yourselves. experts say the prices are going even higher. hello. i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. get ready. you know, four bucks a gallon used to be considered normal, but it is about to be what everybody is going to be paying in the very near future. >> that's right. these record-setting gas prices are starting to crimp a lot of household budgets. is there any relief in sight? michelle franzen looks into what's behind the price spike. >> reporter: if you're feeling the pinch on your wallet every time you fill up the tank -- >> it's definitely hurting me in the pocket. >> reporter: you're not alone. >> just like almost can't afford it but it's hard because you have to buy gas to get around. >> reporter: gas prices are at an all-time high for this time of the year. the average price for a gallon of regular is $3.56. and it's eating into monthly budgets. >> pretty high. it takes about $120 to fill up my truck. >> reporter: what is behind the spike? experts say growing global

demand, supply issues due to refinery problems on the east coast, and ongoing conflicts in oil rich countries. >> the geo politics in the middle east causing a psychology of fear about future supply has probably never been greater and we just don't know from week to week how bad it could get. >> reporter: iran doesn't sell oil to the u.s. iran's move to cut off supplies to france and britain this summer could cause the european countries to turn to u.s. suppliers and that could drive prices up to $4 and beyond by memorial day. >> and americans feel sick to their stomach when they see that and it impacts their purchases that they make. so if gas prices go up even further, it's likely that we'll see a dent in the economy. >> reporter: some consumers are already making adjustments. >> i think you do think twice about making a round trip to the grocery store. >> reporter: thinking twice and cutting back where they can. michelle franzen, nbc news, new

york. a local airman is among four who died over the weekend while serving abroad. senior airman julian schulton of upper marlboro was killed on saturday when his aircraft was involved in a crash. he and his team were in africa. schulton was a member of the 25th intelligence squadron based in florida. he was 26 years old. it was a dangerous night on the roads. virginia state police say they responded to more than 800 traffic accidents as snow covered pavement across the commonwealth. the snow is mostly mixed with rain in springfield but the further south you headed the worse the weather got. 6 to 8 inches of snow fell on blacksburg giving students plenty of ammo for the annual corps of cadets vs. civilians snowball fight. >> that is the picture we wanted but we didn't get it. we're seeing lots of sunshine today making for a pretty nice presidents' day out there. >> meteorologist veronica johnson is in storm center 4 with an update on our

presidents' day weather. >> hey, guys. a lot of the kids and even adults would have loved it if we had some snow from this past weekend for presidents' day, a day off maybe to take in some great skiing. you're looking right now at an image that shows the snow cover from this past weekend. it was that southwest pocket, that western area of maryland as well as virginia that did receive some snowfall. madison gained 3 inches and right there in augusta county where you see the dark blue down in virginia, 10 inches of snow. but a lot of it melting today. here in washington we're up to 50 degrees. 43 with the snow cover down in richmond and 48 degrees roanoke. i cannot believe they've gotten up to 48 degrees. here is one of the images of a couple inches down from orange, virginia. the snow from the weekend. they got about 5 to 6 inches of snow there. we have another image to show you, too, where folks have been indeed making snowmen and throwing the snowballs around. your forecast for the evening,

we'll see our temperatures dip down from where we are right now with 50 degrees and sunshine. we'll head down into the 40s, upper 30s by 9:00 with a clearing sky. we'll talk more about what's next for us the next couple days with your seven-day forecast. jim? all right. veronica, thanks. what's next for republicans is michigan in the race for the white house. big showdown there. it is a battleground state. mitt romney grew up in michigan and his father was governor. rick san form had been surging there but his pace is starting to slow down a bit. steve handelsman has our story. >> reporter: did rick santorum peak too early? >> will you help us? >> reporter: he still could win the michigan primary next tuesday but santorum's lead in the polls there is narrowing. he is reminding voters of his strict catholic conservativism, blasting public education, birth control, and what he called over the weekend barack obama's

theology on the issue of drilling for more u.s. oil. >> they elevate earth. >> reporter: today he called it ideology. >> look at this ideology of the earth, if you will, and rising above the interests of man. >> reporter: santorum says god gave man dominion over earth. >> i refer to global warming as not climate science but political science. >> reporter: here is some political science. mitt romney has to win michigan, his home state. like santorum, romney's pointing to rising gas prices and pointing a finger at the president, but romney style. >> i will also get that keystone pipeline one of the first no brainer decisions the president has ever had to make is should we bring oil in from canada? that he should say no is remarkable to me. >> donald trump said he might get back in the race if romney

