>>. >> round two takes its best shot

at the nation's capital. >> this is the most snow washington, d.c., has ever seen. >> stop already with the "pave my street" or "scrape me street down to the pavement" that cannot happen for the next 72 hours. >> you can't see seven feet in front of you. good evening, i'm doreen gentzler. >> i'm jim vance. with the second blizzard of the month and third major snowstorm of the season, we have eclipsed the record today that stood for more than a century. this is officially the snowiest winter in d.c. history. >> for the fourth day in a row tomorrow the federal government and all area school districts will be closed. >> we have reporters spread over the metropolitan area as different communities begin to tackle different problems. we begin with bob ryan andhe big question, are we out of the

woods, bob? >> yes, indeed. take a look at digital doppler. there is good news. i turned off the snow machine and the snow maker because you can see everything finally is now gone. this is how it looks now in just the last spot. don't you feel lucky? in partsf loudoun county you may see a little batch of leftover snow there. that's about it. the big view shows that storm now is off the coast and finally about on schedule, everything is break up. behind it, look at the temperatures. right now 29 degrees here in washington. overnight tonight, we are going to see temperatures inhe teens. the snow is or. the snow is over. best of all, for the next couple of days we are going to see some sunshine. indeed, it has been a record-breaker. i'll show you how this winter stacks up with other winters. one of a kind.

>> police and fire officials have asked people to stay off the streets. some are taking their word to hearts, others can't stay inside anymore. craig melvin from columbia heights. >> reporter: not as many people as we saw earlier. the snow starting to stop. wind nop whipping with the same force it was earlier. albeit the weather is starting to change. folks stuck inside looks line they finally decided to call it a night. in a blizzard when you can barely make out landmarks, these are the vehicles and people you should see. >> we have the snow chain straps on the ambulances. >> going back and forth from the hospital to the metro. >> reporter: joan has been

carrying the sick on her bus sie 3: a.m. this has been plowing and dumping nearly just as long. >> the more difficult part is it is very slippery. >> reporter: they put some here. this snow mountain came from one parking lot. officer chris downs has been patrolling the scene area for several hours. besides the blowing and snowing, he's seen just as much of something else. >> people that shouldn't be on the roads. a lot of people driving and walking in the roads, which is dangerous. >> reporter: we saw them, too, during the day and when the sun went down. not just shoppers. we spent the day the at rock creek park playing around. >> reporter: the fiercest winter seems to have taken its toll. despite warnings from city officials, restless natives insist they had to get out.

>> it's so much fun. >> reporter: while some played, others work, also without complaint. >> it's a little cold, but we've got to do it, you know? somebody has to do their job. we are trying to do the job. >> reporter: they will be doing it for days and weeks. we can finally see some pavement here along 14th street northwest. about 11:45, we'll introduce you to a few characters we met during our adventure out here. >> we want to stay on good terms with the fire chief who is dennis ruben. elsewhere, the whiteout conditions have drivers taking it slowly. even the plows and other service vehicles had a difficult time

getting around and really poor visibility. high winds made it difficult and dangerous for people trying to get around on foot. jackie benson is in rockville. she's seen snapped utility poles to cars on fire. >> i wanted to have good news for our viewers. montgomery county officials tell us that they are going to get 150 additional plows on loan to them from pennsylvania and north carolina over the next day or so. pepco crews are working. they are working and they say they are dedicated special crews to the people who still don't have their power from the last storm. that said, it is windy, still miserable and dangerous out here tonight. into the evening, high winds continue to whip flying snow across roads barely passable in many places in montgomery county.

