on your side. jonathan: holy cow! it's relentless. another brutally return to work and school but temperatures are no longer the only story. alison: we're now tracking the potential for a coastal storm bringing snow to our area. nancy: that means everything on this story. chief meteorologist bill kelly is tracking the system. jonathan: tom roussey with the impact that it could snap. it will be really cold. let's start off with chief meteorologist bill kelly. you are talking about snow and they are already bracing for it in new york and boston. are we getting a taste of it? bill: i think we may get a taste of it but wi won't get the heart of it. this is an interesting system. wait until you see how far south some of the snow warnings are. we'll get to that in a moment. but first, the story is the temperature. 26 in d.c. we go to 4:00 a.m. last wednesday, 156 hours. we have had one single hour, one single hour with the temperature above freezing. it was 33 degrees on saturday evening and it dropped back down. 22 in gaithersburg. 27 in

luray is 28. everybody remains below freezing. when you look at the wind chill factor out there we have teens at 4:00 in the afternoon and we are talking temperatures that are well lower than the average temperature for the day. the good news now the clouds and radar showing you it's dry. so other than the biting cold, you don't have to worry about the snow potential tonight. it's in the 20's as you make your way out the door for the evening rush. you need to layer up. one of the big problems we're dealing with because of the cold snap is the water mains breaking. maybe some of you have been dealing with that around your house. tom roussey is out live at just one of them in silver spring on new hampshire avenue. how are you out there, man? tom: ah, i'm all right but man, the water mains are not. this is just one of them. there are so many throughout the d.c. area. this one, though, wreaking some of the most havoc. this is on new hampshire avenue in silver spr

check out what it is doing to traffic. southbound new hampshire avenue near the bentway is an an -- near the beltway is an absolute mess. it will continue to be for indefinite period of time. this has been going on all day. they have been trying to fix it and they are spending much time trying to figure out where to dig. they don't want to dig in the wrong spot. this is a 70-year-old pipe they are dealing with. but this is not the only water main break in the d.c. area. far from it. there is this one in hyattsville that shut down a lane or two on route 1 southbound, a little south of downtown hyattsville there. that is causing issues as well. there are others that are not causing traffic issues and those are a lower priority. but if you want to know why this has happened, blame the fact the potomac river has very cold water right now and the water goes in their pipes.

normal water starting to go through sometimes older and brittle pipes, you are going to see the water main break. tom: so that is an issue in maryland but it's also an issue in other places like virginia and d.c. here. this is capitol hill. this video. the cannon building had a water main break outside the parking garage area there. so it's happening all over the area. if you come back live in the distance, you may see school buses. this is causing issues with them, too. there is a few in montgomery county that affected some bus routes. but the bigger issue is in fairfax county. they had a couple of hundred bus routes affected. in montgomery county, they have had heating issues in some of the schools. particularly, i'm told richard montgomery high school had issues and white oak middle school had a pipe burst. when that happens, that affected classrooms there today as well.

reporting live in silver spring, i'm tom roussey, abc7 news. bill: thank you, tom. i'm dealing with this exact same thing at my house right now. you can't have the temperature that cold for so long and not have problems. check this out. this does not happen often. all the colors on the eastern seeboard -- eastern seaboard including part of florida. we will be tracking this storm and show you how it will affect us locally in a bit. but as always, download the stormwatch7 app. go to google play or iphone app store and you can download it for free. coming up the hour-by-hour forecast talking about the snow potential. jonathan: we will see you in a few minutes. you heard how the school is impacted by the cold. in d.c., kramer junior high school was forced to close. the basement flooded.

behind. today, they are looking into what happened with the pipe. what is not clear is if the students will return to cool cool -- school tomorrow. we'll let you know. alison: there was a frightening start to the school day in takoma park. report of a potential abduction. the 8-year-old girl got away. kevin lewis has the story and a new description of what happened here. kevin? kevin: alison, the little girl missed her school bus this morning. she was waiting in the front yard for her dad when two men pulled up in an s.u.v. this young girl's recollection of the situation is quite impeccable. the corner of pine and elm avenue in takoma park is awfully sleepy. but around 9:00 this morning, a silver s.u.v. stopped in front of the house with an