does poorly. aides to new jersey governor chris christie said republicans are begging him to get in. aides to indiana governor mitch daniels say the same. republican insiders figure rick santorum cannot beat barack obama. so all eyes are on mitt romney. can he beat santorum? political pros still bet the answer is yes, in part, because romney and his super pack are unleashing the kind of ad campaign in michigan that santorum can't afford. i'm steve handelsman, news 4. >> santorum's lead in michigan has tightened considerably in the past week from 15 points now down to 4 according to public policy polling. pat? today reporters got a rare look at the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant in japan. it's been almost a year since a massive earthquake and tsunami hit japan triggering the worst nuclear accident since the chernobyl disaster in 1986. the tsunami on march 11th knocked out power to the plant and three reactors went into full meltdown in the hours and

days that followed a series of hydrogen blasts caused massive damage to the plant. it took until december for the japanese government to declare those reactors stable. just in time for the national cherry blossom festival, the national mall has a new tour bus service. the national park service tells us the new express bus will be operational on march 12th, a week before the blossom festival begins. it will loop from union station to the world war ii and lincoln memorials over to arlington cemetery. then to the martin luther king memorialsonian metro station. it will cost $5 a trip and starting today there is a new shuttle at arlington national cemetery that will cost $8.75 per person. well, people lined the streets of old town alexandria today to celebrate our nation's presidents. the annual presidents' day parade rolled through the heart of old town. it's the largest parade in the nation that celebrates george washington's birthday. there were also celebrations at george washington's mount vernon

estate. >> well, it's very cold. >> reporter: a bit of a bris day care for visitors here at mount vernon. more than 10,000 people expected to celebrate george washington's 280th birthday, a lot of candles. >> oh, madame, you know, time is a relative thing. perhaps in your day i am 280. i am in my 60s. >> reporter: they say the early bird catches the worm but in this case the early bird scored a tour of the president's mansion and a closer look at a new exhibit that takes visitors inside martha washington's kitchen. there are the recipes and cookbooks the first first lady treasured and the pots that simmered in her kitchen, her heart-shaped waffle iron and in here it even smells the way it would have back then, the scent of cinnamon, coffee, and warm bread. >> i didn't know that they actually had to make the food like that and everything so it's cool to see. >> reporter: the washingtons lived here for more than 40

years. now 500 acres remain part of the estate along with more than a dozen of the original structures. for some it was a first trip. for others, a day of learning outside the classroom. >> we're looking at differences between the way they lived back in the 1700s and the way we live now, differences in furniture. we're learning how they prepared food. >> reporter: but for general washington, after all the festivities with thousands of his closest friends -- >> when they arrive here to celebrate my birth night, you know, i am rightly touched. >> reporter: it is a birthday that will end with one of his very favorite things. >> i get two servings of creamed ice, french vanilla. i love this creamed ice. mr. jefferson and dr. franklin brought it back from france with them. mrs. washington will allow me two servings. >> only two. >> yeah, two scoops. i think we call that sorbet now perhaps? i don't know. fancy stuff. we're just getting started on news 4 at 4:00.

it's already happening. items used by whitney houston hit the auction block. now her family is taking steps to keep people from cashing in on her death. also lindsay lohan's comeback. we'll join "access hollywood" to check out the news about her performance, coming up. >> it happens really, really fast. literally seconds. a deadly avalanche overtakes a group of skiers. the lone survivor there explains how she managed to escape coming up. and lebron james up close and personal. the family that had a close encounter with the star who left their children in tears.

consumers today have a legitimate concern about the chicken they eat. they want to know more about how they were raised, what they were fed. we spend a lot of time on the feed because a chicken is what it eats. [ jim ] this seal verifies we feed my fresh all-natural chickens an all-vegetarian diet including corn, soybeans, and marigolds. we actually ask the usda to come check us. we have never fed steroids or hormones and never will. no blood meal, no meat and bone meal. yuck. no animal by-products. it means when you put my chicken on the table, you know where it came from.