earlier, the engine of a car straining to negotiate a hill burst into flames. luckily, the driver was able to get clear of the vehicle before the tires started exploding. >> we were walking to the market and we smelled the car and saw it smoking and starting to flame. we called 911. >> reporter: a snowplow and an ambulance responded to the scene. montgomery county fire chief said it's been a day that challenged his agency. >> this is of epic proportions, if you will. i had the opportunity to experience a lot of very significant events in my career, and this certainly rates at one of the top. it's extremely challenging with the second punch now. >> reporter: residents in chevy chase say they heard a loud sound around noontime. that's when their power went out with a bang. a utility pole was snapped in half, downed power lines stretched across the entire

road. now some of the neighborhood is not only in the dark, but also cut off from access to the outside world. >> i've got a wire lying across my car. >> reporter: for linda and her husband, it was time to fire up their generator and take credit for good planning. >> we've got power cords going to two full wood stoves keeping the house warm and the tv is on. >> jackie benson reporting on people having tough times. >> the sight of blinking lights on vehicle became a familiar sight today. officials say a lot of drivers had to stop to clear snow from their cars and windshield wipers. that created hazards for other drivers who didn't have enough time to react because of low visibility. vdot enlisted help from all over the state to clear and further

safeguard roads in our area. julie carey continues from vienna with more on what's happening there. >> reporter: overhead, instead of snow we can see stars tonight. down maple avenue today, a clear view. today will be long remembered by everyone out in the middle of it and those who watched through the window. even people who lived in northern virginia for decades have never seen it look quite leak this. mountains of plowed snow whipped into higher drifts by blasting wind. >> this is definitely snow for the records. this is something we can all temperature our grandchildren. >> it's a day vdot plow drivers won't ever forget. conditions so dangerous they were forced at times to pull over and seek shelter.

some 2,000 pieces of equipment were redeployed with reenforcemen from hamilton road. >> a whole different ballgame up here. we were expecting this up here. >> reporter: vdot made so much progress, some crews started to dig into the still-unplowed subdivision snow. even though northern virginians were advised to stay off the roads, some said they just had to get out of the house. >> they did a great job plowing around here. it was time to get out of our house. our road isn't so bad. it's not nearly as bad as sunday. >> reporter: finding someplace to go was the challenge. with its neon open sign glowing, the vienna inn restaurant became that town's escape from cabin fever. >> it's usually like this on friday. we are the only place open in town. >> reporter: even those who

enjoyed a full-force winter are ready for a change. >> it's beautiful but we are ready for the kids to go back to school. >> ready for florida. >> reporter: aren't we all? no surprise mom is ready for the kids to go back to school. i talked to students today who confessed they are ready to go back to class, as well. julie carey, back to you. >> i believe it. they are starting to worry about this cutting into spring break and all that stuff. all right. thank you, julie carey in vienna. for more on the highways and beltway conditions, let's check in with the news4 traffic network. >> reporter: good evening. frederick has been a nasty area. a lot of road closures up there. 340 has been a mess. whiteout conditions and snow on the roadway you, can't plow it fast enough. as you can see here at

university boulevard, camera bopping around in that wind. a couple of cars bracing the elements going extra slow. if you have to go out, keep it very slow and steady. should get where you're going at a relatively decent hour. here is the pace on the capital beltway. a couple of headlights out of tysons and virginia up towards maryland and 270. the beltway isn't too bad. it's slushy. if youave to, what's what you're looking at. 270, different case. it's just a sheet of ice and snow. 270, we have seen a couple of drivers driving along it. more or less they've been slipping and sliding. long as you go slow, you should find the road conditions are a toss-up at this point. if you have to go out and about, monitor your speed. we did have an earlier accident on 95 south. shut it down for the better part of the afternoon into the evening. three jack-knife tractor

trailers have been cleared. that is a particularly nasty stretch of 9 5 south in maryland. a lot of businesses had trouble opening today. those who k relied on dedicated employees. >> reporter: it's been a long day for stephanie because she lives only 15 minutes from her job at the exxon station, every time is there a storm, she gets called in. >> we've been getting hit with storm after storm. are you sick of the snow already? >> yes. because just the fact of the matter i have to come in all the time. >> reporter: luckily her dad has this 4 by 4 that can get through the snow. >> she can get there. she has a toyota corolla and couldn't get in. >> reporter: there were many others who weren't so lucky

getting through this second blizzard. check out this 18-wheeler stuck on the service road next to 301 moist of the day. richard, who owns the blaze towing company in bowie said he's pulled 30, 40 cars out of the snow, cars that should never be out there in the first place. >> smaller cars like toyotas and honda civics, smaller cars that are front-wheel drive. once get to a point where it hits the snow mounds, it's not going to move further. >> reporter: elana judge was forced to drive into the area for work. she is staying at a hotel tonight. >> driving is horrible. i have a small little car. i was pushed all over the street. i got stuck in the snow and spun around six times. it's difficult to travel. >> until it melts and this snow is down to the concrete, don't even try to come out. it's still going to be treacherous out here.

