan: thank you very much. we should let you know at home if anything should change or if there is a rotation or a twister reported doug will have it rig

the day did start wet. we had a wet morning commute ride that makes for fun for folks on the road. they will continue to roll in for the evening commute. michelle: the ride home could be treacherous. kevin lewis is in mobiletrak7. how is it looking? kevin: we just crossed on the 14th street bridge into virginia. the conditions right now take a look outside. pretty good in terms of traffic congestion or a lack thereof. the weather getting worse. the rain picked up with the last 30 to 45 minutes. wi saw a lightning bolt over the pentagon really. as people leave work and hit the roads, certainly should contribute to a more treacherous commute home. we are heading southbound on 395 right now. we are going toward prince william county. we will bring you updates as we see them. live in mobiletrak7, i'm kevin back to

>> you see that? >> oh, my gosh. jonathan: we are getting a much better look today at what the storm brought to other part of the country. people ducking for coverage in louisiana. wall of a gym blown down. you can see it there. michelle: twisters touched down on florida's panhandle as well. this video coming in from pensacola where even brick buildings were no match. they were brought down. alison starling has more of the damage. alison: the deadly storms slamming south and are now heading north and into the east. snow is falling in the midwest. three people have been killed. after more than two dozen reported tornadoes hit the southeast. a monster some system on the move up the east coast. >> holy cow! alison: along the way, leaving a path of destruction. this r.v. park in st. james parish, louisiana, obliterated. >> i immediately took off running to help people. alison: entire neighborhoods

decimated. all of this, the work of 27 reported tornadoes. in 24 hours across five states. >> sounded like a train coming through here. alison: people were inside a gold's gym in prairieville when a twister ripped the wall off the building. >> working employees and people working out. there were eight kids in the daycare. scary situation. alison: amazingly, no one was seriously hurt here. but elsewhere, the heavy wind and rain powerful enough to flip a tractor-trailer over proved to be deadly. with dozens injured. search is continuing for anyone who may still be trapped in this mangled mess of debris. >> we are hoping to get down in the pile to find people. ads as we saw, one of the hardest hit areas was pensacola on the panhandle. you can see the aerial video here from the sister station wear. it shows that the homes here are totally destroyed and

others completely untouched. stay with us here at abc7. our entire stormwatch7 team is tracking the storms and their potential for us here locally. make sure you keep the phones and the tablets charged in case the power goes out to get real-time updates on the stormwatch7 app, facebook, twitter and all you need for that is cellular connection. jonathan: thank you. 24 hours ago breaking news. metro, someone shot on a green line train. victim is out of the hospital and recovering. michelle: the suspect is a 16-year-old. that person has been charged as an adult. stephen tschida has that decision. as the investigation continues. >> two teenagers charged in connection with a shooting of a metro passenger. it went down on the green line at the anacostia station yesterday afternoon. the two teens are 189-year-old andre who is charged with arm robbery as is

graves. now charged as an adult. we have learned graves is a suspect in armed robbery in southeast d.c. in december. he is the one in black rifling through the cash register and going through tobacco products before running off. some metro passengers we spoke to are relieved that graves is charged as an adult. >> yeah. he acting like he should be charged as an adult. you are doing adult things. why not charge as an adult. that is your fault. why put people in jeopardy? >> attorneys for both teenagers are expected to advise for supervised release. prosecutors will argue that the judge order them held until the next court appearance. a lot of people wondering why graves was on the street anyway if he was a suspect in the armed robbery. stephen tschida, abc7 news. jonathan: in case you didn't know it a debate got started recently at george washington university la

bathrooms? that is the debate. men and women can use this on campus. the urinals next to the sink, no divider between them. what do you think about this? good idea? bad idea? we post the story on the website at wjla.com and a poll live on twitter. we ask for your opinion. michelle: late last year, noah leotta, an officer, killed in a suspected drunk driving cash. the man behind the wheel now charged had prior d.u.i. convictions. an effort is underway to strengthen punishment for the first time offenders. maryland bureau chief brad bell is in annapolis with a closer look at the press to pass "noah's law." brad: here is what "noah's law" is aimed at doing. aimed to interrupt the act of a drunk driver getting to a car and simply turning it on. it would require ig anything interlock where a drunk driver has to blow in a tube to start