items from the life of whitney houston are going up on the auction block. a black velvet dress and earrings in the movie "the bodyguard" will be sold to the highest bidder next month. they are being added to an auction that includes charlton heston's staff from "the 10

commandments." >> lindsay lohan hopes to jump-start her career and concerns for whitney houston's daughter. here to update us is billy bush with "access hollywood." let's start with your general impressions about the funeral over the weekend. particularly bobby brown's exit. >> well, his exit was -- he said the reason why he was leaving with his nine guests was because he didn't want to make a scene but of course leaving is -- made the scene. that's why we're talking about it today. not only did he leave abruptly and early. he arrived late. the funeral had already begun. so, you know, he said he couldn't see bobbie christina. security moved them around a few times. he said i don't want to make a scene. i got to go. whitney wouldn't want it this way. it ended up being a scene and others defended him. i think most people rolled their eyes. it was quite unfortunate. >> what about bobbie christina and her actions afterward? >> some reports out there that

bobbie christina after the funeral and one direct report from the daily beast had sources saying she went to a hotel and was doing drugs while the family was looking for her, didn't know where she went. i spoke to darlene love this morning, whitney's god mother. she was a guest on "access hollywood live" and said that is absolutely false, that bobbie christina was with them the whole time. they went for repast, which is they go and have food afterwards, a three and a half hour service so everybody is hungry and they were all together. bobbie christina was with them at all times and never out of sight. so she shot that report down from her perspective. but i asked the question, what about bobbie christina? we talked to bebe winans this morning too. bebe told me, bobby brown, it would be great if he was there and cissy houston would like bobby brown in bobbie's life. on the other hand bthey said, she's 18 and has to make that

decision on her own. that's up to debate. one thing is for sure bobbie christina being in los angeles on her own at 18, maybe not as great as back in newark where we saw that new hope baptist church. lindsay lohan is hoping for a comeback on snl saturday night live. >> i can break news right now. lindsay lohan is signed to do -- play liz taylor in dick and riz a story about richard burton and elizabeth taylor. it's hers. all she has to do is clear the fence with the judge again in mid march. if that goes well like the others have, she is there, baby. the insurance kicks in and she's got the gig. you couple that with march 3rd guest hosting "snl." she reached out to loren michaels who said okay. why not. lindsay is going to do that. she is this close to the big comeback. keep going, girl.

you're almost there. >> you think that's good casting? >> i think it's great. it'll be good for snl and for lindsay. there will be some tune in factor to see what she's got. we haven't seen her perform or act in forever. >> right. >> all we've seen are the antics from court and outside. tonight on "access hollywood" more on bobby brown's exit and what went on the rest of his day, where he went and sort of a picture about his evening, and we talked to again everybody who is at the funeral. we were there and we've got all kinds of footage people haven't seen. please check it out tonight all right. >> thank you. >> thanks, guys. a couple kids enjoying court side seating at a miami heat game got a little closer to the action than they expected. this happened during the third quarter of the game against the magic yesterday. lebron james ran to block a shot but tumbled into the seats after he landed. he ended up sitting on top of two little boys making one of them cry.

james checked on the boys later in the game. they were eating lollipops apparently they were fine. they were injured. and he was happy about that. >> look how big he is compared to those tiny things. >> yeah. that could have been a disaster. >> i think some grownups would cry too if that came toward them crashing down. coming up, watch your language or get out. there is a new bill aimed at curbing foul language by members of the d.c. council. also a tragic accident and/or cold-blooded murder. the fate of george huguely is in the hands of a jury.

active but not crazy. this is good. >> active. and a couple little systems coming through for a while but you'll really like the temperatures where the mercury is going to be this week and i think you'll like the fact that it's not going to be too busy with any major system coming through. let's look outside to see what's going on. we have sunshine throughout the area and sunshine behind. this weekend's weather system. and if you miss the snowfall from this past weekend, here we go again showing it to you as we said on friday late. this was a system that would be passing well south of the area. and it did. exactly that.