outside. the front male passenger opened his car door and reportedly said, "come to my home. i have candy." the girl told police the man wore all black clothing, had a hoop nose ring, flower tattoo on his left hand and a pink pimple or growth near his left eye. >> such good identifying marks that someone probably knows who this person is. kevin: takoma park is combing the arrest database to see if anyone matches the distinctive description. they also posted officers outside of pineyy and takoma park elementary schools this afternoon for dismissal. >> i was really shocked. i still am. kevin: ronnie parker lives doors down from the potential abduction. >> i'm amazed that the little girl was so great and well prepared that she did the right thing. this is not the kind of thing you prepare for here. kevin: police are asking anyone in

review their feed from around 9:00 this morning. the hope being that some camera captured the suspect vehicle circling the block. we are live in takoma park, i'm kevin lewis, abc7 news. nancy: thank you. senator orrin hatch announcing this afternoon he is not going to seek re-election this year. instead the 83-year-old will retire. after four decades in the senate. at one point he said he hoped to see former presidential candidate mitt romney replace him. senator al flanken officially turned in his resignation and the lieutenant governor tina smith will be sworn in tomorrow. he is leaving the senate after several misconduct allegations. special election will be held in november to decide who serves the final two years of the term. former congresswoman michele bachmann is reportedly considering a run. alison: meanwhile, nbc "today" show has a new co-host.

hoda will replace matt lauer after he was fired for sexual misconduct and will also co-host the fourth hour. jonathan: this is a scene playing out friday in sterling. f.b.i. agents taking out boxes of what will be evidence out of the apartment. the person who lives there was in court as part of an anti-terror investigation. richard reeve getting out of court and they didn't say anything when they walked out on friday. richard: no, they did not. we are learning a lot more about this now. they are calling this isis-related terrorism investigation. at the center of this is sean duncan, 21 years old. believed to be from pittsburgh but now in sterling, virginia. he appeared in federal court behind me a couple hours ago for the first appearance days after that raid. neighbors in the complex were startled to see the federal agents rai

bringing out box after box of evidence. today he had his initial appearance in federal court. the judge informed him he faces an obstruction of justice charge. the f.b.i. says the 21-year-old tried to destroy a thumb drive and microchip that they say contained evidence against him. federal authorities have been investigating him for a year. the family member told them he had converted to islam. he may have been radicalized and voiced approval of westerners he beheaded in the middle east. court documents show the feds have been building a criminal case against duncan with evidence from a detained isis supporter. the criminal complaint say he and his wife began a secret trip to bangladesh but were detained making a connection in turkey. the papers also say duncan researched online how to conduct "attacks on u.s. soil" and even articles how to build a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. they arrested duncan when he bolted out of the back doo

destroyed thumb drive and microchip. now these are serious charges. if duncan is convicted he faces 20 years in federal prison, $150,000 in fines. coming up at 6:00, we will digging deep in the documents, tracking how agents began uncovering the facts in this case. reporting live in alexandria, richard reeve, abc7 news. nancy: thank you. a heart-breaking start to the school day in prince george's. 11-year-old girl hit by a car. this is at the scene of pennsylvania avenue and brooks drive. we understand the driver did stay behind to help. q mccray is there. this is not the first time this has happened at the intersection. q: it's not. we showed up this morning we noticed the memorial here with the stuffed animals. back on independence day we reported a man who was struck and killed at the intersection. pennsylvania avenue and brooks drive. this is a very busy intersection here in district heights. we have vid

of the scene from earlier this morning. pay attention to the damage done to the car. all the clothes over the road. the clothing belong to the 11-year-old girl who according to the police, the prince george's police department it was 9:00 when they got the call. she was crossing pennsylvania avenue and was hit by the car. the car stayed on the scene. it is still unclear if she used the crosswalk or not. that is still under investigation. we spoke to a number of pedestrians today who were shaken up at what they heard. >> that is just sad. >> 11 years. >> horrible. >> do you think there is enough security for you as a pedestrian crossing the street here. do you feel safe crossing the street? >> yeah. q: now police have not released the girl's name but we know she is 11 years old. she is still at the hospital right now. critical condition. on her way to the drew freeman middle school. that is the latest from district heights.

jonathan: thank you for that. "7 on your side" health alert is coming up next. new information about the autism rates in the u.s. alison: plus the last birth in 2017 and the first birth of 2018 at one hospital. >> i have been doing this for 35 years. i have never had this before. alison: how about that? the extremely rare and early delivery for one family. wait until you see more of the bundles of joy. nancy: still ahead, the city says the forensics lab turned around since botched d.n.a. testing and we take you inside the d.c. crime lab. jonathan: plus, the winter blast. does this frozen city look familiar to you? we will take you down the frozen r

