right now the snow is coming down across the region. a live look outside. we're gearing up for another day of nasty weather as more snow moves in and possibly even blizzard-like conditions. good morning and welcome to this special edition of "news4 today." i'm eun yang. >> i'm joe krebs it's the 10th of february, 2010. another winter storm, another snow day for many in our region. all local schools are closed. the federal government is closed for the third street day. metro rail is underground service only beginning at 5:00 this morning. metro bus service is suspended for the day. >> let's get the latest ton

forecast. meteorologist tom kierein is tracking t storm in the storm center. >> yes. we did have snow last evening and it changed over to a mix of sleet and freezing rain for a time. for the last two hours, it has all changed back to snow all across the region. it is now beginning to snow moderately to even heavily. where we see the green on radar in montgomery county from gaithersburg, germantown, southern loudoun county, ashburn near dulles airport, mclane and western fairfax county getting a band of very heavy snow. getting moderate snow right here in washington. some moderate snow in southern maryland as well. the wider view of the radar is showing the storm situation is getting snowier as the last several hours did show an increase in the snowfall.

now, as you see it's all filling back in again with all snow across most of the region as we have an upper level disturbance and an area of low pressure now situated over west virginia. as that gets off the coast it' going to explosively develop a coastal low pressure system which is just going to only increase our winds and also give us a burst of snow later in the day temperature near 30 degrees. everything falling is sticking. we have a blizzard warning as well in the highlands of west virginia for very strong winds developing later this afternoon. all these counties in pink, southern new england, down in the ohio valley under a winter storm warning. all this coming from lot of precipitation that will begin after this coastal low gets going. this upper level thing will swirl in the atmosphere and

create a very strong low pressure system and we'll end up with snow totals, eight stoo 12 inches around washington. higher amounts farther north and east. then we'll get the sun back tomorrow and into friday and saturday, a breather for us to dig out. jerry, how is the traffic? >> good morning to you. good morning everyone. certainly another day for you to stay off the roads as we take a live look around maryland. here is interstate 270 as you begin the commute southbound in hyattown. trips south, all the lanes are open on the beltway. over to route 28, snowpacked right at the split coming toward rockville, very difficult conditions. let's go over and check out elsewhere. northern virginia, same story there. crews are out treating the roadways. once again, same song, second verse, stay off the roads until crews have chance to get things cleaned up a little bit. we'll be here all day. eun and joe, good morning. >> thanks very much, jerry.

>> thank you jerry. another long night for road crews. tra tracee wilkins is standing by in northwest washington. what's it look like where you are? >> v. >> reporter: looking pretty good so far. i was looking earlier and it seems like the snow was heavier then than they are now. it's definitely lighter now, but still coming down very quickly. let me show you what it looks like down here on the sidewalk. we're here at the metro station, columbia heights, they had actually taken care of the sidewalks here. yes have not even an inch, basically just a covering down here on the ground for right now. out here on the roads, you can see the roads are pretty much slushy. the roads that have been treated now just have this slush and that same kind of a covering from what was on the sidewalks out here in the roadways. the roads that did not get plowed before this storm, are even slushier and some snowy. since we've been here on urban

street, we've seen three or four trucks go up and down irving, a couple come down 14th. the crews are working. there were some reports that d.c. crews were having issues with trucks and there were a large number of trucks that weren't operating. i spoke where the vdot spokesman this morning. he said we've been working two storms in a row. at times they had some equipment go down. they have more folks in to take care of repairs. they feel good ability the number of crews in rotation. they have about 270 pieces of equipment out there, 205 are the district's equipment and then another number of private contractors they have out here adding up to about 270. they're saying when a truck goes down they're quickly repairing it, getting it backs on the streets so they can continue working. the bottom line is this is part of the nature of what's going on. there's a l on these machines and they workers working 12-hour shifts. we're seeing a large number of

trucks in the area here in washington, d.c. the roads are looking okay right now. it's really dicy. it will get worse as the snow continues. know when you head out, if you already had a road that was a problem, it's still a problem this morning. roads that have been cleaned off, they've got this covering. things are looking pretty good so far. tracee wilkins live in northwest, back to youn the studio. >> our team coverage continues with kimberly suiters. >> she's in vienna, virginia. what's it look like where you are this morning? apparently we're having a little problem with our audio. if you plan to head to work today and you want to take metro, the transit agency says it has scaled back service for today. metro rail trains will be running at 5:00 this morning, but they will be running only underground. there will also be no metro bus

