let's not overthink this. >> larry: below freezing

>> karen: no break from the cold for those constructions workers. >> jason: first round of snow comes in tomorrow. >> darcel: right now at 6, tracking the major weather changes. how many inches of snow you could see. now from western north carolina's news leader, this is news 13 at 6:00. >> larry: right now temperatures across the mountains are plummeting as we prepare for another dangerously cold night ahead and some snow. >> darcel: you sent us the temperatures you saw today. some areas in the single digits. we have live team coverage of what's ahead and how some are dealing with below freezing conditions. >> larry: jason, when will the snow begin to fall? >> jason: likes like dawn we'll have snow falling near the tennessee border. our temperatures will be colder for snow initially and warm up a little bit. but then get cold enough again for snow.

very tricky forecast. teens in newland and boone. 30s in our southern mountains and down through the upstate. here are the current adviseesry adviseesries adviseesries. weather alerts 7:00 a.m. to 00 p.m. thursday. madison, swain, graham, jackson, macon, clay, cherokee county. one to three inches of snow fall. most of that is going to fall in higher elevations. there certainly will be icy spots. farther south, there is a winter storm warning out for portions of northern georgia. more of an ice and snow event down there. it is going to be an inconvenieiee, believe you me. we're going to have snow fall on the roads and grass. there's going to be icy spots again after day break in those higher elevations. we'll have initial bands in the morning.

some of this is going to work across i-26. we're likely going to get a light accumulating event here. the northern end of the county can get up to an inch in areas weaverville and north. teens thereafter and wind chills in the single digitsts we'll talk more of that and the big storm this weekend. stick around. >> darcel: our team coverage continues now with many braving the below freezing temperatures to make a living. >> larry: karen wynne is live near an asheville construction site. >> darcel: karen, how do people working outside makeheir day less painful? >> karen: darcel, it certainly was not easy. in fact, we had to move from that construction site a few minutes ago. but look at all this ice behind me right off merrimon. be careful on that commute home.

to say layering up and taking frequent breaks is key. everywhere from construction workers and work crews along patton avenue to reynolds village where they were working construction as well. we also found several people working their shift outside in the cold that were working at a car wash on a day where there was ice on beaver lake. but they say they've done this before and they came to work prepared. >> you just gotta drink a lot of warm liquids. keep your hat on, your gloves. just layer upnd do what you gotta do to make this money. >> karen: all the workers we talked with say this they are looking forward to their shift ending so they can enjoy a cup of coffee or a hot meal. however, those car washers say they're actually gearing up for a busy few days ahead. live in north asheville, i'm karen wynne, news 13. >> larry: be sure to stay with

happening with the snow. we will be posting updates on our facebook and twitter pages, as well as wlos.com. >> darcel: you can also download our free weather app and sign up to get traffic and weather alerts. plus tune in to news 13 this morning for the latest on school closings and delays. >> larry: firefighters battle extreme temperatures to put out an early morning house fire in fairvieie a fire forced a woman and child out in to the cold. >> darcel: crews from six different fire departments were called to the home around 4 this morning. the subfreezing temperatures made the job especially tough. >> it's extremely hard, because you know, it takes water to put the fire out. the water is freezing in temperatures like this. these guys are cold. we're just trying to rotate them in and out. trying to keep them warm. >> larry: ice quickly formed

no one was hurt. >> darcel: developing tonight, north buncombe high school's assistant principal has been put on administrative leave. it comes after accusations of misconduct involving a student. news 13's ashlea surles is live near school grounds. ashlea, the incident allegedly happened friday. >> ashlea: that's right. there are accusations that barry owens behaved inappropriately during an interaction involvinin a student following a basketball game that happened here friday night. it was a big game against asheville high. north buncombe won the game. but the district hasn't gone in to any detail of what exactly owens is accused doing. he's worked as the assistant principal and athletic director since 2004. investigation is conducted as to what happened after the game. the school says t tt is standard protocol when there are

staff. i spoke with the student involved in this alleged incident. following that meeting on how to move forward. they did release a short statement. the family said that we trust the school will take appropriate action and that the investigation will be completed in a way that is fair. and outside of that statement and a brief release from the school district both parties are staying very tight lipped at this point going forward as this investigation continues. reporting live in buncombe county, i'm ashlea surles, news 13. >> larry: a cherokee police officer has been arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. 26-year-old charles stanford is charged with assault on a female. police say they were called to a physical altercation saturday. stanford was held in tribal jail for 22 hours.

a traffic enforcement officer. alex vance says a man smashed the window of his tire shop along the smoky mountain express way last night. well this morning, the operator of another business about a mile away spotted the empty cash register. surveillance video shows the car the thieves were driving. >> a two-door honda civic, dark blue. he was wearing a collar coat with a hoodie. >> larry: if you have any information about this robbery, call the haywood county sheriff's office. >> darcel: a group of fathers in north carolina is putting pressure on lawmakers. they argue courtrooms aren't giving them a chance to be in their kids lives. how a group has helped one local father. >> this is what i've been

>> reporter: shane thompson. >> they're two of the most precious kids in the world. >> reporter: saves every picture his kids gave him. he also saves every document family court has given him that's taken away more time with him. >> every statement i make, it's ignored. >> reporter: shane logged on to the nc fathers website to find many fathers like him who feel unfairly targeted. >> it's geared towards where the mother should be the only one in the child's life and the father should just pay child support and be there every other weekend. that makes you an absentee father. that may be okay for some fathers but a lot of fathers want to be there all the time. >> i think the change is that there's more openness in trying

and i think that automatic anymore. >> reporter: he said courts will decide on the best interest of the child not the parent. >> it's better if you try to work it out together. but if you make the court make the decision, you better be prepared to demonstrate your ability to provide a stability home environment for the child. >> they need their mother and their father equally. >> reporter: hope hanselman, news 13. somebody has stolen your social security number. >> darcel: the pit falls of procrastinating with your taxes.

