>> we are coverage for you. marty bass. in theout back and tim williams over the first morning weather center. good afternoon. >> good afternoon dawn and good afternoon everyone. as i mentioned the leading edge of the storm system is moving across the region. we are looking at the first radar doppler. the entire state starting to see some form of precipitation in the form of snow. we did expect and see some sleet and even some light rain early but the temperatures are still very cold so what you are seeing across the area is now snow. a satellite radar composite by packs river and dc, there's the pink, that is the sleet and as it moved through the sleet started to give way through the snow and you see rain on the lower eastern snow but we are seeing solid snow and that's the case for the next 30 hours until

we start to see improvement. for the totals that we expect to see, we send to it marty. >> thank you, tim. good afternoon, everyone. i have good news for you. no surprises. last weather outlet that you heard hasn't changed. let's take a look. the advisory -- we are under a winter storm warning but look to the right-hand side of the screen. that will show you the noreaster that will give us this snowfall. we have blizzard warnings in effect for delaware and south jersey and for the already beat up beaches of ocean city and the del mar area we indeed have a coastal flood warning in effect as the storm moves to and through the mid-atlantic. let's take a look at the totals and again. these have not changed. it is very good news. we are still looking at a significant weather event. 16 to 24-inches of snow. conversationally speaking i think we will be in the upper

teens. there will be pockets of 20 plus inches particularly once you move off the south and west near the shan na doa valley. i want you to know there's a band of 18 to 16-inches snow that encompasses where you see the blizzard conditions. it has to do with visibility. in other words the power of this noreaster. it's going to be a significant winter weather event. >> mike hellgren joins us where the governor is preparing to address the state's plans for the storms. good afternoon, mike. >> reporter: good afternoon, we are waiting for him and several emergency management officials. we have had aped advanced warning. there are more than 266,000 tons of salt and more than 2000 people and employees. let's take a look at some of the preps around the state so far. >> salt trucking are loading up

preparing for another major snowfall with many comparisons to the big storm in december. >> it ain't never been this big. everybody is going to run out of salt. >> it has cause add run on store for essentials. >> we had cued up the people. >> with me is richard muth the director of the emergency management agency and standing next to him in the everywhere's uniform is general atkins of national guard. and neil peterson. as the storm comes down on maryland we are prepared. we have had experience already this year and this looks like it will be a bigger event than the last one. right now as you probably know

the latest forecast that we have seen indicates that maryland can get anywhere from 20 to 30-inches of snow and it appears from the track of this that it is bearing down right on the 95 corridor and that's where we anticipate that snowfall will be heaviest namely where most of the population lives. we are also on guard for a couple of effects on the eastern shore. because this is a noreaster, we are on good guard and highly sensitive to the coastal flooding. because of the noreaster and the wins they are far more likely to encounter blizzard conditions. lesser amounts of snowfall in western maryland and on the eastern shore. we have more specifics in a second. i issued an emergency deck ralation for the state of

maryland. what does that allow us to do? activate the maryland national gashed and to support first responders especially with the humvees that are helpful to local paramedic units that may have trouble getting into the side streets if any of our neighbors are in need of transport to a hospital. for the past two days, fema and the national guard has been discussing employment, we did that in the last emergency for a time. assuming the storm follows a path we will have first responsors. the deck ralation also gives us possible emergency assistance depending on the amount of snow which i have been told is 28-inches in order for uncle sam to participate we will have to hit 28-inches. also this morning for our state government employees we

implement a liberal leave and given the magnitude of the snow we are expecting we want to encourage all citizens if you don't have to go out, don't go out. stay at home and get some quality time with your spouse and kids and curl up with a book and stay off of the roads so the crews out there can do the job that we need them to do which is to keep the highways open for the emergency vehicles and to get back to normal once this big event passes. also, i want to -- >> and, of course, much more on the governor coming up at four, five and six but the complete coverage continues. we have more on how the city is planning to deal with all of this snow. hello weja. >> reporter: good afternoon. the new mayor wants to hit the ground running in the tremendous task of getting the city flew the storm. administrators admit even though we have had snow we have not had the wind so crews are preparing

for near blizzard conditions. just 23 hours into her first term as the new mayor of stephanie blake is contending with the new winter storm. >> we have no control over the weather and we have no control over what mother nature do but we do have control over how we will respond and we have an integrated system. >> the city of 300 workers in place and hundreds of pieces of equipment and 15,000 tons of salt. what it does not have is a snow budget to match the load. going in to the storm the city had $400,000 of $3.5 million left. >> i'm very mindful because we are dealing with a budget deficit but again i keep repeating the same thing, we have to protect our priorities and making sure that we provide public safety and essential

services particularly in a snowstorm. it is important. that's the thing that i will find money for. >> and, of course, that is the message we are hearing all around that we may not have the money budgeted but we will get the job done. however, authorities urge residents to do their part here in baltimore city and that means moving the cars out of the street and out of the snow emergency routes by 6:00 p.m. we are live in downtown baltimore. stay with wjz for first morning coverage. we have your own live look and the latest on any closings and delays. go to wjz.com. still to come, the major snow that could drop as much as two feet of snow is headed our way. >> tim williams will be back with your first morning forecast in two minutes. complete coverage continues with dawn scott and jessica

