we are centered once again with a winter storm warning right now over us. here's doppler. this one is a bit different because there is for a time being enough mild air coming in. there has been a mixture of sleet, snow. you can see especially for folks in dale city, fredericksburg, maryland. even so, this is not going to be a bargain. it will be freezing rain. and then it will change over to all snow through the nighttime hours. here's the wider view of things. you can see rain into the carolinas. the main storm center is out to our west. another one is beginning to form. once again off the north carolina capes by tomorrow morning. it will become another ferocious storm. one of those what are called -- we meteorologists call bombs. that is a rapidly deepening storm. whatever mix that we see will be going back to all snow. and unfortunately with more winds. so tomorrow morning when you get-up, there will be likely six

inches of snow to the north right around washington. six to at much as 15 inches of snow. but unfortunately, more than that through the northern suburbs where it remains all snow. montgomery county, on up into howard county and baltimore. here's where we're seeing that mixture moving in through the evening hours. the other factor is unfortunately the winds, which will be really picking up. we've got a sleet/ice mixture for a number of hours after midnight. most areas, it will be all snow. by tomorrow morning with blowing and drifting, we cod be looking still at blizzard warningshat may have to be issued as the visibilities decrease for tomorrow morning. some spots again unfortunately, 20 inches of snow. and another 5,000 pounds of snow, sleet, and ice on top of all of our roofs. back to you. >> thanks, bob. the new snow is threatening to make driving conditions out there even more dangerous than ey already are. many roads across the d.c. area remain covered in snow and ice. pat collins has more on that part of the story from northwest

d.c. hi, pat. >> hi, doreen. well, it's coming down now. little flakes. light flakes. but you know how that goes. they have a way of turning into big flakes. and then the wind picks up and before you know it, holy snow plow. in this neighborhood, there's still a lot of places where it's hard to walk. hard to drive. but a lot of people were out here today, out and about trying to get things done before storm number two. so today on connecticut avenue, we found betsy. betsy on the move. with a little help from her friend. >> we are trying to move. >> reporter: today? >> today. >> reporter: of all days? >> we were supposed to move on saturday and that's worse. >> reporte you are betsy's fiance? >> yes. >> reporter: and that's why you're helping her. >> well, of course.

>> reporter: you are moving to a better place? >> yes. we're looking forward to it. >> reporter: going down connecticut avenue the other way, deirdre just in time for work. having any trouble getting in? >> no. >> reporter: what's it like out here? >> it's freezing. the metros 30 minutes late, so that's all. >> reporter: you'll make it, won't you? >> yeah. i'm right here. >> reporter: going to make it through this storm? >> yes, i will. >> reporter: a special cupcake brought to us by jillian who did a special trip just to get it. you walked up to bethesda? >> yes. walked from van ness to bethesda. >> reporter: what is it like? >> the sidewalks are really bad. it's piling over, climbing over a bunch of piles. very little shoveling. >> reporter: how long did it take you to get there? >> a couple hours. >> a couple hours for one

cupcake. what is it about snow that makes us snow hungry? 's gng to snow. i've got to eat. one final shot, doreen. this is the sidewalk here. this was clear. this was clear and almost dry just about an hour ago. you can see the snow is starting to stick here on connecticut avenue. so watch out. >> it looks like it's starting to come down, pat. we want you to -- we see you've got your flaps down. now button up your scarf. >> okay. i'll do that. >> one more thing, pat. what kind of cupcake? >> it was one of those red velvet chocolate cupcakes that are so delicious. >> and it's gone, right? >> long gone. long gone. >> just checking. thank you, pat. chris gordon is out in montgomery county. he's got a report on what's going on out that way. chris? >> well, i don't have any

cupcakes. it's been snowing for two mauho. it feels like ice pellets accumulating on rockville pike. montgomery county will launch 900 plows to clear the main roads. montgomery county has more than 4,100 miles of residential roads. some have not seen a plow like this section of berkshire drive in bethesda where one resident cleared out a walking path with a snow blower days ago. >> i've lived here for 25 years. we usually have -- usually comes after a while. berkshire hasn't been touched. this is the first time i ever remember it not being touched in so long. >> reporter: do you hope to see a plow differebefore the next s? >> yeah, but i don't think it's going to happen. >> reporter: how have montgomery county plows performed? i asked the county executive if he's satisfied. >> it's been a daunting task but i think i'd give them a b-plus.

