stephanie: right now at 6:00 -- warm temperatures this winter are causing problems for some granite state traditions. >> unfortunately, mother nature has not cooperated this year. stephanie: the winter warmth postponing events and slowing down hockey players in a tournament this weekend. hayley: temperatures will be way above average for the second half of the weekend and beyond. s going to be and when we could get some heavy rain. stephanie: portsmouth police are investigating a series of car arsons. nine cars were broken into and lit on fire just this morning. the suspect is still at large. and right now, governor john kasich is hosting a town hall in peterborough.

picked up today. announcer: no one covers new hampshire like we do. now, wmur news 9 at 6:00. stephanie: warmer weather is stubbornly sticking around this winter, and that' s affecting events here in new hampshire. above-average temperatures all week long are causing problems for some well-known winter activities. good evening, i' m stephanie woods. wmur' s kristen carosa is live in concord where an annual pond hockey tournament is wrapping up for the day. kristen: stephanie, day two of the tournament is about to wrap up, and things for the most part went well. but there were a few adjustments made to deal with mother nature. the annual pond hockey tournament is underway in concord with some different equipment this year. players have traded their skates in for boots.

everyone understands the winter has not been that cold. kristen: players had it out with skates, but organizers realized conditions would not hold up. >> yesterday, we had warm weather. the sun came out and the ice started to get chewed up. kristen: the mild winter is affecting many events you would normally see this time of year. ice conditions of north have postponed the popular ice fishing derby by two weeks. it is hosted by the meredith rotary club which draws in more than 5000 people. >> the last year i can recall a delay was in 2006. prior to that, no. this is only our second unusual winter. kristen: the event is scheduled for february 27 and 28. >> it will be a successful, safe derby. that is what it is all about. we don' t want anybody going through the ice. kristen: conservation officers say many smaller ponds are completely frozen but the bigger

>> some parts of the lake are solid. there are areas of the lake that have no ice. kristen: it is a big difference from the same time last year. >> last year, we had plenty of ice. we had 18 inches here. this year, we don' t have any. kristen: because tomorrow is supposed to be on the warmer side, the last day of the tournament will take place inside at the everett arena. reporting live in concord, kristen carosa, wmur news 9. stephanie: fortunately it was cold enough for hockey players to lace up their skates on purity lake in madison. the youth pond hockey festival started this morning and will continue until tomorrow. 23 teams of players from new england are competing. proceeds from the event go to the laura foundation for autism and epilepsy. as kristen said, unfortunately for hockey players concord won' t be cold tomorrow. and the rest of the state will warm up as well. you' re taking a live look in

meteorologist hayley lapoint tells us about the winter warmth sticking around. hayley: we do have warmer temperatures on the way. right now, we are in the 30' s. you will want to bundle up, especially with the temperatures in the 20' s up north. 35 in concord. we have had a few snow showers moving across the state, primarily in the northern reaches of the state. maybe a dusting in some areas. for the most part, the snow very light. snow flurries through the evening. cloudy tonight with temperatures falling into the upper 20' s and low 30' s. tomorrow, a mix of sun and clouds. it will be mild. temperatures even up north in the 40' s. close to 50 in many southern communities. we will get even warmer on monday. i will show you the full forecast, coming up. stephanie: thank you. lebanon police say they were arresting a man accused of

when they discovered a meth lab. police took 28-year-old jamie smith of north carolina into custody at an apartment on wolf street. the meth was allegedly tossed into a toilet when the officers arrived. because the chemicals are unstable, police had to evacuate nearby apartments. police also arrested 28-year-old samantha renehan of vermont on an active warrant. a prisoner is missing from the calumet transitional house in manchester. the department of corrections says 25-year-old khyree thompson did not return after going to work this morning. thompson was serving time for selling drugs. anyone who has seen this man should call police. right now, manchester police are searching for a stolen drawing from the institute of art. this framed drawing was stolen from a gallery on amherst street between november 25 and december 12. the drawing is worth about $5,000. police say a teenage boy robbed the common man store at the

surveillance photos show the 17-year-old entering the store after midnight early this morning. state police say he showed a handgun and demanded cash. a police dog was unable to track down the suspect, but he was later taken into custody in after a pursuit in vermont. >> we were notified vermont state police was currently in a pursuit with a vehicle registered out of new hampshire. they requested units to assist should they be needed. subsequently, he was taken into custody. stephanie: because the suspect is a juvenile his name is not , being released. portsmouth police are now arsonist. today, portsmouth police received at least nine calls regarding vehicles being broken into and lit on fire along seven different streets. the first call occurred this morning on chapel street at 2:00 a.m. two hours later, officers responded to a similar call near melbourne street. this car was fully engulfed and is a total loss.

