sleeves. today we are getting snow showers in parts of the area like warrenton, virginia. snow even stuck to some of the roads this afternoon. good afternoon. i'm pat lawson muse. >> this is the scene outside the white house around 1:00 this afternoon. heavy snow showers offered a nice back drop. snow also fell at a fast clip in other parts of d.c. and virginia. storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson joins us from the storm center. it's kind of exciting. >> kind of. right? our last snow around here back in october. but tom and chuck were both talking about snow from the weekend through this morning. of course we didn't think this system would have as much vigor or that it would continue to snow at the rate that it has. nonetheless, though, we've got the area covered with a little bit of white especially areas south of d.c. certainly cold enough with a temperature of 34 degrees. the roads, this is a live camera on 495 at the exit of van dorn street. road temperatures just checked

on those and they're running between 37 and 43 degrees. i really think that we're going to be just fine as we get through this event. probably not over until about 7:00 p.m. on the back end around 7:00 temperatures will start to lower just a little bit more. those road surface temperatures. secondary roads may start to get a little slick. visibility an issue out there. a half mile to two miles now in areas i-66 coming down a little harder. right now they're talking about chains on the buses and the trucks for the vehicles that are up in the mountains right now. 1500 feet is where the issues are. look at the heavier snow. not north of d.c. but south of d.c. fairfax, manassas, waldorf, these areas will look at a pretty white ground. but again, road surface temperatures i think doing just fine throughout the area now at 34 degrees in gaithersburg to 36 degrees the air temperature in fredericksburg, virginia. after a very, very mild day on saturday, right now that's what's helping us out.

the fact that the road surfaces are running between 37 and 43 degrees. until about 7:00 p.m. >> thank you. >> a developing story now out of the white house. chief of staff william daley is stepping down so that he can spend more time with his family in chicago. >> the pull of the hometown we both love, a city ha's been synonymous with the daley family for generations, was too great. one of the things that made it easier was the -- >> he made the announcement at the white house about an hour ago. he says it was tough for him to accept. daley was chosen for this job about a year ago and was key in decisions about taxes, libya, and the war in iraq. he will stay on through the end of the month. budget director jack lew will take over as chief of staff. this is the last full day to campaign before the republican presidential primary in new hampshire. mitt romney appears the sure winner but instead of coasting to victory today he xris

scrambling to defend himself from charges that he made his millions in part by firing workers in companies that he took over. steve handelsman joins us live now from manchester with the latest on this story. steve? >> good evening, pat. from manchester, new hampshire, led by gingrich, this fresh, harsh attack on romney is designed to wound the front-runner and take him out but down the campaign trail. even if the former massachusetts governor does as expected, win here tomorrow. mitt romney worked the phones in new hampshire. >> that's 2-0. >> he is far ahead in the polls but under attack. >> mitt romney and them guys don't care who i am. >> backers of newt gingrich released a film charging romney's firm in the '80s and '90s profited by pillaging weak companies and laying off workers. nbc and bain co-owned the weather channel. romney says bain saved some companies and failed to save others. >> it breaks your heart to see people lose their jobs.

>> reporter: romney knew it would become an issue. >> i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats, from the left, but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich. >> reporter: gingrich said better now than later. >> if somebody is going to crumble they better crumble before the nomination. >> great to see you. >> jon huntsman who surged to third in new hampshire jumped on the front-runner. >> governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> reporter: rick perry piled on from south carolina. >> i have no doubt that mitt romney was worried about pink slips, whether he was going to have enough to hand out. >> reporter: rick santorum stayed above the romney fray. >> i think he's got a lot more about his record as governor to talk about than his record at bain capital. >> reporter: the conservative former senator who nearly beat romney in iowa failed to surge here. beth saw him today but was not sold. >> no, i have not decided that at all. i will be an 11th hour voter. >> reporter: ron paul is polling

