and the national weather service has issued a winter storm warning. and this will go into effect at midnight and continue through saturday. and the winter weather advisory south and east of the triangle. so ahead of all of that not a lot going on locally. so i have to show you the big picture. we're watching this around texas and louisiana for an area of low pressure to develop. and that the skirt along the gulf states and move into our area and that is going to bring the winter storm to our region. the temperature, 27 in raleigh, 29 in littleton, 26 in sanford and in the low 40s in fayetteville and clinton this morning. here's your fast forecast. 26, clear and cold this morning and 38 at noon, 44 the high, warmer than the past few days. we're all talking about the one of the tear storm. i think the time frame -- winter storm. i think the time frame 10:00 p.m. friday into saturday. i'll break down more of this

winter storm through the course of the morning. and now traffic this is i540 and six forks road. we're starting to see a few more cars out about. but nothing should slow you down. we were getting a report of a broken down vehicle on the side of 540 and six forks. but let's check in with the speeds across i40. if you're heading on i40 westbound, 62 miles an hour and you're cruising at 65 miles an hour if you're heading eastbound. this morning, governor mccrory will hold a news conference in less than 24 hours what could be north carolina's first winter storm of the year. >> they are warning everyone to get prepared. and emma wright joins us with more on 24 from wake county. >> reporter: the d.o.t. has been preparing for this since tuesday. there are strips of white that

solution that they put down before this snows to hopefully free prevent the snow from sticking tomorrow. north carolina roads are ready for winter. >> when they have dry conditions like yesterday and today, we try to get as many as the major interstates covered as possible. >> reporter: and in raleigh, d.o.t. trucks are filling up and heading out. treating the interstates first and then the secondary roads. >> i guess the brine works. >> reporter: and they are trying to get ahead of friday's storm that could bring snow and ice, a recipe for a messy morning commute. >> when i get the opportunity to stay in, i will stay in. >> reporter: if you cannot stay in, take it slow. but the best way to prepare for the storm is to just stay home, if you can. staying home is not an option for everyone. highway patrol said they are encouraging everyone to give

morning when they are on the roads. and governor mccrory's press conference that is happening today at 10:30. we'll stream it live on wncn.com and we'll have an update on the news at 11:00. i'm emma wright, wncn news. d.o.t. crews are gearing up for the snow and ice. and they are spreading brine along highway 64 and other roads. workers said they have plenty of salt, brian when needed. -- brine when needed. you can take the weather conditions with you as you go with our weather and news app. this is free. pittsburgh is expanding coverage into the middle east to help fight isis. military members may soon head into afghanistan and pakistan. and the designation now allows for broader engagement. they can go on the offensive

members as a threat to the in united states. a chapel hill employee is in the hospital after an accident. it happened in day hey hall. it happened in and electrical closet. eyewitnesses tell us that they saw a man's body on fire before he collapsed. students quickly jumped in to put the flames out by hand. >> power went out and we came out of lab and noticed some flames coming out of the room. and we realized they were not from a room, they were from a man that was and fire. he citizens out and falls to the ground. >> what a scary scene. and a university spokesperson said that the employee was take tonight hospital. they are now investigating. officials are trying to figure out what started a fire inside a laundry room in a nurse being home it happened on cherry plantation.

workers at the facility immediately got the residents out of the building. but two residents did have to be taken to the hospital. people were cheering last night when the building of a csx hub was crab was scrapped. they want to create a transfer hub in the area. and the homeowners said that csx told them they would use eminent domain to get their lane. >> we do not condone strong arm tactics and we do not condone the threat of eminent domain. we reached out to csx but we have not heard back at this point. 5:36. a professional football player

