now as light snow falls across the area. it's affecting traffic with roads cold enough for the snow to stick. and it's going to be around through the end of the afternoon commute. this afternoon, we're finding out what road crews have done to keep things from getting too messy out there. right now and right on cue, we are kicking things off in storm center 4 today. as we've been telling you all week, this thing was going to hit right during rush hour. veronica johnson, just as you predicted, just about 2:00. from the looks of your radar, this time everybody's going to see something. >> everybody's going to see a little something. but it's spots up to our north, those communities up across mainly maryland, jim, that will see the slightly higher totals. and one thing i want to stress is this is not a system, jim, that's going to produce the large amounts of snow. the fact of when it's occurring right during the evening rush makes it so problematic. let's take a look at that radar right now. we'll zoom on in. right into areas of maryland and even virginia, leesburg seein snow coming through and the bigger flakes coming down at a

good clip. around 66. up 270 and 70, as well, you're getting snow. and just looking at some of the reports on twitter, they're saying that, you know, that snow is coming down on top of those icy roads, so the roads are starting to get a little slick right now. this will be one fast-moving system. there's some snow to the north and west of brunswick. this will be a system that gets in and out of here. we really only have about three, maybe four more hours left of effective snow making. all shuts off and moves east by 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., it's fluffy, it's thick. let's go to doug outside on the weather deck. >> hi, veronica, we're talking about this snow, once again 1/2 inch to an inch of snowfall, normally not a problem. but i want you to zoom out right here. the reason why is because the temperatures have been below freezing. not just below freezing today, we have been below the 32-degree mark for four days now. nearly 90 hours we've been below freezing and with that, this patio was completely clear before this snow started.

it's only been snowing for about an hour, it's been a light snow, but as you can see, we're dealing with that right now. one thing you will not be able to do much with this snow. you won't be able to make a snow man. because of the very cold air the atmosphere very dry. we have the flakes that will not stick together. the snow only lasting for a couple of hours. we want to make sure you give yourself a lot of extra time making your way out and about this evening. >> we'll see some of the higher amounts. anywhere from an inch to inch and a half of snow expected around into d.c., then you'll have that pocket where drier air has been moving in. around culpepper, and areas around harrisonburg that will only see about a trace to 1/2 an inch of snow. could be, again, inch and a half, annapolis, baltimore, not a big system, but it's occurring.

the snow through 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. tonight and even saturday morning we'll have the slippery conditions. the winter weather advisory remains up until 8:00 p.m. and here's your hour-by-hour forecast, for 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00. by the time we get to 7:00, the snow mainly east of i-95 as our temperatures drop to 25 degrees. and, of course, you can continue to track the snow. how much your area is getting and sending in pictures by going to nbcwashington.com. >> thanks, veronica. snow crews throughout hour region are out on the roads right now. vdot has 700 salt trucks and snowplows to keep the roads clear. live now in centreville. what does it look like out there, julie? >> reporter: well, what you see behind me on the sidewalks is the old snow, what's swirling around me, it's the new snow. it's starting to fall out here about 2:00 in the centreville area, but it has been very, very

light. right on cue for our live shot. and i've been panning for snow here this afternoon to see what kind of accumulation we have. not very much so far. can't qualify as a dusting. nonetheless, vdot crews were getting ready early. let's take a look at the pictures of them loading up over the salt dome. like you said, about 700 trucks at the ready. they were filling them up with sand and salt or a mixture of both and then the plan was to get those trucks out on to the roads early to predeploy them, essentially, and have them waiting for this time of day when the flakes started to fall. . their focus is going to be the interstates and primary roads. they hope they can keep those cleared off and keep them wet. but as people know in the subdivisions rig now, there are still some snow-covered slick roads and not a lot that vdot's going to be able to do about that the rest of the day. people should take caution tonight because the side streets will be slicker than ever.

