are warm. the air temperatures are still well above freezing. so whatever flakes wall for a while will melt. that is good news. safe traveling. but the snow rate will continue to pick up. we have variable precipitation. snow, rain, sleet back and forth. there is a rain/snow line for the duration of the system that will set up around the district. that is the demarcation. people east and south will get lighter snow. and north and west will get heavier amounts. that is the way this is shaping up. here is the storm center. taking shape. it will take several hours to develop the move north. tap in colder air. the main event is later tonight. let's give you an idea of the warning in effect for the winter storms, district to the west. the winter weather advisories east.

snowfall totals. this is computerized. by the time it's tomorrow afternoon and close to four inches in the district and andrews. three at annapolis. seven at baltimore. 11 at frederick. 16 in westminster. the farther north you go, the big deal. the farther west not so much of a big deal. we will report back in about 14 minutes. michelle: thank you. the storm is taking shape but the effects are being felt. thousands of flights are already canceled throughout the northeast. abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter is live at the reagan national airport with a growing fallout from this. brianne: we are seeing this increase. we have seen more cancellations come up. if you are traveling to boston, newark or new york, they a

any flights after 6:30 or 7:00 on the board, those are now canceled. it has been a game all day trying to beat mother nature. we saw people coming here to get on a flight earlier in the afternoon. some were lucky and some were not. many said they didn't want to get stuck here ahead of the weather. >> my concern is the weather. i don't want to be stuck here for two or three days. >> we hope we don't have to shovel when we get home. brianne: it's not just here for folks flying the friendly skies. it's also at union station where there are impacts over the next day for folks on the train. there is a modified schedule for amtrak. you want to check with am track if you are traveling throughout the northeast corridor in the next 24 to 48 hours. back here to reagan national airport, the lin

michelle: metro access shut down at 4:00 p.m. and it won't reopen until wednesday at the earliest. tomorrow metro runs the normal hours but on a saturday schedule. i typically takes eight inches of snow to stop rail service above ground. stay ahead of the game as the school closings come in. sign up for the abc7 school closing text alert. om expects to make a decision by 4:00 a.m. larry: this is the map everyone pays attention to. you are looking at the totals. then you see the jackpot. frederick will get ten inches of snow after it's all said and done. that is where brad bell is in the bullseye

are the markets jammed up? brad: we saw that but this is how people prepare. we expect to see ten to 15 inches. that's what it looks like for tape measure. this has been a nice day. we can show how people are preparing here. this is different from elsewhere. folks from the high school had tennis practice. beautiful day in baker park. the daffodils are blooming and no one was thinking about snow. listen to what this gentleman had to say. >> something is coming, but i don't think it's as bad as the forecast says it will be. or everybody thinks it will be. >> he is a nonbeliever. however we have checked with the state

administration. they have done all of that brine on the highway. the government owned plow truck filled with salt. now at 6:00, they have called in the massive fleet of the contractors and they are loading salt in to them to be ready for the evening. it has gotten colder. there is a sense of foreboding but this evening people are getting on with their lives. back to you. jonathan: thanks. michelle: that map shows what we are looking out for. western part of virginia stand to get significant snow from the storm. northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg joins us from the snowtrak7 in loudoun county. jeff? jeff: any blue in the sky a few hours ago is now gone. it has gotten colder and the wind is picking up. this feels l

coming. this is market street. when it snows the traffic slows down quiet a bit. we are in snowtrak7. we will watch the storm coming through all night tonight. in that area there is plenty of activity. the video outside the giant on market street. one of the most popular grocery stores in town. a lot of activity today. people are getting provisions. talking about eggs. milk. cereal. all the things you expect for people to get in a storm. some we spoke to today say they expect to be off of school for two or three days. we saw a lot of activity today. we spoke to people who are excited for the storm. >> i'm hoping it's bad. i would like the see a lot of snow. >> we are ready to be the rest of the week. >> i don't like it. after we get through driving

but when it comes down it's beautiful. jeff: governor mcauliffe already called a state of emergency for the commonwealth of virginia. meaning, state agencies like the national guard, like the state police can help out local agencies when there is a need in the storm. live in leesburg, jeff goldberg, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you. in the next hour more than 200 snowplows will be in position around d.c. ready to go when the snow starts falling. mayor bowser said despite the lack of snow this winter the snow team knows what it is doing. mayor bowser: yesterday the department of public works and transportation began and the department of transportation began pretreating streets and highways across the city. this morning d.p.w. and ddot began treating major roads as well as residential roads in the district. jonathan: now at the first cabinet meeting, president trump said that the federal government is ready to help states impacted by this storm and they are monitoring it closely. michelle: a devastating fire leaves a former