second in new hampshire but many of his backers say they care less about winning than about the call for much smaller government getting more attention. mitt romney does not view ron paul or the charges that romney was a predatory capitalist as obstacles that can stop what many here see as romney's march to the nomination. live from manchester, new hampshire, i'm steve handelsman, news 4. >> all right. thank you, steve. d.c. police are searching for the person who killed a 19-year-old for his sneakers. the deadly shooting happened early sunday morning in the 5700 block of foote street northeast. david robinson was robbed at gun point for his nike sneakers. d.c. mayor vincent gray made the announcement last night at a candlelight vigil to prevent gun violence. >> the circumstances are not only tragic but they are incredibly disquieting. the victim was being robbed by the perpetrator who has not been

apprehended as yet. but he was being robbed for his nike tennis shoes. >> today pat collins talked to the victim's family. their reaction coming up tonight at 5:00. a 25-year-old florida man is behind bars after federal authorities say he tried to buy weapons to carry out a potential terror attack. federal agents say sammi osmakac tried to buy explosives and high powered firearms during an fbi sting operation and say he was targeting several night clubs, a sheriff's office, and a business in the tampa area. osmakac is a naturalized u.s. citizen from the former yugoslavia charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. white house and state department officials are strongly denying accusations that an american sentenced to death in iran is a spy. his name is amir hekmati a former marine with ties to iran. he says he was visiting his

grandmother when arrested. >> reporter: iran's powerful revolutionary courts have sentenced an iranian-american, former u.s. marine amir mirza hekmeti to death. he is charged with cooperating with a hostile country, the united states, working with the cia, waging war against god and trying to implicate iran in terrorist activity. these arl very, very serious charges. he has 20 days to apeepeal the death sentence but it looks unlikely it will be overturned raising tension even further with the united states. also ratcheting up the pressure between iran and the west was iran's latest announcement last night and now confirmed today by european diplomats that iran is enriching uraniuim at a second underground facility near the holy city. they say they're enriching uraniuim there up to 20%. this is very worrying because

enriching uraniuim at 20% means only a small step to making weapons grades uraniuim. further escalating tension between iran and the west. nbc news, tehran. the secret service is responding to claims from an nba player that he was banned from the white house. delante west is part of the nba champion dallas mavericks. the president honored the team at the executive mansion today but west was not there. last night he tweeted that he was banned from the function because he failed a white house background check. west was arrested on gun charges in prince george's county back in 2009. he served eight months' house arrest. the secret service says west was free to attend the event and was never advised otherwise. pharmaceutical company novartis is voluntarily recalling excedrin, buff rin, no dose and gas-x are being pulled

because they may contain broken pills or stray products from other products. expiration dates of 2014 boxes or earlier are involved. the products are distributed throughout the u.s. and the operations at the lincoln, nebraska plant have been suspended where the products were made. there have been no injuries so far associated with the recall. kids and moms around the world have probably heard about the best selling book series "percy jackson and the olympians." kate snow sits down with the author rick riordan to find out how his own son became the inspiration for the series. >> reporter: for readers a certain age rick riordan is a rock star. he is the author of three best selling kids' series all based on mythology. the funny thing is it all came about by accident. ten years ago riordan was just trying to help his 7-year-old son who had been diagnosed with adhd, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and

dyslexia. >> he was in a pretty precarious place when he was that age and as a parent you do whatever you can of course. >> riordan found a way to connect with his little boy at bed time. he told hailey every greek myth he could think of until he ran out of stories and started making one up, one that turned adhd and dyslexia into super human powers. >> introduced it just like one of the other stories. >> like any other story that a dad would read their kid but instead of thomas the engine he was telling me about percy jackson. >> reporter: percy jackson launched an empire. the lightning thief was made into a movie in 2010. and hard core fans have even invented summer camps based on the fictional camp half blood. >> rick riordan writes books in such a way that he is the only person who has made me want to finish a book series. >> that response from kids riordan says is why he wrote percy jackson's story down in the first place.