the challenge for us more importantly have been the loss of power. that creates a real challenge for any jurisdiction. i think overall we responded quite well. >> reporter: there are still neighborhoods without power like this section of silver spring where a downed line has left two dozen residents in the dark. >> in our case it's particularly distressing. we've got a 7-month-old child. we've got a 2 1/2-year-old. so it's hard. we're being patient. pepco, we get very little information from them. the scheduling seems to be rather random. >> reporter: where the kids now? >> the kids are at day care. we've been staying with friends overnight. we'll move to a hotel tonight. >> reporter: what is your reaction to the forecast of more snow? >> i'm not looking forward to it. usually i would love to have my son who is 2 1/2 go out and play, but this time it just means that there might be more delays in the electricity coming back on. we're just not looking forward to that.

>> well, tonight's snow is feeling wet and heavy. and people who have been in the dark for days say that if there are more power outages they hope that pepco gives them a priority in getting their electricity back on first. we're live in rockville. jim and doreen, back to you in the studio. >> thanks, chris. people are struggling in virginia as well. julie carey has been driving around fairfax county all afternoon. she joins us now from the road. hi, julie. how's it going? >> we're headed westbound on route 50 in fairfax. and just a little while ago, this was a pretty clean, dry road. but how quickly conditions change. if you look in the right-hand lane here, which has been less traveled, already this mix of snow and sleet is starting to pile up again. i'm not even going to try to apply the brakes right now even though i'm traveling slowly. it looks slick there. you know, also along the

dividing line. the snow is piling up. really lonely started coming down hard here 30 minutes ago. so it's piling up quicker than i would have expected. up on the front of the car right now as well. route 50, though, an example of a street that is pretty clear. you see some spots here, though, where vdot has mounded the snow so high on the sides of the road. see that car pulling out? that's tough to see when you're coming out of these parking lots. so the situation starting to go downhill. a lot of -- whoever did venture out to work or to the grocery store today, lighter than normal traffic. route 50 this time of day, normally would be bumper-to-bumper. you can see that there's far less activities than on a normal day. it probably time to head home with the snow and sleet

intensifying. so for now, a pretty clear drive. already starting to stack up again. >> all right. be careful out there, julie. >> we will be. >> thanks, julie. keeping her eyes on the road. >> julie wants to go home. >> a lot of other people, too. coming up when our broadcast continues, metro, amtrak and airlines have experienced days of delay and cancellations because of the weather. with more snow on the way, we'll tell you how they're preparing.

we're back with continuing coverage. the d.c. area braces for another snowstorm in the wake of last week's big blizzard. all of this snow is also affecting metro service. metro says all of its train stations reopened this afternoon in time for the evening rush. trains are only running every 20 minutes, though. machines are clearing heavy snow from the tracks. about 75% of metro parking spaces are available and on the roads. metro has more than 500 buses out there tonight. however, metro tells us they may again have to reduce service because of this latest snowstorm. trains are in service on the bruzwalk, camden and penn lines but only on the "s" or special service schedule. that's typically what they run on holidays. vre has canceled all of its trains for today.

and amtrak is offering limited service across the northeast today. many express and northeast regional trains between new york and d.c. are canceled. part of the problem, fallen trees and power lines on the tracks. amtrak says you can find out if your train is affected by going to the amtrak website. flights at all the local airports are either delayed or canceled. at national, most flights have been canceled already this evening. all flights scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled already. it's the same at dulles. most flights canceled this evening. all of them canceled tomorrow. at bwi, most of the flights have been canceled for this evening and tomorrow. the airlines recommend once again that you check the airline for the latest on their flight status before you go out to the airport. now we take a look at the latest power outage numbers. a lot of people are still waiting. pepco has about 5,400 customers without electricity in the district and prince george's and montgomery counties right now.

