was scheduled to be closed already today. a complete list of schools is at the bottom of the screen and on nbcwashington.com. if you are heading out to work or school this morning, you'll see plenty of plows getting ready to be on the roads for you. crews in maryland, d.c. and virginia worked through the night to pretreat the roads. d.c. has more than 200 trucks ready to work 12-hour shifts spreading salt. vdot will have more than 4,000 pieces of equipment working when the snow starts falling and 350 trucks in montgomery county. metro is also preparing for the winter storm. the agency suggests you travel before the worst of the storm hits and after it leaves. train service is expected to begin at its regular time at 5:00 a.m. the agency says fewer trains could run later in the day depending on ridership and weather conditions. metro buses plan to run their normal schedule. if metro needs to suspend bus service, it will give you a three-hour notice.

the agency canceled all metro access service for today. in the potential for the most snow we have seen in a couple years, it has a lot of you stocking up for potential days stuck at home. check out the line for gas in fairfax yesterday. last night a lot of you were making last-minute runs to the grocery store for food, firewood, shovels. even if you feel unprepared for the storm, we found that the kids are pretty ready. >> i get to stay home from school and go sledding and stuff. >> we get very excited here, so we are ready. we have our shovels, sleds, you name it. i'm sure if we get some we'll be out there. >> kids, the innocence of youth. >> yes. >> remember, you can get the school closings at the bottom of the screen or at nbcwashington.com. >> you can track the snow on radar in your area right on your smartphone. just download the storm team 4 weather app and search nbc washington weather in the app store or google play. we just got word that d.c. government is closed today.

there's a winter storm about to hit our region. >> team coverage from storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell this morning. good morning. >> good morning, eun and aaron. storm team 4 radar is showing the snow in northern maryland. and for everyone wondering about when do i need to worry about shoveling my driveway here in the washington metro area, you probably don't need to have the shovel out until after lunchtime today. but after that the snow could come down fast and furious for a couple hours and could add up to several inches. there's the leading edge of the snow moving into western parts of west virginia. and temperatures are not terribly cold just yet, but they will be getting colder. we'll give you the where, when and how much here coming up in the next couple of minutes. for now, my colleague amelia siegal is outside in it. what do you have so far? >> reporter: it's still the calm before the storm like you're talking about. it's completely dry out here and the winds are not an issue. the temperature at our station in northwest, 39 degrees. chuck, i brought my gloves out.

i don't need to put them on just yet, but look at our temperatures throughout the day today. as the snow makes its way into the area, the temperatures fall. 8:45 to 9:00 a.m., we are down to 33 degrees. by noon we are below freezing across the area. during the evening hours, temperatures plummet on into the 20s. and then teens around midnight tonight. temperatures will continue to fall into the single digits. tomorrow morning, chuck, once the snow is over, we are going to be dealing with the wind and bitter cold temperatures. this storm is going to leave behind windchills tomorrow morning, you can see anywhere from about 10 to almost 20 degrees below zero. and then after that, chuck, this chill sticks around right on through the rest of the week. >> sure does, everybody. it's been a relatively mild winter early on, but this second snap of real bitter cold is definitely going to make a big impact around here. severe impacts on travel arrive later on this afternoon. for more on the morning commute, here's danella. good morning, chuck. i'm tracking breaking news on

the road right now. for folks traveling the inner loop of the beltway, tracking the early morning crash that has the inner loop shut down, this is just at the route 50 exit eastbound. you can see lanes are blocked. your work-around is to jump off route 50 heading eastbound, make a right at mlk, then get back on 50 westbound to reconnect to the inner loop of the beltway. a little work around there but workers are not seeing major delays, just slow for folks approaching route 50. now head down to route 1 richmond highway, this time at furnace road. if you are making the commute in this area, one lane is blocked in each direction because of the crash there. brief delay, but not a lot of volume. i'm back in ten minutes. back over to you both. 4:34. more now on breaking news right now on the roads, we want to go to news4's malette greene at the news desk. >> a tragic morning on the roads. this morning we have confirmed with maryland state police that a pedestrian was struck and killed in that accident along