kate snow, nbc news, new york. >> don't miss kate snow's full report on rock center with brian williams tonight at 10:00 right here on nbc 4. restaurants here in the district are hoping you'll try them out during this special week. it's restaurant week. participating restaurants will offer a three-course meal for 20 bucks, 12 cents for lunch, and 35.12 -- that's 12 cents for lunch and 35 cents for dinner? >> $35.12. >> sorry. need those numbers signs. dozens of local eateries are taking part but you better make a reservation quickly as many restaurants are already reporting they're booked for the entire week. restaurant week of course ends on sunday. that would be quite a deal. >> that would be. wouldn't it? >> 12 cents. >> i only know because i had it ad midday today. $20.12 and $35.12. well, anyway, it could be life changing even life saving. >> nbc 4's health and fitness

expert is just around the corner. this year's event is being held this weekend at the walter e. washington convention center in northwest d.c. admission of course is free and the doors will open at 9:00 a.m. and it will close at 5:00 p.m. both days saturday and sunday. we'll be looking forward to seeing you there. >> we'll all be down there. when news 4 at 4:00 continues a woman lives to tell about her terrifying ordeal after her bungee cord snaps. hundreds of feet in the air. >> beyonce had a baby girl over the weekend. blue ivy carter is the name. what's behind the name? >> and how kate middleton is celebrating the big three oh.

murdered three people. >> police arrived. >> she had committed these murders during an exorcism. >> it was a monstrous opening at the box office over the weekend for the fright flick "the devil inside." the low-budget movie about exorcists trying to free a woman possessed by evil spirits debuted well above industry estimations and brought in $34.5 million. that meant tom cruise's "mission impossib impossible" slipped to number two bringing in more than $20 million after two weeks in the number one spot. sherlock holmes moved to number

three. if you're embarrassed to go bowling look at this video. yesterday during a pro bowling world championship match, rookie josh blanchard had a memorable first match. it is perhaps a moment that he'd rather soon forget, however. he did manage to get up and finish the frame. on the plus side, he was not penalized for throwing a gutter ball because the ball never left his hand. blanchard bold a 139. not good enough to advance. the question must be on the mind of anyone who goes bungee jumping. we've decided we would never do it. what if the cord breaks? >> yeah. we're chickens but this happened to a woman who leaped off victoria falls bridge in zimbabwe. 22-year-old erin langworthy is from australia and was 364 feet above the water when she jumped from the bridge and the cord snapped. it plunged her into the rapids below. miraculously, though, she survived with only minor injuries. in fact, she was covered with the watery equivalent of road rash. langworthy says hitting the

water was a painful thing. she says the bungee cord got caught on something. >> straight away and i felt like i had been slapped all over. i actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught in. i think it's definitely a miracle that i survived. langworthy was treated at a clinic in victoria falls and flown to a hospital in south africa. the company operating the bungee jump says the accident is under investigation. >> i can't even look at it. so scary. >> pretty frightening. >> it is. the duchess of cambridge kate middleton steps into the public gaze. brad pitt explains why he had to walk with a cane last week. and the world welcomes blue ivy. >> and here to update us on the hottest celebrity news is billy bush with "access hollywood." fans of beyonce and jay-z of course are offering best wishes today for their baby that was born over the weekend. a lot of talk about the baby and specifically about the name. blue ivy. what do you think? >> a beautiful name.

i think they'll call her ivy because there's a lot going on here with ivy. iv the roman numeral standing for 4, beyonce's birthday september 4th, jay-z's birthday december 4th, their anniversary april 4th. they both have an iv tatoo so i think they picked this one, sounds to me like the only name that it could have been. blue ivy is her name and this statement comes out today just now actually from beyonce and jay-z. they say hello baby blue. we're happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter blue ivy carter. her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful. we are in heaven. she was delivered at a healthy seven pounds the best experience of both of our lives. we're thankful for all of your prayers, beyonce and jay-z. by the way, jay-z has already sung about her. he has a new song called "glory." listen to the words he has for his new daughter. >> does she end up having a c-section, billy?