demominion power outages are affecting 580 customers in northern virginia. baltimore gas and electric reports about 300 still without power. the northern virginia electric cooperative has 430 customers in the dark. southern maryland's electric co-op has ten customers without power tonight. utility crews are racing to restore power before this latest snowstorm can cause more outages. >> joining us now is clay anderson. clay, how are you doing tonight? >> doing fine, jim. >> can you give us an update? how many customers without power? >> montgomery county, we are about to crack the 5,000 mark. i know that doesn't seem like much, but considering this time yesterday we had over 30,000 montgomery county, about 5,000 customers, prince george's county, 180 district of clum be, 157. but the battle zone is montgomery county.

we continue to chip away at that outage number. >> clay, looking at the numbers, pepco has had the most people out and is the slowest to get them back on. it seems like as we look at the list. what's -- why is that? >> two things, doreen. the first thing is the ability to get to some of those smaller neighborhoods. i spent the day with our crews in montgomery county. several neighborhoods. it is still amazing how many streets and areas of rockville and areas of potomac and even very close to the beltway driving down old georgetown road, streets that we drive all the time still are covered with snow and to put one of our bucket trucks into the smaller neighborhoods has been a challenge. montgomery county is helping us and we continue to press on. >> have we learned anything from this storm, clay, that you may be should have done before the storm that you can apply to what's coming up now tonight? >> i would say probably

something that a lot of people don't want to hear is that the beautiful canopy of trees that we do enjoy when it's time to trim those trees, when your power lines start to disappear under that canopy atrees through april and september, it's probably time to get the trees trimmed and get those cut. we're learning that we have a lot of great folks that bring in mutual assistance that helps. they're working with sxus staying with us through the second storm. so lessons learned. >> clay, i'm wondering what -- what you -- what pepco says to families like some folks interviewed by chris gordon earlier in the broadcast. they're still waiting for their power to be turned on, got a baby in the house. they are struggling. i'm sure they want to know when -- where they are in the priority now if we have mor power outages from this heavy snowfall that's -- that's coming now. >> well, that's a great

question, doreen. first of all, those that have not been restored, we have them at the top of our list. any additional snow that falls tonight, tomorrow, they are going to be put ahead of any other outages that do occur. again, with montgomery county close to about 5,000 customers, we are desperately trying to get h all of them restored by the end of the evening. some may be out tomorrow, but we are desperately trying to get those folks on. we have not forgotten them. we have their addresses and names. we'll try to get them rested tonight. if not tonight, into tomorrow. they'll be restored first. >> all right. i'm sure they'll be glad to hear that. clay anderson, appreciate your time. >> talk to you soon. coming up tonight, sbaub coming back with the forecast.

that mus sounds like something out of a video game. >> i wish we were in a video game. >> virtual, right? >> here we go again, folks. just days after that big blizzard a few days ago, more snow coming our way. >> we're as tired as everybody else. >> i think so. >> probably not as tired as you are, though, bob. this one is even a little trickier to forecast, too. >> it is. because we're near that sleet,

freezing rain and snow line. that's the tricky part. certainly no one is near as tired as the hard-working road crews and the utility folks that have been out there day after day trying to get everybody's power back. really our gratitude goes to them. i know a lot of folks in neighborhoods. with unprecedented storms that we've had december, then the blizzard. now tonight again. we are looking at a very, very serious situation for us. 36 is our high temperature. here we are, how we stack up in the snowiest februarys. all we need is a couple more inches. now over 21 inches. there you can see that we get another five to ten inches. we'll have one of our snowiest februarys of all time and the snowiest winter of all time. 30 degrees right now in washington as the snows come. the temperatures drop down. look how much cold air is out to our west. once again, we've got cold and