it would require it of everyone convicted of drunk driving. but first they have to pass it in the legislature in the state house. today, dozen of police officers came to town to tell the story of officer noah leotta. the young officer killed in the line of duty in december when he was hit and killed by repeat offender drunk driver. the chiefs of police, montgomery, prince george's came to town today with officer leotta's parents. to try to convince the maryland house of delegates judiciary committee to pass this bill along. >> my son was 24 years old. he should be here today. he was completely healthy until the moment a dunk driver struck him. it's irresponsible and reck lest that people are doing that. brad: the problem with the bill, proponents sayi

killed in the house committee six straight years. when we come back we tell you why it has happened and why they hope this year is different. in annapolis, brad bell, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you. in the race for the white house, a key pickup for hillary clinton after winning nevada. senate minority leader harry reid where nevada endorsed hillary clinton. this is as attention turns to super tuesday. bill clinton stumping on hillary's behalf in the commonwealth. jeff goldberg is in alexandria. i understand that -- hey now. i understand the lines stretching for is blocks. i guess jeff had to step out of the way, someone is speaking. can you talk to us? jeff: we are life at old town alexandria in the durant art center as it is standing room only as the crowd is waiting for former president bill clinton. packed house in alexandria. we

the democrats from the region here getting ready and warming up the crowd a little bit for the arrival of president clinton but he has not yet come to stage. we do know that the president clinton is known for being late. that is what we are dealing with today. after the event, president clinton will head to richmond and have an event with governor terry mcauliffe. hillary clinton in the current standing in virginia the recent polls her v her doing very well, up 54-47 over bernie sanders. that poll from last week. she is standing strong after a win in nevada. upcoming looking good in south carolina. so people here trying to generate excitement and enthusiasm in super tuesday. the big commonwealth of virginia on tuesday. waiting for president clinton. we will hear from him soon and have an update on what he had to say on "abc7 news at 6:00". until then live in old town, jeff goldberg, abc7 news.

there. jeff, thank you. republican side of things donald trump arrived in the commonwealth. he took his message to the virginia beach speaking to students and supporters. trump has made it now three in a row. holy cow! yesterday, the nevada caucuses nearly 50% of the vote went to donald trump. the only loss was in iowa. even then he said senator cruz cheated. michelle: another virginia school district decided to shut the doors ahead of next week's primary. loudoun county schools will be closed on super tuesday, march 1, citing concern of large crowds of voters. fairfax, prince william and spotsylvania made the same decision. jonathan: coming up for us on "abc7 news at 4:00" -- we are going to have an update on the storms rolling in the area. michelle: the potential for severe weather during the commute. plus the eastern shore mystery. what is killing bald eagles? the reward is going up. we will let you know how much they are willing to pay to solve

a change in graduation policy at the naval academy. i'm suzanne kennedy with that story coming up. jonathan: also ahead at 4:30 -- a d.c. break-in put montgomery county public school students' personal information at risk. we'll let you know what was stolen and which schools sent letters home. jonathan: mobiletrak7 is on i-395 in alexandria. we continue severe alert coverage. tornado watch issued for the area. if anything should develop we will cut right into it.

jonathan: a tradition is broken at the naval academy graduation. michelle: the move to gleaneder neutrality. men and -- gender neutrality. they will wear the same ceremony. suzanne: this year it will have a new look. more than 250 women of the naval academy class of 2016 graduate look like the male counterparts. no skirts. everyone in pants. >> i think it's great. if they get the same pay, we are all good. suzanne: this is the first time in 40 years since the naval academy accepted women that male and female

midshipmen will wear the same uniform at graduation. the everyday and the parade uniforms are the same but now they will be identical at the spring ceremony. dan peters served in the navy for four years and he opposes the change. >> skirts have always been okay. if they are mandating this and taking away a choice, i don't think that is really fair. >> the decision was annoyanced tuesday. academy releasing a statement saying in part uniformity is at the core of who we are at the naval academy and in the military. uniform policies which evolve and change all of the time throughout history reflect uniformity and the idea of service above self. some people don't see the need for the new policy. >> we are not gender neutral. it's worked for 40 years. why change it now. >> we look better in a skirt than they do. let us wear them. suzanne: with the move the naval academy joins the air force academy in the graduation uniform policy. another move toward

