the snow is here in hartford. abc 2 is working for you with complete coverage of the latest winter wallop. good evening. it is a knee-deep deja vu. forecasters say it will be a parulidessing storm. possibly worse than what we saw in decembe . tonight the state of maryland is under a state of emergency. >> we are prepared to deal with whatever mother nature throws at us. >> we have live team coverage from all across our area. cheryl conner, jeff is at the state highway command centerrer and brian is live with us in towsend tonight. before we get to the live crews. let's check in with our meteorologist who are keeping us up-to-date. >> wyatt has been watching this all week long. >> it is starting to come down

out there. >> you know what's interesting. we knew this would be a power house. it is interesting that as we have gone in the last 12 hours through the day today it has not been as powerful. it is in the immediate part of maryland that borders the chesapeake south of ann arundel county into prince george's county and the district of columbia. a very rare blizzard warning for that area. we take a look at the temperatures. they have now dropped off to near freezing in most spots. below freezing in baltimore. below freezing in easton. washington hanging on. we are tracking heavy snow as it pushes in out of the south and west. justin was talking at heavy bands that continue to move in out of the south and west and northward into the immediate

baltimore area. this is really just the beginning of it of 24-hours of additional snow. 27 tonight. heavy snow. heavy wind. that is going to continue to be the story through the overnight period. in fact, i think we'll be down to 27 degrees tonight. all sticking overnight. the only thing that will hold down accumulations slightly will be the fact that this is a heavy, dense, wet snow. however, the reality is that even though it is a heavy snow that creates its own brand of problems. less accumulation but a denser snow could lead to serious power line and tree coming down- type of problems. we'll break this down in detail in a few minutes. including storm totals which will be huge and historic. road conditions are getting treacherous. we have some roads closed due to major accidents. looking at the beltway all lanes opened. 695 not our problem at this time. ann arundel county you'll see both directions of route 100 at

the river bridge closed because of injury crash. we had a car go into a pole. wires are down in the roadway. you'll see emergency crews on the scene. expect lengthy delays. aberdeen north paradise road shut down from the earlier injury crash. churchville road should be able to get around. expect delays. northbound lane of the henry tunnel accident blocking right lane. expect delays on 95. howard county baltimore national pike accident there as well. as we peak at the city cameras look at the snow coming down. it is getting worse by the hour. definitely don't go out if you have to. keep your speeds down if you have to. stay out of the way of the trucks as they'll hit the mayor your roadways soon. thank you, shoppers have been jamming aisles and

emptying stores of milk, bread and shovels. we have pictures from the commissary near alexandria, virginia. fort meades commissary looked as busy. food has been disappearing from the aisles. federal government sent workers home early today. many school systems dismissed early. brian is live in towsend to give us an idea of the rush and current conditions. >> reporter: we have been out here for about two hours now. i can tell you the snow is really starting to come down here in the last few minutes. it is starting to stick to the ground and the roads in the last half an hour. what you can see is lock raven boulevard. that snow just started to stick a few minutes ago. you can see there is a coating of snow and ice on that road already. people are still out and about getting their last-minute supplies knowing they'll be snowed in all weekend. we are near a giant. there is also a dominoes pizza.

drivers have been in and out constantly alling night long. since we have been here in the past two hours the roads have gotten pretty bad. it is as if people know there is a deadline coming, if not already here, people trying to get home. making sure they have all their last-minute supplies to stay in all weekend. a lot of people heeding the warnings of staying in. prepare for the superbowl. realize at the point you shouldn't be out at all. you should have gotten errands and food supplies in the house. wait this one out. it is getting bad here. >> thank you. justin burke among those pulling double duty for the duration of the storm. he got tired of being inside so we sent him outside. he loves the snow. is that a snowball? >> reporter: i figured this would be the best demonstration. besides making a snowball that