♪ words can't describe the feeling i feel baby i paint the sky blue my greatest creation was you ♪ >> nice song. >> beautiful words. he says the most amazing feeling i feel words can't describe what i'm feeling for real. maybe i picked sky blue my most amazing creation was you. so there's dad proudly singing about it already. yeah. natural child birth. >> all right. >> we're getting all kinds of misinformation. the name is probably right by now. we've been hearing it all day long. listen, prince william's wife is about to turn 30 or did today. is it her birthday today? do you know? >> her birthday is today. last night she was at the war horse premiere. she and prince william went out to benefit prince william and prince harry's foundation. steven spielberg the director of course was there. nice seat for him. his beautiful wife, kate, on one side and kate cap shaw on the other side. you can't get a better endorsement.

kate had tears rolling down and couldn't wipe them away. kate capshaw sees this, passes the hanky across her husband to the other side. kate takes it and wipes the tears away. this is like the best possible endorsement you can have for a movie so they went out and enjoyed that last night. >> especially for all of us who love the emotional movies, the tear jerkers. >> yes indeed. brad pitt has been walking around with a cane. what's up with that? >> you know, at first i thought what a smooth look. i think the cane might be coming back, trying to find a cane for myself. and then it's an injury he took. he was going down hill and he had his daughter vivian, one of his six children in his arms. thank god it was only one. he slipped and he fell and he had to cushion the fall. look, he said it was either her or me. so we can say what a great dad. he took the fall for his daughter. let's be honest. what a horrible dad he would have been had he let her take the fall. that's what happened to him. george clooney was all over him at the palm springs international film festival this

weekend, just laid him out for the cane. probably continue with the gloves. >> later this week the golden globes will be hosted by ricky gervais. are celebrities nervous about what he might say? >> are you kidding? terrified. terrified. last year he did this. he launched a grenade in the room. it was the most awkward thing i've ever seen in my life. he'll be back. everybody thought there is no way the hollywood foreign press or nbc, somebody is going to get in the way. not only is ricky back. he is back without restrictions. they have not seen his script. they don't know what he's going to do. nobody knows but ricky. you're darn right they're freaking out. >> there will be a lot of nail biting behind stage. tell us what's coming up tonight, billy. >> tonight on "access hollywood" we'll get a little bit into ricky. we'll get every detail on beyonce and jay-z. brad pitt's injury. we spoke to he and clooney. sophia rigara, last week there

was a story she saved a woman's life. she was getting hero headlines for walking out of a night club around 3:00 in the morning in vegas and some woman on new year's eve is out cold. was it an epileptic seizure? no. was it low blood sugar? no. the woman was hammered and sophia happened to be there and sets the record straight. it is very funny and told only the way she can. >> all right. >> can't wait to hear that. >> billy bush of "access hollywood." thanks. >> thank you. we'll see you later. >> thanks a lot. with the countdown to sunday's golden globe awards under way we'd like to hear from you. all this week on news 4 at 4 we'll list the nominees and certain categories on our facebook page. >> then you can vote for your favorites. we'll reveal your winner the very next day. today the category is best motion picture, the best drama nominees are the descendants, the help, hugo, the ides of march, moneyball, and war horse. >> for the best motion picture comedy or musical here are the

nominees. 50/50, the artist, brides maids, midnight in paris, and my week with marilyn. to vote, search nbc washington on facebook. again, we'll announce your results tomorrow on news 4 at 4. for all of your golden globe coverage visit our website nbc washington.com. the golden globes are this sunday night right here on nbc. and coming up on news 4 a high school year book photo flap. the controversy over a high school senior's picture that was blocked from the year book. >> also, the car of the year was named today. we'll take you to the auto show in detroit in our next half hour.