neutrality the possible changing of military titles. although the term "midshipmen" is unlikely to be altered. in annapolis, suzanne kennedy, abc7 news. michelle: update on the disruption that caused major delays for marc and amtrak commuters. overhead power issues north of union station for the problem. marc and amtrak suspended train service in and out of station for a half hour this morning. crews were able to make repairs quibblingly but the incident is under investigation. metro was not affected. jonathan: traffic was a mess this morning. crash that caused backups. inhappened at 4:30 but dragged on. tracker-trailer overturned on the median on the outer loop of georgia avenue. concrete debris scattered across both loop of the beltway. 20 disabled vehicles had to be pulled to the side of the road because of the damage. the road reopened but this is

truck jackknifed on the beltway. we turn to jamie sullivan to look at traffic today. jackknifing a big rig is not a good thing. jamie: absolutely not. the rain is not helping the commute. take a look. you can see that the visibility has dropped. it is going to be an afternoon that is very, very wet for us. this is across the wilson bridge. traveling on the 50's and the 60's the road spray. we are going to keep in mind traveling on the side streets, a lot of pedestrians trying to run across the street to get where they have to go. please be aware. move to the map. crash closing down the ramp to get to 95. that cleared away. big issue we have in virginia right now. if you approach 95 and get close to the capital beltway all lanes are blocked with the accident. traveling trying to l

need to know. capital beltway on the inner loop on maryland 270 to 95 in maryland will take you 30 minutes. south of 95, the crash at the beltway. 295 leaving the city is jammed as well. that is a look at traffic. back to you. jonathan: thank you. michelle: on the eastern shore in federalsburg, the reward for finding out who might be responsible for death of 13 bald eagles going up. they may have been poisoned. $25,000 is now offered for information that lead to arrest and conviction. bald eagles are still under federal protection and are no longer considered endangered. jonathan: we are talking about a lot of activity in the weather department. live picture from st. mary's county in clements, maryland. further south you go, the higher risk of severe storm and isolated tornado. we have to bring doug hill in now. this is a day that

hopping around. doug: this is all happening in the upper level energy. few thousand feet above the ground. the winds are blowing 70 miles per hour. if you get to flight level the winds are close to 100 miles per hour. all of this is involved in bringing that potential energy to the surface. get into it. a lot to share. start with the tornado watch itself. until 11:00. east of the blue ridge. if your county is lit up in yellow you are under the watch. bottom of the screen, you see a red box that is a tornado warning in effect. that is well southwest of the spotsylvania county. this will make more sense as we go along. this is the big line that could produce severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes. east of town we have a severe warning in fect for

county and anne arundel. this is moving at 55 miles per hour. that that is how fast the storm is moving. plowing quickly up the bay. it will affect western shore of anne arundel county. the big story from woodstock to win chester to the pennsylvania line and charlottesville. that is a concern tonight. closeup. areas shady side. look at the times here. this is moving so quickly, annapolis by 4:36. all the way to lake shore by 4:45. it is flying through the coastal sections of anne arundel county. now let's talk about this storm. there are along the stretch of the squall line from the pennsylvania-maryland border south, west of raleigh. just to the east of charlotte. 11 separate tornado warnings in effect right now. there is every expectation that as the storms continue to develop and race north at a good slip, the whole line moves in our direction we have severe thunderstorms. i wouldn't say a likelihood but a good possibility we will have one tornado somewh

the viewing area. this is the visible satellite picture. see the spot here, those are the clore skies -- clear skies. so some places the sun is out and blue skies. it is possible the clearing trend will come to the metro area. if it does don't think we are out of the woods because the sun is shining. some timing from the future cast. this is the set inn now. models say at 6:30 the line of the heaviest storms are approaching the area. the storms are moving 50 to 55 miles per hour. from south to north. the line is moving slowly. we think it will shift over the by a at 8:30 tonight to the eastern and the western shore of the bay. we clear skies and we will have the gusty winds and the clearing sky throughout the day. colder weather by friday. quick look at the seven-day will show the temperatures drop. tomorrow is

cooler. look what happens by sunday. the wind direction is back to 60 degrees and the sunshine. 63 on monday. jonathan: so 8:00, 9:00, it should quiet down? doug: 8:00, 8:30 it should move out. few more hours to keep an eye on each cell to make sure it doesn't start spinning. michelle: thank you, doug. jonathan: ahead for us at 4:00 -- emotional visit to the d.c. jail for congressman john lewis. his message to prisoners and the apology he got ahead. >> the general practitioner basically said leave her alone. she is fine. we stupidly followed that bad advice. five weeks later she died. michelle: also ahead one of the few curable mental disorders is also the most deadly. coming up, 7 on your family's side help you find resources to overcome eating disorders. jonathan: rainy evening ot

please be careful. live pictures of the bay bridge. driving rain and fog to make the view obscured. severe weather is out. so is our storm watch team. so keep it here on abc7. tornado watch is in effect. if anything should change on that front we will let you know right away.