compacts easy. know what happens if you throw it? it sticks. that's a good idea that we have ourselves a high-water content. i can't even scrape that off the wall. we have ourselves a lot of water content with this storm. we have ourselves an inch and a half of snow. it continues to come down in waves. that's the one thing we have been talking about. at this stage of the game hopefully you are home or within walking distance at home at your local pub or restaurant enjoying the snow party. it will come down heavy. it is going to pick up at times this evening and overnight. expect the heaviest part of this storm to be after midnight and towards day break tomorrow where we could get some rumbles of thunder. snowfall rates two to three inches an hour. maybe even sleet mixed in with possible freezing rain or rain on to the eastern shore. get any of those elements and we'll eat into the potential of snow tallies. we are factoring in the heavy

wet snow that combats tonight for the fact that tomorrow it will be a much lighter, fluffier snow as wyatt talked about with the blizzard warnings. those are conditions of 35 mile- per-hour sustained winds for three straight hours in addition to an inch of snow per hour. those are whiteout conditions. if we don't qualify a full blizzard here it will feel like a blizzard outside. worse part is overnight through tomorrow morning. more on the forecast coming up. now back to you. >> thank you very much. remember, we are working for you 24/7 online. you can track this storm any time. log on to abc2news.com. mayor stephanie rawlings blake is preparing forr a major snow storm. rawlings blake was sworn in thursday afternoon. this morning she was briefed on emergency preparations at the city's transportation management center.

a number of flights not only delayed but canceled at bwi marshall this evening. as early as yesterday southwest airlines canceled 100 flights starting at 2:00 this afternoon. the best advice we can give you this evening call before you head out to the airport. from this point on we can tell you that it is not looking good. right now we are going to see how the traffic is going. we have been looking at the traffic situations. just from the pictures you know you need to not be on the roads. >> there has been serious accidents already. conditions are not getting better. they are getting worse right now. >> we'll check with jeff. we have been talk target state of emergency that the governor declared late this afternoon. >> he is in the emergency operations center in hanover where the governor spoke earlier today. >> reporter: the farmer's almanac had it right back in

the fall when they predicted we'd have a bad winter as far as snowfall went. budget analyst across the country were hoping they were wrong in the the midst of the recession. you cannot place a price on lives. the state assures it will throw every expense at trying to tackle this storm that every available resource is being committed to keep the roads passable. the state only budgeted $60 million to do so going into the this season. after five previous storms leading up to this one it has already spent $50 million. earlier governor o'malley said he asked for a federal declaration to get money from fema. it will take 28 inches of snow.

we'll wait and see if we get that much snow so uncle sam can chip in. the governor said he'll find it somewhere else in the budget in a bleak year. >> thank you. when a storm of this magnitude hits there are a number of ways you need to protect yourself. here are some of the things you should have on hand to keep you and your family safe.

we want to see your pictures. thanks to the snow on the ground and what's falling it could be a big fort by the end of the weekend. happy birthday. >> happy birthday. they've been discovered to be life enhancing.

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with yet another major winter storm baring down on us i know i'm thinking and you might be thinking enough is enough. >> enough is enough. how does this winter storm measure up with year's past.

wyatt will take a look back by the numbers. >> as this monster storm bears its teeth, we're reminded of the winter wallop we got back in december. a storm that rewrote the record books. >> bwi marshall received 20.5 inches in one day. in just over 22 inches for the entire month of december. since then we have had some nuisance snow. now another potential monster storm coming in out of the the south. that got us to thinking, probably you too, if you have been on the wrong end of the shovel. how is this winter measuring up in term of history? according to the national weather service the biggest unofficial snow was in january january 1772. they were youred in recorded in both men's diaries. this storm you will remember.

baltimore's grates three-day snowfall on record was february 2003 when we were buried beneath 27 inches. that was also the snowiest month ever in baltimore with a total of 40.5-inches. keep in mind bam's average snowfall for an entire year is 19.8. since 1870 there have only been 20 snow storms that dutched more bumped more than a foot of snow. the record for the latest measurable snowfall in baltimore is april 2, 1898 at a tenth of an inch. here's hoping that's one record that won't be broken this winter. the road ways not improving. they are deteriorating. as we look at the beltway the plows are hitting the roads.