a lot of northern virginia school districts went home early today. we'll tell you whether or not there was grumbling around that. for now, reporting live, news 4. starting the weekend early. dozens of school systems in our region dismissed early today. they want to help parents and bus drivers avoid trouble in the snow. some students we talked to were happy to get the weekend started a bit early. here's what they had to say today. >> he said that he literally banged on the ground for an entire minute with his fist because he was so excited when they got the news and all the kids were going crazy. i would've preferred if they waited for some snow, but i'm sure there's someone much smarter than me making these decisions. >> after school and nighttime activities are also canceled in a number of counties. for a full list, visit nbcwashington.com. right now, many etro has no plans to make changes in service because of this weather. they have snow equipment at all stations and you'll probably notice salt spread around some entrances. the transit agency has also put special flooring down to stop

people from slipping around. >> we're not the only ones dealing with winter's wrath. the ice, snow, and bitter cold are creating big problems for much of the east. here's jay gray now with a look at the big impact. harsh and in some places unbearable winter conditions continue to take their toll in dozens of communities across the country right now. a thick sheet of ice is covered and crippled parts of tennessee. and in pennsylvania, high winds and freezing temperatures formed ice dunes over the waters of lake erie. just outside of boston, single digit temperatures have left lakes and waterfalls frozen solid. in ohio, a blanket of snow is causing the biggest problems. plows are working overtime. while cars are barely working at all. the brutal conditions in so many places mean big business for tow truck operators and repair shops. >> about 80 calls in the summertime and we're doing about

200 now. >> in chicago, flakes fell for the first time in 355 days, a record drought when it comes to snow in the windy city. unwilling to wait, will white made his own patch of snow in the middle of his cold but otherwise green charlotte neighborhood. >> can never really count on mother nature anymore. she's not very reliable. >> reporter: or predictable. so many across the country right now bundled up and wondering what mother nature might bring next. jay gray, nbc news. >> and a live look right now, snow is sticking to our roads right now. we'll keep monitoring the snowfall here in our region and get you updated on road conditions as the afternoon rolls on. breaking news on a deadly crash in southeast washington right now along the line in prince georges county. a collision involving four vehicles including an ambulance has killed at least one person. this happened on southern avenue southeast near 12th street. police say one of the cars

slammed into the ambulance. that car rolled over and caught fire. two paramedics involved were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive. no word yet on any other injuries or deaths or what may have caused that crash. now, to a shocking crime. an 18-year-old girl killed and left in the middle of the street. the search is on right now for the person who gunned the teenager down in northwest d.c. it happened in the brightwood area overnight near 5th and nicholson streets. the search is on to find out who shot her in the head and left her in the intersection in the brightwood section. at this point, police don't have any possible suspects. pat collins spoke to lee stanley and we'll have a live report coming up on "news 4 at 5:00." hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion advocates gathered today for the annual march for life event. they're calling for roe v. wade to be overturned. this marks the 40th anniversary

of the decision that legalized abortion. rick santorum was one of the speakers today who called for the decision to be overturned. >> and we are proud to be here with you. to stand for life, to stand for love, and one day, one day we will be here and triumph because love and truth always triumph. >> every year, the group marches from the national mall to the steps of the supreme court. a violent anniversary marked in cairo today. protesters descending on tairut square. the mayor of san francisco trying to avoid out of control celebrations on super bowl sunday. what limits he's considering for bars in his city. and it's a major claim to fame for southwest airlines. plus, today signs its promise of no back fees might not last.

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facing breast cancer every year. visit the3day.org to register or to request more information today. it was 3 days of pure joy. ♪ and it's beautiful long delays on amtrak this morning. ahead on "news 4 at 4:00," it had nothing to do with the weather. what caused all the backups what caused all the backups next. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too.

police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters today in egypt as the country marks the second anniversary of its revolution. take a look as thousands descended on to tahrir square. the protesters made up of those opposed to mohamed morsi. they hope to use the demonstrations as a show of strength to force morsi to amend the controversial constitution. his muslim brotherhood says it's marking today's anniversary with acts of public service and staying off the streets to avoid potential violence.

right now in our area, amtrak is back up to speed after some very long delays this morning. overhead electrical wires started sagging south of the bwi station, stopping trains at union station from going north. some riders have three-hour delays. take a look at this bizarre scene from the morning rush, an suv lost control on connecticut avenue in the chevy chase area. this happened just before 8:00 this morning. two cars were involved, but only one veered off the roadway. the truck jumped the curb, einstein brothers bagels and a starbucks were missed. police were able to clear the scene quickly, there were no major closures. new information right now about the spread of the flu virus. it's not going away just yet, and now the cdc is warning people about another bug. what we're learning about a new strain of noro virus.

and the snow arrived right on time. storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson tells us when it will move out.