jonathan: "7 on your side." after every mass shooting there are calls for mental health awareness. michelle: kimberly suiters reports the deadliest of all mental illnesses is also one that can be cured but only with long-term expensive treatment. kimberly: generous, smart, beautiful. 19-year-old leslie, sophomore at j.m.u. seem told have it all until september 29, 2000. >> she said to me at one point i'm going to die. i said, "you aren't going to die." she said, "mom i'm going to die this time." for five years she suffered from anorexia and bulimia. the insurance covered almost nothing. family paid out of their pocket to try to save her. >> the general practitioner said leave her alone; you know, she is fine. just leave

she will work this out. we stupidly followed that very, very bad advice. i was five weeks later she died. >> after a night of binging and purging, her stomach burst looking back on the worst night of their lives they believe they treated her disease as a physical one, ignoring that an eating disorder is fundamentally a mental disorder and the deadliest of all. >> it had the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. rate of 20%. >> katrina velazquez is fighting for mental health equality with insurance coverage. every day she catalogs resort of denied care, missed opportunities, insurance cards determining which one lived and which one died. >> for families like the georges, their tragedy happened 16 years ago. they are astonished that change hasn't

>> access is one of the biggest barriers. some plans will exclude eating disorders. they aren't sick enough. >> it was life saving for me. >> undergrad at g.w., katie was not considered sick enough. without seven months of intense therapy at the renfroe clinic in bethesda she believed she would not have survived. >> the cat lack of coverage and it wasn't enough to cover. >> no. >> you would see people here one day and not the next. because the insurance didn't cover it. >> fight on capitol hill to force insurers to offer the full range of coverage. even though eating disorders can be fatal, they don't have to be. >> feels like yesterday, i wake up and i think maybe it didn't happen. >> kimberly suiters, newschannel8. michelle: phone bank is opening now from representative with the renf

the insurance coalition fighting the battle on capitol hill. and the george family that spoke on college campuses across the country and been a support to many families. number to call on the screen. 703-236-9220. we will be there until 6:30 tonight. jonathan: great resource, too. coming up for us on "abc7 news at 4:00" -- a break-in and burglary in d.c. now montgomery county maryland students personal information at risk. what the burglars got ahold of and who is getting a letter warning them. michelle: we are tracking the strong storms moving in the area. tornado watch in effect until 11:00 tonight. still ahead, doug hill is back with an eye on the storms, where the strongest ones are hitting now and where they are approaching right after this. mobiletrak7 on 795 south near springfield.

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announcer: this is a stormwatch7 severe weather alert. doug: hi, doug hill with you, updating the severe thunderstorm watch until 11:00. to the south, to campbell county, tornado warning and more of these will be developing as we have a large number of tornado warning ace long the line.

weather that will affect the metro area. we are thinking closer to 6:00. watch the motion. this line moving from west to east at 35 miles per hour. even though the individual storms are moving that way at it 45 to 50 miles per hour. here is what it means. frederick area generally an hour from now the line will be hitting you. in an hour and a half, around 6:00, the line will come to the d.c. metro. in two hours at 6:30 it will hit the portion of the southern maryland. all along the line there have been numerous heavy storms and tornado warnings. many in effect now. we count at least six in line south of raleigh-durham. as the line moves east of 35. and the storms northward, many will get stronger and several of them are developing a rotation. we see evidence there is not just rotation but they are hitting the ground and doing damage as well. the future cast shows the heaviest storms shortly moving out of the metro area temporarily. only to be replaced by a stronger, developing line of

through the metro at 6:00 to 6:30 this everything. we will see improvement later tonight. let me give you a quick update here of a bulletin. without glasses it is tough. severe thunderstorm for orange county, central culpeper, west central spotsylvania, till 5 ion 15. more in a minute. jonathan: we have breaking news in tell you about in regard to the weather. it is sussex county virginia. one tornado touched down and it's deadly. michelle: horace holmes joins us with the first pictures of the damage there. horace: pictures are courtesy from banjo and residents that liver in sussex county. i encompasses the richmond area. this is from the town of waverly. one of the residents from there michael camp sell taking the pictures. you can see the storm moved through in a powerful way. there is a trailer right there that was ripped open.

