(man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. a showdown in south carolina. the polls are open for one final hour as mitt romney's momentum turns into a battle with surging newt gingrich. we begin with the winter weather, some snow gave us some slush at the beginning of the day. now there's nom size out there. now our concerns turn to tonight. we hit the road in d.c., maryland and virginia. we begin with meteorologist chuck bell in storm center 4.

chuck? >> good evening, aaron, good evening, everybody, all the precipitation is completely done with our area, that's the good news, the bad news is that temperatures are just barely over the freezing mark. we expect a hard refreeze by early in the morning. current temperatures, already back below freezing in northern montgomery county, right at the freezing mark at national airport. how much snow and ice did we end up with? nearly two inches. generally less than an inch around the immediate metro suburbs. the precip is gone, the skies are clearing out, that will allow your temperature to continue to fall. any little puddles and things you see on the sidewalks, be

extra careful, they're going to be refreezing in the next couple of hours. more about our next chance of winter weather coming up. >> darcy censer has been out braving the elements for us tonight. she joins us live from falls church, with a look at conditions out there. >> reporter: braving it is the right word, because i'm really not a fan of cold weather. but it's not too bad out here. but take a listen to this, if you're out walking around, very crunchy under step, if you're walking around on any sidewalks that haven't been treated or shoveled, or grassy areas, there's still a lot of ice out there, so potentially slippery. people weren't doing a whole lot of complaining, because after all, it is winter. if you had to get out this snowy saturday, that meant shoveling and scraping your way out. >> snow, i don't care about the snow, but the ice, that scares

me a little bit. >> reporter: snow fell in the overnight hours, then it was topped with a coat of ice. it was frozen solid on cars, sidewalks and parking lot. brian removed snow at fairfax corner. >> not what we expected. in some cases we expected a second wave, but the first wave hit us harder than we anticipate. >> he's making it easier for people like chris regal who put on some boots and went to the shopping center. >> it's winter finally. get some snow, get some ice, that's okay, it's what it's okay. >> reporter: do you like the snow? >> i love cold, i don't love the hot weather. >> reporter: and where are you from originally? >> i'm from saudi arabia. >> reporter: some folks didn't clean their cars off, look at this dash video, flying ice and snow flying on to the roadway.

and some drivers ended up in ditches. for people who had to get out on their feet, or four feet in this case. >> his paws are so big, he gets ice cubes on his little paws. >> reporter: henry was in fact very, very cute. we're set up on lexington street right here in falls search. just a little bit west, drivers are not complaining of slippery conditions, but again, we're expected to have some freezing temperatures in the overnight hours. virginia department of transportation officials say they're going to keep the trucks down here in northern virginia all night to make sure the roads stay safe. reporting live from falls church. >> we'll see you later. and folks in d.c. had some shoveling and scraping to do this morning too. a nice, thin layer of snow and ice greeted most d.c. residents as they got their weekend

started. road crews were at it all it to clear the roads. this year's first big snow event made being outside today pretty interesting. here's a firsthand look. >> the salt trucks have done their job on major thorough fairs, predawn traffic had a pretty easy go of it. we found a few inprep. >> reporter: now you think a dog owner would think it better to be a cat fancier. >> i'm not very happy and neither is the dog. >> reporter: bill gibbs and

casey take to the streets of bethesda every day, rain or shy. and casey downtown like this weather. >> reporter: as the morning progressed people emerged from their dry places to chip and scrape the ice and snow that had encrusted their sidewalks. here they weren't taking any chances, they did declare a snow emergency. that's like where there's signs like this, you can't mark. by midday road crews remained busy keeping things from refreezing. and in the district, these folks did all they could to enjoy the snow and ice before it melted with some brisk downhill runs on this hill in northwest. >> and a reminder to stay with news4 and nbc washington.com for continuing coverage of this winter weather. we have closings running across the bottom of your screen. you can find them and chuck's forecast online. we also want to see your

pictures of weather, you can e-mail them to nbcwashington.com. we have a big story on this saturday, the south carolina primary. in the past it's been a make or break moment for most candidates. it will be a photo finish between mitt romney and newt gingrich. the polls are open for a little less than an hour now? >> reporter: yes, about 43 more minutes they'll be done. if you're standing in line you can still get in to vote here in south carolina. it's a lot warmer here than there, but the weather was so terrible across the state today, with tornado watches and power outages. they even had to use battery backup in some precincts. as it rained across south carolina, turnout was heavy at polling places like this, lighter in others a as primary voters made their picks. >> i voted for mitt romney. i think he's the most electable candidate. >> i'm a ron paul man.

>> gingrich. >> newt gingrich. >> reporter: the survey shows the former speaker surging. >> polls are good, votes are better. >> reporter: gingrich just missed romney at tommy's hangout. romney had arrived earlier apparently to avoid a face to face. a foulup rare for the romney campaign. romney came to south carolina with a big lead in the polls, but learned he had lost in iowa and got hammered about hiss low tax rate and not releasing his returns, looking like an elitist with something to hide. his son tag tried to help, treating this photo today of the romneys doing their own lawn bring. but romney told a voter on the phone, south carolina could be

close. still romney's committed to fighting on to florida. rick santorum fourth in me voting polls. >> reporter: ron paul may skip florida for nevada and minnesota. newt gingrich is hoping this state this evening could be his ticket to the gop nomination. >> after the polls close here at 7:00, results in this much-watched primary will be available soon after. live from columbia, i'm steve handlesman, news4. and even as south carolina votes, we're looking ahead to florida. the candidates will debate on a special edition of "rock center." you can watch it monday night at 9:00 p.m. right here on nbc 4. coming up in the broadcast, how marion barry's friends say

he's doing after surgery. and the battle over old town that's underway as we speak. and we're staying on top of our winter witness, chuck will have this full forecast right after this.