trying to avoid riots on super bowl sunday in san francisco, what the mayor wants bars to do win or lose on super bowl night.

new developments in the election process in virginia. i'm keith russell. this just in to the news 4 live desk. virginia governor bob mcdonnell says he opposes to change his state's electoral college system. it would reward the vote by congressional district instead of the current winner take all system. a spokesman says mcdonnell will not support such a change. mcdonnell is scheduled to speak at the republican national committee meeting in charlotte any minute now. also developing right now, just hit the wires minutes ago, some in the national rifle association are backing away from a controversial ad that mentioned president obama's daughters. in the ad, the nra references the security the obama daughters receive at their school and calls the president hypocritical about gun control. in a statement just released, the organization's top lobbyists said the ad was ill-advised and says the ad was not particularly helpful. this just in to the news 4 live desk, i'm keith russell.

new highly contagious strain of norovirus is spreading not just across the nation, but around the world. the strain isn't particularly dangerous, but it is nasty and spreads fastest in places like schools, cruiseships, and nursing homes. more than 21 million americans get infected with norovirus every year and cases usually peak in january. tonight on "news 4 at 5:00," doreen gentzler will tell us how bad the virus is getting in our area. a new report about the flu shows us it's still widespread in most states across the country. but there are some signs the illness is tapering off in parts of the east. as erika edwards reports now, some folks are coming up with unusual remedies. >> reporter: while many swear by antiviral medicines like tamiflu, you'll have to get them within 48 hours of feeling sick. >> because if you start the prescription antiviral later, they don't work. >> that's when home remedies

come in to play. >> my mother and grandmother used to make a home remedy with whiskey, honey, lemon juice and it was sort of like a cough syrup. >> reporter: she used that family recipe as inspiration when creating her own remedy. it's jenny's influenza sorbet. >> it would be really soothing. it's a little bit of cayenne pepper in it that might help with congestion. >> reporter: oh, yeah, and a dose of liquor. >> the whiskey -- well, it's whiskey, so it kind of relaxes you and that's the idea for that. >> reporter: for the record, this is not medicine, it's comfort food, like a giant cough drop with a kick. >> most of these things relate to symptom management. feeling better while your body heals and clears the infection. >> reporter: if sorbet isn't your thing, mom's chicken soup is a great backup. doctors also recommend lots of water or juices as fevers can e

dehydrate you. >> check this out. >> i haven't tried the influenza rx sorbet, but i'm going to do it. >> reporter: ice cream, after all, is the ultimate summer treat. in this case, sorbet might help you treat your winter flu funk. nbc news. >> we've got snow, we've got flu weather. but the system's moving quickly. >> quickly. that's right, by 7:00, 8:00, it's east of us. and of course, the school systems knew this was a storm that would ramp up quickly and once it got over us, produced that snow, the bigger flakes that could've led to problems, just one reason why schools let out early today. winter weather advisory continues until 9:00 p.m. right through much of our viewing area. every county there shaded in purple as we look for 1 to 2 inches of snowfall, all rushing east. as a matter of fact, you can already see where the drier air

is south. coming through petersburg, west virginia, charlottesville and fredericksburg, virginia right now. so not many more hours are we going to see this. wanted to peel back the composite and show you the areas of dark green because here is where the bigger flakes are falling. down into northern charles county, eastern fairfax county and southern areas of prince william county. right south of 66 there and around i-95 are where the bigger flakes are coming down. make sure you leave for anyone heading out on the road, yeah, slick on some of the secondary roads and untreated roads, leave a little extra distance between you and the car in front of you and avoid those sudden stops. of course, the beltway is snowing, as well. 70 as we head north up towards clarksburg, you can see there, the darker shadings of white there, the snow enhanced too where it's coming down. mt. vernon, snow coming down north of 495 right now. and expecting anywhere from an

inch to an inch and a half of snow by the time it clears on out by 7:00 p.m. that the area shaded in dark blue. so gaithersburg, even around falls church, an inch to inch and a half, lighter amounts west of there. so a little bit of snow for early tomorrow morning will make for slick conditions. there's our temperatures, they'll be dropping to the 20s later tonight, yes, another cold one for us, by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, we're at 17 gaithersburg, 16 manassas, and tomorrow, we get some wind. it will be breezy and cold with still some lingering clouds left around the area. second half of the weekend, full sunshine, but still cold, rising finally just above freezing. take a look at your four-day forecast for the weekend. again, still cold, getting above freezing, 35 on sunday. then 42 degrees on monday. and we've got more weather to talk about, naturally this being slippery conditions, as temperatures start out at 29 degrees, this will be a morning situation for us. we hit a high temperature of

