snowstorm of the winter by far. monday night, the big story on "action news" tonight is old man winter intent on leaving us with a potent parting shot. yes, philadelphia public and archdiocesan schools have announced they'll be closed tomorrow. "action news" reporter john rawlins is standing by at the penndot yard in norristown. walter perez will be live in emmaus where they're expecting blizzard conditions. nora muchanic is staked out in ocean county where they're preparing to deal with different kinds of problems. but first let's get the latest on the impending storm from meteorologist cecily tynan and adam joseph. cecily,etts begin wit, let's be. >> double scan live showing the ingredients starting to come together for a major winter storm. this looks more impressive than just an hour ago. lope starting to form off the coast of the carolinas. it's feeding in a lot of moisture from the gulf of mexico and then if you look

across the ohio valley, there's this piece of energy its from the northern branch of the jet stream. what this will do, it will feed into this, invigorate it pull in the cold air and then this storm system will be really hugging the coast. the actual latest track pushing a little bit farther to the west so what this means, there's going to be a battle between the cold air feeding in from the northwest and the warm ocean water. blizzard warnings have been posted north of philadelphia. now, what this means, the concern isn't just the snow piling up there. they're going to get a lot of snow. it's also the fact that it's going to be blowing around. blizzard warnings when you get wind more than 35 miles per hour reducing visibility less to a quarter mile for three consecutive hours so near whiteout conditions there. most of the rest of our viewing area under winter storm warnings. so what this means, the snow arriving from the southwest to the northeast between 10:00 and 1 o'clock. the height of the storm, though, between 3 o'clock in the morning and noon. this is when we get the heaviest precipitation, the strongest winds.

when that storm system really deepens and is very close to us and then mid to late afternoon it will be ending as light snow. i can't stress enough, though, this is not all snow for our entire viewing area. all snow north and west of philadelphia but then you get south and east. it starts as snow. it mixes with sleet and rain, ends as snow and mainly rain for our far southern zones and also a lot of problems with wind and coastal flooding. for details on that let's head over to adam. adam. >> this being a nor'easter, a coastal storm you'll get a lot of wind piling up to our shore communities and always it's that northeasterly wind that carves into our shore line, breakers six to 9 feet expected, coastal flood warnings in and effect especially for tomorrow morning's high tide between 9:15 and 10:15 in the morning, that's ocean side with moderate flooding expected even flooding going into the delaware bay so major issues down here as well. in addition to that we're looking at some major coastal erosion. the winds at the shore 50 to 60 miles an hour as it wraps

in around that low out of the east, there's nothing to stop that wind so it comes in right off the ocean. once it hits land it hits friction so it slows down but slows down only by a little bit. 45 to 50 miles an hour along i-95 to the north and west 40 to 45 miles an hour linking with that blinding snow. to the north and west heavy wet snow is the biggest concern, one to 3 inches per hour. low visibility is expected in those areas as well. snow packed roads so you definitely want to avoid heading out tomorrow, especially in those snow zones north and west. and even the possibility more than likely power outages for many with that heavy wet snow weighing on the branches in addition to that wind. meteorologist cecily tynan returns she'll give you that updated ♪ at a map in the seven-day forecast. >> adam thank you. a snow emergency takes effect in philadelphia at 9 p.m. 9 o'clock tonight. septa will have addition in ally staffers out beginning at 11:00 to monitor conditions and keep public transit

moving. cars must be moved off snow emergency routes. ticketing and together begins at midnight and the streets department canceled trash and recycling collection for tomorrow. so, let's begin our tour of the region. first to "action news" reporter john rawlins at the penndot yard in norristown. john, what is penndot doing to get ready? >> reporter: they're getting ready that's for sure. among the scores of various agencies and municipalities that will be removing snow in the five county area tomorrow, the two biggest the city of philadelphia and of course penndot. penndot is going to have just 400 trucks operating, the city between three and 400 as well. penndot in very direct statement today urging people to "avoid unnecessary travel." a big concern the predicted rate of snowfall particularly during the early morning hours. >> as early as two to 3 a.m. you're looking a the two to 3 inches an hour and that could be blinding conditions. >> early a.m. hours up to about noontime i think is