>> looks bad. if it feels like we've gotten more snow than the rest of the nation, it's because we have. so far this year, we've gotten about 55 inches of snow here in washington. that is a foot more snow than madison, wisconsin. 13 more inches than denver, colorado. and 35 more inches than hartford, connecticut. buffalo, new york, is ahead of us, if you think of it that way. people have seen 62 inches of snow so far this year. >> no surprise, is it, bob? >> our snowfall we had so far is 1/2 the average snowfall for syracuse. buffalo and syracuse always have this friendly rivalry, who gets the most snow. here are the snows up until a short time ago, 22 inches. this was one, had an e-mail from

folks down with five inches of snow. what a winter. number one. isn't it fun to be part of history? the wind gusts still though 40, 41 miles per hou as you can see with those northwesterly winds. blowing and drifting. wind chills still down into the teens. here is the good news. there is that area of storminess causing a lot of heavy snows up through eastern parts of new england. around us, it's lingering flurries. let me see if i can find -- do you want to see the last of it? that's about the last of head. you folks are extra special in loudoun county. overnight tonight, temperatures into the teens. tonight, temperatures will be dropping to 18 to 22 degrees. the winter has been the snowiest we ever had here in washington. that certainly will go down into

the record books. overnight tonight, we'll continue to see winds gradually unwind. over the next seven days, we are going to see a little bit of sunshine coming our way. it will be quite a difference tomorrow, with the sunshine, temperatures will rise to the low to mid 30s. after that, we are going to see sunshine as we get into saturday and sunday also. for the time being, even though we are into a cold, wintry pattern, i don't see more big storms coming our way. it's going to be many days. i mentioned earlier, overall there have been spots that have been warmer. greenland was 47 degrees today. the biggest snowstorm, the official records began back in the civil war era, but the biggest snowstorm still recorded by thomas jefferson and george washington known as the washington and jefferson storms because they were avid weather

watchers, 36 inches of snow here in washington. that is still the biggest. we now have had the snowiest winter ever. tomorrow the recovery process begins and continue for some time. back to you. thanks, bob. we invite you to stay with news 4. we are going to keep our coverage up on this blizzard of news4. still ahead tonight, an unbelievable comeback for the capitols. can they win in overtime? >> continuing our coverage and making on the east coast, the storm making highways treacherous. >> a live report from new york city. >> even in the midst of a blizzard, hospitals have a rush of deliveries.

>> this blizzard turned deadly

in pennsylvania today. one person was killed, dozens injured. abou50 vehicles, most tractor trailers were involved. cars became trapped underneath some of those trucks. the governor of pennsylvania ordered several interstates to shut down because of the weather. from pennsylvania, the storm swept into new york. the big apple is still being hammered. andrew joins us live from union scare in manhattan. >> reporter: very snowy day in new york. close to a foot in central park. when it's all said and done and 1.1 million school kids had no school today. that's very unusual in new york. it's only the third time in the last eight years that happened. children got disappointing news from mayor bloomberg tonight. despite all this snow today, there will be school tomorrow. the reason? most kids go to school by subway and bus. they d't have to take cars or yellow school buses, so they'll

be able to get to school tomorrow in contrast to the new york suburbs. how was new york city able to cope with all this snow today? well, mayor bloomberg said there were more than 1,600 plows and salt spreaders on the roadways today. by the way, he bragged that this, in comparison to northern virginia, the mayor said he had din were a friend of his from northern virginia who complained his street hadn't been plowed in two days, whereas here the mayor said every single street had been covered by at least one plow by the end of the day. tough talk. the mayor will have to see if he can back it up tomorrow when schools are open. live in union square in manhattan tonight. back to you guys. >> andrew, thank you. still to come tonight, an update on the airports and when planes might be able to start taking off again. in sports, caps going for 16 straight wins.