dry air. we're not going to be seeing rain. the rain that does fall will be and is in the form of freezing rain. here's the one main storm. the first one that came out of the north pa, there it is. again, forming off the north carolina coast. this will really become a meet rulugeical bomb more to our north. folks into northern maryland are a little bit more under the gun as far as that will be the area of the maximum amount of snow. here's the doppler. you can see what's going on right now. there's that area of snow right in over us. you can see also -- see how we've gone through with the mixture trying to get up into dale city, fredericksburg. this will be with us for a few hours but the bigger view of ings you can see all of that mouch down to our south. when we get through about 11:00 to midnight, everybody will be getting right back into a lot of snow, which takes us to how this is going to stack up with other

storms. veronica has been tracking this one. but also tracking the historybooks. >> exactly. you mentioned the 21-plus inches that we've had for the month of february, already for the season. 45-plus inches. here's a list that we put together of snowiest months ever on record. right now we're in eighth place. all it would take is another eight to ten inches to scoot us up into fourth place possibly. so i think right now that we could get that tomorrow when we go over to that moderate and heavy snowfall. what will the impact be? the freezing rain is going to give us the icy roads, especially the secondary roads that are snow-packed right now. high winds could be over 40 miles per hour. you heard what clay anderson was saying at pepco. there will be more scattered power outages through the area. on top of that with the heavy snow, that's another 5,000 pounds sitting on a lot of area roofs. it's the flat roofs that we have to worry about. >> if this were on ordinary winter we'd talk about this as being the big storm.

we've already had that record-breaker in -- and, of course, the blizzard only a couple of days ago. here's futurecast. here's that mixture. then as the secondar storm takes over, it all becomes snow tomorrow morning. everybody will be seeing snow and then as it really intensifies off the jersey coastline, the winds continue to increase. while we'll see snow gradually tapering off tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening it will be blowing and drifting with windchills into the single digits. unfortunately with the tree loadings and the west snow that's falling out there right now just adding to the weight with the winds, i'm afraid we could be looking at serious widespread power outages for tomorrow afternoon as if we don't have enough already for the folks that have been hit so hard. here's that mixture on and off for the next few hours. but by the time we get to midnight to 2:00 in the morning, the cold air and theolder air aloft begins to run out. folks into st. mary's county

down towards the northern neck will see freezing rain and sleet there. it will turn into all snow by tomorrow morning and heavier snow and montgomery county, fairfax county. the morning rush hour, what there may be of it, will see increasing northwesterly winds. finally, we get to 2:00, 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. things begin to taper off. but not before there's another 20 inches of snow in some of the northern suburbs and up to baltimore, northeastern maryland. you folks into frederick county, too. because we'll sbe seeing a mix n washington and not quite the intensity of snows perhaps out toward the blue ridge, still another 12 ins of snow is very, very possible. and then inmix that you're seeing into maryland will be anging over to all snow and on top of that, even there it will be another 6 to 10 inches of snow. some snow mixed in with some sleet and freezing rain as we go through the next few hours with temperatures into the 20s.

tomorrow morning, though, it's all snow and snow that even during 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 could be falling at one to two inches an hour. the temperatures will fall into the teens and low 20s. so we'll see blowing and drifting and if we get the next seven days that we could get in there, veronica, that we'll be seeing our temperatures finally as the snow gradually diminishes in spite of the blowing and drifting. we'll see the temperatures though only gting up to around the low to mid-30s for the next few days. matter of fact, mainly above freezing. the one thing, we'll have sunshine and a break into the weekend but mornings will be in the teens. afternoons only into the mid-20s. the worst of this storm coming late tonight, early tomorrow morning and many areas unfortunately again looking at 20 inches of snow. as veronica mentioned, that means another 5,000 pounds of

snow on the average roof. but more importantly almost is also those trees, the evergreens that are loaded with snow. i'm afraid we're looking at widespread power outages with winds of 30 miles an hour by midmrning to early tomorrow afternoon. another very, very serious storm. back to you. >> thank you, bob. coming up, we've got more on all this. stay tuned.