you can see a wider shot of that area. again, from the scene, heavy damage down there. one of the television stations, one of the sister stations in the area reporting three dead. so far in sussex county. the tornado unconfirmed but it is at least an extremely powerful storm. if it is not a tornado. but that is some serious situation down there in sussex county. frightening pictures. michelle: that is for sure. even if it's not a tornado the straight line winds are threatening enough. take it seriously. stay with us on abc7. the entire stormwatch7 team tracking the line of storms for you and the potential for tornadoes to spawn out of them. keep your phone and tablets charged in case the power goes out to get the real-time updates. you only need a

connection. personal information belonging to hundreds of special needs students stolen. alert after a break-in and a burglary in d.c. montgomery county reporter kevin lewis explains what happens and why the sensitive day sta was stored at a non-profit company. >> in november, burglars broke in a dupont circle office building and stole computers from west end, a company that montgomery county public schools hired to run a study on the special needs programs. now three months later dozens of parents are receiving this letter explaining that at least one of the stolen computers housed their child's confidential information. we are talking about names, birth dates, disability descriptions, mediation and security outcomes. that is just scratching the surface. >> there needs to be a process in place. ellen is an attorney specializing in contracts. she has a number of concerns. >> the firs

going to deal with the third party vendors? west ed in this case. how is hipaa going to be affected by this? not only children's information but also psychological reports, testing reports. the i.e.p., the special ed meeting reports and the hearing notes will be revealed. >> west ed whose slogan is improving education through research, development and service, has not told us how many students are impacted. or explained why it waited nearly 100 days to alert parents of the breach. while they allow the school districts to release student data in the name of education, that should change. >> we need to close that loophole, because it is being abused. >> in montgomery county, i'm kevin lewis, abc7 news. >> congressman went to d.c. jail yesterday but not because he did anything wrong. george's john lewis went to talk to prisoners about the civil rights movement

lewis is a civil rights icon, beaten, jailed and even marched with martin luth erking jr. among the messages to the group. people can change. >> the memo -- member of the klan came to my office on capitol hill. he was in his 70's with his son in his 40's. he said, "mr. lewis, i'm one of the people that beat you. i want to apologize. will you forgive me?" his son started crying. i said, "i accept your apology. i forgive you." the son hugged me. his father hugged me. i hugged him back. we started crying. jonathan: very powerful words coming from the congressman. we will have more on congressman john lewis jail visit coming up on "abc7 news at 5:00". michelle: ahead at 4

fixture on tv for years. pat sajak and vanna whited. we go behind the wheel with both of them ahead. >> i'm kellye lynn in woodbridge where a computer refurbishing program is helping students as well as the community. that is coming up in spotlight on education. jonathan: it's wednesday but we are counting down to the weekend. oscar sunday, which by the way is four days away now. michelle: reminder severe storm warning in orange, culpeper, madison, spotsylvania and virginia. more severe weather alerts. coverage is coming ahead.

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jonathan: checking news around the world. an explosion so big in seattle it pickled up by seis mow graph designed to pick up explosions. michelle: the suit stems from a case in 2008 where a man rigged hotel peepholes and filmed andrews changing

clothing. andrews accused the hotel manager to allow him to book rooms next to her. the father told the jury when the videos was posted online he was terrified for his daughter's safety. jonathan: still ahead at "abc7 news at 4:00" -- the storm watch 7 team looking out for potential or the storms to turn severe. we have seen it happen in virginia. something, whether straight line wind or tornadoes touching down. we are getting unconfirmed report that three people are dead as a result. we'll tell you who is in the path of the strong moving through the area. the risk is on until 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. stay with us. >> can i buy a vowel? >> they all laugh as if it's the cleverest thing. michelle: it's the most common question people on the street ask pat. coming up, we go behind the host of america's game and schaefer the number one winning strategy. pat's advice after this.

jonathan: again we have pictures from sussex county in richmond area.