tonight after a fire on harvard street in manchester. manchester fire says the fire started on the rear porch of a three-story building around 5:30 this morning. firefighters believe someone threw away smoking materials on the second-floor porch which may have sparked the blaze. the red cross is helping the disabled person. a two-alarm fire broke out in belmont this afternoon and shut down an intersection. belmont fire says the fire started around 1:00 at a house on elaine drive. police closed the road at elaine and tucker shore drives. three people suffered minor injuries trying to put out the fire. damage to the house is estimated at more than $100,000. in commitment 2016 coverage -- john kasich is in new hampshire continuing to hold town halls across the state. right now, he is speaking in peterborough where we find mike cronin.

iowa with the caucus just two days away, but not john kasich. he continues to campaign hard in the granite state. he is holding his 84th town hall inside the peterborough town house. earlier, he held town halls in merrimack and keene. today, the "new york times" endorsed him for the g.o.p. primary. he says he has it invested a lot in new hampshire. john kasich: i determined with the limited time i had, it was easier to get here, meet the people of new hampshire. it is possible to get to all the towns. they can check you out. that is what new hampshire does. it screens people for president. mike: he is not slowing down after this event. between now and tuesday, he has eight more town halls scheduled throughout the state. mike cronin, wmur news 9. stephanie: thank you. hillary clinton' s canvassers are kicking into high gear this weekend with the new hampshire

today, boston mayor marty walsh made a stop in manchester at the montessori school. he told the crowd that hillary clinton will improve the lives of middle-class families. that' s why the democrat says granite staters should vote for her on february 9. marty walsh: hillary is the most qualified person to ever run for this seat number one. number two, this is a primary and the primary gets you ready for the final. and if you look at the final, if you are a strong democrat and you are thinking of deciding, you want to make sure you vote for someone you believe in and for someone who can win. and hillary clinton can win the final. stephanie: several grassroots campaign events are scheduled for tomorrow as well. today, former g.o.p. hopeful george pataki hit the trail campaigning for senator marco rubio. the former new york governor comes to the granite state just four days after endorsing rubio. this morning, pataki visited nashua for the opening of rubio' s new campaign office. he also joined canvassers and knocked on doors for the florida senator.

we will have reports from iowa tonight starting at 11:00. students from across the country are meeting in manchester facing off in a robotics competition. we will show you some of their creations next. hayley: tracking light snow showers in the north country this evening. behind that boundary, much warmer air surging in.

welcome back to news 9. stephanie: today, students from several states traveled to the queen city to compete in a college robotics contest. teams have been working for months to build their robots for this year' s challenge called "nothing but net." students faced off today at manchester community college. >> we get teams from ct, ny, ma, and vermont. and they are competing for a chance to go to the world championship. stephanie: the engineering challenge required robots to gather and then shoot balls into a series of nets to gain points.

test engineering skills and showcase team-building. this weekend, granite state snowmobilers can ride on trails in maine and vermont for free. registered riders from new hampshire, maine, and vermont can explore trails in any of the three states through sunday. officials say there aren' t as many trails open as there were in previous years due to the lack of snow. not the snowiest winter we have seen in new hampshire. that is for sure. hayley: a lot of people say we need a good dumping. it does not look like that will happen. we will get warmer temperatures in the next couple of days and then heavy rain next week. stephanie: i want some snow. we need some snow. and ahead in sports, the penmen were looking to extend their winning streak to three games. highlights from this afternoon'

meeting with pace, coming up, you know the basic bargain of america is if you work hard, and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. but so many families don't feel like their hard work pays off. that's not the way america is supposed to operate. i want to go to bat for them every single day. get incomes rising... get equal pay for women... cut the cost of health caret and child care so people canr actually get ahead. hillary clinton, she has what it takes to get things done.

announcer: now, meteorologist hayley lapoint and your stormwatch nine forecast. hayley: it is saturday evening. that would be a nice place to be in portsmouth doing some skating. it looks like the ice is hanging on strong despite the mild temperatures recently. in dublin, the american flag waving proudly this evening. evening.