this system passed just down through the south with the higher amounts of snowfall down around fredericksburg, virginia, down around stafford, virginia and right around that extreme southwest pocket of virginia where they had between 4 and 10 inches of snowfall there. around here in d.c., we only got a few flakes in the areas further to the north, montgomery county, howard county, didn't get anything at all. 50 degrees is where we are right now with the north wind at 10 miles per hour. active weather pattern for this week, every couple days we'll see a weak weather system moving through. temperatures this week will be running some 5 to as much as 20 degrees above average. today we're at 47 in hagerstown. 50 in frederick. 50 degrees in culpepper. 49 in fredericksburg. 46 degrees where they got some snow there in charlottesville, west virginia. your good night wakeup forecast will drop down to 38 degrees by 9:00 with a clear sky. clear skies still at 11:00. 37 the temperature. and by tomorrow morning, sun is up at 6:52. we will have a lot of sunshine across the area. although in the upper 20s to low 30s that is going to be a little

chilly for tomorrow morning. on storm 4 radar you can see how dry and quiet it is. we've got an area of storminess that's scanning its act together with not only rain but you can see here some snow. that's in the white. up around minneapolis, minnesota. and just east of rapid city. that is our next weather system that is going to be making its way eastward so some rain showers now around minneapolis and that is exactly what we'll get here is some cloud cover and maybe some spotty little showers. high pressure, though, for tomorrow, we'll have a partly sunny sky but a southwest wind. we'll be warming up nicely and we can see some sprinkles come through our area mainly to the north and west on wednesday. other than that, though, big rains will wait until friday of this week. clear sky for us. light, breezy, chilly. 38 to 43 degrees. and then for tomorrow morning we're mostly clear, on the chilly side. 23 to 33 degrees with your sunrise tomorrow at 6:52. a look at your afternoon, partly sunny, milder.

and becoming breezy. that's the other thing. this week our temperatures will be running some 5 to 20 degrees above average in the low to mid 50s tomorrow. the other thing? we get the wind this week. it's going to be breezy tuesday, breezy wednesday. i do think we'll have some wind around even thursday, friday, and saturday as we roll through the end of the week and first part of the weekend. guys, look at how mild thursday is going to be. a high of 67 degrees. our big chance of rain is going to wait until friday. there you go. >> where are we again, in the mid-atlantic? >> yes. it's still winter. but not for long. >> no, no. not at this rate. we'll take a look at the weekend forecast in a couple minutes. >> thanks, veronica. today marks the 50th anniversary of the first american orbiting the earth. >> yep. >> god speed, john glenn. >> oh, that view is tremendous. >> february 20th, 1962 astronaut john glenn squeezed into the friendship 7 and blasted into space. it's tiny. he circled earth three times at

about five hours. today friendship is now on display here in washington at the air and space museum. glenn marked today's anniversary at ohio state with a forum about nasa's future. coming up on news 4 at 5:00 tonight tom sherwood has more on this historic anniversary and john glenn's wish for the space program today. a lot of people in washington will be listening to that. >> that's for sure. still to come on news 4 at 4:00, 12 men and women now have to decide the fate of george huguely. coming up the key issue at the center of the murder trial for the uva la crosse player. plus first lady michelle obama gets moving. coming up some of the obamas get

welcome back at 4:30 now. i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. gas prices are going up in case you hadn't noticed. experts say there is little relief in sight. the national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.56 according to triple-a. experts think they could easily pass $4 a gallon by memorial day. >> the republican race for the white house, rick santorum appears to be losing some of his lead in next week's michigan primary. the latest poll suggests his lead over mitt romney has whittled from 15 points to just

4 now. snow and ice contributed to hundreds of accidents in virginia last night. the snow is mixed with rain and the northern virginia area but there were thicker, heavier flakes falling the further south you went. virginia state police say they responded to more than 800 crashes and almost 500 calls about disabled vehicles. jurors will begin deliberations on wednesday now in the trial of the former uva la crosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend. >> the case went to the jury late on saturday after more than three hours of closing arguments. as nbc's mike viqueira reports the issue at hand here is whether or not yardley love's death was intentional. >> reporter: it's been a wrenching, two-week trial for the family and friends of both the victim and the accused. now the fate of george huguely charged with killing ex-girlfriend yardley love is in the jury's hands. in his closing argument prosecutor dave chapman became emotional, scoffing at huguely's claim that he went to love's

apartment the night she died to talk things over. pointing out the hole huguely punched in love's bedroom door when she wouldn't let him in. what kind of conversation starter is that chapman said? adding that's the beginning of terror. he reminded jurors of the e-mail huguely sent love after she told him she had been with another man. it read in part, i should have killed you. just days later chapman charged huguely went to love's apartment, beat her, and left her to die slowly face down in her bed. during the trial experts testified love died of blunt force trauma to the head. the final defense witness neuro surgeon ronald ushinski told jurors he did not think a blow to the head killed love. >> could you explain why you did not think she died of trauma? >> i thought she died of oxygen deprivation. >> huguely attorney francis lawrence said love's death was a tragic accident, a combination of injuries inflicted by huguely and the alcohol she drank earlier that night. lawrence dismissed huguely's threatening e-mail as hyperbole and portrayed huguely is