close to 60 degrees on tuesday. so we warm way up and well above average again. then that cold air starts to move in at end of next week as we get sunshine back in here. we're going to be going way up and way down again next week. on the roller coaster ride. i wanted to talk more about monday too because we're going to be starting off cold. we'll have freezing rain possible monday morning right now. and the morning rush could be affected once again. right now, there's a 40% chance of this happening monday morning. we will, of course, storm team 4, the entire team through the weekend be keeping you updated on this situation. jim? pat? it's quick, it's convenient. but soon using your credit card at some retailers could cost you more. liz crenshaw will tell us about a new surcharge that takes effect in just a few days and why it won't be taking effect everywhere. and swearing in a new president at nats park. a big announcement coming

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right now at national airport, there is a ground stop due to our weather. we're working to clear the runways. as the snow continues to fall. this is leading to delays. a ground stop at national airport to treat the runways for tonight as the temperatures fall. ahead of the 49ers/ravens

super bowl, san francisco's mayor is asking bars and businesses to limit their hard liquor sales. the mayor says he wants to avoid a repeat of last october when riots broke out following the giants' world series win. police arrested 36 people following a series of bonfires and a lot of vandalism. the mayors office isn't asking for a total ban, but asking businesses to be responsible. president obama's inauguration now behind us, but hold on, other presidents are still running around the bases. tomorrow, the washington nationals will make their own presidential announcement. the team is making a big change to its popular president race. andrew felter talked about the rumors today on news 4 midday. >> we'll announce a new president. and rumor has it that teddy has hand picked his successor there. >> when you say successor, i think teddy's out. he's not adding on --

>> well, you never know. but i expect teddy to be around for a while. he won his first race last year and i don't expect he's retiring his cleats just yet. >> the announcement will happen at nats fest, that begins noon tomorrow at the washington convention center. so if teddy stays, that would mean five running around, we could add another. >> good luck, mr. president. we've got the snow covered this afternoon from virginia to the district and maryland. we'll go to prince georges county next where snowfall totals could be a little higher than in the district. and we'll find out how people are handling the flakes out there. and a baby in new york state lucky to be alive tonight after spending hours in the frigid conditions. what happened? and how his parents found out about it

tonight on "news 4 at 5:00," space heater danger during a cold spell. liz crenshaw has a winter weather warning.

welcome back to "news 4 at 4:00," i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm jim handly. >> here's veronica johnson. how long will the snow be falling? >> not much longer, only up until 7:00, perhaps 8:00 p.m. for areas along i-95 and east of i-95. hopefully you're going to stay

inside where it's nice and safe and watch that snow fall. meanwhile, let me take you to reagan national and show you the shot where they have a ground stop as they try to treat the runways. well, that's the situation there. the snow has been falling since 2:00, the bigger flakes. and you can see the low visibility, as well. that's the other thing with these little pockets throughout the area where the snow is coming down. a little heavier around leesburg, loudon county and areas around fairfax too. let me show you the radar right now. there you can see the area where it's starting to end coming into fredericksburg. really, that is it, guys. right now heavier around waldorf, annapolis, shadyside, and up to the north in leesburg too as well as around i-66 coming down that snow, just a little bit heavier. a little heavier also, bethesda inside the beltway. you've had that snow falling since shortly after 2:00.

270, i-70, could be a little slick, some of the secondary roads and the overpasses, as well. leave a little extra distance if you have to go out between you and the driver in front of you. an inch to an inch and a half of snow. that's what we're expecting. i'm thinking most of the spots that's getting the snow up here, mainly maryland and east of i-95 will get around an inch. there'll be a few isolated conditions that could pick up 1 1/2 inches of snow. there is another system on the way, believe it or not, on the other side of the weekend. i'll tell you more about that coming up in just a little bit. >> as we've been telling you tonight, the snow has been complicating the evening rush hour. police are warning everyone to be alert. >> reporter: this would be great, jim, if we were at home on a saturday morning with nowhere to go. but the fact that this is coming down during rush hour is what's causing a lot of worry.