how did it turn out? >> not like we would have liked. you heard them going on in the office. >> they were screaming and hollering. >> we were howling a little bit. it was a fun game. it was so close. it was bound to happen at some point. a winning streak that was 14 games long and lasted almost a month just couldn't go on forever. to go down the way they did tonight, man, that was just tough. capitols battled back from three goals down in the third period to tie the game and force overtime, only to have their hearts ripped out by the canadie canadiens. a monumental streak for the capitols. it will go down as the third longest winning streak in nhl history. let's go to montreal. capitols already playing catchup, down 1-0. montreal trying to clear the puck. tomas fleischmann fee brooks

light. that is a backhand goal to tie the game. jose theodore comes in and gives up two quick goals. still in the second, capitols down 4-2. mike knuble shot stopped. alex ovechkin comes charging in. they rule it a goal. look at this thing. howe gil is the defenseman. he is pummeled here by alex ovechkin. they said this doesn't look like a goal and wave it off. bruce boudreau not happy with the goal. how about a goal from mike greene? a wicked wrister? still in the third, another capitols power play. brooks light gets another power play, keeps it and scores.

the comeback is officially on. still 5-4. mike knuble through the net. brooks light scores again. check this out. barely tips it in. we are going to overtime. the cardiac caps look like they are going toull it out again. canadiens with the puck. beats jose theodore with 7.5 seconds left in overtime. capitols lose 6-5. man, they went down fighting. >> it's over. it was a great run. when only teams have gotten better than you in that situation in all of hockey, it's a great run. that's why the guys are so deflated. they were trying in the third period. you could see the excitement on the bench. i'm more disappointed because i

knew they wanted it. just didn't play well enough to win tonight. >> the capitols streak stopped 14 games. two more games before they take that olympic break. nationals close to signing another pitcher. former yankee starter change ming wan narrowed his potential team to the capitols. he won 19 games in back-to-back years for the yankees in 26 and 2007. college hoops, virginia tech staying near the top of the acc standings with another easy win against north carolina state tonight. seth greenberg doing a mighty fine job and hokies in control from the get-go in this one. jeff fallen. hudson went for a game high 23 points. hokies up at the break. lazy pass by the wolfpack.

the d.c. native takes it to the cup with authority. he had 14. hokies cruise 72-52. the first win in raleigh since 1917. you heard that correct. first win in a long time and they are feeling good about it. >> thanks, dan. still to come tonight, dangers lurking around the area.

gesk good evening, i'm jim

vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. our special coverage of the winter weather continues. travel around the area could be a big challenge tomorrow as we dig out. crews are clearing runways tonight. we expect to find out at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow whether flights will begin to flight out of reagan national and dulles airports again. runway conditions will determine what happens at bwi where the bad weather forced 700 flight cans layings today. authorities at bwi hope to get things going by 10:00 a.m. we are getting our first look inside the hangar at dulles airport which collapsed over the weekend. the roof caved in saturday. these pictures were sent in by a viewer. a private owner leases the hangar from thairport authority. the bimding has been condemned, but none of the planes have been moved yet. that's going to be a delicate process. metro will continue to operate on a limited basis tomorrow. trains will only run at the

underground stations. officials say the system will open at 5:00 a.m. and trains will run at intervals of 24 to 30 minutes, they say, until the stations close at midnight. let's get another update on our weather. here is bob ryan. >> how does it feel to be part of history now? >> glad it's over. that is the main emotion we are experiencing right now. >> he checked with the official observation. national airport has been because of aviation concerns and trying to support aviation visibility, temperature, that's where the official measurements are made for washington. earlier they were made down at the mall. we are now into the record books, almost 56 inches of snow so far this winter. it's still windy out there, even though the snows finally ended. there is doppler.

you folks at loudoun county. anything out there now is blowing around. i mentioned earlier tonight, look at this cold pattern. this is from the folks at noaa showing the temperature anomalies. that red is where it's unusually warm like southern greenland. today was 47 degrees. the blizzard warnings continue along the jersey coastline. the latest storm has been bringing rains to the tip of new england, nantucket, even though the it changed from snow. there it is finally. a lot of folks with all the snow we had, good riddance. the winds tomorrow nothing like today with a lot of sunshine. a rather pleasant day. northwesterly winds 10