digging out. it's causing severe flooding and prompting evacuations that we typically only see in hurricanes. jonathan: now we talk about blizzards on the coast. at this hour we know 17 people have been killed nationwide because of the cold snap. for many, the worst of this storm and the cold is still yet to come. we have team coverage tonight with teams covering the blizzard condition at the beach, international flight problems at dulles and what is coming next. let's start off with the stormwatch7's chief meteorologist bill kelly with where the storm has been and where it is moving. bill: this is a day of extremes for the east coast with a storm bringing the blinding snow, flooding coastal streets and packing wind gusts. as strong as a category one hurricane. >> you worry when there is a lot of wind blowing. that is trees are going to come down. it's scary. >> the weather pattern is a bomb cyclone. it's become deadly. >> this is a serious, serious storm. between very low temperature, the strong winds. the driving snow. ev

very seriously and take precautions. >> images from the nooa go satellite show the storm blankets the east coast. in boston, the icy river storms in street adds it dumps snow. they are urging people to stay off the slick roads. >> we are having accidents but we have having fewer accidents as a result of people staying home and corporating with us. >> it grounded flights. it closed schools and it emptied grocery stores shelves. for many, the worst still yet to come with record breaking forecast. >> the storms have been getting worse. extreme weather is a reality. we are seeing the storms of a severity we have never seen before. bill: the cell continues to work its way up. i say it "cell." a mon store storm that is -- monster storm that is bringing snow to new england. we had snow this morning widely varied in the region. we will talk about that in a little bit. but we move ahead to the n

temperatures. wind chill advisory out for everybody tonight. it's going to be a dangerously cold night. right now it feels like 8 in d.c. ten for quantico, fredericksburg and culpeper. those are the warmest numbers. hagerstown at 1. we are seeing a minus 2 degree reading around winchester. the hour-by-hour forecast, feels like temperatures, this is what we are looking at around the d.c. area. 5 at 8:00. we are 1 degree by 10:00. by 11:00, midnight, everybody is at 0 or lower. eventually getting down to oh, anywhere between the minus 5, minus 6 range on the warmer end down to potentially 15 to 20 degrees below 0. dangerously cold morning.

fredericksburg called in to say they are closed. the other big district we heard from so far, prince william county, both closed. to find out more sign up to wjla.com/text. michelle: this morning the schools were closed and the federal government delayed. the maryland police say they responded to 86 crashes before lunchtime. the coverage of the winter storm continue ahead when they check in with brad bell in ocean city. this is 15 degrees out there. dulles got busy today. when j.f.k. had to shut

they drew a name from a bowl to determine if a virginia house race that was tied would determine control of the legislature. it couldn't mean more. richard reeve reports, that drawing ended with republicans holding on to a slim majority. >> the first name picked was david yancey. certified the winner. >> i had to be emotionally prepared. shelly simonds unwilling to concede. >> for me all options are on the table. this race could not

my responsibility is begin the work i was re-elected to do. the drawing after a debate about the disputed ballot that they ruled should be in favor of yancey. the democrats argue the ballot that has bubbles next to both candidates filled in should have been tossed out. >> according to the code of virginia, this particular election has been finalized. >> with yancey is terrified winner, a member of the elections board says this about simonds. >> i don't know what legal grounds she could use. there is conflicting part of the code. there is one part that says there are no recounts of recounts. >> the republicans maintain control of the house of delegates 51-49. no concession from simonds who does say she will run again. but any other kind of legal challenge, well, stay tuned. in richard richmond, richard re, abc7 news. michelle: attorney general

era policy of noninterference with states that decriminalize pot. sessions says federal prosecutors should decide on their own whether to pursue marijuana cases based on other demands in their district. marijuana is still illegal under federal law despite changes in the laws in the district and several other states. jonathan: in the national opioid crisis, anne arundel county is now the first maryland jurisdiction to file a lawsuit over the addictive drugs. they are suing the opioid manufacturers and the distributors and the four local doctors accused of overprescribing. county officials say misleading and deceptive marketing by the drug makers accelerated the crisis. the opioid prescription rate is above the national average. michelle: caught on camera, a police s.w.a.t. team swarms an s.u.v. in crystal city. who they were after. jonathan: first, the clerk who outsmarted the armed robber and what the robber did next that had them waiti