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alison: violent protests continue across iran. this is against the government. you are looking outside the capitol but meanwhile in tehran there have been small pockets of protests but not as much as over the weekend. hours ago the trump administration called on iran to unblocked instagram. that's where the protesters have been mobilizing. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley is calling for an emergency session on iran. a "7 on your side" health alert now. autism numbers appear to have stabilize. they have been rising until

between 2013-2016, 2.5% of children and teens in the u.s. live with some form of autism. the study appears in the journal of the american medical association. jonathan: the world health organization could include what is called gaming disorder on a list of the mental health disorders this year. it's part of an addictive behavior. some disagree with the label of addiction of games as a disorder. according to research 9% of the children who play video games in the u.s. addicted. nancy: some hospitals celebrate the last birth of the year and the first of the new year. but it's not often they're from the same family. kirsten power in bakersfield introduce us to the twins born in different years. >> meet joaquin and itiana. they are sitting comfortably in mom's arm and they have no idea about the excitement t

county. they are twins. born in different years. >> amazing. i have been doing this for 35 years. i have never had this before. reporter: the doctor delivered the babies at delany regional medical center. the boy born on new year's eve, two minutes before midnight. as the clock struck 12:00 -- >> we didn't have time to celebrate. reporter: -- they working to deliver the twin sister. >> the baby didn't want to come normally. so they had to deliver her by caesarean section. >> the parents are overjoyed. she says it was a high-risk pregnancy so they are counting their blessings both babies are healthy. cheeses, "i don't -- she says, "i don't know how to explain the emotion i feel." they are showering the twinning with love and so are the community. every year the hospital collects donations for the first baby of

they are set with everything, diapers, clothes, toys to a crib. >> good way to start the new year. nancy: goodness! the older one will lord it over the other one. >> call them a senior citizen at 9 years old. alison: wonderful story. beautiful babies. jonathan: congratulations. the "7 on your side" consumer alert. hurricane irma is now blamed for a shortage of these things. tomatoes. whatever you call them. specifically florida tomatoes. the september storm is causing a short growing season because there were delays getting them planted. some restaurants have removed them from the menu until price rebound and the prices drop. nancy: now to winter blast. you know what is awful? everything! in midwest, photographer catches the camera rolling as the island ferry churned through the ice to mad lin island of the lake superior. it was the first day -- or

first trip of the day so there was no lane yet. they had to cut through it themselves. the photographer said he could only stay up for a minute because it was minus 7 degrees. alison: goodness! nancy: lucky the camera didn't freeze. we showed you this before the commercial break. can you tell what frozen river that is? what city that is? jonathan: yes. nancy: thank you, jonathan. it's chicago. in fact, it's so cold there even the lake front is starting to freeze. you know we are getting a little taste of that on the potomac, starting to freeze. but nothing quite like what you are seeing there. jonathan: put a list of perspective. yes, it's cold. yes, it's january. but look around the country. they are buried in snow. carving out the ice. bill: we have a colder snap. i'm falling victim on the tom roussey story. relatively new, a few months here. we have a place out, new place. jonathan: did you have a pipe break? bill: not yet but i went out to turn out water and it wasn't running so doin

going through and the owners did not say hey, by the way, the place you have in the back. none of the lines are insulated. we never got that memo. nancy: oh, no. glad you found out now, though. bill: i hope i caught it enough. i had a tiny drip. heat on it now. as long as the main is off. that is what happens. look at this. here is why. i put together stats for you. looking at the number. we had one hour above freezing since 4:00 a.m. last wednesday. 156 hours. just one. even then it was 33. nancy: it was great. bill: a wonderful hour. remember that? jonathan: best hour ever! bill: it was. today is the ninth day in a row with the average temperatures looking at the high and low, it's below normal. we have 14 consecutive days with the temperatures below normal. last time we had that, a longer stretch was in 2010. almost eight years ago. january 29 to february 18 where we had a 21-day stretch. you probably remember that. that was the blizzard of 2010.