where we're expecting the highest volume of accumulation, yeah. >> reporter: today across the region workers getting trucks ready to go checking salt spreaders connecting plows and loading trucks with salt. tuesday crews are expecting to battle heavy snowfall and high winds. steve lorenz oversees the city's fleet. he's expecting a significant winter event. >> will be starting off as a salting operation and then quickly moving into a plowing operation. we're expecting to have about 400 vehicles. >> reporter: in the city, big trucks will be used on the main roads while at least 100 smaller four by four pickups like this one will be ready to clear smaller residential streets if need be. authorities urging people to give plow crews room to operate. saying trying to pass one can be a problem. >> also you're risking damaging your own vehicle because the salt's coming out at such a rate it's going to dent the side of your car even possibly blow out a window. >> reporter: well, back to penndot's concern about the snowfall rate in the a.m.

hours here. they're concerned would be about the mark of the heavy snow accumulation on roads as well as pour visibility again in a very directly worded statement today they were asking people to "avoid unnecessary travel." live in norristown, john rawlins channel6 "action news." jim. >> john, thank you. let's switch live to lehigh correspondent walter perez in emmaus lehigh county. walter, what's the situation there. >> reporter: well, jim, penndot lehigh valley is ready as well with 70,000 tons of salt yet to be used, penndot will begin deploying its 209 vehicle lehigh valley fleet early tomorrow morning. penndot officials say make no bones about it, driving around tomorrow especially in the morning will be flat out dangerous. >> we always encourage not to travel during these events but that's one of the big ones. we do that want to strongly encourage people if you don't -- if it's not absolutely necessary, please stay home and wait until things are a little better. >> reporter: with the lehigh

valley expecting more than a foot and a half of snow, under blizzard-like conditions, albright's hardware in allentown was busy today as employees here worked number double time to pull the salt and snowblowers out of storage after giving up on winter two weeks ago. >> it's one of those things when we don't get snow we have to get ready for spring and that's all that we can do. store is all set for springtime but winter came back again so we just got all the shovels, the ice melter and snow throwers out again. >> reporter: we caught up with ted freda from orfield a self described snow bird who came back north a little too early. >> i just got home from florida and i thought i usually get away to miss this stuff but i come back too early. >> reporter: your timing is all off. >> i can see that, yeah. >> reporter: and once again, penndot asked us to emphasize once again that driving tomorrow especially in the morning will be very, very dangerous. if you have no choice, though, take it very slow. do not try to pass any

snowplows or salt trucks and try to maintain a very safe driving distance between yourself and any other vehicles on the road. reporting live from emmaus, walter perez channel6 "action news." jim. >> excellent advice walter. thank you. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic is live in ortley beach ocean county. nora, when we think of ortley beach and bad weather we naturally think of hurricane sandy. this is a big storm but hopefully it won't be anywhere near as damaging as sandy. >> reporter: that would be a disaster. we are not expecting this. what we are expecting is serious beach erosion and possible flooding because of areas like this where there are few or no dunes at all to stop the waves. meantime the governor has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm and shore residents are getting ready: floyd moreland of ortley beach lost his house in sandy and gets nervous every time there's a nor'easter. he's worried because there's no dune at all at seventh street right now.

>> if it's high tide with big waves the waves will come over here. >> we rebuilt them the best we can do. all we can do is hope and wait for the storm to see what we have to face. >> reporter: ocean county is preparing for the storm. trucks are being loaded and 200 workers are coming in at midnight. >> before we leave tonight all the plows will be on the trucks and we'll have salt loaded on them and we'll be ready to go. >> reporter: the county emergency management center will and fully activate at 6:00 in the morning with extra dispatchers working the phones. >> we're concerned mostly about emergency transport, ems calls, and of course we look at power outages. >> reporter: high water vehicles are in place if there's flooding and some residents have sand bags ready. the big concern for manically is beach erosion in places already in bad shape. >> one storm came and took it all away. >> reporter: you're worried that's going to happen again. >> it probably will, yeah. >> reporter: residents worry without a down here this storm may push the ocean into the

street. again, there's a state of emergency now in and effect in new jersey and state offices are closed on tuesday for the storm. live in ortley beach, i'm nora muchanic channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you, nora. philadelphia international airport was a busy place today as travelers try to get out ahead of the storm. many carriers waived fees for switching flights today. amtrak will run a modified schedule along the northeast corridor tomorrow. there will be no acela express service between new york and boston t limited service between new york and washington. and of course the "action news" morning team will get an early start tomorrow to track the storm and its impact on local schools and travel so please join us a half hour early beginning at 4:00 a.m. coming up on "action news" tonight two former penn state administrators make surprising pleas today in court in connection with the handling