on the sc

jonathan: go more schools announcing friday plans. loudoun county closed. alexandria, two hour-delay. we will scroll the closings on the bottom of the screen. you can go to the website to find them. wjla.com. we will send you texts to let you know. michelle: back with the winter weather alert. live look at bo

officials have been urging people to stay off the roads. a winter storm nows new england. they haven't even hit several roads in the area. they have so much work ahead of them. howling winds and snow to the north is causing a domino effect at the airports nationwide. abc7 transportation reporter shows us that it included flights from around the globe being sent to dulles international airport. >> for the problem at dulles began this morning when the new york area airports began to close. first, laguardia. newark and j.f.k. the flights already in the air began to divert to our area. at b.w.i., they stopped accepting flies earlier this morning. the rest of them came here to dulles including flights from moscow, istanbul, buenos aires. imagine 12 hours on a plane. loop around new york and you are told you have to come to d.c. these people are in line for food and then they end up at a hotel. some people this

new york. they are on a snowy i-95. for these people it's unclear when they will reach the final destination. at dulles airport, i'm sam sweeney. abc7 news. jonathan: we are getting new information on the deadly train derailment on tacoma, washington. it cites speed as the leading factor. the train was going close to 80 miles per hour. more than two miles in a 30 30--mile-per-hour seed zone. that 50 miles over. so far the ntsb has not talked to the operator or another worker at the time he was training. it was said that the two were not on the phones at the time of this. it also suggests that the positive train control likely would have averted the derailment. >> now must see video of a quick thinking clerk getting the upper hand on a thief that is all caught on video as a man barges in with a gun. that is when the clerk rushes everyone out and locks the

>> the man tried kicking the door and shooting the lock to get out. >> he is the dumbest robber out there for sure. >> he waits for the police who slap on the cuffs. he pleads guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. jonathan: coming up for us caught on video. the armed police swarm an s.u.v. in crystal city. now we know what they were after. >> it's an amazing sight on the ocean city boardwalk tonight after a storm that will be remembered for a long tone of the most pristine and beautiful parts -- of the world. but barbara comstock just voted to put it up for sale. why? to pay for tax cuts

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jonathan: the dramatic video from chris stall city -- crystal city. this was a drug bust and a police s.w.a.t. team using vehicles to block in a white car. witnesses say the officers crashed into the car to block it in. the officers approached the car with the guns drawn and

incident. >> back to the winter weather alert now where the snow and the cold made for perfect positions for the bravest. they shared the images of the ice rescue training on the tidal basin. agencies across the area have been using the unusual cold to train in the real world situations. jonathan: in ocean city there were no drills. no training, just an all out effort to protect against the dangerous storm pounding a hurricane with snow. michelle: very powerful. strong winds. maryland bureau chief brad bell has been there all day. we thank you for being out there. those predictions, though, bill kelly made of a snow hurricane seemed pretty dead on. >> it's beautiful out here tonight in a frigid, arctic kind of way. look behind me. this is the ocean city boardwalk. 27 street looking down where the eye can see. this is not a night to be riding a bike or taking a stroll. this is

up and down ocean city. that is the story. this storm came in with such ferocity and such wind that there are drifts like this everywhere. >> look at the pictures. this is ocean city maryland. not the arctic. daybreak today revealed a full on blizzard. winds exceeding 35 miles per hour. visibility and the driving snow down to 100 yards or less. this reporter assigned to early morning coverage and was the experience. >> i look silly. i have to tell you, i need every bit of this. >> the employee came out to shovel but the snow drifted back. the equipment to clear streets tricked a few people heading out on the roads. didn't get far before getting trapped in the drifts. >> i can't move my car. >> larry hogan was able to make the tr