or metro access service today because of the weather. metro does help to get at least some above-ground service to be restored tomorrow. let's check in with kimberly suiters to see if we can hear her now. >> my microphone can't be frozen yet. it's too early. the snow is coming down almost like rain, straight down, not blowing side ways like it was the other day. take a look at west maple here in downtown vienna. as tracy said, pressity slushy, an extra layer of snow. i drove out on 66. the only other car i saw on 66 was a pickup truck stuck on the side of the road. other than that, a lot of emergency equipment. we've seen a few suvs coming down maple, having a littl fun with it, going a little faster than you probably want to, fish tailing a bit. there is a layer of ice. i was dealing with that layer of ice on my car this morning.

that slowed me down quite a bichlt one more thing to show you before we go, over here a lot of businesses in the vienna area, maybe in you area have flat roofs. counties across our area are sending out warnings. they want you to monitor how much snow is on your roof. they want you to eyeball it. they don't want you to climb up there. this is the same if you have a floem where a flat roof. we've seen several cave-ins. you'll remember in fairfax we had the cave-in of the firehouse, another firehouse that was evacuated. these are those pictures that we showed you over the last 24-48 hours of several cave-ins throughout the area. even the firefighters don't go on top of the roofs. there was a post office here in vienna that was evacuated because there was sagging in the ceiling. that's one of the things you can look for in your house, if you see sagging in your ceiling, especially on your top floor, if you see sudden water stains, if you hear creaking, these are all

signs your roof could be about to cave in. you want to leave your home immediately and call 911. it's a serious concern as we get some more heavy wet snow all across our region. reporting live in vienna, kimberly suiters, news4. eun and joe, back to you. >> thanks very much, kimberly. if you have plans to fly out of change, those plans will have to change. all the flights out have been canceled for today. if there are any changes to that plan t air porlts will announce them sometime this morning. if you have a flight scheduled for today, most certainly call your airline to check on that flight before you even head out to the airport. 4:39 is your time right now. 30 degrees. snow will not be the only issue today. >> coming up, the latest on the wind that's going to be blowing this snow around and causing major drifts. our coverage of the winter

4:41 is your time. 30 degrees. there goes a truck trying to clear snow off the roads in northwest washington. a lot of slush still out on the roads and the snow is falling. it continues to fall today. >> you can see asphalt out there. that's a good sign. that's probably going to be covered up before long. let's get the latest on the snow coming our way falng right now. here is tom kierein on storm center 4. >> this morning we've had in the last couple hours, freezing drizzle and some sleet on top of about three to five inches that fell overnight, about an inch and a half to two inch ins the shen valley. now switching back over to all snow throughout the entire region. local radar showing that the snow is continuing to develop and snowing across northern va varks much of maryland and the district of columbia right now. what is falling is sticking on the untreated surfaces. blizzard warnings in effect in

annapolis and anne arundel county, eastern shore, will be getting the heavier winds as is new jersey and long island as the storm dwrops today. off the coast it will become an explosive low pressure system that will increase our snowfall and give ufs total amounts of about eight to 12 inches in the metro area, suburbs of northern virginia, more farther north and east. >> give you a sample of how things are looking in maryland. the american legion bridge, right side the outer loop, left side the inner loop, right now traffic is very light. th's the way authorities wish it to stay throughout the day. be very aware of that. i-270 southbound as you head out of gath erls burg. let's take a look at south capital street, snow packed, ice packed. please stay off the roads yet again today. let the crews get out there and clean it all up. sounld like a broken record. eun and joe. >> an important message, jerry. i think we need to continue to tell people it is dangerous out there. >> it is very, very dangerous. >> stay out of the way, as you

say, so they can get the work done. jerry, thanks very much. >> 4:43. 30 degrees t. snow started falling this morning around 3:00. >> coming up, the latest on the power outages and road conditions right now when our special winter storm coverage round two continues.