32.1 inches of snow fall that february alone. it was that month where we had a stretch longer than what we have now or will have when we go the 14 days. 26 in d.c. 23 in hagerstown. 25 in cumberland. the bigger picture shows you that everybody is cold. this pattern has not changed. 15 in parkersburg. 19 in columbus, ohio. 14 in pittsburgh. the feels like temperatures are sub zero. at 4:00 in the afternoon, granted it's january. but the numbers are just silly. 19 in elkin now. we feel like 18 around d.c. we are dry. i want to advance you here on the future cast to tomorrow morning. we are fine tonight. it's just ice cold. in the day tomorrow we are dry throughout the day. there are clouds on the incretion. watch tomorrow night. i will go to this side. we are watching a very aggressive weather system work in from the south. so i'll pause this at 11:00 tomorrow night. the timing of it is tomorrow night to thursday morning. the position of it should stay just to the east of our area. man, if this switches by 100 miles and it works west,

are talking about a different forecast. we are going to a 30% chance of the light snowshowers thursday morning. along the coast. along the eastern seeboard to florida, winter storm warnings. watches i should say. in effect for our area for part of southeastern virginia to maryland and delaware as well. a winter storm watch in effect for tomorrow and thursday morning. it's not posted for the d.c. metro at this time. i don't expect it to but we will keep you updated. 79 to 16, clear, biting cold tonight. tomorrow we go up to 33. we may get above freezing. that is it. then we go back down. 27 thursday. look at these numbers. a colder snap than we have had. flirting with the records, both lows and highs with the coldest high temperatures before we finally, guys, maybe get above normal or at least to normal by monday of next week. how about that. jonathan: just to be normal again. all right, bill. thank you. forensic folly at the d.c. crime lab. the d.n.

a lot more. but the city says it has turned a corner. we will take you inside to show you the update next. alison: plus, year two for president trump. his priority as congress returns and a pivotal midterm election year and how he hop

jonathan: d.c. forensic lab is under scrutiny after botched zika test,

pfeiffer average investigation. it was a problem. but the city says it has turned things around. abc7's bureau chief sam ford takes us inside. sam: as she moves to the re-election campaign later this year, muriel bowser came to the forensic lab, say all crime numbers are down and say the lab is back on track. mayor bowser: the process is multifaceted. sam: past issues were finding pregnant women zika free when they were not and botched d.n.a. tests matching bullet to guns. crime lab has had public problems in the past. the director today were insisting they are history. >> we have tightened up protocols. sam: director jennifer smith took the mayor to the fingerprint lab where they are about to go digital, the ballistic labs where they test fire weapons they believe are used in crimes. where they compare bule

markings. >> for 17 years. >> it now takes two years to train an individual to be a firearm examiner. sam: they are trying to recruit locally. a virginia state student came here as an intern wants to return after college for a job. >> i like to watch the crime scene investigation shows but i never knew what the job was. i got older and i said that's what i want to do. sam: stronger science means safer streets is their motto. bowser today insisted that crime is down in the city because the science is helping to catch and convict more criminals. in southwest washington, i'm sam ford, abc7 news. nancy: a stormwatch7 winter weather alert next. frigid start to the year as we keep a close eye on the coastal storms. to track potential snow. chief meteorologist bill kelly has an update next.

trying to cross this road is struck and killed by a police vehicle. now his grieving parents want answers. alison: ahead at 5:00, "7 on your side" with how to tell if your iphone slowdown is because of a battery program. the test you can run and how difficult it is to get a battery your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain th an ingredient iginally discovered... as you get older. in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. it's time for sleep number's 'lowest prices of the season' on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting.

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announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 4:00". on your side. michelle: in montgomery county, three people were rescued from ten mile creek after their car got stuck in the ice. the temperature at the time of the rescue just ten degrees. all three are expected to be okay. in the weather center now with chief meteorologist bill kelly and stormwatch7 weather alert. temperatures, that is the big story here. bill: twice now. we have 13 for the low. yesterday and again today. 26 is now. that is the high on the day. we are not even close to freezing. c'mon, mother nature. let's get close if we could. good afternoon. let's talk about the other numbers around the region. lease widen this out. talk about a widespread zone that is well below freezing. not just below freezing but well below. 25 in fredericksburg. in germantown, 32. baltimore is at 23. there is a wind chill factor out. so it continues. the story goes on and on wi

dangerously cold temperatures out. 12 in gaithersburg. it feels like 20 in leesburg. quantico at 19 degrees when you account for the wind chill factor. we are not dealing with anything now in terms of the ice or the snow falling from the sky. tonight we are not expecting that. down in the 20's. we'll keep it in the 20's but we are watching closely. aggressive weather system that bring snow to fair amount of the country or part of the region. we talk about that coming up. jonathan: download the stormwatch7 weather app to get the updates based on your location and stay ahead of the storms. not just the storm but falling temperatures. that is what everybody is talking about. it's always available on google play and at the app store. the 16-year-old was killed when a metro transit police car slammed into him. the grieving parents now are searching for answers as you can imagine. maryland bureau chief brad bell spoke to them. what are they saying? >> you know what?

