>> ♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪ >> on "action news" right now, we are tracking potential blizzard-like conditions. that's a live look in king of prussia. gulph road where it meets 202, a blizzard warning is now in effect for parts of pennsylvania and new jersey. >> philadelphia public and archdiocesan schools are closed today. so are hundreds of others across the region. those closings are scrolling on the bottom of your screen. you can also find that information online at 6abc.com. >> we havwe have reporters scatd across the region. we'll get to them in a moment.

"action news" is on a half hour early to bring you news on what could be blizzard conditions. >> let's start with david. >> good morning, everybody. we're off to the races. the snow is falling. for now let's cover all the warnings. it's a winter storm warning from philadelphia all the way down to atlantic county and cumberland county an advisory in cape may county and down toward dover new ca big he warning area as s today will be counties highlighted in orange. that's where we have a blizzard warning and that means at times over ext probably seven, eight hours, you'll have the potential of heavy snow but heavy blowing snow that could give you blinding visibility and that's why the national weather service has been warning you to take shelter-in-place today especially if you're in these northern areas but even around philadelphia until the worst of this snow is done. as we take a look at storm tracker6 live double scan right now, a lot of rain in south jersey.

we were expecting that. then you get sleet mixing in mainly south of philadelphia. philadel a sort granular snowflake falling right now and we've started to accumulate. a big concern however when any areas today see this laenon storm tracker. there's a little bit more over here to the east of trenton. that storm tracker6 live double scan's way of clearly showing you where the heavy snow band is falling and where you see that between now and midday that will be when the heaviest is falling. that could come down in as much as two to 4 inches an hour and that's why we'll pile up as high as we'll pile up. some of you going well above a foot of snow today. here's the live view in the system. the low is still well to our south. looks like it will be around our latitude about midday and at that point the winds will still be a factor but the heaviest snow bands will tend to push off to the north. between now and noon we're watching that low pass us by. between now and then we're looking at the heaviest

rogers is outside today. karen you have more on how this is going to unf today. >> yeah, dave i drove into south jersey and were it this storm conditions vary greatly by region. just travel a few miles and it changes and a large part of that is based on the current temperature. the current conditions out here, in cape may it's 44. dave showed you the rain. that's down to the south and east. 35 millville, 32 philadelphia. you're getting a mix of sleet in between millville and philadelphia. but just 27 degrees in allentown and reading, 19 degrees in mount pocono. so getting a mix of rain sleet and snow depending on where you are and the temperatures really reflecting that. winds are starting to pick up now. 26 miles an hour wind gusts currently in cape may but a 32 miles an hour wind gust in wilmington, 23 miles an hour wind gusts in trenton so we're seeing these gusty winds begin and those winds are going to be more of an issue as this nor'easter progresses up the coastline. here's where you can expect region by region today. the lehigh valley, northwest suburbs heavy snow, on one to

2 feet. philadelphia along the i-95 corridor snow, sleet and then changing back to snow, eight to 12-inches over there. in central delaware and southeastern new jersey, some snow changing to rain. we're seeing that process already begin right now so really depends where you are region by region. how about the time lineup this is a high impact. if you're traveling now, 7 o'clock normally the morning rush, hopefully people won't be rushing anywhere, 10:00 a.m. high impact. by 1 o'clock that's when the storm is pulling ay what,? you have the a couple snow showers left. by 4 o'clock even less of an impact. the morning hours are the worst overall expect a heavy wet snow north and west, heavy rain south and east mixing along 95. the heaviest of this storm is from now through noon. david will be back to go more on totals region by region so matt and tam everybody knows exactly what to expect. >> thanks karen. the roads are a mess this morning. let's turn to many ma map for more on that. >> i drove in 45 minutes ago in freezing rain. bottom line is there's a