kartaliga and first warning weather with marty,,,,,,,,,,,,,, news

station. >> the weather is causing problems for people trying to get in and out of maryland. the airport is packed with people trying to get out before

the snow hits. southwest airlines has called off all flights starting this afternoon. the cancellations will last through sunday morning. other airlines have indicated they'll do the same. it adds up to a big headache for passengers but most travelers seem to be understanding. >> just be patient with it. it will be what it is and you know what, go with the flow. that's how things work. it is snow. deal with it. >> airlines are encouraging customers to check the carriers or the airport's website to get the most updated status information. take another live look and stick around. meteorologist tim williams' forecast, first morning weather forecast is coming right up. are you making it easier for bacteria

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>> our friday noon pup here. a shepherd mix. i think she has got a little

growing in her. >> i think so. >> beautiful dog. she is at the maryland spca. adopt me at maryland spca.org. need to keep your pets in mind. we are talking about the dramatic snowfall totals because they need to get out and live their lives too. take precautions and make sure that they can get to their water and get out of the elements and stay warm. meteorologist tim williams, talk some weather here. >> all right. we are looking at the snow pretty much right on schedule moving across the region and looking at some of the heavier bands moving across hagerstown and all the way through the panhandle and chester town seeing rain and sleet mixed in here. towson seeing heavier bands and what we watch that didn't make it to the ground earlier is now making it to the ground. there's a winter storm warning in effect and playing out until

10:00 tonight and blizzard warning in effect for the delaware beaches up towards atlantic city and the jersey beaches and the winds will be sustained or frequently gusting over 35 miles per hour. we won have blizzard conditions in our region but we will see heavy snow and there's a distinct difference. 35degrees and the winds are at 3 miles an hour and 30.27 is your barometer reading with temperatures from 28 in oakland to 38 on the shore where everything coming down is of the melted winter type. temperatures above freezing on the shore and rock hall and annapolis and 36 and bellaire at 37. the temperatures are dropping. that's why we are getting a bit of a mix. we are seeing the temperatures starting to drop here across the city and we are starting to see more snow. the mix here is depicted by the pink that you see moving across the region and the rain as you

see kind of all down along ocean city and the shore from easton and we are starting to see a bit of a development snow area wide and speaking of the area we are looking at a large area of snow. let me back it up and give you an idea of how big the system is. we will see heavier bands in the evening hours and overnight and we will start to see improvement but in the meantime expect to see more blue here and most of this will turn to snow. it will be with us through tomorrow and we will see tapering as we move through the afternoon. by the evening we will start to see it leveling out here but the cold air will be in place and the winds are going to pick up tomorrow and along the shores and beaches it will and norrester event and less snow on the shore but more wind. it is pretty much a tradeoff depending on where you are. sunset at 5:51. we are going up today to 35

degrees and cloudy and snow and snow is arriving. 27degrees tonight windy and cold and for tomorrow we are only getting up to about 30 degrees and heavy snow early and we will start to see blowing snow in the afternoon and tapering off as we get towards night fall. we will keep you posted. marty will have the five day in a few moments. eyewitness n,,,,,,,,,,,,

continue in a moment. >> we are following some salt trucks. they are headed toward the fort mchenry tunnel and putting down the salt and the blades are out. outages are expected due to the storm. a spokesperson for bge says it is similar back to 2006 where more than one hundred thousand customers lost power. heavy wet snow and high wind could knock down treelines and bring down the power lines. if it happens it will take several days to restore power. bge is bringing in extra crews to deal with it. but maryland residents should prepare for extended outages just in case. >> there's going to be a lot of work to do. road conditions will be hazardous. it may delay some of the crew's arrival time that could extend outage times and we are certainly working to get everything up and running but it

is going to be a challenge. >> bge recommends that you keep a flashlight and batteries and nonperishable food and a cell phone on hand and you should report any power outages or down power lines to bge. stay with us. your five-day,,

up next. >> looking out over what is going to soon be a snow blanketed highway from sky chopper 13. what we are looking at now is the radar and we are taking a tour from the radar and the air. what you are seeing is the moisture and it is now starting to come down more in the form of snow. we are going to see more and more of this as the day progresses. >> take a look at the five-day forecast. there's some good news here and i think that good news is that it is going to stay below

freezing here quite a while. not going to have this fall, refreezing, thaw refreeze. people won ignore the holiday of superbowl sunday. once this action starts to wind down around lunch time, people will start to dig out. going back to december 19th when the chicago bears were in town the next day, that next day people were ready to get out. baltimore is kind of toughened up when it comes to weather events so we will see how it goes. >> sun comes out superbowl sunday. >> and come monday it will be all right. >> don't forget to tune in tonight to numbers and eyewitness news at 11:00.

>> i can't get the jimmy buffet song out of my head. >> i'm jessica kartaliga. >> and i'm marty bass. we will be giving you a,,,,,,,,,