tips on >> larry: now that we're in to

tax season. >> darcel: with new scammers on the rise, some advise to file early. >> larry: how can filing early help you, frank? >> frank: larry, tax preparers say filing early can help reduce identity theft. most tax preparation offices are quiet. that's because the irs this year won't begin accepting returns until january 19th. as always, employers have until january 31st to issue w-2 statements. >> someone has stolen your social sececity number. >> frank: if an identity thief has that number, your name and your date of birth, that could put you at the end of the line. >> if they've stolen that and they file before you do, then when you go to file your return, your tax return gets rejected and then you've got to mail it by paper and sort it out with

the right one. >> frank: the irs says clearing up identity theft can be complicated. a typical case could take up to 120 days to resolve and say they're working to reduce that time period. so why not file using your last pay stub to get it done as early as possible. stub. that's totally against irs regulations. you've got to have the w-2 in hand when you file your tax return. >> frank: there could be an error so you could file the wrong information. the irs recommends filing early but not because of identity theft. filing early ensures that any errors can be identified and corrected before the tax

they say it also makes sense since most people want their refund as early as possible. new security measures and filters to stop the scammers have been added this year. >> so we don't really know what that means with the tax return. i know with login, if you use an online software or whatever, i know they've bumped up how big your user name and password has to be. >> frank: the irs has started issuing personal identification numbers or pins for anyone who has been the victim of identity theft. but this year the irs made a huge mistake when they sent out this form with pin numbers. it incorrectly states the pin is for the 2014 tax year. the irs wants everybody to know they goofed and that number is still good on their 2015 taxes. if you have something you'd like us to investigate, you can write us here at reality check at

>> darcel: we are tracking some major changes with the weather. >> larry: jason, we're in for a one, two punch, aren't we? >> jason: it's kind of the left hook and then the big right one comes at us as we get in t t the evening. 28 degrees. it's going to be colder than that. 11 for the low this morning. many of you started out in the single digits this morning. brutal stuff. no rain or snow today. we have a departure now of half an inch. we're down that much for the month and for the year, of course. bigger storm for the weekend. it's very track dependent. i'll show you what i mean and what's going to lie ahead for

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same thing goes for weather forecast. i'm sure many of you have seen in your newsfeed, a major storm that's going to pound, major snow, this, this, and this. it is way too early to say any of that is going to happen. we're not seeing a major storm with that kind of caliber. there's potential for a storm no doubt about it. 20 inches in asheville, that's what some of you have been throwing out. i just don't see it, folks. the first storm we're tracking. this one comes in from the mississippi valley. this one brings snow tomorrow. i'm talking more than two inches, up to three inches in the high tops of those blue ridge communities, also in to macon and haywood county as well, jackson. then the snow spreads in the valleys. we could get some of that in

henderson county. half inch to an inch at very most. a lot of that will be by the end of the day tomorrow. then we watch our second system, the one that's likely going to be a major winter storm for much of the east coast. this is going to dive down to texas and track across mississippi, alabama, and headed to tennessee. look at this track here. it starts to lift a little north in to tennessee. if this track takes shape, this would mean ice and freezing rain, sleet mixed with snow for us in asheville areases north and east. because we have a cold wedge set up right here. you can see this purple area towards southern virginia. that would limit snow fall accumulations, obviously, because we'd be talking ice. south of there, it would be rain mostly over the upstate. now the track, the dependency is

if this storm goes a little farther south, it would put that snow band over western north carolina and give us a good wallop. 20 inches, don't see that. i think the ice situation on early thursday night in to friday keeps our snowfall limited and then the system passes by. we get cold enough that it changes over to snow for the valleys. no doubt the mountains high up are going to get slammed with snow fall. especially northern blue ridge, yancey, avery, watauga. herere the first system coming through tomorrow. moderate bands of snow. down to the valley floors late afternoon. we watch for the second system to come in. tennessee border, smokys, balsams, nantahalas.

about an inch on the north side of buncombe county. teens for lows tonight. 30s for highs tomorrow. it's going to get chilly. the rain, the snow mixed with some ice by friday morning. yes, cold still in to the weekend. >> larry: duke has a three-game losing streak for the first time in eight years after losing to syracuse. stan shows one play that has

that's next in sports. >> stan: the duke blue devils in a spot they haven't been in in eight years, wearing a three game losing streak. an unhappy coach k, not at his players but the refs. grayson allen. duke down three when they get it down low to marshall plumlee. former christ school star, 17 rebounds. here's the play coach k is upset about. duke misses a shot. go for the rebound. it looks like malachi richardson.

syracuse goes on to win. duke's third straight loss. coach k amazed by what went on. >> we put ourselves in a position to win. matt made a great playay and he wasn't rewarded. it's amazing. it's literally amazing. here, when you see amazing, then, you know, it's like amazing. >> stan: he's amazed. latest prep hoop polls out, coaches poll, pisgah tenth. they dropped to six.

boys north henderson in 3a is ninth and that's it. cardinals and panthers. what does this mean for carolina? >> it validates everything we've done so far in terms of development and growth as a football team. i think it validates the patience. and rightly so the patience within us and our development. i think it validates what dave and his group have done. >> stan: amazing. >> darcel: amazing. >> jason: could be amazing this weekend. snow still in the forecast.