let it snow let it snow. >> look at it. can you believe how it's coming down? >> the big flakes are not stopping. i have to say as a meteorologist sometimes so much easier in the forecast, the bigger systems, nor'easters than the smaller scale events that come through the area. we thought this would be passing right on through here with flurries, light snow at best. we've seen the moderate and even the heavy snow hang on and it's probably going to hang on until 7:00 p.m. at the very least. by 7:00, some of the secondary roads can start getting a little slick. this is a live picture outside the capital. you can see low visibility down to a half mile now being reported at dulles. national, too. baltimore. hey, there's probably some airport delays going on right now and as you know, with the low visibility probably a slow go on many area roads with folks using some caution just driving

around out there. here's a look at some of the current visibilities. down below a mile. d.c., manassas, culpepper. on up into baltimore. the temperature 34 degrees. the mercury has been dropping all through the day. we started out in the low 40s. when we had the mixed conditions going on, rain and light snow. but again, the colder air is coming to the area and has entrenched itself. we have a very light wind. earlier today more of a northeast to southeast wind. so that was the moisture. all of the moisture we needed for the area today. 34 in gaithersburg. 36 in fredericksburg. 36 in fredericksburg and that is where it is snowing right now. down in fredericksburg. the areas north of d.c.? shaded in pink. that's where there is currently some light snow around gaithersburg, bowie, quantico, manassas, down through fred ricks bur ricksburg, and the back edge off to the west. by 7:00, 8:00 this is out of here and our skies will start to clear. temperatures will continue to drop.

we'll be down to freezing by tomorrow morning. and that means of course some areas just north of us might be enough moisture left on area roads to make it a bit slick. so that high pressure system moving away, we'll have more sunshine coming back to the area throughout the mid-atlantic states as that system moves away. then we'll start eying this system down to the south. low pressure and rain that's going to start developing on wednesday. right now it looks like afternoon and evening rain for wednesday but as we go through thursday that system may be going through a few changes. so 37 to 34 degrees for your evening. it's going to be chilly with this precip ending. the rain, snow, all of it moving out of here and ending around 7:00. we're 26 to 33 by tomorrow morning. not too cold. tomorrow afternoon 49 to 53 degrees. all this of course with highs that we had on saturday. pat and barbara, that were up to 68 degrees. incredible. so tomorrow we're back to nice weather. folks are saying, what in the world is going on with this winter. we've got 51 for a high

temperature on thursday. again, so rain that is still going to be through the area thursday late could become interesting and colder air is going to be moving in. wait until you see the extended forecast. >> pat and i both said, it looks like snow. >> kind of felt like it. >> thanks a lot. >> you bet. still to come on news 4 at 4:00 there are fireworks on our facebook page today over a high school senior's yearbook photo. >> why investigators in maine >> why investigators in maine are still puzzled after a

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and welcome back to news 4 at 4. i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm barbara harrison. one day to go before the republican presidential primary in new hampshire. mitt romney appears a sure winner but instead of coasting he is scrambling to defend himself from his rivals' charges that he made his fortune in part by firing workers in companies that he took over. d.c. police are searching for the person who shot and killed 19-year-old david robinson for his nikes. this happened early yesterday morning while in the 5700 block of foote street in northeast. d.c. police are offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

a 25-year-old florida man is behind bars after authorities say he planned a bomb attack in the tampa area. federal agents arrested sami osmakac after he tried to buy explosives and high-powered firearms during an fbi sting. he is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. on wall street, stocks had minor gains to start out the trading week. the dow jones picked up 32 points. the nasdaq was up two points. the s&p 500 closed two points higher. controversy at a colorado high school over a student's yearbook picture. the durango high student editorial board first allowed a revealing photo of 18-year-old sidney spies but then said no. tamron hall reports. >> reporter: the durango high school staff first accepted and then rejected sidney spies' initial choice for her senior photo. >> i mean, for other magazines and stuff like that it's a really good photo but for a high school yearbook it's not appropriate. >> reporter: an aspiring model spies submitted a second

