first the snow and now the a arctic air and strong winds. right now we are tracking round two of the first winter storm of 2014. after heavy snowfall we're getting hit with a may are juror blast of cold air and strong wind. we're bringing you team coverage on what could be a rocky morning. good morning, everybody. it's 4:00 a.m. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. with welcome to "news 4 today" for this friday, january 3, 2014. more than three dozen schools and organizations have already closed today because of the winter storm including loudoun, prince william, and stafford county schools in havevirginia. fauquier and frederick county schools are also closed today. so are warren county schools. in maryland calvert county schools will open two hours late today and in west virginia, hardy county schools will open two hours late. >> students in spotsylvania county schools are still on winter break but all activities on school grounds are canceled today. we have a complete list of closings on the bottom of your

screen and on nbcwashington.com. now the federal government, you should know, is open today. employees have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. emergency employees have to report to work unless their agencies tell them otherwise. we are tracking all the angles this morning from the snow that's on the roads to the cold that's moving in. this is a live look now from our first 4 traffic live drive cam. roads still covered in snow there. we're going to check how the roads are doing in just a moment. rst over to storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein for a look at these cold changes. tom? you can see the side streets are covered with snow now. the treated surfaces are just wet and most of the accumulating snow is on the eastern shore and quickly exiting a few lingering bands of some snow now in montgomery, northern prince george's county, and that is also including pat of the it can d.c. that band of that snow is continuing to head off to the east now into anne arundel county. a lingering ban in montgomery county, here in fairfax as well

down to prince william getting one band of light snow. how much did we get? generally around 1 to 2 to 3 inches. further north and west parts of howard county, northern montgomery got you up to 4 to 5 inches as did loudoun county. generally around 3 inches north and west. and off to a cold start. temperatures right now are down into the low to mid-20s most of the region. and the winds are really picking up in just the last hour. we've had gusts 30 to 40 miles an hour. just had a gust at reagan national to 41 males an hour and look at the windchills as a result. windchills are down just into the single digits so you do need to layer you up. we could have gusts over 45 males an hour. wind advisory all the way into noontime today, so stay inside. now let's check the road conditions. maynard edwards, good morning. how are we looking? even some of the major roadways are sloppy, tom. an accident that has just been

pushed off to the right shoulder. right lane and right shoulder affected there and then this. have you seen the flashing lights there? this is a vehicle, two-vehicle crash, one of the vehicles left the roadway, ended up on its roof. even some of the treated roadways will be a problem for you this morning. and coming from baltimore, the big problem i ran into, tom mentioned the wind. winds blowing off the trees creating large areas of big clouds of snow. you pass through them ron and eun, back to you. >> right into that, too, maynard. 4:03. the snow could cause serious road conditions on your commute to work this morning or to school. a closer look at the roads. news 4's melissa mollet in the live drive cam now. where are you? >> reporter: take a look at this aaron. we're on river road at this point in northwest heading into bethesda and then on 495 and head to go loudoun county where we know things look a little bit worse. take a look at the front of the truck right now. here you are just seeing a wet road. this is as good as we're going to see anything this morning.

i can tell you 270, 495, they don't even look this good. i was on both of them this morning. my neighborhood was a total disaster, which is what you're going to see if you turn down any of these side streets off of river road here. you see kind of the same thing. you see a lot of accumulation. perhaps a truck has not been through. i have to tell you, though, the worst thing i have seen this morning is when those winds that we've been talking about really pick up. you can see a little bit here in front of us. it really makes the snow travel across the roadway, making for a very quick, very temporary whiteout conditions but very scary. heading into loudoun county. we'll check in for you that morning and, aaron, i have to mention something, you know it's cold when you see aaron gilchrist wearing his furry hat into the station and kind of running in quickly, right, aaron. >> i don't play games. it's too cold for messing finitely are wore the furry