little something for everybody out there this morning but we know across-the-board is that, yes, the roads are not great. secondary roads respect completely snow covered. main highways are at least partially snow covered and we've already had a crash on the schuylkill. that didn't take long. eastbound side right here by the boulevard, looks like maybe there goes a plow crew which is good news putting down some salt as well because a vehicle already slipped slid and spun out here on the eastbound side of the schuylkill by the boulevard t cleared already. that's the good news with accidents on a morning like this. they're usually pretty minor and we can get them out of the he way pretty quickly but already there was a crash on the schuylkill. along 95 in the great northeast and you can see some of the road surface you're approaching cottman avenue but it is slushy, slippery, it is a morning to stay home if you can but i know that's not possible for all of you. so, let's talk more about what's going on. as we look at the roads of course precipitation across the region, speeds are down across-the-board as they will be all morning long and already some problems in new jersey. there's a he can before ken

down truck in gloucester county blocking the ramp from 295 northbound to 656 and a jackknifed truck in camden county on 295 southbound approaching 561. couple lanes already blocked there and that is just the tip of the iceberg. matt and tam. >> got that right. thanks so much matt. speed restrictions are now in effect on the pennsylvania turnpike and other major highways and roads across the state. speed limits are reduced to 45 miles per hour. penndot strongly encourages drivers to stay off the roads but if you must drive matt pelman will be here top continue to update you on the conditions throughout the show. amtrak will run a modified schedule along the northeast corridor today. there will be no acela express service between new york and boston and limited service between new york and washington, d.c. >> different parts of our region will see different things. we'll have reporters out this morning all across the region to show you what they're seeing. let's start with katherine scott. she's tracking the conditions in new jersey. she's live there in runnemede, camden county. googood morning, katherine. >> reporter: good morning,

tam and matt. yeah, we've seen a bit of everything here in new jersey this morning. it started with a bit of snow, now we are just seeing pouring rain here. i'm going to get out of the way so you can take a look at the intersection that we're at here in runnemede. we're at black horse pike and constitution drive. a plow train just came through a couple minutes ago and pushed away some of the slush that was in the street here. but, yeah, really for the last 30 or 40 minutes we've seen rain its just been pouring rain here in runnemede. we have seen cars out on the roads. you can see some right now and they seem to be moving along okay here but there are certainly slippery conditions. over the past few hours, conditions have really varied greatly depending on where you are and what's falling at that exact moment. earlier we saw more snow in this area, maybe a couple inches you could sweep off your car. then came the changeover to a wintry mix and now it's just plane rain and so that's where we are at the moment its making road surfaces pretty inconsistent and sloppy. folks are being asked to stay off the roads so crews can continue to work. we've seen plow trains out on

the highways and on the roads this morning with the state of emergency in new jersey nonessential employees are asked to stay home. we're live in runnemede, katherine scott, channel6 "action news. >> katherine thank a you. in ortley beach residents are keeping an eye on the atlantic ocean. every time there's a nor'easter flooding and beach erosion become a really serious threat. the county says 200 workers came in at midnight. the emergency management center will be fully active at 6 o'clock with extra dispatchers getting warming centers to be ready for people if their power goes out. delaware's department of transportation has salt trucks out in full force. governor john carney issued a level one driving warning for new castle county. drivers are encouraged to stay off the roads if you don't really need to be out there. crews will continue to spray brine on roads, overpasses and bridges. >> let's turn now to "action news" reporter jeff chirico who is live in were evident mount airy in a philadelphia

neighborhood to show us what's going on there. good morning, jeff. >> reporter: good morning matt. a very snowy mount airy this morning and a very quiet germantown avenue. you see we do have some slush, some snow over here. travel this morning has been rather busy -- rather difficult. your roads, your wheels are spinning as you are traveling through these roads. the past a, say, 15 to be 20 minutes we started to see a changeover from snow to more of a rain. it is not quite sure exactly what is happening here but we do see the accumulation seemed to have kind of tampered a little bit and we see more of a slush than a snow here on the sidewalks and on the roadways. now, as you -- as you know, this city government offices and other agencies have mobilized for this snow emergency. the snow emergency went into effect last night as a result, there are restrictions on parking and schools and offices have closed for today. and take a look here and you can see how the road looks at

