>> this is wjz, wjz hd, and w jz.com. baltimore.

>> from the city to the counties to your neighborhood. now is complete coverage. it's wjz, maryland's news station. >> a highway headache. only closures cause gridlock for downtown commuters and there's no quick that insight. >> at afternoon. here's what people are talking about and shaking their heads about today. the big backup on the expressway this morning. a promise this evening that we will see more of the same. chopper 13 over the jf ask right now. things look clear for now. rush hour promises to be tough. we allied with good -- we allied with the concerns. good afternoon, derek. >> it was a rough morning for a lot of folks. the alternate route sometimes just

as busy. it now everyone going into the city has to look forward to getting out. >> reporter: traffic crept along congested with so many cars trying to avoid the backups on the jf ask, which as expected, was also slow going and backed up. the leftmost lanes north and south are closed for critical repairs. the city say they cannot wait. crushed under grob hikes. >> we know that there is a void. if left unchecked, that could become a sinkhole. >> many downtown companies warn their employees to plan ahead. >> wake up earlier, get to work earlier. >> it's a good time to give nt a try. >> public transit is a viable option. it's cost-effective and convenient. >> the city has knocked out nine alternate driving routes for people coming from the north.

for some drivers, alternates added up to a lot of lost time or your. >> if i have to go through the city, it would take me 40 minutes. >> painful but temporary, this could last up to two full months. >> police say they are going to have some extra traffic officers along some of those alternate routes to try to ease some of the congestion. folks, pack along your patience as you head home this afternoon. wjz eyewitness news. >> thank you. we go back up to chopper 13. mike mary looking down. the afternoon, mike. >> good afternoon, everyone. as you can see, the flow along the jfx is just fine. folks are coming and going and not having any issues, but the lane closures are evident. they do have barrels on both the north and southbound lanes. you lose the northbound lane just north of howard street.

they take that northbound lane away from you in a southerly direction just south of where falls road connects to the jfx. it's not clear if this is just to get folks accustomed to losing that lane, but as you can see at the moment, no big issues. later this afternoon it's expected to be what we saw this morning. >> thank you very much. captain mike. stay with wjz for complete coverage. go to wjz.com. we also have breaking news in baltimore county. police have made an arrest in an arson case. police say two juveniles are in custody and charged with arson and burglary. investigators say the two entered an unlocked shed at the pleasant as i am baptist church where they found gasoline and a lighter. they reportedly used those

items to start a three alarm fire. a very warm start to the afternoon as we climb to summerlike temperatures outside. people have been doing this all day long. they broke up the shorts and running shoes to take a lap around the lake this morning. we will take a live look at the inner harbor right now where the sun is shining and it appears this warm-up is just a thing started. look at the haze on the horizon or you how hot will it get and how long will it be until we see some rain again? at afternoon, bernadette. >> look at the current temperatures around the state. we are already 81 degrees in baltimore, 80 in alton, and the thing is we just have to keep this in perspective. our average is still only 65 degrees. that's about what we drop to overnight. the record today is 90. we are very close to that

record. so it's all up and down the east coast. this is coming from a huge pool of record heat across the south. it's pushing our direction. what we are thinking today, record temperatures up and down the east coast, and in that front moves our way tomorrow. this is the same front that caused all the problems. more on that in a minute. >> residence in the middle part of this country reeling after the outbreak of tornadoes from texas to minnesota. officials say early warnings saved lives, but woodward, oklahoma was not so lucky. six people killed, three of them children. we have the latest for wjz. >> reporter: residents of woodward, oklahoma are cleaning up the devastating damage left by a fast-moving, destructive tornado. >> we got down in the seller. as soon as we got the door shut, it was right there. i could hear it coming as we were heading down the stairs. >> utility companies are

working to restore power in a town where the tornado destroyed dozens of buildings. there was little warning. a lightning strike disabled 20 outdoor sirens. >> this is all that's left of a role of small businesses. we saw employees to come back to salvage some things and survey the damage since there's nowhere left to work for you. >> kyle reynolds lost the dream house he built for his family five years ago. >> where do you go from here click. >> we spent all of yesterday trying to get what we could out of the house. >> the massive storm system didn't just hit oklahoma. it produced dozens of tornadoes from minnesota to kansas. a warning sirens sounded in wichita sending students from trinity academy who were attending the prom down into a shelter. >> i'm really scared. tornadoes are my biggest fear of all time. >> the students spent two hours underground losing part of

their prom night, but others in the cities lost much more. >> half of my wall is somewhere else. >> despite the damage, the only fatalities were in oklahoma. wjz, eyewitness news. >> for more on the powerful storms that rocked the midwest this weekend we go to marty bass in the outback. >> hello, everyone. let's relate this to our own neighborhoods to our slice of the mid-atlantic. this is a very hot and warm afternoon. there is a cold front moving our way tomorrow, and you get a cold front sharing and unstable air like this and the cause and affect our devastating. want to take a look at first warning doppler radar and show you that right now the dynamic for heavy-duty severe weather isn't taking place down to the south. we have a chance to push away from the table and absorb what happened over this weekend outburst of