and it's the reason that the prince georges county school system and a number of other school systems dismissed early today. take a look behind me on the beltway. and you can see what's going on here, heading toward baltimore, look at how that traffic is really moving slowly now. we've seen it stop at some points all together. and then pick back up again. this is what we're dealing with on major roads around the county as some federal workers decided to leave out a little early, making their way back home. and this snow that is just really coming down, it started around 2:00 p.m. and as you can see, it is really, really coming down in prince georges county. now, the department of public works, of course, they're always thinking ahead, they're treating the roads ahead of time, but they're also wanting to remind residents in prince georges county of what they need to do after the snow stops falling. >> they are the persons responsible for shoveling the sidewalks and for de-icing the sidewalks. that's in the county ordinance and folks need to be aware of that. we would also ask that folks who

live in residential communities park their cars on the even side of the roadway. >> this is a good example of what the snow's looking like out here. not even 1/4 inch. it's powdery, easy to sweep away. but you mix that with what we got earlier and the melting and iciness is going on on res d residential streets. take your time driving home, don't drive so slowly you'll cause a wreck behind you, but do drive where you're not driving too fast and not slipping and sliding all over the road. coming up at 5:30, more on what the roads look like. reporting live in landover, news 4. >> good advice. now to new york. police tell us a man left his 1-year-old son in a freezing cold car for eight hours. the father said he forgot to drop his sleeping son off at day care on the way to work. he only realized his mistake when his wife called wondering where the child was. an ambulance was called and the

boy was checked out before being released. the boy sat in temperatures as low as 15 degrees. no charges have been filed against the dad. president obama appointed dennis mcdonough as chief of staff. he noted that he helped him set up his senate office nearly ten years ago and has been one of his most trusted advisers ever since. >> denis has played a key role in every major national security decision in my presidency. in the war in iraq, winding down the war in afghanistan, from our response to natural disasters around the world like haiti and the tsunami in japan. >> the president also noted that he was in the white house situation room during the raid that killed osama bin laden. mcdonough is seated behind hillary clinton and he'll

replace jack lew. today's weather forced bob mcdonnell to cancel a speech at the winter meeting in charlotte, north carolina. republicans are trying to revive their party after losses in november. steve handelsman joins us live from capitol hill with the latest on that story. >> reporter: thanks, good evening. mcdonough and other republican activists believe -- they recognize there's been a lot wrong with too many of their messengers. meeting in charlotte, republicans re-elected their party chairman. >> we're going to be the party for everybody everywhere across america. right now, the gop is in trouble. mitt romney was beaten, barack obama so empowered he forced republicans to back down on the debt ceiling. and laid out a liberal agenda for a second term.

the gop is out of favor with the young minorities and women. not just at the ballot box. 49% of the nation now sees the republican party negatively. in the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll only 26% positively. democrats doing far better with a net positive. hand wringing at the gop winter meeting. >> republicans talk policy, and the democrats talk people. >> we've got to stop being the stupid party. >> reporter: bobby jindal on gop senate candidates todd aiken and richard murdoch whose comments about rape angered women. >> it's no secret we had a number of republicans who damaged the brand with offensive and bizarre comments. >> reporter: some republicans in four states with republican legislatures want to change the winner-take-all electoral college system in their states that gave president obama a big win. mitt romney would have been closer. a former party chair says forget

that. the gop will recover. >> we've got a lot of work to do. we've got some cleaning up to do. we've got some making up to do, we've got some stretching out to do, to bring some people in. >> reporter: today could be a start. >> leaders say the likely republican party plan will be to focus on social issues like abortion, but to strictly try to push a pro growth, low-tax program. back to virginia for a second. a spokesman for bob mcdonnell said the governor does not back what some other republicans in the commonwealth do, which is to try to replace the way virginia electors to the electoral college are chosen. now it's winner take all. every elector gets chosen based on the popular vote in virginia. it would be constitutional and two states do it, to go to a plan where it would be done congressional district by congressional district. but mcdonnell says he doesn't support it. he says virginia's system works

fine. let's leave it alone. i'm steve handelsman, news 4. >> thank you, steve. well, while we're dealing with snow today, on the other side of the world, hey, it's summer. and amid all the flooding in australia, a harrowing rescue caught on tape. we'll show you how the man who tried to save a teenager almost went under himself. >> wow. plus, follow the leaders? why one discount airline is considering a change to the policy