wind chills are not much colder than you see. today. 37 in concord. nashua, 40. this is just the beginning. way the next couple of days. look at where we stand now. 29 in whitefield, the coldest spot on the map. 35 in concord. 30' s in manchester and international. look at the temperatures to the south and west of us. indianapolis in the 50' s. mid 60' s in louisville. we will not get that warmer temperatures in the 50' s, some of us will be getting that warm in the early part of the workweek. monday, a high of 50. that is for concord. i would not be surprised to see some areas in southern new hampshire where we could get into the low 50' s on monday and even into wednesday as well. temperatures well above the

time in january and early february. here are the latest wind speeds. notice these lines pointing upwards. the winds have shifted and are out of the southwest. we are having the warmer, milder air starting to come toward us. the wind is light at the airport in manchester about five miles an hour. there have been a few snow showers moving across the state reported as far south as lakes regional this evening. the heavier snow shower action is confined north of twin mountain in littleton. bethlehem, maybe some showers into lancaster. little to no accumulation. higher elevations, maybe an inch. to the west. tomorrow we will get more sunshine, but it will not be completely clear because of clouds moving through.

by 7:00 tomorrow morning, we are waking up to sunshine and temperatures in the 30' s. look at the afternoon. a few passing clouds and temperatures in the mid-40' s across the state. on monday, we will see some sunshine in the morning the clouds and then rain showers move in late in the day with temperatures getting over 50 degrees for communities from concord south. big changes coming our way with the temperatures and even rain showers instead of snow. tonight, flurries up north. cloudy skies. temperatures in the 20' s and 30' s. tomorrow, mainly cloudy. there will be some sunny breaks. temperatures in the mid-40' s by lunchtime. here' s what you can expect. mild temperatures. tuesday we fall back into the 40' s. wednesday, heavy rain expected. maybe even tropical downpours as this system comes out of the plains states and moves into the northeast.

announcer: now, jason king and news 9 sports. jason: it is all-star weekend in the nhl. patrice bergeron is the only member of the bruins to be participating this weekend. look for him in tonight' s skills competition. the all-star game itself is tomorrow. the bruins hit the break in pretty good shape. they' ve been up and down all season long but have put together a nice stretch in which they have won five of their last seven games before the break. right now, they sit fourth in a very tight atlantic division and sixth in the eastern conference with just over two months left to play before the playoffs. >> we are good one game and the next not so good. that is what i mean by consistency. we have to learn how to play a certain way and try and be as consistent as possible in those areas. having said that, with the group we have and what we' ve had to put together this year, not going to complain about where we are in the standings and how

jason: unh and dartmouth both have hockey games tonight. the wildcats will play in providence for the second straight night. the friars handed unh their seventh consecutive loss at schneider arena last night. as for dartmouth, they will try to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss against the top team in the country. the big green scored first and actually led quinnipiac 3-1 in the third period last night, but the bobcats rallied to score six times in the third period. and quinnipiac wins 7-5. dartmouth will host princeton at thompson arena tonight. >> it is an excellent team. the coach has done a very good job with the team. they move the puck extremely well. they are tough to cover. they compete fiercely, defensively. they are an excellent team so we have got to be on top of our game against them. it is going to be a battle. jason: high school hockey today, nashua south hosting saint thomas.

less than 30 seconds later, the saints answer. a nice pass. he scores. 1-1 after one. the game went to overtime tied at three and st. thomas wins in overtime. boston beat the orlando magic 113-94 at the garden last night. the two teams will meet again tomorrow night in orlando. southern new hampshire university got its third straight win today at home against pace. good game. 36-45 at halftime. second half, left open for the three. he finished with 14. alley-oop to chris walters. he had a game-high 27 points. overall. its final weekend. the men' s final is sunday.

jason: angelique kerber of germany upset top-ranked serena williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win ending williams' unbeaten streak in finals at melbourne park. it' s the first grand slam title for 28-year-old kerber. williams had won all six previous times she had reached equal steffi graf' s open-era record of 22 grand slam singles titles. djokovic in the men' s final on sunday. congratulations to manchester central senior hannah couture. hannah signed her national letter of intent to enroll at -- to row at ohio state next year. the buckeyes are the three-time defending division 1 women' s