our time right now is 4:46. yes have 30 degrees in the nation's capital. somebody is out for a very early morning stroll. good time to get your exercise with no cars or vehicles. looks like he's walking right down the middle of the road. as long as there's no cars or trucks, that's not a bad thing to development only safe place to be as long as there's no vehicles. >> that's the big problem. all around the region, the sidewalks aren't clear. jerry keeps saying stay off the roads. it's a dangerous situation. >> the drivers would say the pedestrians are the problem.

the pedestrians say it's the vehicles that are the problem. safety is tissue. >> there are about 4,000 homes in our area still without power. but the storm gets -- as the storm gets worse, those numbers could likely go up. pepco has more than 3,000 outages. do minnian virginia power is reporting 188 outages. bge reporting more than 500, most of those in the baltimore area. going get worse there. novak is reporting 280 outages. mek co-and allegheny power aren't reporting any issues this morning. >> let's check in with tracee wilkins in northwest washington where it looks like the road crews are making some progress. >> reporter: absolutely. we're watching the crews out here work. it's like -- tom said it happens. just a few minutes ago i was say fg snow seemed a little lighter than it was earlier. now look at these huge flakes we have coming down fast and hard here. take a look down here at the sidewalk. this is what i was talking about

earlier. just a covering here. i don't even think this is quite measurable yet. not quite an inch. but everything is getting covered all over again. let me take you out here to the road and show you what we're looking at. lots of slush out here very slushy on these roads, even this road being plowed. these freezing temperatures have an effect on getting the stuff up clean down to the pavement as we all know from the last few snowstorms that we've seen. you can see us hovering out here on 14th street as well. most of the vehicles we've seen out here, most of them are vehicles that need to be out there. police officers driving around and also road crews working. we've seen very little traffic out here. that's a good thing. we've been saying it all morning that they need to be able to get to these roads and cloon them up. >> here in the district of columbia as i've said all morning, we've seen a number of vehicles come down that way. they say they have 270 piece offense equipment in rotation. remember these are trucks that have been working since the first storm hit us on friday and

now the second storm, 12-hour shifts, and still didn't make it to every single street. there have been issues with the trucks breaking down. they say they're quickly repairing them and getting them bukt here again. it's really cold out here. not looking forward to the wind that could possibly be coming our way in just a little bit. but already the snow is coming down quickly, covering everything, thick, heavy flakes here. it's going to be a messy morning form folks. remember the roads that were already problem issues, they're still problem issues this morning. we were driving in on rock creek park which i'm sure they'll closoff soon. it still looked really good. there were parts that were a little sketchy. the roads throughout the city, we've been seeing the same thing we're seeing out here on irving street. if you're not careful, you could do slipping and sliding around on it.

take your time if you're coming out of the house. the tip of the day is stay in the you can. i'm tracee wilkins, live this morning in northwest. back to you all in the studio. >> thanks very much. in the district, even emergency vehicles are having trouble getting around town. the fire department's community service unit is backing up ambulances t make sure residents get help when they're in need. some ambulances are getting stuck on streets covered with snow. >> the ambulance rs getting stuck on some of the streets. we're taking these four-wheel drive trucks out and helping pull them out along with some humvees and brush trucks as well. >> fire trucks are also being equipped with snow tires to help gain tracks. with the snow emergency in effect, parking spots are a hot commodity ins the district. some people are trying to make sure no wrun steals their great blocking spot by blocking them off with chairs or toys, whatever else they can find. they have to be careful because

they could lose that parking space and whatever item they use to reserve it. >> that's a huge tradition up in baltimore where i lived form a number of years. snow etiquette requires if somebody leaves a chair or something in their parking space, you must honor it. if you move that chair and pull into the parking space, the neighbors will rebury your car in snow so you'll have to dig out. >> that's totally happening in my neighborhood. after you spend an hour digging out, you want to keep that space for yourself. >> some people in prince george's county are especially dreading the storm because they're still struggling to get out of the first one over the weekend. take a look at camp springs. some residents there say they haven't seen a plow in many days. maryland transportation officials say they're trying to get to every street. there are just some they can't fit through. governor martin o'malley say it is plows need to pack down the snow before they can remove it. >> sometimes the only way to make that street passable is for the trucko go down and pat the snow down and create grooves

with those big tires. whereas, if they put their plow down, they would make the street impassable in many instances. they would block in cars, damage cars on both sides of the street. >> if possible, governor o'malley is asking people to keep their cars off the roads so the snowplows can do what they need to do. from the roads to the rails, it's getting touch out there this morning. >> coming up, we'll have the latest on how much more snow is expected to fall across our area. we'll be right back.