hat today. melissa mollet, thank you. if you were flying out of town this morning, you might want to check your flight status before you head to the airport. we checked and flightaware.com reporting more than 1,300 flights have been canceled. right now 23 of those flights are out of reagan national. bwi canceling 23 flights and dulles has canceled 11 flights this morning. about 2 nx 300 flights across the u.s. were canceled yesterday. all of the cancellations, of course, having the ripple effect on travel stretching all the way from california, almost 50 flights were grounded at l.a.x. last night because of the conditions here in the northeast. chicago's o'hare airport grounding hundreds of flights because of the storm. a northern virginia snow crews still at it this morning, working on roadways nonstop since yesterday trying to keep up with the bad weather. during the drive home yesterday traffic slowed to a crawl at some points, which hurt snow preparations. seeing salt trucks and plows stuck in the same traffic as

everyone else. car are after car spun out on those slippery roads. ramps were especially dangerous for commuters. some people chipped in with the snow efforts and pulled vehicles out of ditches. >> two years ago i got stuck in a ditch for about an hour and a half and these gentlemen with kids stopped by and helped me because i thought i was going to have to sleep in the truck. > . >> people rushed to get last-minute supplies including bottled water, some food, some good snacks there, and just in case the storm knocked out po r power. stay with news 4 throughout this winter storm. we'll be with you all morning to bring you the latest forecast on the road conditions, school closings, and our web team working hard, too, to keep you up to speed when you cannot watch. log on to nbcwashington.com. the cold is about to become the big story. in a few minutes what you can do now to stay warm if the lights go out touring this winter storm. plus, we're not the only ones digging out this morning. some of the place that is are really dealing with tough going on this friday morning. and here is a live look at union station.

now the flag whipping in the wind getting around town by train could also be rough today. we're breaking down wh

look at your weekend. 4:10 now. we are dealing with the second round of a winter storm. lacking live now at union station in the district, just

hours after getting about 2 inches of snow in d.c., whether you're driving or staying in today, snow will will not be your only problem. strong wind gusts about to cause some real issues all across the region and up the east coast. many of the trains out of union station will be running behind today. rail lines, like amtrak, are running on a modified snow schedule in the northeast. lines are trying to maneuver around hard-hit places including philadelphia, which you see here. traveling anywhere today will be tough if you can avoid it are or maybe delay it in any possible way. can you imagine what amtrak will look like? >> bundle up at home if you can, definitely. 4:11. weather and traffic every ten minutes on the 1s. tom kierein telling us more about what our weather is doing today. >> the first round was snow.

that's tapering off and ending. snow on the eastern shore. we have a couple of lingering bans here in montgomery county, fairfax, prince george's. a few flurries flying through in the district of columbia, most of the snow has ended. temperatures were down in the low 20s to mid-20s. it has dipped down it into the teens further north and west. the winds are gusting to around 30 to 40 miles an hour. our windchills by around 7:00 this morning had will be down to near zero to single digits. by 8:30 they'll still be in the single l digits. by 10:00 winds may be gusting to 50 miles an hour. temperatures just near 20. look at the windchills, near zero. then by noontime, the winds diminish. windchills should be right around ten degrees but still frigid into the afternoon. by 4:00 winds will be around 25 mimes an hour. windchills in the teens.

maynard edwards, good morning. are those roads still snow covered? >> we'll check in with maynard in just a bit. the winter storm took a deadly turn in one part of the country. coming up, we'll show you some of the hardest hit areas, and wait until you hear how hey the biggest snow total is. >> we are checking out the roads for you this morning. of course scouring -- spreading our cameras all across the area to let you know where

it's 4:12.

4:15. we are brushing off from an early storm. for most of us the snow has stopped falling but that doesn't mean we're out of the winds just yet, the winds, the very cold air about to make things for everybody the big talker for the day. amelia segal joins tom kierein for your forecast in just a moment. 4:15 now. let's head to montgomery county this morning. news 4's megan mcgrath has the latest on how the wintry weather is affecting that area. good morning. take a look at rockville pike. certainly passable but sloppy out there. we're seeing slush across all of the lanes in the area. as you mentioned we're right across the street from congressional. so if you hit this kind of slush going at any speed, hit the brakes, you run the risk of slipping and sliding out there. passable but not the greatest condition.