we welcome you back to "news4 at 6." >> we continue our coverage of another storm that's bringing more snow to the d.c. area. the threat of snow combined with last week's blizzard has caused school districts to cancel classes for the rest of the week. meanwhile road and power crews are continuing to prepare for any new problems that may arise. but some neighborhoods aren't happy with now the cleanup is going after the weekend storm. for more on the situation in virginia, we go to jane watrel in alexandria. hi, jane. >> well, hi, doreen. it's gone from bad to worse in many northern virginia neighborhoods who have yet to see a snow plow. now with this fresh batch of snow they're trying to adapt to a new new reality. snow-packed roads make for treacherous driving in northern virginia neighborhoods. >> it's a good car. but things happen. it goes to prove that even with a four wheel drive, you can't expect the best. >> reporter: it's been near

whiteout conditions in this burke virginia neighborhood. untouched by snow plows since friday. and patience is wearing thin. >> people have dug themselves out and even they've -- they did a lot of this with shovels. not even trucks or anything like that. >> reporter: especially when some who live here have spotted vdot snow plows right down the street, passing them by. >> there's equipment sitting on the side of the road idling. and that's what we're confused about. we can't figure out what the plan is there given that we have streets that have not seen plows. >> reporter: so necessity is the mother of invention from walking to nearby stores for food -- >> we have bagel bites. i have four kids. we've got the bagel bites, the french fries, the chicken nuggets. then i've got meats, ham. all that kind of stuff. >> reporter: foofiguring hot to remove a wall of snow blocking the driveway.

one man's solution, a saw. >> what you do, you get in it. it ain't too bad once you go but you've got to hit it from three different sides here. it's kind of what i'm doing. and then it will break loose. i've gone through three pair of gloves. then you just kind of grab her like that. and then i'm not sure what to do with it right now. >> based on what we're seeing here, looks like he's going to be using that saw for a few more days to come. i'm jane watrel. back to you, doreen. >> got to get creative out there. in maryland, officials say they're running low on supplies to treat the roads. today governor o'malley urged drivers to stay off the roads if they can. >> i'm not sure how much firmer we can be except to say if you don't have to drive, do not

drive. do not go out on the roads. keep your car off the road soez that emergency vehicles and the plows can do what they need to do. >> the governor also said officials cannot shut down roads because it takes too many state resources to turn the drivers away. the governor is also keeping an eye on the coming storm. john has more on what the governor had to say about that. >> jim, that's right. here's out here in maryland. we're in the parking lot of this home depot. people are getting shovels to salt. interestingly enough, salt is something the county says they are running dangerously low on. look at the video we shot earlier today. this is a look at the command center over in forestville. we saw truck going in and out of this command center all day. they were just loading up on salt, getting as much as they could in each truck. we talked to governor o'malley. he said he is seeing counties running low on salt. he said until they have another

shipment come from the port of baltimore, they have to -- counties just have to use salt more sparingly. despite that, the county executive johnson here in prince georges county says he is doing very well for his crew. he said his crew is doing very well right now. he's proud of the work they is done, but because he said that we won't see bear roads for quite some time after this latest tomorrow, he's asking for everyone's patience. >> as i speak now, 90%-plus of all the neighborhoods are open. i have been told that by midnight tonight, we will have made a single pass through each neighborhood. >> what we're worried about most with the forecast of this storm is that we will see the wind and we will also see a band of rain and ice. the danger now as we look at this storm is the potential for a couple of thing much greater power outages in its aftermath because of felled