4:54 is your time right now. 30 degrees. you can see the heavy snow falling again in the district. this is the columbia heights area. you can see a little pavement. with more accumulation coming, who knows what it's going to look like. >> i can guess. snow-covered. here is the latest at this hour. l local schools are closed again today.

the federal government is closed for a third straight day t.d.c. government is closed as well. there are more than 4,000 homes in the area still without power, although that number could go up as the storm gets worse. if you plan on taking metro today it is only running underground. there will be no metro buses or no metro access vehicles returning today. >> from the picture you can see they're already doing work at ronald reagan, washington national airport, trying to get the runways clear so they can have some flight operations to day. the snow will continue to come form quite a while. >> let's get the latest on this storm with meteorologist tom kierein in the storm center. what's it looking like now? >> continueing to see the snow pile back up after it started yesterday afternoon and overnight until about 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, it was light snow that unloaded about three to five inches around the area. but between about 1:00 a.m. to about 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. it was a combination of sleet and freezing rain. now back to mostly all snow all across much of virginia and into

the panhandle of west virginia and into much of maryland at this hour. now, this is the radar history over the last three hours. and it does show that increase in snow all across the region as colder air is moving back in. now, the closer view of the radar over the last hour showing this flow in the atmosphere coming in from the south and the southeast. it's out ahead of an area of low pressure that's going to be coming through our region as we get into the afternoon hours. as a result, we are going to see tin creasing snow rates as well as yes get into the mid to late morning hos. that's probably going to be the time when we'll see the biggest burst of the snow. right now as we look at the radar in a dferent color mode that gives us an intensity idea, where you see the green there in fairfax county and in southern and parts of central montgery county, it's coming down pretty hard. elsewhere, those dark blue areas are moderate snow. the light blue areas light snow. it's all filling in now, most of the area now all snow light to

moderate. that green zone coming down near mclane into the potomac river and up toward rockville and wheaton and gaithersburg oosz, now snowing pretty hard there. we've had about three inches in washington and in prince george's county there's been three to four inches. charles up to three inches. up to five inches in anne arundel county. up to seven inches has already been reported so far in the panhandle of west virginia, berkeley county there. around wind chester, three inches, central shen valley around two. we're just beginning the storm. as we look at the temperatures, well below freezing, in the 20s all around the area. 30 degrees in washington. what is falling certainly going to stick. blizzard warning in effect across all of northern maryland, includes closer into washington, howard county and anne arundel county under a blizzard warning meaning we'll have winds sustained over 35 miles an hour as we get into the afternoon, gusts higher than that there in

those counties t. blizzard warning may be extended farther south to include our region. elsewhere blizzard warning in the panhandle of west virginia as well n the highlands out there. the county ins pink under a winter storm warning throughout the rest of the day. the blizzard warnings extend into new jersey, new york city area. a huge area having now winter storm warngs out all across the lower great lakes into new england all coming from a spin in the atmosphere, you can see it here, just now beginning to dwrop, a powerful low. it will create a very strong low that will head up the coast. as it develops and develops very explosively, it will give us pounding winds into the afternoon. eight to 12 inches will be the common amounts i think right now, across northern virginia, the district, much of the region, late less farther south and east and quite a bit more farther north and east. south and west i should say a little bit less. 45-mile-per-hour gusts this afternoon. sun back thursday, friday and saturday. how is the traffic?

>> we'll start in montgomery county along the 270 corridor near route 109 in hyattstown, we'll kind of spin around and show you what things look like a little further down near shady grove road. making the trip on some of the secondary roadways, river road, can't see much, river road and goldsboro road, another good example. let's head to the district at south capital street and the suitland parkway, packed in very, vrp tightly this morning. i can't say it often enough. stay off the roads and let the crews get to work. they have a very big job and frankly they're exhausted. we need to support them ought we can. >> jerry, thanks very much. even the most confident of drivers can sometimes be no match for this weather. this car belongs to john bower. he's fromairfax county. sports the license plate on the back, bad weather wagon of his ur