over 100 tornadoes. yesterday there was an ef-4 tornado. we show you this all of the time. look at that. winds of 166 to 200 miles per hour. in hurricane terms, that is a category five hurricane, devastating. we have had for ef-4 tornado clubs so far this year. we are looking at the atlantic ocean. that was a category five hurricane that roared through the area and has done so four times this season. if you think this whether since day one has been bizarre, it just keeps getting more intense. so the question locally is, when a cold front comes through the area, are we expecting storms and what does it do to this potential record-breaking heat? meteorologist bernadette woods with those details coming up shortly. i will throw it back inside. >> thank you very much. a young city man charged in an

attack downtown. aaron parsons is now being held on half million dollars bond. investigators say he was seen on camera writing and punching the tourist in front of courthouse used last month. police say they are still trying to identify the others on that video. during his arrest, he said he does not know anyone else seen on the piece of recording. another major cut at the university of maryland. this time cheerleading is heading to the chopping block. we've learned the school plans to chop the program which was added as a varsity sport back in 2003. last year it cut eight other sports teams, including indoor track, swimming, and tennis. there is some good news today for procrastinators. you still have time to file your income taxes. normally, the deadline would be april 15th, but this year have -- you have until the 17th two file.

today is emancipation day. a holiday in washington dc celebrating the freeing of slaves. guidelines cannot fall on weekends or federal holidays. still to come on eyewitness news at noon, lost at sea. sailors remain missing after a crash along the west coast are you why crews say they are calling off the search for them. watch what you it. a nationwide recall. the temperature is still going up. your complete first warning weather forecast is still coming up. >> complete ,,,,,,

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>> and update on a developing story where a woman has learned her fate for the murder for hire plot targeting her husband. jackal and the asked her brother to kill her husband read a short while ago she was sentenced to 60 years in prison with the possibility of parole. it was in may of 2010 leave martin's body was found in front of the bar he owned and operated. her brother and two teenagers have pleaded guilty to roles in that

plot. the president breaking his silence about a scandal involving secret service members. they are now on leave for reportedly partying with prostitutes in south america before the president arrived for his current visit while still attending the summit of americas. the president has reacted to what may have taken place. >> if it turns out that from the allegations that have been made in the press they are confirmed, then, of course, i will be angry. >> the two u.s. government sources say the agents were relieved of duty and have been returned home. the coast guard calling off the search for for missing sailors. they went missing this weekend off for close to california after strong winds forced their sailboat to run aground. they were able to rescue three people from the water and recover one body. four people are still missing. the rescue officials believe they likely drowned. if you are thinking of making a salad for lunch today, you may

want to check the bag of lettuce in your refrigerator. dole is recalling some of its bagged salads because they may be tainted with someone a lot. the recall is for the company's southern lettuce salads mixed. the bags were sold in 15 states, including maryland, pennsylvania, and virginia. so far no illness have been reported. still to come on wjz eyewitness news at noon, traffic jams aside, it's one gorgeous day area almost summerlike temperatures out there. your complete forecast just two and and a half minutes ,, [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.

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>> complete forecast and the first warning of severe weather. >> welcome back, everybody. it is that time already. hard to believe the middle of april you want to get into the sprinkler or some sort of water fountain, but it's hot this afternoon. it's already 81 degrees in baltimore, and the dew points are making it feel somewhat muggy outside. look at the upper 70s and even 86 degrees in cumberland. now we know who's warming up. 86 degrees. compared to yesterday at this time, a couple degrees warmer. we get very close to that record of 90 degrees this afternoon. forecasting a high in the upper 80s, but it wouldn't be surprised if someone hit 90 degrees. windsor ottawa south.

very intense warmth across the south being pushed in our direction because of the storm system out to the west. it's the same storm system that brought the severe weather. you can really see where it is because there is cold air behind it. we are not dealing with that. we are on the one side of the system. not only for today but even when we peaked today, it's still going to be one tomorrow. it's going to take some time to get some cooler air in here. here's that storm system. intensity over the weekend also. we saw over 100 reports of tornadoes saturday alone. yesterday just all of them but still a london reports of tornadoes. there's a severe weather threat today but it's more for straight line winds and hail although it is still severe weather. some of the strong storms get very close to western maryland later today. look at how this is weakening. for the rest of us, just a chance for showers and thunderstorms as this passes through during the day tomorrow. we are not going to get a whole lot out of this and we need the

rain. this one will stay to the south but it will be close for the chance of a couple showers, but that looks to be about it. the forecast looks like this. none of those problems. 88 degrees for the high. tonight only going down to 60, then tomorrow is breezy and stillborn. we are still talking 76 degrees. 10 degrees above average even tomorrow as we begin our cooldown. >> enjoying the warm weather, but i know we need the rain. >> enjoy it while it's here. you can't control it. >> still to come on eyewitness news at noon, move over nose jobs. apparently, there's a new trend when it comes to plastic surgery. we will tell you more about it in the healthwatch. we want to look at today's midday stocks. some are up and some are down. wjz is always on. here's some of the stories we are following on the website. constant updates of all the days

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