eastbound route 50 at the inner loop of the beltway. this happened more than an hour ago, so the investigation is still very active and ongoing right now. we are working to get you more info on how all of this happened. no details on the victim. we don't know the age or gender. the driver stayed on the scene, but of course traffic in that area being impacted and our danella sealock will stay on top of that for you. 4:35. crews are treating the streets before the winter storm arrives. news4's megan mcgrath is at the salt dome in the alexandria section of fairfax county. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. the crews here are reportedly working very early. you can see the activity here as they load up with salt here to go out and hit the roadways, get in place and just standby and wait for the snow to start to come down here. we have 4,000 pieces of equipment in northern virginia ready to tackle whatever mother nature throws our way.

keep in mind, folks, that when you are out and about, when all of the snow begins, you're going to want to give these plows plenty of room. 100 feet is what they are calling for as they start to spread the salt and the chemicals down on the ground. now, of course, as things really get going later on this afternoon and we start to see the heavier snow, you are advised to get off the roads altogether. give these plows room so they can do their jobs and get the streets cleared as quickly as possible. if you can stay home, do that. a lot of the school systems are closed, a lot of the governments are closed today. so that's an option for you. we have seen a lot of pretreated roads out there. we have seen the stripe and sections with salt laid down. they are prepared. at this point we are just waiting. back to you in the studio. >> megan mcgrath, thank you. and now to malette greene with more on how this is affecting air travel. >> no snow on the ground at our local airports just yet, but the bad weather elsewhere in the sky

is having an impact this morning. a few moments ago i checked flightaware.com where more than 1700 flights have been scrapped today. more than 1700 delays as well. so we'll break it down at our local airports. 127 canceled at reagan national. 90 wiped off the board at dulles. and 48 flights grounded at bwi marshall airport. here's how you can get around this storm if you have travel plans. several major airlines are dropping their change fees. that's going to make it easier for you to travel on a different day and avoid being stuck at the airport for hours or days. us airways, american, delta and jetblue all are relaxing the rules today and tomorrow. that's the latest from the live desk. back to you. thank you. here in our area we'll be watching the roads all day as the snow gets ready to move into our area. let's get an update now from storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. chuck? >> good morning once again, eun.

it's all about the snow today. it is definitely welcomed news for snow lovers. that is not necessarily good news for everybody who moved here from florida hoping that it was going to continue to feel like florida around here. not going to be the case. it will be a whole lot like winter soon. here's our first look at it, generally three to four inches in far southern maryland. then about four to maybe as much as seven inches of snow for the bulk of the immediate metropolitan area including prince george's county and fairfax county. then up to the north and west, we might be able to do just a little bit better. seven to ten inches of snow up to frederick and hagerstown. we'll be fine-tuning this map and talking more the timing in a couple minutes, but for now, back to the news. thank you. we are staying on top of this approaching winter storm all morning long. coming up, millions of people up and down the east coast are bracing for heavy snow and freezing cold air. we'll tell you where else is getting ready for this winter storm. plus, to vote or not to

vote? we'll tell you whether today's storm will affect an election happening in our area. a live look outside right now at union station. the flag flapping in the wind there. you're looking at how much snow today, what it will start falling and where we'll see it most.

4:41 is the time right now.

it could be a long day with a winter storm just hours away from our area. as we look at storm team 4 radar, we are not seeing snowflakes just yet, but it won't stay this way very long. >> we'll find out when the snow starts falling and how much we'll get. meteorologist chuck bell is watching this storm for us. good morning. good morning, aaron and eun. skies have gone mostly cloudy. the real cold air hasn't begun to settle in just yet, but don't you worry, it's not going to be a challenge to get down below the freezing mark once we get snowfall moving into the region. 32 in hagerstown. 28 in manassas. 38 degrees downtown. driving into work this morning, the little car thermometer which is not always the most accurate, it was 39 degrees when i left my garage at 2:30 this morning. indeed, cold, yes, but not bitterly cold. notice the temperature down to the freezing mark, but where you