keep in mind if you're going to be traveling around town on foot, the sidewalks, not all of them have been shoveled here this morning. also untreated parking lots. you can see the snow cover that we have here. i would say that they got about an inch and a half in this area. we have some light snow falling. the one thing we have seen is the wind. i don't know if you can show some of these trees. when you get a gust of wind and the gusts are substantial, it can blow the snow ret off of the trees, right off of the rooft s rooftops. as i was driving in this morning early i was in an area on route 258 in anne arundel county in an area that had pretty dense coverage with trees, the canopy. the wind came out of snow off the trees and into the roadway and i had absolutely whiteout conditions. i had to stop my car right there in the road because i couldn't

see anything but white and that happened to me twice this morning. so in areas where you have a lot of tree cover be aware and watch out for the wind. reporting live along rockville pike, megan mcgrath. 4:17 now. as the winter storm made its way into the area thousands of people rushed to make sure they had the right supplies. make sure your home has a couple of things, working flashlights, fresh batteries, a first aid kit and at least a gallon of water and nonperishable food. make an emergency plan in case the water doesn't come back on for several days including the possibility of staying some place else. this morning a state of emergency is in effect for new york and new jersey. the new york tri-state area is preparing for as much as 10 inches of snow. a blizzard warning in effect for long island.

new york governor andrew cuomo closed the expressway at midnight. it is expect ed to reopen at 5:0 this morning if the weather conditions improve. trying to avoid another traffic disaster on the long island expressway when they were stranded in a snowstorm last year. this morning once again crews will clear the heavy snow from roa roads. cuomo is urging everyone to stay off the roads. he closed thruway 87. emergency managers are concerned the winds could cause snow to drift onto the roads and the subfreezing temperatures could prevent any melting. boxford, massachusetts, may have been hit the hardest, 21 inches of snow has fallen there so far. the national guard and state police ready to evacuate towns along the coast if they start to flood. that is not an issue just yet. and the storm proved to be deadly before the weather turned bad. a worker at a philadelphia-area storage facility died when a

huge pile of salt used to clear icy roads fell on him. it was 100 feet tall. this was hours before the storm even arrived in the philadelphia ar area. and of course we've made it easy for to you see the latest weather updates. download the weather app. it's available in the apple itunes store and on google play as well as on nbcwashington.com. 4:19. happening today, a unique coat drive will make 75 teenaged girls a little warmer. the girlfriends gratitude tee program will hand out specially selected coats to teens start ing at around 8:00 this morning. they will be delivered at central and largo high schools. each coach given was chosen to fit a certain girl's size, style and color preference. right now millions of people are dealing with the massive winter storm. take a look at the snow in lima, ohio. strong wind and snow created whiteout conditions there. this is along interstate 75

yesterday. it's not going to get any better today either. forecasters say temperatures will there could climb as high as the freezing mark this weekend before dropping below zero next week. people in minnesota dealing with bitter cold temperatures as well. 40 below in international falls there. >> did you say below? >> 40 degrees below zero. that is so cold. the flags don't even move. everything is frozen. you've seen reporters fry eggs on the sidewalk in the summer. one decided to crack an egg and see how long it would take to freeze. answer, under five minutes. >> 40 below is something i can't wrap my head around. >> when it gets this cold it should be illegal to go outside. they should be arresting people for going out. >> that's the first thing aaron said as he walked into the newsroom. let's check the forecast now. 4:21. here is tom. >> oh, look at that wind. there's a live view eunion station. that flag flapping in wind that's steady around 20 to 30 miles an hour. occasionally we have had gustses up to 40 miles an hour here in the storm team 4 weather center. all the observations are coming

in from our viewers and from the weather watchers around the region reporting snow totals around 3 inches north and west of the metro air a yeah. let's go right to the radar and show you where the snow is still falling. on the eastern shore it's beginning to move off quickly. we still have a few lingering bands of some light snow as megan was talking about there in montgomery county and there's one little band here just across the potomac near great falls and in arlington and further north and east of there, there's one little band of light snow now in prince george's county. these are the snow totals we've had, generally around an inch, 2 to 3 inches around the metro area. north and west 3 to 5 inches fell. and for today we're going to have these dangerous windchills, frostbite, hypothermia possible. definitely limit your time outdoors. if you have to be out, layer up. wear insulated gloves, insulated boots, your warmest winter gear. and right now it is frigid. we're down just near 20 degrees most of the region. southern maryland, the eastern shore, locations there in the upper 20s. it's in the teens now further