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raleigh and clayton at 27 and littleton 29 this morning and in the low 30s around fayetteville and clinton. so not quite as cold as we have been the past few mornings. i think we'll be at or above freezing at 10:00 a.m. and climb nothing the upper 30s and this afternoon will be warmer than the past few days. and 44 the high. and it is not today that everyone is talk about. it is tomorrow into the weekend. so i have to show you where the area of low pressure is coming from. not a lot going on. but this is where an area of low pressure is going to develop and bring us lots of moisture and it will combine with the cold they're is in place and that will produce the

winter storm. i'm talking about 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, starting before the sny and continuing through saturday evening up to half an inch of ice is possible and snowfall totals one and five inches. so the totals could still change before the wintry weather moves in and the traveling be dangerous and look for changes to your schooling as we head towards tomorrow as well. i'll have more, including the break down on what we're thinking as far as totals coming up in your complete forecast. 6.4 magnitude earthquake rattled northeast china it destroyed about 40 buildings and 4.4 magnitude aftershock was reported minutes after the initiate. subfreezing temperatures and snow have settled over eastern europe. the temperatures in romania plunged overnight plunge

together lowest of the year and dropped to negative 28 degrees in the country's east n one village, the snow rose as high as the house there's and the snow trapped people for days and the cold snap is expected to last for another week or so. still to come on wncn today, how a long time and foreman oklahoma city police officer could spend in prison after raping and sexually assaulting more than a dozen women. even president of the united states is not immune from the headaches brought on by driving in the snowy whether. how long it took his motorcade

takes 25 minutes

a news conference at 10:30 this morning. and fire officials are investigating an accident at unc chapel hill. it happened in and electrical closet in dade hall. eyewitnesses said they saw a man's body on fire before he collapsed. he was taken to the hospital. a dramatic drop yesterday pushed the stock market to the leftest level in nearly two years. thedow jones industrial average was down five points at one point. two people are in and orange county courtroom charged in the murder of the shooting death of a toddler. the police said this couple shot one-year-old maleah williams in chapel hill on christmas day. she later died at the hospital. a former police officer in oklahoma city will be sentenced for raping and sexually assaulting 13 women while he was on duty.

a jury recommended a sentence totaling 263 years. before the judge sentences him, the judge will decide whether to grant the defense's motion for a new trial. a high school athletic director will be in a tennessee courtroom. he is also the assistant principal, is accused of failing to report the sexual assault of freshman basketball players. utah, an investigation is underway after a man drove an rv through the front door of a government complex. they discovered the driver had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. it is not sure if he shot himself before or after the crash. the complex was evacuated. and the rv was searched for explosives. they did not find any. the patriots' linebacker darrisious flemming is being called a hero this morning.

and he witnessed a car accident and pulled a woman out of a smoking women. >> i saw the panic on her face. i kicked the window out. >> >> pulled her out like she was a rag doll like she weighed nothing. >> humble linebacker took off before the police arrived. he had to kick the window and he needed 22 stitches. despite his injury, he helped the patriots beat the chiefs. he was worried that the coach would be mad at him. but he was not. >> he made the right call on that one. the forecasters are warning of a potentially paralyzing storm. the national weather service said that the moment likely trap brings the heaviest snowfall to eastern kentucky. west virginia, western virginia, northern maryland and

and some area could get one to feet of snow. so prepare for the potential winter weather that we could see early tomorrow morning. and local plumbers said they've dealt with several busted pipes and expect more as the temperatures continue to dip. you can prevent frozen pipes by letting cold water drip from your fought set and insulating pipes. and duke energy said that down trees and limbs are the leading cause of outages during the storm. >> winter weather can be unpredictable. so we're having all of our crews on hand and where had to respond. -- and ready to respond. >> you're asked to prepare. you can put together an emergency supply kid that includes flashlights, batteries, water and nonperishable food items.

operating on a two-hour delay today. you can find the latest on wncn.com wet. and you'll need the wncn.com address because tomorrow i expect the number of schools closing or on that hour delay to continue. >> yes. i certainly look for school schedules to be interrupted tomorrow. and we're tracking cold temperatures, just not as cold as the past few days. and the past morning we have been in the teens. so that is nice to see that with a two instead a one. 27 in clayton and 30 in the littleton. freezing in clinton. as you plan your day our 8:00 temperature in the upper 20s and we climb about ten degrees before lunchtime above freezing. 44 for the afternoon high and sunny and dry. you may have to pinch yourself to say we have to track a winter storm. because today will be nice for this time of year. tomorrow here is the setup.