in ruins. then the ground collapses, beneath firefighters. how they are doing tonight. jonathan: our stormwatch7 coverage continues. what is in the air could make a difference between snow and a cold rain for part of the

jonathan: take a l

the stormwatch7 live doppler as we are watching the first signs of the winter storm on the way here. the latest on the timing and how much snow is possible, we'll have it in a bit. >> frightening look now at an accident that injured two firefighters. take a look here. the sidewalk beneath the truck collapsed. sending the towers' bucket tumbling to the ground. two firefighters inside were hurt but not seriously. the firefighters were putting out hot spots from this intense fire saturday night in riverdale. the fire destroyed the home of the former mayor mike herman. no one was hurt in the fire. the nonpartisan congressional budget office now says 14 million fewer americans will have health insurance next year under the republicans' proposed obamacare replacement. that number increases to 24 million over the next decade if the plan passes. the white house disagrees. the report comes as th justice department faces a congressional deadline to surrender proof of pre

trump's unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped by former president obama. jonathan: coming up for us at 6:00 -- >> the mad rush for shovels and ice melt. we will have a

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michelle: here it comes. a winter storm is beginning to come into focus right now. school closings already coming in. you can see them at the bottom of the screen. we will get the latest from chief meteorologist doug hill on the timing of the storm and what to expect from it in a moment. but first, our jay korff is in mobiletrak7. jay, we know no flakes are falling yet. but are you seeing a lot of drivers on the road trying to make it home in time? jay: your timing could not be more perfect. i literally am seeing little tiny flames coming down from the sky above. i kid you not. we will fake a look to see on i-66 in the fairfax area. kind of normal looking traffic. vdot put down the brine picksture to the roads -- mixture on the roads so everything is good to go.

is wondering is when the snow comes will it be a mix and how long will it take to stick? that is the question. we can tell you we will be out in mobiletrak7 throughout the evening. we will follow the storm and track it. go where there are problem areas and let you know where you can and cannot go. i guarantee you right now the grocery stores and the gas stations are busy as people doing their last minute errands before the storm hit. jonathan: thank you. be safe. there is a race to be ready for whatever the storm brings. as jay mentioned, go to a grocery store. you will find out. montgomery county reporter kevin lewis is joining us. you have been inside the lowe's for quite some time. they had all this stuff in a back room to bring back out because there was no sign of winter when it was winter. >> absolutely! the lowe's said we are done with winter. it is mid-march. they brought everything back out including theto

speaking from experience covering the blizzard last year, 96 hours of straight hit. not too shabby. winter essential if you will. others include ice melt, snow shovels. fire wood. space heaters. as we walk outside to what has become a cloudy cold, outdoor atmosphere. you can see the snow blowers. 55 of those sold today alone. that is more than they have sold over the last two months combined. that really puts in perspective, the really big business benefit of this winter weather. if you do, if you are in the hardware or grocery store line of work, this one right hear, $899. again, 55 of those sold at the lowe's in gaithersburg alone today. that is the very latest from gaithersburg. i'm kevin lewis. abc7 news. michelle: thank you. it will likely be the endof

the cherry blossoms fare in the cold weather. the snow can hurt the buds but temperatures temperatures in the 20's or lower can do far more damage. peak bloom has been pushed back. in the worst case scenario there could be no bloom at all. jonathan: this is the time that doug gets very busy with like tweets. phone messages. michelle: facebook life. >> how many inches are we getting in our neighborhood? doug: a lot of neighborhood questions. we do the best we can. we will take time on the snowfall map. michelle: we just got a closing. loudoun county. doug: there will be more, i bet. we show you the whole area because it will be different in other areas. this has a rain snow line it could be close to metro washington. le's get started with the coverage. steve rudin will join us from the weather center in a minute. in the pink areas, d.c. north and west winter storm warnings, the winter weather advisories to the south and east of town. the alignment or the number of the warnings could change tonight as the conditions dictate. in the meantime, the temperatures are starting to