they are angry as well. so look, this is the spot. right here at the highway where he was trying to cross the road and something he has done many times before. he comes to this shopping center over here. what the parents are upset about is not only losing their child but also look of information and a look of answers about what really happened here. it was a new year's day tragedy. early reports for the maryland state police on the scene yesterday where the unidentified adult male pedestrian had been struck and killed. now that victim's father wants you to know the truth. the person hit was not an adult or unanotherfied. >> no. that is a young kid. 16 years old. my son. >> derek stayton was a sophomore. he lives with his mother in clinton but spends a lot of time with his dad in brandywine. he was killed yesterday trying to cross the highway to the brandywine

he was hit by metro transit officer who was off-duty and on his way to work. state police say preliminarily it appears that staton was at fault and walked into traffic. something his parents can't accept. >> the police says that he was trying to run across the street when there was a red light. but that is not derek. anybody will tell you that is not him the way he goes back and forward. >> i want a lot of answers. it's not fair that they portraying it to be like a pedestrian got hit and the pedestrian was in the wrong. >> there is another issue here and a big one. the highway, see the vehicles rushing by. look at the road surface. there is no crosswalk here. there are no pedestrian lights. look someone across the way trying to make it across. there is nothing to help that person get here safely. when we come back at 5:00, we will look into that issues a well. in

news. nancy: thank you very much. ten americans among the 12 killed in the plane crash in costa rica on new year's eve. among the victims, two have ties to maryland. u.s. transportation officials will help in the crash investigation. the plane crashed minutes after take-off and wind may have played a role but that is looked into as a possibility as to what happened. jonathan: new coast guard video shows that the moment the crews rescue elderly man from a sinking car to the weekend. the car somehow ended up in a marina in panama city, florida. they saw it happened. they immediately launched the boat. they smashed out a window and pulled the man to safety. michelle: a consumer alert. now may be the best time to buy a plane ticket for a getaway. airlines offering big deals. we found that some of the cheapest dates to fly from next week through most of march. tickets are as much as 36%

for example, you can find flights that go across country from new york to san francisco for $119 each way. nancy: as long as it's warmer. michelle: yes. the fate of a $750,000 donation to the anne arundel county spca heading to court. nancy: when he died in 2007, mark isner left the money to the animal welfare group provided it would complete a new building in a decade. the spca never moved and the estate wants the money now valued at $1 million because of interest split among five other charities. michelle: if you seen this? deputies in new york county, virginia, looking for her. sheriff office posted a be on the lookout ♪ for the elusive bovine on social media. this is for real. the young cow is on the move and they want to keep her safe and take her to a rescue facility. jonathan: they issued a bolo

nice! michelle: 2018. here we are. hours away from the jackpot drawing. mega millions went up today to $361 million. if you win, the cash option is a cool $225 million. if and when you lose, tomorrow's -- easy, everybody! the power ball is still in play up to $440 million. that also is $2 a ticket. no more $1 lottery ticket. minnesota when we lose we will -- michelle: when we lutes we will be back here. jonathan: we are not going to lose. michigan coming up at "abc7 news at 4:00" -- this is one of the russian military most successful programs. jonathan: goodness. michelle: they look tough. we explain why if adorable puppies are critical to the operation. nancy: that is the moment fireworks went off in the trunk of a car. you wn

accident set them off. jonathan: a first look at how to start tomorrow with "good morning washington" on abc7. >> thanks, guys. tomorrow on "good morning washington" -- is gym intimidation holding you back? don't let fear ruin your fitness goals for the new year and we show you how to overcome the hesitation to hit the gym. >> we have a new series on celibacy and web dating. >> we