we have an area of low pressure and it has been talked about all this week, the track of it. and now it is tracking further south what does that mean. all of this cold air can dip further into central north carolina. we'll be looking at a good chance for a wintry mix to start before sunrise tomorrow morning before this system is all said and done and we could end up with small accumulations of snow. let me show what you the timing is looking like. 9:00, sunny skies and today not a big concern for us. so we'll breeze on through and end the day with clear conditions as well. after midnight tonight, and right around 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning is when i think all of this will start to move in. and it will start as a wintry mix of ice and freezing rain and moving into the triangle tomorrow morning and through the morning, it will increase in coverage and intense at this time. you can see a lot of pink around the triangle tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. and that is freezing rain and we could be talking about

accumulations tomorrow. we don't get above freezing till tomorrow afternoon. you see at 3:00 p.m. in the sand hills, you've changed to rain but still looking at freezing precipitation around the triangle and towards the virginia border. and eventually we'll see more rain in the triangle. but before this system is all said and done, cold air is going to rush in. how much moisture is left is still a big question for us. but we could talk about snowfall totals saturday morning. and we'll get to snow in a moment. but let's talk ice first. look at this area in pink. this includes the prial. triangle. and that includes a chance for half an inch for ice. and that will be dangerous for travel and power outages as well. snow. i would not be surprised if person county received over five inches of snow. with all of that said and done, winter storm warning will go into effect at midnight and

the areas shaded packaging that is new this morning. winter weather advisory south and east. high today high of 44 in raleigh, 43 in durham. remember the wintry mix moves in after 3:00 a.m. we're still fine tuning the forecast. and the reasons it is being so tricky, the temperatures continue to drop. 35 the high for friday and 36 on saturday. and the 40s should be back on sunday and then i'll welcome in the 50s any day of the week. they'll be here next monday and tuesday. let's check in with traffic. this is a live picture of i40 and wade avenue. we're seeing more cars right now and the good now is slow downs to report. and a closure that we've been watching all morning long, it is actually road work. lanes are being divert to the collector lanes. this is highway northbound

and this will reopen in the next half hour. as you wax the weather conditions, -- watch the weather ones, we watch here at wncn. let's talk a little pet action this is the pet of the morning. this is eileen. she is so cute. the four-year-old french bulldog was adopted by the family. she lives in clayton with ten cats and five other dogs and we're told that she rules the joint. >> i bet she does. we want to brandon thinks hellmann's is heaven in a jar. that's because our gredients come from... rmers committed to responsibly urced oils... blended with ingredients like cage-free eggs. mmm. heaven. real ingredients. that's how we're working to

normally president obama used a helicopter between the airport and the white house. >> but because of the bad weather, he had to ride in a car. a drive that normally takes 25 minutes took about an hour and ten minutes. talk about a traffic jamb he arrived safely at the white house. a bakefully northern mexico is taking advantage of the media frenzy surrounding the recent recapture of the drug lord el chapo guzman. >> they are making el chapo guzman cupcakes. they look good. they decorated the king pin wearing the dirty t shirt that

he was caught n he is now in the same maximum security prison that he escaped from six months earlier. star wars fans will have to wait a bit longer than expected for the next installment. the release date for the followup from the force awakens is being pushed to december 2017. star wars 8 is in preproduction and scheduled to start shooting next month in london is the highest grossed domestic release of all time. $667million. i still have to see it. the scientists still have solid evidence for planet x. >> gas giant is thought to be as big as neptune and/or by thing billions of miles behind neptune's path. it could take ten to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

it has not been spotted yet.

mathematical ways. we got a taste of the winter weather in. >> areas last night. but much more is on the way. we have team coverage. and you can vote on the nc connect bond funding north carolina colleges and universities. do you a lot of shopping on line, and one local police department has a new solution to make it safer. good morning. thank you for watching wncn today on this thursday. i'm stefan chase. >> and i'm mike gonzalez.