d.c. councilmember marion

barry is out of the hospital tonight. the 75-year-old had surgery on his urinary tract. people who spoke to him said he's in a good mood and is glad to go home. still no word tonight on whether a major redevelopment project will get the green light in old town alalexandria. they're debating the pros and cons of bringing new parks, hotels and commercial development to the water front. critics worry that building hotels will take away from the city's unique historic character. a vote is expected at some point tonight. >> next up on the broadcast, new developments in the cruise ship disaster off the coast of it tally. what was found near the ship today. a dog stolen along with his owner's truck. owner's truck. the happy reunion that happened

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is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur?] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that c help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ so chuck's with us now, and still we're not out of the woods with a trick you night ahead of us? >> a lot of black ice is going to be out there, be extra careful if you're going to be out around county, all those wet, slushy spots that were on the roads this afternoon those are going to freeze big time

outside, we go then on a very chilly saturday evening now. the skies are trying to clear up just a bit. visibility has him proved considerably, you can see all the way up the hill to the national cathedral there on the left side of your screen. still mostly cloudy out there, but the clearing skies are going to make it really cold in the morning. the snowfall event, just about three-quarters of an inch. so far for the entire winter, not even two inches yet in the bucket for the winter. that's nearly five inches below average. 32 year in washington, a north wind at 16 miles an hour has windchills back down in the mid 20s. the winds will ease up here now that the sun's gone down. 28 in gaithersberg.

temperatures hovering at our just below the freezing mark right now and out toward the blue ridge and the shenandoah valley, temperatures already down to the freezing mark. 32 winchester, fredericksville just above the freezing mark. plenty of clouds around, the precipitation is done, watch out for the slippery spots on the sidewalks. temperatures will continue to trend down about another three or four degrees colder by 11:00 than what we see right now. here's the live doppler, nothing going on around or area, a lot of rain down across eastern north carolina new jersey and quite a bit of severe weather now rolling into parts of south georgia that's headed for northern florida. tonight just cold, watch out for a slippery night into sunday morning. and then breaks of sunshine tomorrow early before the clouds come book. could start out with a little freezing snow late tomorrow night into early monday morning

before the warm air comes in and changes everything to rain. tonight some clearing, a hard refreeze. wakeup temperatures 18 out west, 21 around town. and for the extended forecast here, all changing to rain, could be a little slippery around here first thing monday morning, we're going to watch out for that, it all becomes rain and back into the 50s on monday and tuesday. there are now 12 people confirmed dead from that cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy. divers found a woman's body in a hallway today. she still had her life jacket on. 20 people still missing, diesel fuel was found near the ship too. a happy reunion today in prince george's county. he went missing just before christmas when his owner left him in a truck that was stolen and used it as a getaway car.

yesterday someone called and said they had a dog and they thought he was cody. >> the lady that had him, was a very nice lady, looks like took very good care of him and we're happy to have him back. >> i think we all cried, everybody was so excited to see him. as soon as we called his name, he came running over so he knew. >> cody's owners say they never plan to leave him in the car again. n

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kind of a rough start. >> well, yeah. >> that's an understatement. >> i was going to be nice about it. >> that's an understatement. everybody will tell you, you win the game, you find a way to win, that's all that matters. this is a big win especially in the big east. sometimes numbers tell the story, this time they don't. in this case the numbers tell half the story, against rutgers today the georgetown hoyas made three out of their first 20 shots. here's how it unfolded. georgetown has won night straight at home against rutg s rutgers. henry simm ditches. eli carter gets an open look,

buries it. scarlet knights lead by five. chucks it ahead to otto porter, out front by his lonesome, he makes it up and in. it's a two-point game. the freshman delivers, hits the jumper. we're tied at 50. here we go. then porter at the free-throw line. he's clutch, get them both. here's the radio call from the voice of the hoyas. >> eli carter trying to drive, down the lean, no, hoyas win, hoyas win, hoyas win. they were down five and came back and beat rutgers 52-50. >> 38 years he's been the voice

of the hoyas, he said it serve ti seven times thachl's not his record. here's what coach john thompson ii had to say. >> sometimes you're having a bad offensive day and it's because the other team is disrupting you i thought this was the second time this year that we were missing lay-ups. this team, these guys understand and they're willing to do, now we have to go to a different style. the style of an offensive team. wh >> coach j.t. and the hoyas have plenty of time to rest up. this afternoon maryland at

temperature. the head coach said that hill would not be on the bench for next week's home game against duke, pending investigation. first half, temple wearing white here, juan fernandez flies and sends a no look book. naert, more bad news for maryland. check out alex len, he goes to the locker room and did not return. second half now, ter terps by ten, career high 15 points for the sophomore. maryland within seven. time and a half to go now, terrell drains the long two. he had a team high 20 points. terp down one. but temple's response was

immediate. the next trip down the court, three contest three pointers. next up for the terps home game on wednesday. all right, let's go to fairfax, george mason, look who's in the house. bill murray. his son luke is an assistant for the tigers. first half patriots up 30-22. jonathan gets the offensive rebound and gives it to mike morrison. wow, he's tall. george mason up 17 another the break. second half now, eric walden drys. cory edwards to rod wright. monster dunk, wright had a game high 22 points, george mason wins 22-60, improving to 7-1. jeff jones coaching barefoot in

support of samaritan's feet. eagles drive. joe la vet with a tough shot and it goes. second half, it was the troy brewer show, gets a great look at the bucket, knocks it down, eagles up by 20. just cruising. later, and you so shouldn't leave him wide open. brewer buries the three-ball, he scored 19 of his game high points the second half. the eagles improve to 9-0 at home. >> all