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nancy: how about that? a truck full of fireworks exploded new year's eve in houston. police say it appears a lit firecracker landed in the trunk, setting everything else off. >> i was scared because my girl was in the car. i ran to see if she was in there but she luckily ran out. >> well, hundreds watched as the fireworks shot off in every direction. no one was hurt. you might think the car was destroyed. the owner says the damage wasn't all that bad. he plans to fix it. he plans to fix it. jonathan: i love how he says yeah, i probably should have shut the trunk. you think? if you are committed, any weather is running weather. right? this is in northeastern china. all ice and all snow and

frozen over river they are running on. no snowy road there. part of the new year's celebration. doesn't that sound like fun? nancy: michelle: how do you prepare for that? jonathan: i don't understand it. michelle: this is the russian forces latest weapon. puppies. the 470th dog breeding center won international competition last summer against other k9 breeding and training forces. they are only showing off just right now when the puppies complete the training they will be part of the russian military k9 force. so when you think military might, you might not think of the fuzzy cute puppies but they are an important part of the force. nancy: you want to go, "who's a good boy?" michelle: meanwhile at home,

is tweeting from the f.b.i. investigations to flying. but there is one tweet turning heads next. jonathan: whoa, whoa, whoa! look out. that is one spicy squirrel. breaks into a home. goes after the officer. we have more of the body camera video that shows the rodent going nuts. we s

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plane last year. 44 people were killed. that is lower than the five-year average. the president's zero deaths relates to commercial passenger airlines worldwide. new fallout now new year's day tweet by the president. the president was accusing pakistan, u.s. ally, of lies and deceit when it comes to fighting terrorism. after meeting with the military leaders, pakistan prime minister said that he is deeply disappointed with the apparent shift in u.s. policy. nancy: a popular midwest winter escape in flames here. michelle: you can see what is left there, the smoke billowing. this is grizzly jack's grand bear resort in illinois. a couple of hours outside chicago. it was evacuated and the guests had to head outside where it was 10 below. that is before the wind chill. the firefighters had to work through that to put out the fire this morning. only you can find smoky the bear. nancy: someone did! after someone stole a wooden

north carolina fire department turned to social media offering $1,000 reward. a few days later smoky turned up in a national forest. they plan to reinstall smoky with modification to keep him from disappearing in the future. jonathan: police know anything can happen when they respond to the 911 calls but the officers didn't know what to expect when they responded to a call for a squirrel that went nuts. watch this. >> i look down here. the squirrel is on the table eating a cookie. i can't get to the door. the squirrel is on the table by the door. he says, "he won't hurt you." i said yeah, i had the flashlight in my hand. jonathan: separate a squirrel that sugar, that is what happens. get away from my sugar. >> chocolate covered pretzels will go it to

officers tried to get the squirrel out of there. no word if it took the cookie with them. he did finally leave. michelle: one for the road. you are right. let's head to the live desk. a first look at what is new at 5:00. happy new year, larry. larry: happy new year. more from the animal kingdom. too cold for penguins. startling admission from a zoo. and a daring race to save a swan trapped in a frozen virginia pond. right now, the hunt for the man that police say tried to lure a little girl in the car with the promise of candy. that's coming up at 5:00. nancy: the winter blast gripping the country continues. sub zero temperatures in the midwest. nancy: absolutely. michelle: these are unlike anything we have seen before. we are talking wintery weather also on the move. we will see colder temperatures in the days ahead. jonathan: absolutely!

it is really cold, not just here but all over the country. reporter: much of the country is stuck in the frigid grip of winter. >> i think this is the coldest ever. >> for most, the cold snap stretching from chicago to austin, all the way up to buffalo is just miserable. >> i can't even describe it. it's unbearable. reporter: it's also dangerous. >> it's right outside my house. reporter: firefighters scrambledded to rescue an indiana woman trapped in the car in frigid waters. she is in critical condition. in maryland, rescue workers rescued three people. and icy roads caused pileups. at the seven-alarm fire in new york city, the firefighters battle the flames and the cold. water mains are frozen and busting. turning this s

many schools are closed or delayed. >> i thought it was a safer alternative to keep kids home. >> the tundra like temperatures are a bear for most, the polar bear club found this as an exhilarating way to start the new year. >> the cold temperatures are hardly going away. another blast of air hitting the east coast bringing ice and snow as far south as florida. there is a travel waiver from the southeast ahead of the storm. abc news, new york. michelle: all right. proof that it is too cold everywhere. even disney is closing some parks. they foon lagoon is close -- typhoon lagoon is closed. and the water park closed since monday. the same thing happened last mont