incapable of planning and carrying out love's murder, calling his client stupid, drunk, and not calculating -- a boy athlete. lawrence suggested jurors consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter instead of premeditated murder. legal experts say huguely's trunkenness the night of love's death may bolster that case. well, legally, if george huguely was so drunk that he couldn't form a coherent thought, then he can't be guilty under virginia law of first-degree murder. >> now huguely faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. he has pleaded not guilty. a profanity laced shouting match last week between d.c. council members david katanya and marion barry has triggered new legislation. the council chair kwame brown says he wants too amend the council code of conduct to ban members from using vulgar or abusive language during open council meetings. brown says the chairman would be able to remove a council member from the meeting if he or she

couldn't follow the rules. however, news 4 has learned that some council members take issue with this proposal and say the real problem is brown's inability to control the council not cursing. they say it's unlikely a chairman can remove a sitting member. this is the last day to take advantage of a tax holiday in maryland for energy efficient appliances. maryland residents who buy new energy efficient appliances through today won't have to pay the state's 6% sales tax on the items. eligible items include air conditioners, washing machines, furnaces, and refrigerators. also eligible, energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, dehue mid fiers and programmable therm stats. this is a result of legislation passed in 2007 by the maryland general assembly. a lot more to come on news 4 at 4:00 including the app that brings college courses to you free of charge. also the donald's big plans for d.c. landmark. he tells news 4 why he was so

excited about the old post office pavilion. and who were the front-runners and who is in danger of heading home? big tigger and angie goff share their insights into "the voice." it's time to get going.

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you are never too old to learn something new and now there is an app to teach you beyond your years in the classroom. >> save you big bucks too perhaps. wendy rieger joins us now with a look at i-tunes-u as in university. >> i-tunes the letter "u." this is so cool. you can go to harvard, yale, download lectures on this. they have understanding happiness, one of those ted courses. the sun, our local star. introduction to linear dynamical systems whatever that is. mastering tech artistry. that's just right here. you hit colleges and universities, look at this. look at all of these universities. you can hit on any one of them. let's look at bristol. it'll come up with what they are teaching, the lectures they're doing. it is amazing what you can do with this. and you can download it. they are free. most of them are free. you go to another one, baylor, what's up in baylor?

and you can just get all of their baylor business review, all the stuff going on, categories. this is the other thing. you can do fine arts, humanities, society, business. it's right at your finger tips. i-tunes-u the american revolution with professor joann freeman from yale's open yale courses. again, it's a free app i-tunes u. you download these things. they are right here on your ipad. why wouldn't you want to do this learn something so you're more interesting at dinner parties you know? the aspen ideas festival. introduction to statistics at harvard. yikes. don't forget you can download our own nbc 4 iphone update as well to stay up to date on the latest news and weather on the go. but check out i-tunes-u.

it's very cool. and you will be, too, after you've absorbed some of this. charles darwin and evolution. my goodness. back to you. >> all right. thank you. >> easy way to get into an ivy league school. the palm of your hand. >> slip right in. coming up on news 4 at 4:00 a massive avalanche near a ski resort kills three people. now many people want to know why they were skiing in an out of bounds area in the first place. and a big night in primetime. the blind auditions continue on "the voice." up next angie goff and big tigger share their picks. people! look at you!

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a big night tonight on "smash" a behind-the-scenes look at creating a broadway show about marilyn monroe. tonight the search is on for a joe dimaggio.

plus, katherine mcphee's character takes a detour and returns to her hometown in iowa. we talked with one of the stars of the show who made his tv debut as the ambitious assistant, ellis. he says it's incredible to work with such experienced cast members like debra messing and angelica houston. >> it's been nuts. i've had to do a lot of adjusting. it's been really crazy to be on this type of a level with these people treating me as an equal. it's blowing my mind. i have to relax myself sometimes. >> you can watch "smash" at 10:00 right here on nbc 4. and just before you watch "smash" there is an all new episode of nbc's hit show "the voice" coming up tonight with the coaches hoping to pick up more members for their teams. >> oh, yeah. the big night continues. news 4's angie goff is joined by big tigger at the super screen with some of their favorites so far this season. >> hey guys. competition is heating up on