trees from the ice and the wind and the second thing is the potential for roof collapse. >> and, jim, we've actually seen a roof collapse earlier today in prince george's county. authorities say a man in his 60s was injured when he was working on his roof and it suddenly gave way. now authorities are asking everyone here in prince george's county if you have snow accumulated on your roof or around your house and you can't take care of it, call a professional or call your neigor and get some help. that's the very latest. doreen, jim, back to you. >> thanks, john. let's go back over to virginia now and we'll get the latest from julie carrie. she's on the roads in fairfax county. julie, where are you now? >> i am on route 29. headed eastbound. back behind me, the intersection of nuttily and route 29. not very far from the viaenna metro. it is pouring snow out here

right now. now it seems to be snow and flashback to a few days ago. it's a little hard right now to find the lines on the road. this stuff is really sticking right away. as i was driving around northern virginia today, i didn't see a lot of pretreating going on, which, you know, we customarily see before another storm like this but i think part of the issue was vdot was working so hard to try to move snow and widen some of the lanes, get the right-hand lanes that are still covered with snow cleared out. you see an example here on lee highway where they've done a good job of it. there's still that mounded snow spilling on to the roads. i don't know if you can see that shaking in the camera. that's the abs kicking in there. a little stutter there. so it's starting to get snowy on the roads again. and it is starting to get slick. again, not a lot of chemicals down. we did just encounter a vdot truck a little while ago that

was spreading salt. but, again, i think they have been so focused on moving snow that there hasn't been quite as much pretreatment as we'd ordinarily have. it's getting slick and treacherous. that is only going to increase as the evening wears on. back to you now in the studio. >> looks like the traffic is decreasing as well, though. that's a good thing. julie carey reporting from fairfax county. stay with us. we'll be right back. boss: so word's gettin' out that geico customers could save even more on their car insurance

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want to keep you posted with yet another storm. this one will benother unfortunately serious storm. not quite as much moisture to our south. there's already been over an ch of rain. that means 11 inches of snow. here's a look at our temperatures. our temperature in washington has fallen. it's been some rain down the river. it's looking now a little bit more and hoar like that band, that few hours of some sleet, freezing rain while even chris i think reported some in rockville becoming fewer and fewer as the snow continues and as the doppler and as the cold air fills in. some of this comes up. then it's going and it may be that that snow is goi to be winning the day a little bit earlier. mainly snow right now. here's a wider view of things. you see down to our south, all of that moisture feeding in. the sooner that the storm begins winding up off the coast, the

quicker it's going to bring in the cold air and whatever mix is out there cut off the mild air at the midlevels and make it all snow. so where it does remain all snow, certainly for you folks in the northern suburbs up into western fairfax and montgomery county, but especially the way this storm is shaping up with the most intense part just a bit to our north. it's looking more and more likely that unfortunately it could be another 20-inch snow-producer in baltimore. so for the remainder of the evening as we go through the evening, obviously on into tomorrow, if wre under that winter storm warning, there is that mix that slides off. by midnight, i think will be probably just down into southern maryland and the lower eastern shore. snow all over the area becoming moderate to heavy. it's possible unfortunately that especially across northern maryland, frederick county maryland, allegheny county,

baltimore, tomorrow morning could be an inch or two per hour once again. so another crippling storm. on top of that there will be places that probably will be looking at 40, 45 inches of snow on the ground. right around washington, we could look at another 12 inches before this winds down as we go through tomorrow afternoon. as i mentioned, the winds will be stronger with this storm than the last storm. on top of everything with the wet snow that we have now, should be prepared for widespread power outages tomorrow. back to you. >> thanks, bob. as we noted earlier in our broadcast, the weight of all this snow is causing roofs to collapse. the build-up of ice is creating ice dams. that's bad for homeowners. >> liz crenshaw is here with more on what you can do to minimize the damage. what can you do? >> well, there's some things to

worry about. other things we can't do a lot about. the rooftops we've seen collapse have been flat roofs according to the institu for business and home safety. a flat roof like this one that collapsed in prince george's county is often weighed down with more snow than a pitched rooftop that allows snow to fall off. that's the good news. how much weight are we talking about? well, we took a square foot, 18 inches deep of snow, from outside front of news4 today and with the help of chuck bell we weighed it. now, the old snow and the ice weighed in at about 20 pounds. if you add to that the nu12 inches that we expect, that's supposed toeigh another five pounds which is 25 pounds per square foot. a fairfax county structural engineer told us today residential rooftops are designed to handle about 30 pounds per square foot. we sort of made it. experts say that a structure can withstand two times that, so most roofs should be just fine.