to the upper 30's to the low 40's now across the area. we have reports of snow around the area. even with the temperatures above freezing. the flakes will melt. sooner or later we will see the temperatures falling off that some will start. the grassy areas first. we have a problem with the rain, snow line and the wintry mix. show you our areas. we have area of snow and sprinkles. the main area of precipitation is still here. the storm will intensify and move north. it will bring us the warm air. that is how far to the d.c. metro area it comes remains to be seen. steve rudin and i will be here on newschannel8 and abc7. we will watch how it progresses. but we recognize there is a chance of a rain and snow mix and sleet closer to the metro. that will knock down the

we are looking at most of the snow over by noon. snowshowers tomorrow. it will be windy. beyond that we look at what will happen with the precipitation amounts. go in the weather center now to get it from steve rudin. steve: the snow totals across the area range from one to three inches around the immediate metro area. depending how much rain we get to get in the system. the further north and west you go. jackpot areas. further west and east across the eastern pennsylvania to new york city is where they are under blizzard warnings now. if you have travel plans to new york and boston think twice or at least delay it. we have ingusts that will increase tomorrow morning. look at ocean city with the wind gusts close to 50 miles per hour. i would not be surprised if they exceed that as the storm system tigh

moving off the coast. the winds ease up by late, late tuesday to wednesday. it stays breezy around the area. then we have to deal with the wind chill factors that will feel like the upper teens to the lower 20's tomorrow. then waking up early wednesday morning the wind chill factors are single digit to lower teens. it doesn't improve a lot in the day on wednesday. the ten-day outlook from stormwatch7, looking at the temperatures to make it in the middle to the upper 30's by wednesday and thursday. let's talk about st. patrick's day. 45 degrees. middle 50's on saturday. upper 40's on sunday. in the 50's next week. doug hill and i will be on duty with the rest of the stormwatch7 weather team throughout the everything and into tomorrow morning with "good morning washington." michelle: thank you for that. everybody is talking about the snow and we are seeing the impact. jonathan: thank goodness. some folks are thinking ahead. erin: you are probably thinking sports, we are no

talking about storm. the winter storm warning affect the sports scene. why maryland men team is leaving college park to beat the storm. that's next. ♪ know you have a dedicated advisor and team

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erin: the winter storm warning has affected the local teams. the maryland men's bas

orlando for the ncaa tournament. normally the terps would not have left until tomorrow but they decided to get out today in anticipation of the storm. they don't play xavier until thursday. we are at college park for the sendoff and we asked veteran dodd how he hopes to help the younger guys as they head to tournament play. >> it will be fun. good experience. a lot of cameras in your face. there is atmosphere wherever you play. we are going to orlando. it's nice. have fun and play basketball. erin: congratulations to wizards guard john wall who was named the eastern conference player of week. the four-time all-star averaged 30 points a game in the past week leading washington to four road victories in five nights. the wizards wrap up the road trip tonight in minnesota. i can't wait for them to get bam home. new redskins receiver

pryor introduced in a conference call today. he said one of the main reasons he wanted to come to washington is because of head coach jay gruden's offense. pryor was hard at work yesterday. you can see him here at ohio university tweeting "rain, snow, got to go." he may not want to come to washington any time soon. the nats-tigers played to a 3-3 tie. stephen strasburg struck out five in four innings and allowed two runs. someone asked me are you still in florida covering spring training? no, but i wish i was. michelle: this would be the week to be there. all right. the big story is the snow coming. doug: take a quick look at the satellite and the radar. light snow around the area but the main event is well south. we see changeable precipitation tonight. steve rudin and i will have the hourly updates at the top of each hour on abc7 and continuing coverage on newschannel8. michelle: thank you. "world news tonight" with david muir coming up next. jonathan: the winter storm coverage cont

tonight, a massive blizzard bearing down. the states of emergency at this hour. two systems set to converge, forming a major nor'easter hitting tonight, up to two feet of snow in some places. blizzard warnings up right now, whiteout conditions and accidents in the midwest, and thousands of flights canceled coast to coast already. also breaking tonight, the new numbers just released. how many americans will be uninsured under the new plan to replace obamacare? 14 million more uninsured in the first year, new reaction to the report from the white house. the new and controversial video released from ferguson late today raising new questions about the police shooting of michael brown. the deadly encounter. the father of six, police using a hose to blast him out of the vehicle.