of the jerry sandusky case. jaime apody is live at villanova university for the sendoff of the number one seeded team in the ncaa basketball tournament. jamie. >> reporter: yeah, jim, need we forget also the defending national championship villanova wildcats, i talked to jay wright about the kind of pressure that that brings into this run to the dance. and we've got some video of the team already arriving in buffalo, a hint, it's cold. that's coming up, jim. >> thank you jamie. of course cecily tynan returns with that late word from accuweather when "action news" continues tonight. >> ♪

>> two former penn state university administrators pleaded guilty today in connection with the jerry sandusky child molestation case. tim curley and gary schultz pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. both were originally charged with felonies for allegedly failing to report a complaint by a graduate assistant that he saw sandusky abusing a boy in a team shower. the reduced charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. delaware governor john carney and wants to hire 50 new corrections officers at the prison which was taken over by inmates last month. one officer was killed during the melee at the vaughn correctional center in smyrna. lieutenant steven floyd. the governor says the 2018 budget proposal will include more than $2 million to hire addition iadditional officers. officials allocated money for additional equipment and training.

>> former vice president joe biden launched by his alma mater for the launch of the institute. the biden institute is focused on domestic issues including economic reform environmental sustainability criminal justice and civil rights. >> ♪ what do doctors from leading cancer centers

in the country have in common? many of them now call cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia home. expert medicine works here. find out why at cancercenter.com/eastern cancer treatment centers of america.

>> let's acknowledge the honor of being seeded one out of 68 teams going into the ncaa tournament. >> it's quite an honor. but with that comes a lot of pressure on this basketball team. villanova wildcats they are buffalo bound. villanova left for western new york today. the reigning cha many onwill start their run toward another title on tuesday. jaime apody is live on campus with more on the team. jamie. >> reporter: ducis actually don't play until thursday. they left early because of that impending snow and they will dough a do so as the numbee seed as the winners of 31 games. with even more confidence than

last year when they were coming off a loss in the big east tournament. the scene a short time ago earlier this afternoon braving the cold and the fans did so to see the team off. guys squeezed in a quick practice before that heading the to the bus. every time you turn on the tv they're talking march madness you see the wildcats and you see kris jenkins and that jim winning shot and jay wright says that's one big obstacle to overcome. what kind of pressure does that add. >> it's there. you know, it's always a reminder that everybody expects you to do it again but that's part of the challenge, you know, that when people say it's hard to repeat that's part of why it's hard to repeat because you have to deal with those expectations all the time the constant reminders of last year. >> reporter: and look at this. the cats have just arrived in buffalo where it is already snowing and it appears they left their snow gear in their suitcases k looks kind of cold

there. so their march begins and they're hoping that this march begins in snow and ends with april showers and maybe even confetti showers just like last year and i took a little visit to the store and i found the world's smallest foam finger. so, there you go. live on the campus of villanova university jaime apody channel6 "action news." >> you want two jim? jim wants two, jamie, all right. please bring a few back. thank you. to the eagles backup quarterback chase daniel has asked for his release from the team and appears the eagles will oblige. what do the birds do with that backup qb position? dip into the past. nick foles is coming back. he gets a two year deal. foles had his best year in 2013 when he threw 27 touchdowns against just two interceptions. he went to the pro bowl that season. last season foles was a backup for the chiefs. benny logan packing his bag. the free agent defensive tackle agreed to one year deal

with kansas city. logan had two and a half sacks last season. he was drafted by the eagles back in 2013. the flyers return home following a disappointing road trip. tonight they host columbus. flyers slipped to six points out of a playoff spot with 15 games to play. coach dave hakstol says he senses no panic in his team. >> we're not going to fly too far off the board here. come back and make sure that the defining part of our last couple days is our effort here tonight and our execution here tonight. >> spring training baseball phils and orioles backup first baseman brock continues to shine. this is his fourth home run of the spring. he's batting .407. not enough though. the phils lose six to four. and that's sports. >> thank you ducis. philadelphia's division one men's basketball coaches kept up their tradition today of raising money to fight cancer. university of pennsylvania hosted the 19th annual coaches versus cancer tourney tipoff

breakfast. since 1996 the event has raised $14 million for the american cancer society. this year's breakfast honored five-year-old braze davis fighting sarcoma.