accumulation is building up. slush between the lanes. slick conditions undesirable to drive in. listen, if you don't have to go out stay in. if you do go out be sure to keep speeds down and astroid plows. remember bridges, overpasses and exit ramps will be the first to freeze. keep that in mind. ann arundel county route 100 remains closed in both directions because of a crash. a car went into the electric pole with the wires down. emergency crews are on the scene. aberdeen that incident remains on the scene at north paradise road closed in both directions at i-95. churchville road is your best alternate. ann arundel county 50 eastbound at st. margaret's road injury crash. crane highway south at glen burnie.

earlier crash in the northbound lanes of the henry tunnel has been cleared. crash baltimore national pike at columbia road. as we look at the jfx it is really coming down. expect some very, very slick conditions. back to you. i'm sure the roads will get nastier and nastier out there. we are tracking heavy snow as it moved out of baltimore. now we are in moderate snow. heavy bands across winchester and d.c. d.c. under a blizzard warning. current conditions at bwi marshall 31 degrees. humidity 100%. barometer dropping like a rock. we'll be out of the 30 range quickly here. i want to show you through the day today. look at ellicott city. it starts out as rain.

then we quickly get into a much snowier scenario into the afternoon and evening. you can see a thick blanket everywhere now seeing the changeover occur. here's why it was not sticking so well earlier today. we were in the upper 30s. 35 to 37 degrees about the range for highs. but now we haved on the down to the freezing mark. it is going continue to stack up overnight. this thing is one massive storm. just a tremendous amount of moisture coming out of the south in two areas of low pressure that we'll break down in a second. as you head from east to west you can get highier accumulations. high winds mean blizzard-like conditions even in delaware. further west of the chesapeake colder air available that means highier accumulations 16 to 26 inches of a dense heavy snow. tomorrow we'll get the final

amount. it will be a lighter form of snow tomorrow with our second punch. out in western maryland 30 inches not out of the question. winter storm warning up for the also down into washington and reagan national and prince george's county under a blizzard warning that kicks in at 10:00 as the conditions get more intense. that snow will be sticking tonight. 32 bwi marshall. everywhere at our below freezing. a few spots a degree or two above. it will be sticking. these winds getting more intense creating whiteout conditions. we'll watch that as well as the winds get more intense. right now not that windy. two areas of low pressure. one off in the midwest. another one moving in out of

the atlanta, georgia area pushing off the coast. it will begin to spin up overnight into the early part of the day tomorrow. encountering cold enough air to be snow and not much of a winter mix. we think sleet could mix in at times. you can see the chance of sleet mixing in before snow tomorrow. the snow tomorrow will be a lighter variety. heavy, wet, dense snow tonight. none the less we think a foot and a half of snow on average a good bet. 27 tonight. heavy snow tomorrow. tapers off tomorrow afternoon. into the next seven days you'll see the changeover occurring as we get the sunshine back on sunday and a big chance to dig out. we'll need it. cold conditions coming in as well. >> thank you. we'll wrap up when we come back.

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now this is a beauty shot. if we only had this much snow it would be a great night. >> we'll get more though.

we have been tracking the storm. we have a blizzard warning in some counties to the south. that means it will be windy there and here as well. >> winds will be picking up. a lot of storms we didn't have the sticking to the tree branches and the power lines. that will not be the case tonight. this band just came through the baltimore area this evening. justin was out there. now we have another one developing across d.c. that will be bringing up the snow in intensity in the next hour. blizzard warnings for southern maryland and the eastern shore. we'll all see blizzard-like conditions tonight. winds picking up u. heavy snow. a good night to sit inside with your favorite adult beverage. disney on ice has been canceled tonight along with many other things. you can see them along the bottom of the screen. that's it for us.we'll be back tonight at 11:00.

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