"the voice" in season two and this year it appears to be almost as much in the coach's chairs as it is on stage. >> indeed. adam levine talked about some of the rivalry on the "today" show this morning. >> more about our chemistry with each other as friends and messing around. it's all playful and silly and it's really not about us as much as we're trying to make it now. we had fun. i wouldn't say it's really being competitive with each other, just messing around. >> if we were the coaches on the show we have a few contestants we would pick to be -- that we would turn around for starting off with me. you like this right? >> you have a chair. >> i have a chair everybody. >> i want a chair. >> my first pick i'm going back to the episode number one. my first is former mouseketeer tony luca if you remember he sang that song "trouble" and it really took the crowd by storm. all four judges turned around. you liked him a little i thought he was all right. >> you need a little reminder.

♪ >> the only thing i didn't really like was his news boy type style. we got to do a little wardrobe makeover. >> well. can you do mine? >> go ahead. >> one of my favorites was the guy with the bow tie. you have to have a lot of swag to wear a bow tie and suspenders and he got all four chairs to turn around as well. i would have turned my chair around just like that for my man pit who got busy and wowed everyone with his version of "house of the rising sun." ♪ in the house of the rising sun ♪ >> i didn't think i was going to hear this guy sing what he sang and how he sang it. >> his voice did not match the look but i will agree very talented. they really start at the top level. someone that we both really liked, contestants both named

erin but mine is the local girl, from gaithersburg, maryland. and she was picked up by blake shelton with her jackson 5 rendition of "i want you back." ♪ oh, baby give me one more chance ♪ >> our hearts go out to erin because as we know her father passed away from pancreatic cancer shortly after the taping of that audition. we're rooting for you, girl. for you it's a different story. same name. >> so beautiful. voice was so eclectic. former model, 28 years old. if you're single please get at me. my chair would have turned around for this beautiful lady. i don't know how she explained it. something egyptian queen something but erin martin did her thing. ♪ >> all right. i can't wait to see who you pick

tonight because we got a fresh new episode. you can't keep erin. she is done with. you won't see her until the battles. but hey. join our conversation. we'll be chatting right? >> we'll chat. please chat it up with us. >> at nbc washington.com. the party gets started at 8:00 p.m. get on in there and join us. >> yes. i love to chat. come chat with us. >> fasten your seat belts in your brand new chairs. pretty cool. >> i like that. >> that is cool. >> our weather is cool today but this is the coolest day of the week. >> coolest day of the week. our temperatures this week are going to be warming way up and we're talking about pretty nice skies to go along with it. make sure you get your outdoor plans together for the end of the week especially. it's going to be a little breezy throughout the week. right now we're at 50 degrees with a north wind at 10 miles per hour. the air now very dry. as i mentioned before we'll have a couple little weak systems coming through over the next couple days. that dew point temperature how dry the air is, is going to be

critical because when they come through a lot of them are going to come through dry with the moisture evaporating on its way down. look at the temperature in gaithersburg. 46. 47 reston. dulles at 47. 48 in manassas. and 52 degrees currently our warm spot right down there in warranton, virginia. by 9:00 we'll dip down to 38. by 11:00 p.m. 37 degrees. there is your sunset 5:51 up tomorrow at 6:52 and a chilly start for us. temperatures in the northwestern suburbs tomorrow morning. we'll be starting out in the low 20s so chilly conditions for tomorrow morning. you are going to need the coat. but take a look at this future weather forecast here so we take you through the day tomorrow. you can see clouds drifting through up to the north. there's some of the weak systems i talked about. hagerstown and cumberland with some sprinkles coming through. and i think a better chance maybe well up to the north of us on wednesday that one or two areas might see a sprinkle or two. but the air is pretty dry so some clouds passing through from time to time. breezy conditions for this week.

the temperatures that will be warming way up. we start tomorrow morning in the 20s to low 30s throughout. we'll see a high tomorrow getting into the 50s. low and mid 50s. look at wednesday, guys. 60 degrees with a partly sunny sky. we'll be close to 70 degrees on thursday. that will be the warmest day out of the work week. then we dip it down to 62. on friday your high temperature with a chance of rain right now. that chance of rain is looking pretty good for the end of the week. your weekend 46 and 48. it's going to be cooler but not too bad. still seasonable conditions for the weekend. so way warm at the end of the week. hope you find something good to do. >> going to feel like spring rain already. thanks. and still to come on news 4 at 4:00 this after noon the donald's big plans for d.c. landmark. trump talks about what he is going to change about the old post office pavilion. >> and they found some snow. the first family's winter break. the obama women spend their presidents' day on the slopes.