this hour. we are just talking some slush but travel is difficult. so, if you are hitting the roads or planning to hit the roads today t-you want to leave plenty of extra time because it is going to be a treacherous commute if you are -- if you are hitting the roads over the next several hours. we have not seen any plows come this way over the past hour since we arrived here in west mount airy but we do expect according to the city some 400 pieces of equipment will be hitting the roads throughout the day, hitting primary roads and secondary roads first. so, we'll continue to be out here monitoring the situation and talking to folks who are walking up and down the streets in this very early morning hour. so, matt, tam, back to you. >> all right, thank you, jeff. and of course we're inviting you to join the action. send us pictures or videos of your view of the snow and what you're doing out in the storm. i suggest you wear the kids out, get them out there, the dog, too. just use the #6abcaction or

e-mail them to us at join the action at 6abc.com. >> 4:11 is the time. we continue to track snow, sleet, rain and potential blizzard-like conditions this morning. >> let's go on out top mobile6. it's making its way across the ben franklin bridge. katherine scott was just out there joining us from south jersey right now. they're dealing with some freezing rain out there. they're dealing with sort of rain/sleet conditions. we'll be back with your accuweather forecast. >> ♪

>> snowy and soggy scene. that's a live look at the base of the commodore barry bridge in chester, were. a. yup, the snowstorm is here and it's really dumping snow quickly. >> and david, we've seen already from our reporters out there if you're standing in pennsylvania you might see one thing, in new jersey something else. >> yeah, and i think there's even going to be that sort of like, hm, thing on people in southern delaware and maybe

cape may county because it may have snowed a little bit earlier there or it might at times but by the time you look out your window later this morning it could be that anything that did fall is already washed away. >> because of the rain. >> mainly rain down there but snow for a good portion of the region and a lot of it. storm tracker6 live double scan showing is you we have rain across much of south jersey and about the southern two-thirds of delaware currently and then you're getting into that sleet/freezing rain mix highlighted in blue right up into philadelphia or close to it and then in the northern suburbs of course we just don't think that that freezing rain and change to rain line is going to make it to you. you're going to stay cold enough for snow and right now year getting quite a bit of it. i'll get a closer view of this in a moment. let's get you outside. we got sky6 looking down at i-95 and for now passable on i-95 but of course as those heavy snow bands come in later on that could be a changing situation in philadelphia and certainly points north. as we take a look at that overhead view, there again is that sleet line which right now on storm tracker does

appear to be pushing into philadelphia. some of the snowflakes that we've had have been mixing with those sleet pellets. i saw some of that when i was walking from the hotel to the station and then of course it's rain down to the south. at times you may get snow pushing back. i don't think there's going to be a whole lot and some that has already fallen has been washed away. big concern is outside of philadelphia. lavender pushing in through a good portion out of chester county, this is the heavy banding snow coming down probably two to 4 inches an hour. that's a lot of snow piling up in a hurry. we don't have that so much up in montgomery and bucks just yet. there is a batch of it however to the east of trenton and these bands are going to be setting is up at various parts of the region to the north of us as we go through the day and that's where your heavy snow is going to be and where your blizzard conditions may develop as well. your temperature currently in philadelphia 33 degrees. cold enough at the surface around the airport to probably support some frozen stuff on the roads. i know that's 1 degree above freezing but that's just one

reporting station. 41 in the ocean and as we take a look at temperatures across the region, 27 degrees in allentown, 35 in dover and 44 in cape may. again, that wind coming in off the ocean over the top of that approaching nor'easter is bringing in a lot of mild air and that's why we've got the changeover to rain. future tracker6 shows us that between now all the way up to about 7 o'clock, we're probably still going to be in the same sort of profile that we see now. heavy rain in the south, a little bit of mixed precipitation up close to i-95 and that heavy snow continuing up north. as we get up to 12 o'clock, though, the center of that low pressure center quickly gets up to about our latitude here in philadelphia. once in happens, the heavy snow bands start to push off to the north. then you can see what happens the rest of the afternoon. we get the winds changing, dry air comes in and the snow starts to break apart. getting less intense after lunchtime but really knocking down later in the afternoon and later in the evening hours. what are we expecting on the ground? looks pretty good. again, this coating to 2-inches probably gets washed