to the beach and he promises the state road crews are doing all they can. >> we have serious problems on the shore in southern maryland particularly. >> we watched him clear the parking lot and he knows he has to do it again. >> the snow is not that big of a deal. but you have four or five feet here. >> this is an access to the beach. they have the storm drain closed and they do it to prevent flooding. the snow is piled up right to the top. this is a sight to see. there are no power o

this town. the governor said no major issues. amazing spectacle. ocean city, brad bell, abc7 news. jonathan: snow dunes. bill: it's interesting if brad can still hear me what is cool this summer, you can take a shot. picture from somewhere. go to the same spot in june and take the same photo and put them side-by-side and say remember january. that is awesome. jonathan: that is williamsburg. bill: that is cool! jonathan: seven inches of snow. bill: that is awesome. i'm a huge fan of time lapse. if you have those post them up. with got .8 of an inch at reagan. southern maryland the totals were the heaviest. and we

five inches. calloway at 6.1. if you go to cape may, 17 inches. we have queens, new york, 13 inches. 23 at manassas. 19 for chantilly but it doesn't tell the true story because the story the wind chill. there are winds out there between 30 to 40 miles per hour. this will feel like the single digits an almost zero if not zero where you are. we have 11 below in pittsburgh. minus 4 in elkins. virginia beach at 17 degrees. ocean city at 10. the big picture the skies cleared out. gorgeous sunset. just biting. gorgeous from the inside looking out. what i want to do is give an hour-by-hour forecast for the feeling like temperature.

11:00, everybody at or below zero. widespread minus readings to the west. we are there as well. out the door tomorrow. the range is minus 5 to minus 15 with the occasional minus 20 reading when you tune in to watch "good morning washington." there are numbers like this to the 15 and the 20 degree range. shenandoah valley and the colder spots we get. by 12:00 noon we are up to 3. that is where we should stay. we are not warming at all. we have a wind chill advisory out for our area and the entire region as well. this extends well back west. so the forecast the next few days cold. 19, 18, 25.

hard freeze. we have a 40 on monds. 43 on tuesday. i don't see another co

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erin: we begin with a big ten matchup as the terps will have the biggest test of the season. tonight when they face michigan state who will play their first game as the nation's number one ranked team. maryland, though, they have won seven straight. so you better watch out for the terps, despite losing two key players. justin jackson and ivan bender. head coach mark turgeon will rely on the junior and a freshman ber nanedo who knocked a first career double-decker against penn state tuesday. redskins are would be of the six teams that could be mandated to participate in this year's hbo's "hard knocks" series. front office has said in the past they don't want to be on the show. but it's like a reality show going behind the scenes with personalities likia gruden, josh norman. i'm not saying they will do it for sure but there i

a date has been announced for the opening of audi field, the new home for d.c. united. it will open july 14 against the whitecaps. it will be a fun summer for washington sports fans because the nats will host the mlb all-star game three days later and nats park is two blocks away from audi field. so imagine that. then speaking of the nationals. how good the spring training in west palm beach sound right now? jonathan: very good. erin: the team announced the pitchers and the catchers report on valentine's day. michelle: you need that assignment. erin: right! jonathan: take all of us with it. erin: for support. let's all go. michelle: word of the day. "cold." bill: you need to know what the weather is, too. jonathan: it's better than this. bill: don't forget us. we are warming up next week. for the first few days bitterly cold. bring pets in. if you can make sure the kids are not having to stand out. even a two-hour delay is going to be ridiculously cold at 10:00 in the morning.

with david muir up next. jonathan: thank you for being with us.

tonight, the major winter storm. a bomb cyclone slamming into the east coast. blizzard warnings from maryland to maine tonight. emergency rescues under way at this hour. d.c., philly, new york, boston, all slammed. hundreds of accidents tonight. historic high tide. hurricane-force wind gusts and what's coming next. where schools are already closed tonight. the airports tonight. flights cancelled. the new book steve bannon turning on the president and his family, saying don junior's meeting in trump tower was treasonous. tonight, as the president tries to stop the book the publisher late today r