coming up in a few minutes a grandmother is burned to death inside her apartment. we'll hear from her neighbors. the doctor who operated on singer adele talks the first time since his trip to the grammys. and a new device that can shrink your waist line and also take years off your skin so they say. coming up at 6:00, a fertility test for men. you don't have to go to the doctor's office to get t

if you love tacos and doritos you'll soon be able to get the best of both courtesy taco bell. the fast food giant is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a new menu that includes a line of tacos called doritos locos tacos made entirely from doritos. taco bell's research firm says linking snack food with fast food is a good venture. the new line of tacos if you just can't wait launches in march. the 8th to be exact. president obama is spending this long holiday weekend alone in washington. the rest of his family went skiing in colorado. first lady michelle obama and their two daughters sasha and malia flew to aspen for the long holiday weekend. the first lady's office says it was a private family trip and the obamas are paying their own personal expenses. the aspen daily news reports that mrs. obama and her girls are staying with friends from

chicago who own a home in aspen as well as several ski resorts. this photo was from mrs. obama's ski trip to vail during the presidents' day weekend last year. donald trump says he is excited about building a world class hotel here in the nation's capital. trump plans to turn the old post office pavilion on pennsylvania avenue into a 250-room luxury inn complete with world class restaurants and conference facilities. all of that while maintaining the historic nature of the building. the donald says it'll be something washingtonians and hotel guests alike can appreciate. >> there was a lot of competition for the old post office site. it's a magnificent building and i've done magnificent buildings before. and i think this has a chance to be one of the great hotels of the world if not the best and you couple that with my club, i have a great club right outside of washington in loudoun county. you add that to it's going to even give it a big boost but i think it's going to be great.

trump's real estate group is spending about $200 million on the development. construction is expected to start in 2014 and be finished in 2016 when everything is done the old post office pavilion will be renamed trump international hotel. think he'll have a sign up there? >> of course. signage is important to him. he has to own it. after the break new details on the avalanche that killed skiers at a popular resort plus what one woman did when it hit that she says saved her life.

one of the survivors of yesterday's deadly avalanche says she is still in shock after the terrifying experience that killed three of her friends. it happened yesterday in washington state when some skiers apparently went on a run in an out of bounds area. investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. >> reporter: the avalanche near stevens pass, washington sunday was preceded by a foot and a half of freshly fallen snow and brought out skiers of all skills including pro skier alyse who was seen with about a dozen others heading to a ski at your own risk area called 7th heaven. >> we felt comfortable and safe. we were all experienced back country skiers. >> reporter: but then the avalanche came which she told

the "today" show didn't think would reach her. >> it's amazing how quickly an avalanche happens and it progresses very rapidly into something really major. >> reporter: this one progressed into something deadly -- three in her group were killed. jim jack, chris rudolph, and john brennan. >> we lost three amazing people. two of them who were my really good friends. >> reporter: joel was part of that group, too, but not in as much peril as alyse who inflated her avalanche air bag like this one which is essentially intended to keep victims riding the top of an avalanche as opposed to being buried in it. >> don't get me wrong. it's not like you're taking an inner tube ride down some snowy field. you definitely are in the avalanche and it feels like you're in a washing machine and being flipped and tumbled and it's white the entire way. it's very scary. >> reporter: an avalanche warning had been posted for the area just hours prior to sunday's tragedy.

>> that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. a grandmother falls asleep smoking a cigarette. hours later she is burned to death. good evening, everyone. welcome to news 4 at 5:00 on this presidents' day. i'm jim handly. >> i'm wendy rieger. it is our top story tonight. a maryland woman is dead from severe burns after she set her apartment on fire because she smoked in bed. news 4's chris gordon talked to neighbors in takoma park who knew the 56-year-old victim. chris? >> reporter: the flames were deadly, but there is no sign whatsoever on this apartment building that there was a fatal fire here in the early morning hours. emergency crews responded from a short distance away to the desperate call of a teenager trying to save her grandmot