we want to emphasize do not shovel the snow off your roof. it is extremely dangerous. very, very dangerous. some people have asked how stro is a deck when it comes to heavy snow? first, you should know that decks are designed to handle more weight than your roof because they're designed to hold people. decks hold about 40 pounds per square foot. you can shovel your deck if you want to, but it should withstand the weight of this snow. if you have lots of heavy stuff on it, though, like a stack of firewood, consider shoveling it. on to ice dams. they happen in your gutter when the melting snow refreezes. ice dams cause water damage in your house when the sw starts to melt and it's got nowhere to go so it pools up under your gutter and it floods into your house over the interior walls. there is no way to prevent ice dams now and if we get slow melting, most homes should be just fine. but something you don't want to

do, do not open your attic to heat the roof of the house. that's going to cause more melting of the snow on your roof and that will increase your chance of flooding. a lot of people look at the roof and they say, hey, i'll just heat it up a little bit with the -- not a good idea. just leave it be. unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do. >> the information about the square foot, that's reassuring. >> do you feel better? >> it's something -- someplace else to take my mind tonight when i'm worrying about it. >> just think about chuck bell and i digging out snow and weighing it for you. >> we appreciate all you do for us. >> thank you. coming up on the broadcast, we've got more. stay tuned.

we've just gotten news regarding metro's plans for tomorrow. metro officials say they are going to limit rail service to underground stations only tomorrow. trains will run at 5:00 a.m. authorities say there will be no metro bus or metro access service tomorrow. metro officials will monitor conditions throughout the day and they'll change service levels if they feel it's appropriate. a lot of d.c. residents are wondering when their streets will be cleared. this afternoon officials announced plans for plows and public schools tomorrow. tom sherwood has more on that from columbia heights. looks like it's really coming down there, tom. >> it is. i want you and jim to know i'm

wearing my nats hat. i'm looking forward to opening day for basell. even as people realize that this is a lot of snow, people are wondering if the city is doing all it can. here in columbia heights in northwest, emergency personnel and ordinary citizens struggled on 14th street as the new snow expected strained city resources and plans. >> three 20 h-inch storms this close together in one season, it's undesprinted. after the season, we do have to reassess and make sure that we're, you know, we can't be like buffalo and cleveland and have an agency that deals with snow. >> reporter: an internal d.c. government e-mail first obtained by wtop radio showed 25% or more of city equipment was out of order at any one time. >> the equipment has been taking a lot of pressure. we've had breakdowns, which is

normal that we would have breakdowns during any type of storm. we're trying to get them back up as qckly as possible. probably the primary issue is that we're having issues with salt predar salt spreaders. >> reporter: and the piles of snow had a course of complaints rising. >> we can be prepared. i feel like we weren't prepared for it. >> now, unlike confusion earlier in the week, d.c. schools already are closed for tomorrow. but will d.c. workers come to work? the mayor's office says that decision will be made later tonight or tomorrow morning. jim and doreen, back to you. >> thank you, tom. in virginia, main roads in the commonwealth are passable for the most part, but in maryland and the district, many side streets remain untouched. people are getting cranky. >> they are. joining us on the phone is jenny mccord with the virginia department of transportation. start with the current

conditions on both the main roads and in the neighborhoods. are you satisfied that you're hitting them as they need to be hit? >> sure. well, the interstates are definitely bare pavement. we're starting to see the snow come down now. same for the primaries and our secondary roads. subdivisions, we are very close to getting to everyone. we're going to be working through the night to make sure we can try to get everyone cleared. what we're asking right now is that if citizens have not seen a plow that they give us a ring and let us know. >> hello? >> can you repeat that number, please? >> 1-800-667-road. >> can you repeat those numbers for us, please? i think we lost your audio for a moment. >> 383-vdot. or 1-80-367-road.