away, no shoveling there. two to 4 inches isn't going to be much impact either. a lot of rain mixing in here as well but as you step up close to philadelphia we still think there's a chance of eight to 12-inches inly if, 12 to 16 in the immediate suburbs up north and 16 to 24-inches farther to the north. again, we've got a lot of concerns today. and one of them would be blizzard conditions potentially developing in the northern suburbs. it means you're going to see gusts over 35. i think that's pretty easy. snow reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less and this has to last three hours or longer, three solid hours in order for it to be determined a blizzard. whether or not we officially get that, though, this is a storm to ride out indoors especially during the morning up into the early afternoon. heavy snow and sleet and wind as well today. blizzard conditions at times up north and today's high is 34. in your seven day tomorrow a lingering snow shower is possible but otherwise cold and snowy. 36 sunny and brisk on thursday and for saint patrick's day partly sunny and 38. now there is the chance of another snow shower or rain shower mixing on friday night.

and on saturday, we may see a period where there's a little bit of mixed precipitation as well. other its clouds and sun and then we're back up into the upper 40's by monday. >> okay, thanks, david. the snow is coming down very quick. it's hard for those crews to really clear things out. let's go to matt pelman. >> they can't just quite keep up because it's coming down at that fast of a clip. as we look live in exton chester county the intersection of route 100 at commerce drive you definitely see the road is mostly covered. some tracks here where people have gone to make the turn. give yourself plenty of time to get stopped if you have to make a turn at an intersection like this. and this is 422 completely snow covered at this point. these are the eastbound lanes just past the oaks interchange, the dump would be over here on the left side of the screen. hopefully -- oh, yeah, here comes a plow train as we watch live coming eastbound those lanes always happy to see them. if you encounter them six car lengths is the distance you need to maintain between you and that group of plows.

we're glad they're coming through because at this .422 is mostly covered. out here live in plymouth meeting mostly covered along the blue route, 476 as well. these are the southbound lanes. at least we have a lane deficit. you know, in spots like this where it would normally be three lanes we kind of have one passable lane but that one passable lane is still going to be very slick, very slippery as you head down towards the schuylkill expressway. that's what i was finding on my way in, even the lane where you could see some blacktop it was slushy and slippery for sure. and secondary roads are completely snow covered. this is knights road overtop woodhaven road in the great northeast. on woodhaven you can see wet surface near philadelphia mills and franklin mills in the eastbound lane headed toward 95. up top the road is completely snow covered. delco along 95 near the state line and there, too, we are seeing a decent amount of snow coverage as we flip that camera over to 95 by the state line. well, take my word for it. there we go. yeah and raindrops on the

camera lens as well. there's some freezing rain out there. that's what i drove through on my way in this morning. matt and tam. >> and that a you matt. let's see what things look like. there's our annie mccormick she is in one of our "action news" vans heading up the northeast extension. good morning, annie, what are you seeing? >> reporter: good morning, tam l our goal was to be up in allentown awhile ago. however, the road conditions are he will rely bad. i'm going to flip over my ipad here so you can see the conditions. we're on the northeast extension of the pennsylvania turnpike and we're passing about -- about to pass the exit for the allentown service plaza. our goal is to get to tillman et to exitallentown and to do 56. so, you can see there, this s the turnpike road. so, normally you are either here or here in the lanes but we're driving stra middle and y. you can see that snow. now, weeen behind atpoints goin6

to this part of the treenehind t different sn lk abouthe snowplow trains how you suld give them theirdiso they need to do but a couple that we've seen here on the turnpike actually have another smaller vehicle behind them with a sign on it saying to slow down, to stay behind them. so, conditions are not good. it's taking us probably additial half hour to what it would normal take us uping tt you know, we'll be on the ground and we'll give you those reports as well but for now reporting live along the pennsylvania turnpike, annie mccormick channel6 "action news." matt and tam, back to you. >> safe driving. thank you so much annie. we'll see you in a little bit. a snow emergency is in effect in philadelphia. the city began icketing and together cars on snow routes at midnight. septa says buses will operate on weather related detours and

regional rails will run on saturday schedules and the streets department canceled trash and reccng for today. residents are asked to hold all that stuff un next tuesday. the philadelphia police department reminds people to not save parking spots during the snowstorm. they released this "game of thrones" inspired video. police are referring to the illegal practice of saving a shoveled-out parking spotany otr objects. they don't want you to do it basically. the department first launched its no saveys campaign in 2014. >> hopefully you won't run into any white walkers while you're clearing out your car. taking a live look here this is out in king of prussia 202 in gulph road. annie mccormick telling us how difficult things were on the northeast extension. here you can see a little bit of blacktop out there but again a reminder, it's a good idea not to head out this morning unless you absolutely need to be out there but in that case a little bit of a passable road. we'll be right back.