north and west. and look at the latest winds. wind just gust iing at reagan national to 41 miles an hour. and the winds are gusting around the 25 to 30 to 35 miles an hour north and west, south and east. the winds are beginning to pick up there, too, around 20 to 25 to 30 miles an hour, southern maryland, northern neck of the eastern shore. as a result our windchills are down to the single l digits this morning and it feels near zero. look at hagerstown. windchill is minus 1. zero windchill now in winchester with the wind there at about 30 miles an hour and the temperature in the teens. so it is cold around the metro area, too. in fact, just in the teens to near 20 degrees, nearby suburbs and here are our future windchills by 6:30 this morning windchills even right here in washington will only be around 3 degrees. near zero north and west. windchills in the single digits. 8:00 this morning will still be near zero windchills. subzae row windchills further

north and west. that's when we'll have the strongest winds. we may have the winds gusting 50 miles an hour between around 8:00 this morning through 10:00 a.m. and then the winds will subside so our windchills won't be quite as brutal but, still, windchills in the teens to just near 10 degrees during the afternoon as those winds do do did i minimum esh. hour by hour today we will have sunshine but windchill zero to 10 below between now and noontime. then the winds diminish with the sunshine and we'll hold steady in the low 20s mid after unanimous and then the temperatures plummet tonight as the winds diminish. clear skies down to near 10 tomorrow morning. saturday sunshine. highs only near freezing but then warmer weather moves in on sunday with a southerly breeze. 20s in the morning. low 40s in the afternoon with increasing clouds. we'll probably get some rain sunday afternoon into sunday evening and as the system ends, we could have a little light snow on monday. not a big deal but cold monday. then turning really cold, maybe the coldest air of the season so far on tuesday.

highs only in the teens. low to single digits, remaining freezing with sunshine. then warming up end of the weaning, could get some rain on thursday. maynard edwards, good morning. are the roadways improving at all? >> not just yet, tom. 295 at powder mill road a crash that will slow you down and then there's an overturned vehicle near the intersection of georgia avenue and aspen hill. and then take a look at the roadway here. this is what you'll find even on the major roadways where things have been treated but still very sloppy conditions. the sides of the road are going to be in bad shape and you've heard everyone talking all morning long how wind gusts can blow a big cloud of snow into your path and the visibility will be reduced to zero in a mat thor of a split second. and that's not just happening on res tension streets. that's happening on 95 and 495. i drive in from baltimore. my commute took me two hours this morning whereas it would normally take one. if that's any gauge for you and you have to drive, give yourself plenty of time and be mindful of your speeds and these sloppy roads.

aaron and eun, back to you. >> glad you got in safely. covering this morning after is she was hit by a metro bus in southeast. 43-year-old sherea smith was at w street and martin luther king jr. avenue when the bus struck her. she was in her battery powered wheelchair at the time. police are reviewing video from the bus and a nearby building in their investigation. police are still unclear as to whose fault it was. a former alexandria high school teacher will spend the next year in prison a. judge sentenced stephen miarer to a year behind bars for having sex with at least two students inside tc williams high school. that's where he taught psychology and sociology. he also coached basketball there. miarer was originally sentenced to ten years in prison. nine of those years were suspended. walmart recalling more than 70,000 card table and chair sets this morning after reports of fi finger injuries. take a look at the table a here. it is the mainstay five piece card table. the company says the table can

unexpectedly collapse. so far walmart has received ten reports of injury including one finger amputation. they were sold between may and november last year for about $50. if you have this set, you can return it to walmart for a full refund. 4:26 right now. more of our team coverage on this winter storm is just ahead. coming up, our cameras were there as the heavy snow first moved into the area. looking at places that saw the most snowfall here in our area. and we are on the roads with you as well this morning. coming you up, our first 4 traffic live drive cam