touched down or straight line winds came through. either way, you see the damage left behind. now we are getting unconfirmed reports that three people have been killed as a result of the damage. michelle: the national weather service usually the agency that comes out to determine what the degree of the strength the winds had. at this point we can just gather from the pictures that it has potential to be deadly if anyone trapped in the house or the mobile home. it would not be the smart place to be at this time. we want to turn it over now to steve to talk about this fast-moving line of storms. steve: it is moving fast. we have so many report of tornadoes. national weather service will send team down to verify if it's straight line wind or tornado. right now we believe it's tornadoic activity. and what could be on the way for us. look at what is going on closer to the d.c. metro. this is national harbor to wilson bridge and the skies are beginning to darken. the line of

well west of us. look at temperatures. 65 degrees. if you head west by 20, 30 miles and you are in the 40's. the area in yellow is tornado watch until 1 11:00. we have new lip issued warning until 5:15. this is showing potential for rotation. you can see here as it moves north and east still have a little bit of a ways before it gets to us across the d.c. metro area. we anticipate that just about 6:00 this evening it should move across the capital beltway. timing for you. 4:47 around teachesburg, warrenton around 5:04. fredericksburg at 5:453. move to reston and then gaithersburg after the 6:00 hour. another hour to go. this is what it looks like on the future cast. 4:30. 20 minutes after at

moving toward the evening rush hour commute. 7:00 tonight, most of this should be moving off toward the east of d.c. our skies are beginning to clear for winchester, woodstock and harrisenburg but potential of the severe thunderstorms and isolate tornadoes for d.c. until 11:00 tonight. i suspect the watch will come doing well before then at least for part of the area. then our skies begin to clear out nicely as they move through the overnight. here is our seven-day outlook calling for the cooler air. tomorrow by ten degrees. middle 50's. windy day with the wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour. the cooldown friday and saturday. that is around 60 on sunday. chief meteorologist doug hill is back in the 5:00 hour. full updates on the severe weather. jamie? jamie: we are starting off with a car fire. baltimore-baltimore parkway in maryland heading southbound. trying to get to the capital beltway. not happening. all lanes are blocked at route 198. everyone has to use

if you are heading northbound past nasa goddard bumper to bumper because we views assisting with the crash blocking the left lane. capital beltway we are seeing traffic. that is a look at the delays. back to you. michelle: thank you. tonight at 7:00 on abc7 -- jonathan: wait. we have a tornado warning. the watch was upgraded and issued to a warning. you can see the band on the radar now. steve, fill us in. what is going on? steve: [no audio] doug: let me jump here. we just got the message. tornado warning for the city of fredericksburg. this is part of an area here that is developing line that stretches from the maryland-pennsylvania border south through north carolina and there are tons and tons i should say half a

more active tornado warnings in the area down there. this particular one until 5:15 is for the city of fredericksburg. ajis sant spection of -- adjacent section of spotsylvania county. it's moving quickly now. 45 to 50 miles per hour. other storms moving at 60 miles per hour. this is a fan we put on here to give you an idea of the town and the times that the storm could develop. we haven't seen ground report yet but the doppler radar indication of rotation with the storm. we are looking to brockroad at 5:06. hart word and stafford at 5:23. so it is taking a track and then it will move it to the stafford county area, western stafford county west of i-95. keep a close eye on that. with the history of the storms today high likelihood that is a tornado making ground contact. when we see a system like this that bows out that is a dangerous part of the segment and the lines of the

tornadic thunderstorms. that is pushing up. if you are any of the town i mentioned from northeast section of louisa county to the fredericksburg area now is the time to take cover. i mean get in the lowest level of the house or the basement. if you do not have a basement get in an interior room. the storms move quickly. you don't have to be there forever. see how the warnings and the individuals tornadoes are stacking up to show a general trend to the north/northeast. if they hold together it's matter of time before they approach the washington metro area. go with that until 5:15. tornado warning in effect for fredericksburg and spotsylvania county. farther south through the spotsylvania county working back to the areas 40 to 45 miles per hours southwest. the key here is the speed with which the things are moving. you won't see them even though it is daylight. you have more on the warnings. steve: head back to the

warning for western carroll and western howard county. this also includes southeastern washington county. frederick county, northern fairfax county. loudoun, and jefferson. berkeley counties in west virginia. this is until 5:30. doppler radar indicated as we mentioned before the strong, strong line of the thunderstorms that is continuing to push on off toward the north and the east. that will give us a chance for stronger storms. this is frederick and the frederick county. this is the area that is warn down with the severe thunderstorm warning. this is 4:54. this is set to expire at 5:30. we have another 35 minutes to go. i have a feeling that this is going to be just the first of many severe thunderstorm warnings. even the tornado warnings we will see across the area for at least the next three hours or so. but by the time the line moves out of here, we will look for the conditions to rapidly improve. between now and then you have to stay with us o