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>> ♪ >> welcome back. mobile6 out there on the schuylkill approaching route one. you can see we've got snow in some spots but also sort o sleety rain out there which is keeping that wind chill wet, the wipers going back and forth, exactly the kind of conditions that you might get a little cocky and think well, this isn't snow, i can speed up a little bit. no. keep it slow. low and slow like barbecue. take your time. >> driving like barbecue. >> yeah. >> matt and karen, it's surprising to see how many people are oe this hour. particularly we've been warning them not to go out there, you know. >> reporter: this is really the worst of it from now until about lunch time you really want to avoid the roads. kind of give people a little space. it is a mix of snow and sleet right here. as you look at storm tr live double scan you can see throughout the region such a mix with this stosouth and east,

sleet just north of that and in philadelphia on nort and west snow even some heavy snow near lancaster andeading so that depends where you are. already half a mile visibility in the lehigh valley. a bit better inladelphia but 2 miles trenton,hr in millville and that's because ofhe heavy precipitation and as you go from roxborough to millville you're talking about a 12-inch difference in the amount of precipitation you're going to get over 45 miles. this is a really sharp cutoff that we're dealing with today. satellite6 and action radar showing the storm moving in so it's steadily out here snowing right now and, matt, as you're headed out on the roads you need to be careful. we already have good 3-inches out here on the terrace. >> and you were telling me how difficult it was coming in south jersey this morning. >> south jersey in particular because it was heavier, the temperature is higher there so heavier mix of wet snow and sleet. >> just a sloppy slippery slushy mess for sure. this is camden county route 42, the freeway at creek road. you can see some of the plaque

top but don't be deceived it is slushy out there. you have to watch it when you go like that. njdot truck right there and use the ramps, those ramps are going to be especially treacherous. in gloucester county crash just cleared from 295 southbound. it was also a broken down truck blocking the ramp from 295 northbound to 656. that, too, is cleared out of the way. jackknifed truck in camden county on 295 southbound is gone and that's kind of interesting looks like right now we're seeing just some rain perhaps it's freezing rain coming down through parts of camden county. also had a jackknifed truck in mercer county along 195 westbound. that has cleared as has a disabled vehicle on 295 in mercer county so a bunch of issues have already popped up this morning there in south jersey. have one crash so far this morning down in delaware. it's near glasgow along 40 pulaski highway approaching 896. you need to keep the speeds down here as well and on the mass transit front regional rails are on a saturday schedule today. if you have to get out and

ride one, cynwyd line isn't running a the all, norristown high speedline about every and 20 minutes today and of course the market frankford and broad street lines they're a good way to go, they've been running all night and they'll be running all day as well, matt. nk you, matt. i know this is your favorite philadelphia neighborhood to navigate. action cam was in the slippery hills of manayunk. there's green lane right there. lots of snowy scenes across the region but in particular in manayunk it is tough because of those tiny little side streets and also all those parked cars along the sides of the streets they're going to be trying to gust thosdustthose things off. developing this morning an armed attacker has targeted another woman in delaware. this was the scene at the christina mall and mill apartments in newark last robbery at 8:15 the description of at least three other attacks of women in new castle county over the past few weeks ooh.me, the armed manh an unknown accent wore a mask

and gloves and f ayear-old womar apartment at gupce say he stoley and then took off. >> it is now courverage continues for you. let's take you outside, take a live look at the commodore barry. usually you can see it all clear and crystal against the night sky. not this morning. you can see the snow out there making it a little hazy, hard to see and weain. tough road conditions out there. we'll be right back. >> ♪

>> now on "action news" we are in the midst of a late winter storm that wi