like magic kingdom are open. even though highs in some spots might not crack 60. >> 60? michelle: that is florida! jonathan: people around with shorts saying it's really cold here. nancy: i don't know how to deal. bill: with the disney thing it's officially real. if they are shutting down the lagoon -- michelle: we should be concerned. bill: exactly. let me show you what we are dealing with in our area. this is a gorgeous evening from inside the park. looking west. beautiful sunset. very few if any clouds in the area. mid-to-low 20's. and these are colder than the average low temperatures would be on the day. it is currently feeling like minus 3 in columbus. minus 2 in indy. minus three in lacrosse. the cold snap ripping the country. the eastern half of the country. florida, like a southern tip of florida,

southern arizona. that is it. those are the places. that type of thing. what we have now is clear skies. it's cold. let me take you to tomorrow. let's start to tomorrow morning. focus on this down south. the weather system working on up. this is roughly 24 hours from now. we are still dry. you don't have to worry about anything for the morning commute, evening commute other than being cold. tomorrow evening look at the colors on this map. this is a very aggressive system that will be building and rapidly strengthening in intensity. the good news is most of it looks like it will be offshore. however, some of that sliding in. if it wobbles west. not taking much to get us more snow. we will see a lot more. 20 to 30 p.m. chance of snow for d.c. metro. most of this is in new england around boston. areas like that will get more than a foot of snow. you are watching "abc7 news

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nancy: both the white house and congress return to washington with a packed agenda. and national correspondent crasnick -- kristine frazao looks at the year ahead. kristine: frigid temperatures outside. inside the walls of the capitol, the heat is on. with an ambitious legislative agenda in the house and the

a spending bill by january 19. to prevent a government shutdown. that can only already kicked down the road by congress. >> no family would budget this way. no business would budget this way. the federal government should not budget this way. kristine: president trump riding a waver of momentum after signing tax bill to law. >> it will be a great year. fantastic 2018. kristine: the white house hoping to tackle major issues like the aging infrastructure, legislation they may get bipartisan support. >> i will work with him on infrastructure if he will work with us. kristine: other priorities for congress include action on the children's health insurance program. more emergency relief for regions impacted by the natural disasters and a march 5 deadline to fix daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. >> you have a million kids that have only known the united states of amer

solution and something we have to take care of. >> what to do about obamacare? some push for the market stabilize and others wanted it gone for good. the new tax law, many democrats now concerned the huge price tag means more cuts are coming. >> it will make deep cuts in the things that matter to working families. higher education. job training. medicare. social security. kristine: as far as taking action on the priorities leaders from both parties are scheduled to sit down with white house chief of staff john kelly this week. also senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and paul ryan plan to meet with president trump at camp david next weekend. i'm kristine frazao, abc7 news. announcer: right now at 5:00, two weather stories are depping. it is going to get even colder and stormwatch7 is tracking snow. >> i want answers. announcer: a deadly accident with off-duty officer leaves a grieving family convinced there is

plus, good luck finding a new iphone battery. "7 on your side" with a secret to getting back to full power. now, "abc7 news at 5:00". on your side. announcer: this is a stormwatch7 winter weather alert. alison: as we come on the air today, water mains are bursting. people are bundtaling up. -- people are bundling up. and there are weather advisories all the way up and down the coast. larry: it could mean snow for our area tomorrow night. chief meteorologist bill kelly tracking it all for us from the weather center. bill: good evening. we are tracking this very, very closely because it is an extremely aggressive system. i think it will have a ton of energy with it. right now it looks like most of the energy is going to be offshore. it wobbles a little bit and that could create an entirely different output at the sur space. we will get to that. that is tomorrow night and thursday. right now the temperatures still lead thst

one hour above freezing. 156 hours at or below. 26 in d.c. 23 in rockville. we are dealing with the wind chill factor around. around the region, 20 in gaithersburg. luray is 28 degrees. cumberland is 23. feeling like the teens in many spots. 15 in hagerstown. same in leonardtown. andrews at 23. within the beltway, 16 degrees. biting cold night. no way around it. we have colder air heading this way. you look at the numbers. we keep the mid-20's. not the wind chill factor in the next couple of hours. later in the seven-day forecast we have some days that will struggle to get to 20. we are talking about the high temperature. so this relentless pattern of the really cold temperatures the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time to continue. we will talk more about that. specifics and break down the timing hour-by-hour of the snow in a few minutes. larry: the cold weather prompted two-hour delay for schools in berkeley county in virginia mo