on newschannel8. we will keep you updated as the line progresses toward the area. winchester in front royal are now on the western edge of the strongest of the storms. down toward culpeper, also to the western edge. fredericksburg. you are right on target for the strong storms to move overhead in the next 15 to 20 minutes or so. get more on that with the chief meteorologist doug hill. doug: steve, this is all breaking very quickly. this is no surprise. given the history of the storms this and the incredible job the storm prediction center in norman, oklahoma. there could be numerous tornadoes and they talked some of these could be ef-2 tornadoes on the scale. that means winds in excess of 110 miles per hour. and higher gusts. i'm not on the scene of the tornadoes that happened earlier but looking at the pictures winds of close to that variety are probably responsible. looking now

radar. this is virginia, spotsylvania. so this is one of the area. this is a circle or locks. one higher in the atmosphere. the yellow is closer to the ground. this is showing the rotation pickled up the doppler radar. we have a doppler radar indicated tornado. that is what we mean. we have circulation. if you have configuration we are looking in the sheer, radar site to the storm itself and dicing and slicing inside of it. what we can tell is we the inbound air and the outbound air that is representing different colors. the only way we can get these indications of winds approaching and departing each other is the air to be spinning. possible sheer up to 130 miles per hour off the surface. that is incredible wind speed. so this notch here where a tornado is now moving northeast along the line at 45 miles per hour. farther south along the line

are moving faster. it is not going to take a long time. they are not in the highway. they are up in the air so it is a quick transit from louisa county to dominion and get closer to metro washington. this area here we have hail. what happens, it is not always the case but frequently in the storms you will get on rush of the thunderstorm. severe thunderstorms. torrential rain and then hail. the hail will may stop and as the hail stops that is right afterwards where you find the tornado. kind of in the southwest quadrant of the storm cell. that is what is shaping up right now. this is what we are watching. trying to put roads here. state highway 3, virginia 3 you are familiar with. through chancellorville and that area and state route 13 i think it is. moving across virginia. those are the areas where the storm is crossing now. it will continue to accelerate to the north and the northeast.

this is one of the seven or eight separate tornadoes along the line south to north carolina. you just saw issuance of a few minutes before i came back at the virginia north carolina border. this is just south of the roanoke river. another on the ground there and farther south to raleigh, durham. all of these are lining up on a single line. what we are getting here is a sheer reported to 69 miles per hour at the moment. at this cell. remember in order to get readings we have to have the radar beams hit the storm at the right angle. so the shear is different from from time to time. there is an indication rotation. that is the procedure. but the problem is if the tornado is rain wrapped you don't see it coming. in this case you get rain and hail and possibly the tornado afterwards but it will happen so quickly you do

in the areas we described from the areas south and the west of the spotsylvania county, farther south to virginia. 30 to 40 miles now is the time to take cover immediately. steve has a new one. southwestern stafford county, south central city of fred friday and spotsylvania county. until 5:45. the storm is located near mineral virginia moving northeast at 15 miles per hour -- at 45 miles per hour. so that is in keeping with everything we are seeing in the afternoon with the storms. mineral, virginia, if i recall correctly when we had a earthquake a few years ago in september, that was the location there as well. so just agency a point of geography. this is the notched out area here, the area of a particular concern that often in is the location where the storms will form. the tornadic storms will act up to start spinning. again, a

alex in the weather center if we can pull out doppler radar as far as we can for a minute to give people an idea of the scope of the line of storms, it is impressive. it's not wide. look how long it is. stretches now from south central pennsylvania, fulton county, franklin county, south of virginia into north carolina. this is the one i talked about in townsville that was on the ground near the roanoke river, north of the raleigh durham. additional storms farther south. new tornado warning now in south central section of the north carolina. probably good 60 to 70 miles southwest of fayetteville. a lot of action. what lies beyond this we don't worry about. clearing skies. this line as the line itself moves to the east about 30 miles per hour. some of the storms are moving northeast at 60 miles per hour. all the tornadoes we have seen today run 45 miles per hour. so, as far as the watches and the warnings, they are