>> let's get the latest from accuweather and cecily tynan. >> got a big storm on the way. i don't want to call it snowstorm because it's not going to be all snow for our entire viewing area. there's going to be some sleet and some rain along the coast. storm tracker6 live double scan showing it looks like it's actually snowing over new castle county, delaware. this is actually verga its no the reaching the ground. the dewpoint is 4 degrees right now. so we have a very dry air

mass. it's going to take awhile for that column of air to get saturated. as it does temperatures will drop below freezing. right now philadelphia 40 degrees. our high today 42. 10 degrees below average. a lot of sunshine but it was cold. allentown 36, wilmington 35, cape may 33 and the poconos currently 25 degrees. so, satellite6 and action radar showing after a good amount of sunshine earlier today high thin clouds are beginning to stream up from the south and this storm system is really starting to get its act together. they're actually three pieces of this puzzle. there's one low pressure over the gulf coast. that's transferring its energy to another low developing off the carolinas. then we have a piece of energy from the northern branch of the jet stream. that will intensify the storm and also help in -- to pull in some very cold air. around 11 o'clock tonight when we're on the air we'll have snow breaking out. generally west and south of philadelphia. that storm really intensifies around 3 o'clock in the morning. this is the beginning of the

height of the storm. this is where we have some heavy snow across philadelphia, areas north and west, some sleet south but notice across south jersey and delaware, there is going to be rain pulled in from the system. 7:30 in the morning its all about location. some sleet in philadelphia, some heavy snow north and west. rain across south jersey and delaware. and then we get a return to snow. as that storm system moves over new england it will pull in wraparound cold air so it will change back to snow and by 4 o'clock just lingering snow showers. so, how much snow depends on where you are. the bull's eye zone the lehigh valley northern berks county, the poconos, 16 to 24-inches of snow. ski resorts are going to be loving this. philadelphia has us right on the 1 foot line. it depend on sleet. if we don't see any sleet we'll be a little bit more than that. if we see sleet we'll be less than that. the northwest suburbs nearby 12 to 16-inches and then a lot of very tight gradient over south jersey and delaware.

i want to zoom in to show you cherry hill woodbury williamstown glassboro eight to 12. then we have this four to eight band from bridgeton to hammonton, two to four south. these areas that's before the changeover of rain. most of that will be washed away. doesn't mean the coast is going to be hit hard. mainly rain but up to a inch and a half. winds major factor. 50 to 60 miles an hour wind gusts. moderate coastal flooding and looks like there will be significant beach erosion with this storm. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, we are in the heart of the powerful nor'easter. it should begin to taper off in the afternoon. that's when we reach a high of 34. behind this system no melting on wednesday. it's windy and cold with additional snow showers, 29 degrees the high. thursday finally above freezing, 36 and friday for saint patrick's day, luck of the irish not a bad day, partly sunny, still cold with a high of 38 degrees. heading into the weekend temperatures finally climb into the 40's. saturday clouds, some sun,

43 degrees. sunday breaks of sun, 46. and monday mostly sunny with a high of 48 degrees. the i can't stress enough tomorrow is going to be a nasty day. try to stay inside and prepare for the possibility of power outages. >> thank you cecily. abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next on channel6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff, sharrie williams, adam joseph and ducis rodgers. then please join us for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel6. for cecily tynan ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us for "action news" at 11:00. >> ♪ hi

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tonight, a massive blizzard bearing down. the states of emergency at this hour. two systems set to converge, forming a major nor'easter hitting tonight, up to two feet of snow in some places. blizzard warnings up right now, whiteout conditions and accidents in the midwest, and thousands of flights canceled coast to coast already. also breaking tonight, the new numbers just released. how many americans will be uninsured under the new plan to replace obamacare? 14 million more uninsured in the first year, new reaction to the report from the white house. the new and controversial video released from ferguson late today raising new questions about the police shooting of michael brown. the deadly encounter. the father of six, police using a hose to blast him out of the vehicle.