picture. that, too, was rejected by the board. sidney's mother mickey understood her daughter's pursuit of self-expression could bring on a painful back lash. >> i knew people would react this way but she was adamant. now looking at the picture i see it the way sidney sees it. it's artistic. it's stunning. >> reporter: the school administration insists they played no part in the all student editorial board's decision. >> there was absolutely no influence or any kind of coercion whatsoever. >> over the past few years the yearbook has won several awards according to wone editor. that legacy led to the rejection of sidney's photo. >> we don't want this picture to make the publication seem unprofessional or inappropriate and for people to discount our hard work we spend months and hours and weeks on end on. >> sidney can use the picture of her choice if she puts them in

as an ad. >> i am spending $300 to have that picture in the year book. >> reporter: with her high school career winding down sidney spies is learning that just trying to be yourself isn't easy as it sounds. >> i just didn't want to be boring. i'm not that kind of person that's going to stand against a wall and smile. >> sidney says the student editorial board for the yearbook had a meeting with the school principal and that's when the decision about the photo went from 4 to 1 in her favor to 0-5 against her. >> 18-year-old sidney spies' year book picture has generated a lot of debate. we asked viewers on our facebook page nbc washington whether you think the photo was appropriate. we got a whole lot of comments about this. 200 as a matter of fact. this one is from beautiful mother of five who writes, i honestly don't think anything is wrong with it, lol. if i could fit in it i would wear it. a lot of you don't feel that way. the majority of our facebook viewers did not agree with her.

clair clarissa says she'll really love living this down at her 20-year reunion or when her own daughter checks out mom's year book. what do men think? chris says, hey, way too racy for a high school picture or any girl of high school age. thanks to all of you who gave us your opinions on our facebook page. >> three valuable paintings including a picasso have been stolen from the national art gallery in greece. a museum guard reported the burglary early this morning when an alarm went off. it is believed the thieves got in by breaking a door on a back balcony. a 1939 picasso painting entitled "woman's head" was taken in the heist along with a 1905 oil painting of pete mondrian and a pen-and-ink sketch by a 16th century painter. the artwork is believed to be worth at least $7 million. >> wow. there is more to come on news 4

at 4 this afternoon. the father of a missing toddler goes in hiding after taking a lot of heat. dozens of new vehicles are unveiled today at the detroit auto show. we'll take you there for a ride

amazon's kindle has really gotten popular. >> wendy joins us now to show us how this new app works.

>> hey there. you could say the amazon kindle is on fire it's so popular. you don't have to have the kindle fire in order to download books now because there is an app for that. it's from apple's kindle store. you know, it's the app is free and you can download a lot of stuff. there are like 400 different things out there, free books and stuff that you can be down loading in addition to other stuff. this is for all of the apple products and for the android tablet. here's how it works. you get an account with amazon and then you can just start downloading all of these books, wonderful books, and of course with the snow outside it's a good day to be reading books. it really is interesting to kind of go through all of this and you can also download newspapers and stuff like we just down loaded "usa today" so you can download newspapers, get one or two, get a whole subscription. it'll be brought to you wirelessly, delivered to your tablet. it's just a really cool way to shop the whole amazon kindle

fire world without actually getting one of those. it'll be delivered to your personal tablet and again it's for all the apple products and your android tablet and the app is free. you do have to have your amazon accounts which is automatically discharged. it is a way to make life easier and consolidate all your stuff so you get it right here on your tablet which is becoming everybody's central nervous system these days. back to you. >> that's a good way of putting it. >> yeah. >> sure is. thank you. when news 4 at 4:00 continues veronica will be back with more on the snow and any possible accumulation. >> plus your first look at all the new vehicles hitting the roads. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] combine a pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a pnc performance select checking account and get up to 1.75% cash back for just about every purchase.