twitter is out with a new app. and it's already one of the most popular downloads in the app store called vine. it allows users to thread together short video clips into one looping six-second clip. according to tech crunch in just 24 hours vine became the top free app in apple's social category. vine's not yet available for android devices. bags fly for free, it's the message we heard for years from southwest. now the airline is floating the idea of charging you for luggage. ceo gary kelly appeared on cnbc's squawk box yesterday. he said despite better than expected earnings, increasing competition and higher fuel costs may force southwest to change its policy. the baggage fees will not happen this year. kelly says customers will ultimately let them know if they want extra fees or pricier tickets.

>> how about neither? >> neither. not an option. a local chef has earned the title of sweet genius. we'll show you her winning moment on the food network reality show last night. what's the one thing you shouldn't do to your windshield to get rid of that ice? that's the question, the answer's coming up on "ask liz" on "news 4 at 4:00." and snow on our radar, snow on your cars, snow on area roads. i'll tell you when it's going to end in your neighborhood and what's up for the rest of the weekend when "news 4 at 4:00" returns.

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live look at the white house on this snowy friday afternoon. veronica will be along in a few moments to tell us how long the snow will fall on the washington region. ♪ so is it bad to pour warm water on your frozen windshield to help it defrost? are winter tires or all-season tires better to handle all this snow? plus a new charge for credit card users. so, let's start with the timely ones, if we can. our first one, liz, comes from

marie in maryland. marie wants to know, is it bad to pour warm water on her windshield to help defrost it when she's in a rush in the morning. a lot of people still asking that. >> that's true. we did check with the automotive expert for your answer. and pat says it's a horrible, horrible idea to pour warm water on a frozen windshield. the shock of warm water on a cold windshield can cause it to crack. he said auto windshields are not able to withstand sudden temperature shifts. and there have been cases where defrosters have damaged windshields. so you need to scrape, give your car time to warm up and never, ever pour on the warm water. >> don't do it. >> don't do it. >> next question from a viewer named elliott. elliott says the snow we're getting is making him want to get his car ready for winter and wants to know, liz, if winter tires or all-season tires are better for handling the white stuff? >> we turned to consumer reports for this answer. if you're talking about driving in the snow, it does say most winter tires are better than

even the best performing all-season tires in snow. that's because winter tires will provide you with maximum traction on ice and snow while all-season tires are better equipped to handle a variety of weather conditions. so, yeah, winter tires, we don't get snow that often, so most people don't change them here. >> all right. >> they do up north. >> finally, last question, comes from a number of viewers. they've heard stories that stores can now charge you extra if you pay with a credit card. liz, is this new surcharge real and is it legal? >> it's actually true. in fact, the new charges start appearing as of this sunday. charging you extra for using your credit card is now allowed due to a legal settlement in an anti-trust lawsuit involving mastercard and visa. retailers have argued they have to pay credit card companies a fee every time someone charges, someone will recoup those fees by passing them on to you. if the retailer wants to add this credit card surcharge, it has to provide clear disclosure

at the point of entrance or at the cash register or for online merchants, on their websites. you can avoid the fees simply by paying cash. and while retailers can now start charging you this extra fee for using your credit card, many say they will not impose the new fee as it may discourage customers. if you've got a question you'd like us to consider for ask liz, you can connect with me on twitter, search liz crenshaw or on facebook. coming up on "news 4 at 5:00," how can you safely use a space heater after one sparked a home fire in temple hills yesterday? is there a law requiring you to shovel your sidewalk after the snow stops? and how long is that flu contagious? we've got those answers at 5:00. >> all right, we'll see you then. no the a whole lot to shovel out there. veronica johnson in storm center 4. how much are we talking about over the next few hours? >> really only for about two more hours, jim, and we're not talking about very much at all. i think we'll see somewhere around 1/2 inch, maybe an inch of snow in some of those areas

up to the north. you can see what i'm talking about on storm team 4 radar. it's all starting to move out of the area right there in northwestern areas of virginia, around winchester ending soon, the snow, this is a system that's just racing eastward. it didn't last very long. but the fact is for anyone going out on area roads, it may be slick in some spots. for buie, right along i-95, bigger flakes of snow. same thing leesburg, loudon county, and prince william county around 66, you're still getting the snow, as well. you can see it showing up, little bit better on the composite. that brighter white, around 15, and just around reston too, reston, virginia, snow coming down pretty good, as well. lower visibilities there. and also, 301. look at this from colonial beach, this will be headed toward leonardtown, montrose area in a couple of minutes. reduced visibility. only till about 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.