>> okay. >> and can you talk a little bit abou how -- how your agency will be prioritizing things tonight? i mean, your crews are exhausted. there are neighborhood streets that haven't been touched once. and main roads that are going to need attention, fresh attention. how do you work through all that? >> that was jenny mccord. she's with the virginia department of transportation. we're having all kinds of problems keepinghat line open. we're having as many problems with that as they are getting into the neighborhoods. ando we'll try that perhaps another time. for more on what road conditions are like all across the area, we'll go to ashley linder in the news4 traffic network. hi, ashley. >> hey. you hear me loud and clear. let me tell you, the roads are getting nasty out there. capitol beltway, the outer loop is slow here. at the head of this line is

actually a convoy that is laying down salt. and some roatreatments to try to help alleviate the icing that is bound to occur here shortly. it is starting to snow out there. to see what the roadways are looking likeuric take you to the 14th street corridor out of the district. the wind is coming down. are seeing it accumulate between the lanes which is just the tip of the iceberg. it's going to get nasty out there. fortunately if you are tveling at this point, we don't have any major accidents to discuss. we do have some issues, though, as far as slowing it occurring as we just saw on the capple beltway. out of springfield, you can barely see the headlights. again, they are moving. it looks like people are just trying to get home and clear off of the roadways. jim and doreen, back to you. >> ashley, thank you for that. coming up, bob is back with a final check on our weather forecast. stay with us.

we are just received word that federal government agencies will be closed tomorrow. once again, i believe that this is now a record for the federal government to be closed three days in a row. i believe i heard somebody say today that each day's closing costs us $100 million if i'm not

mistaken. we've set another record with all these storms coming our way. >> not just the weather. record-breaking. let's get the latest from bob on the timeline and how much and when and who. >> hi, doreen and jim. as you mentioned, the storms of this magnitude, the economic pact plus obviously as we know for everybody that's been house bound and really hurting and suffering the psychological impact, it will be nice to see the sunshine, but that won't be until thursday. right now, our temperature has dropped to 30 degrees. into the 20s. those are the areas where it's all snow and will be all snow. i wanted to show you the doppler and this mix that i thought would be coming into washington. ll take off the winter mosaic so you can s where the heaviest echoes are and the biggest. these come through. when they come through with a lot of vertical velocity they

tend to really bring down the cold air and fight off the milder air which will be in on us for a time. you folks in extreme southern maryland there, it has been the report of rain at the river. just to show you the live digital doppler, there is where some of the moderate snows are now coming in. we may yet see still a period of some sleet and freezing rain but it really will be still a snow-producer. veronica has been watching everything all afternoon and will be here tomorrow again too with what will be a major snow producer. veronica? >> the moisture, bob, hanging over our area since early this afternoon. we've seen the flakes change from being really light to now being the heavy big ones. here's a look at the winter storm warnings. last time it went all the way up into northern new jersey. this time new york city and boston. but widespread it will be this storm system having an impact on a large area.

right here icy roads for us this evening going into the morning. more power outages tomorrow especially as the winds pick up. more heavy snow sitting on our roofs. another 5,000 pounds for us. >> there's that mix and mainly right now that mix around us in washington is the snow, the snow picks up. it's all snow by tomorrow morning. then we'll continue to see heavy snows during the morning rush hour. what there is of it across northern maryland. still looks like more and more like 12 inches. those trees, the power lines, really in danger with increasing winds. that will be the other feature of this storm versus the blizzard. i think more widespread high winds of 30 to 35 miles an hour tomorrow on top of everything else. finally sunshine as wehead into thursday. a dynamic storm. we'll update everything at 7:30. >> thanks, bob. this has been one heck of a winter.