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veronica is back. >> busy too. you've got some snow to deal with. >> very busy. snow to deal with, yes. i want to get everybody updated on the road conditions. so many folks out on the roads may be getting out on the roads right now. let's take a look at our m dot cam. this is at the woodrow wilson bridge here. traffic on the left side starting to get a little snarly. even on the right with the big flakes coming down and that visibility down to about a half mile. your virginia dot cam, 495 at the van dorn street exit. so you can see the white there starting to cover some of the trees. folks driving very cautiously and that's the thing to remember. we got about two to two and a half more hours at least to get through of these big flakes of

snow in parts of our area. let me zoom straight to the radar. this is storm 4 doppler taking you right into d.c., north of d.c. that's when the snow is pretty light. those are the areas in pink up around gaithersburg and bowie right now. it's the areas just down to the south that we've got to worry about. fairfax, manassas, warrenton, quantico area, woodbridge, fredericksburg, waldorf, clinton, even off to the east around diehl, and around calvert beach is where we've got moderate and heavy snow right now. we've got about 2 to 2 1/2 more hours of that so along centreville and areas around culpepper there are reports we've been getting in that some of the sidewalks are starting to get coated with a little bit of snow. certainly the ground and those sides of some of the even major roads are starting to get a little snow covered. 34 degrees is the temperature of the wind chill now at 31 degrees. throughout the area we're running in the low 30s right now throughout the area so the reason that i think during the

overnight period is temperatures continue to drop, might want to get an early start. good idea to get an early start tomorrow morning because we'll be starting out below freezing. and that means any moisture that's left on the road we may be dealing with some black ice especially those areas that are getting the heavier precip right now. so 32 to 33 is inside the beltway. other areas running at about 27 degrees for tomorrow morning. frederick, leesburg down toward culpepp culpepper, even 31 degrees around la plata and waldorf area where it is snowing pretty good down to the south. hard to believe we'll be flipping over to sunshine and highs in the low 50s tomorrow. the average high is 43 degrees. so we'll be in the low 50s and then by the time we get to wednesday we're talking about rain and the fact that we could see about an inch to an inch and a half of rain out of the wednesday/thursday system. 52 tomorrow. 46 for a high on wednesday. 51 for thursday. and then as i told you we've got some cold air that's on the way. consecutive days with highs in the 30s starting on friday.

your friday, saturday, sunday is going to be a cold weekend coming up. we go from 68 one weekend to 38 the next weekend. >> what an odd winter. >> up and down. tomorrow this will all be just a memory? >> it will be, yes. >> all right. >> 52. >> all right. thanks. the auto industry's big show is in high gear today. the detroit auto show opens to the press today. >> the land rover range rover won the truck of the year. the car of the year is the hyundai elantra. we have more on what consumers can expect. >> reporter: practical, affordable, good on gas. that's what car buyers are asking for and auto makers are answering sparking strong sales for two years running. >> people come into my show room now because they want to buy a car. they're not coming in because there is a lot of incentive money on the car. you know, it's not let's say the deal of the week anymore. that's a car that they really want to buy. they're producing more fuel

efficient models. >> reporter: that's why many of the 40 new models at this year's north american international auto show are small and mid sized sedans that get great mileage. hybrids like the toyota camry, honda civic, and ford fusion can get more than 40 miles a gallon. some electric cars can go 90 miles on a single charge. with gas prices still high, drivers want to save fuel and funds. >> people now are looking for what's the best car i can get that's going to be reliable, suit my needs, and give me the best fuel economy. >> reporter: experts say getting back to the basics helped the big three to get back in business. after hitting a 30-year low two years ago chrysler, ford, gm are all selling strong, forced to listen to buyers like never before. >> when you're down and out you have to be much more creative and figure out a way to claw back and they have clawed back. >> reporter: and it should continue. low interest rates, new incentives, and more demand could mean these small cars will sell big. while many drivers want economy,

luxury brands still have their place. acura, bmw, and mercedes all have new models. though they all are offering new hybrids. in detroit, news 4. coming up on news 4 why so many bird watchers are traveling to california to catch a glimpse of one duck. plus a rare sight at the largest waterfall on the yellow river. coming up on news 4 at 5 shorter summers could be in the offing for school kids in virginia. there is a bill that could enable the school systems to start earlier. a local police officer is honored for his bravery during a tense hostage situation that captivated the country. tonight at 6:00 inspections are over. metro has checked more than 400 rail cars following a mechanical scare. more on that tonight at 6:00.