slick for tonight, keep that in mind if you're going out tonight or out early tomorrow. and, you know, this has been a very cold week for us, the last three days our high temperatures have been below freezing. well, get your wardrobe ready again. because watch what happens, here's where we were today with highs right around freezing. we're going to go way up above that average mark, which for a high is 44 degrees. midweek, way up to 60 degrees and the end of next week, back down to the 30s. here we go, our temperatures across the area, from 18, one of our colder spots in montgomery county, northern p montgomery county to 24 degrees, around stafford, fredericksburg right now. we are going to see some wind tomorrow. so as temperatures warm a bit, it's going to be a cold one. your forecast here, icy spots, again, on the roadways for later tonight. till then, we're partly cloudy, very cold, 14 and 19 degrees with that northwesterly wind at 10 to 20 miles per hour.

breezy tomorrow, again, with the snow moving out of here. high temperature getting up to 33 degrees where it's 35 degrees for sunday with sunshine. then it's monday morning when we could have some issues on area roads again. that next system that moves in also not a big system, but we could be looking at a little bit of freezing rain coming here in the early part of the morning rush, probably moving out of here around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. your high on monday, 42 degrees, there's your warm-up again by midweek with a chance of rain midweek. that moves out and behind that front it's strong enough to really take the temperatures down again. but at least we'll have some sunshine in here. next friday, a week away. okay, if you're not doing anything this weekend, tomorrow, 7:30, our winter weather special. got some snow today. if you're wondering about what we're going to get the rest of if winter, we've got that also included in our forecast at winter weather special coming up at 7:30 tomorrow. all the very latest too at nbcwashington.com. back to you. here's a follow-up to a story that we told you yesterday

about a local chef. she made her national debut last night on food network's "sweet genius." >> you are the only chef able to prove that you are a sweet genius like me. you belong in my world of desserts. >> for her part of the challenge, thomas had to construct desserts using ketch-up, coconut water, and white asparagus among other unusual ingredients. with her win, she takes away $10,000 and we're betting a big boost to her career. she says she'll use that money to expand her business. she's such a delight and her food, her candy, her pastries are so delicious. >> yesterday when you said ketch-up, it had us all scratching our heads. that was a winner. >> i think she used it, turned it into raspberry sauce of some sort.

>> yeah, fooled us. >> got to be quick and creative. coming up, flooding's a big problem in australia. we've got some video of a dramatic rescue from a rushing river. that straight ahead. and our storm team 4 coverage continues with crews out around the region monitoring changing conditions as the snow continues to fall.

in australia, a teenager who disregarded swift water warnings in a flooded river almost paid

for it with his life and that of the first responder who tried to save him. nbc's sarah james is in sydney. >> reporter: it was a teenage thrill gone terribly wrong. an impulsive swim with a mate in a flooded creek left this 14-year-old boy clutching desperately to a tree. police and firefighters scrambled to reach him before he lost his grip and his life. the aftermath of the cyclone clutching a life vest for the teen. at first, everything went right. the pair bobbed downstream, snagged a tree. while pushing the boy to safety, the rescue worker went under, under the teen, under the water. his only choice is to unhitch his safety cable and hope for the best. anxious moments then relief as he hopped to the surface 100 yards downstream, exhausted but

alive. brett williams says it's all part of the job. >> relief and part of our training. >> reporter: one happy ending for australian rescue workers who needed good news facing a foot of rain in one day while in the nation's south and inferno in victoria last week. and a close call of a very different call for these firefighters. in australia, it seems there's too much rain or none at all. and there's more than a month of summer to go. sarah james, nbc news, sydney, australia. right now at 5:00, storm team coverage of the snow and the impact. it's been falling for a couple of hours. and we are starting to see accumulation. >> a live look now at the developing conditions on our roadways and it couldn't come at a worse time, folks, during the heart of the evening rush. >> most schools didn't take any chances. starting the weekend early, sending kids home before the flakes started flying. >> well, we have a team