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bird watchers across the country are rushing to northern california. they're trying to catch a glimpse of the bird with gray feathers and a white neck. it's a falsated duck. this is the third recorded sighting in california. the breed is normally seen in asia. wildlife experts believe the duck wandered off course. the new home is a wildlife refu refuge. when it gets cold water turns to ice of course and giant waterfalls are no exception.

here is a look at a water fall in eastern china. take a look at this. the temperatures are so low almost all of the water falling into the river is freezing before it gets to the river. creating long, beautiful icicles. the water fall itself is about 400 feet long and 33 feet wide. >> isn't that beautiful. >> that is. still ahead, on news 4, the latest on a missing toddler who vanished three weeks ago. never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. we can do this.

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it's been more than three weeks since a toddler in maine disappeared from her father's home. investigators still have no sign of little ayla reynolds. nbc reports from waterville, maine with the latest on the investigation. >> just trying to keep ayla's face out there. >> reporter: justin dipietro was front and center this weekend passing out flyers bearing his little girl's face hoping for a break in her disappearance. >> i'd like to have her face on every street corner in america. i'm going to go anywhere i need to so right now i mean the focus is here but, you know, once we're all done around here we'll go wherever it needs to go. >> reporter: by sunday dipietro was back to a low profile, not talking to reporters, this after weeks of taking heat. >> what happens when daddy gets the baby? >> reporter: some of it from headline news host nancy grace. >> she is with the daddy.

she goes missing. she's with the daddy last time. she gets a broken arm. >> reporter: dipietro responded to grace on friday telling maine's "morning sentinel" nancy grace, please come see me. do you want to spend a day with me? do you want to see what i'm going through? do you want to see the ins and outs of it? i invite you to. dipietro says he put 20-month-old ayla reynolds to bed at his home on december 16th and that the next morning she was gone. the toddler was in her father's care while her mother trista reynolds was in drug and alcohol rehab. when her daughter first disappeared reynolds questioned dipietro's parenting skills. >> since she's been there she has a broken arm. she's ended up missing. >> reporter: the little girl's arm was in a soft sling when she disappeared. police said the injury was accidental. over the weekend dipietro told the "morning sentinel" how the injury happened saying he was carrying a bag of groceries in one arm and holding ayla in the other when he slipped and fell on top of his daughter.

now justin dipietro says he is doing all he can as the search enters week four. police say it's still a missing persons case even though they suspect foul play. a mystery still waiting to be solved. >> that's news 4 at 4. news 4 at 5 starts right now. a snowy afternoon across parts of our area. from warrenton to the white house this wintry scene lasted for several hours catching some folks off guard. >> and welcome to winter at 5:00 on this monday. >> finally. i'm pat lawson muse. that steady snowfall is our top story tonight. it may not be over for another couple hours. >> we have team coverage tonight. we're tracking the weather

system but we're going to go outside first to arlington with a look at how the conditions are out there with shomari stone. >> reporter: that's right. you said it caught a lot of people off guard. we talked to a lot of drivers who told me they are absolutely surprised by all of this. we're in downtown arlington. you can see the afternoon commute is beginning and a lot of folks are just seeing all this snow coming down. you can see it right over there. here's what's interesting. a lot of drivers are coming to their cars and they've been in their offices and haven't looked outside. when they see this they're really surprised. you can see all the snow and a lot of folks are just moving it. this guy is about to head on out. he is actually with the firefighters. now it's also important that a lot of folks told me they are concerned about the evening's commute. let's roll some video right now. many are pleased they haven't seen accumulation on the roads, the pavement, temperatures are in the low 40s so right now the snow isn't sticking on the roads. we drove around and it was slippery in some spots. you definitely want to slow down out here. we saw light to moderate snowfall on front lawns. nothing too bad. people