see temperatures back to the mid-20s by 9:00 a.m., that's already beginning to see the leading edge of the snowflakes and temperatures will be continuing to tumble by 4:30 this afternoon. we'll be back down into the low to mid-20s. and we'll all be having snow by then. all right, chuck. we'll lookout for that. right now i'm still tracking breaking news in prince george's county. heads-up if you have to leave the house. the inner loop lanes are blocked and are forced off to eastbound 50. from there make a right on martin luther king jr. highway and connect to westbound 50. that's where you can reenter the beltway. now, we're going to shoot back over for folks waking up and traveling on route 1 at richmond highway and furnace road. one lane is getting by in both directions. and a struck deer reported in bristow along route 28 northbound. i'll be back in ten minutes. see you then. preparing for the worst this morning as the snow moves in. we'll tell you how to make sure your car is ready for this big winter storm. plus, it is not just the snow but also the cold.

storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell and amelia segal watching the forecast. they are back in a moment with

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get to h.h. gregg now, your samsung headquarters for the big game. see it all at h.h. gregg.com. 4:46 now. a winter storm about to move into our region. we are getting ready for the snow and the cold to make a huge impact around here. most schools, the federal government and the d.c. government are closed. >> right now most of the roads in our area are dry, but they could turn into snow in a few hours. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is joining us now with more on what's happening out there in the weather, chuck. good morning, eun and aaron. i know you two are not necessarily the biggest snow lovers in the world, but don't worry, amelia and i make up for it. and it's a little something to

talk about. the winter storm warnings are up for the entire area from sunrise this morning until midnight tonight. and already you can start to see a little snow in northern maryland. we've still got several more dry snow-free hours to go right inside the immediate metro. most everybody, the largest center of our population, montgomery, fairfax, prince george's county, the heart of the metro won't see snowflakes until after 9:00 a.m. we'll get into the how much and the timeline on all this in a few minutes. eun, back to you. see you then. 4:47. you may want to get gas onou way to work this morning. aaa suggests to keep your gas tank at least half full during cold weather. and that will help prevent the gas line from freezing up. you should also drive a little more slowly than usual when you first hit the road, even if there's no snow on the ground. this will allow your engine to warm up slowly and allow the oil to circulate properly. remember to never warm up your car in a garage or other enclosed area. stay with news4 and nbcwashington.com for complete

coverage of this winter storm warning. we're also posting updates on our nbc washington facebook page and twitter accounts. as always, tweet us your weather pictures to nbcwashington or e-mail us at isee@nbcwashington.com. our other headlines at 4:48, new this morning, police found two people dead inside a northwest d.c. row house on girard street across the street from howard university. police have not released any information about how the victims died. today's snow will not postpone a special election in northern virginia. voters in parts of fairfax and loudoun counties will choose a new state senator. democrat jennifer weather conditionston, republican john whitveck and joe may are running for the seat. today a discussion will be made to talk about how much progress has been made in areas devastated by superstorm sandy.

bitter cold temperatures like we are seeing today have had an effect on how much rebuilding work has been done. it's been over a year since sandy claimed 180 lives and cost $65 billion in damage. later today new jersey governor chris christie will be sworn in for his second term. christie took 60% of the vote in november's election over bash bah buono. christie will take the office in trenton. the inauguration will continue as planned in the wake of the gw bridge closure scandal. later tonight christie will attend a $5,000 ticket party on ellis island. in the meantime, new jersey's lieutenant governor is denying new claims of political retribution from the christie camp. over the weekend, she was told she would only get sandy relief funds if she supported a billion-dollar redevelopment plan that governor christie wanted. christie also denied those allegations. it is 4:49.

let's go to molette green following a story from philadelphia. >> police right now in suburban philadelphia are looking for the person who shot a college student at widner university. i just checked the school's website and awe is a message posted telling folks there's no active shooter or threat of the active shooter, but students are told to stay indoors until 6:00 a.m. this morning. take a look at the video from the scene. that's about 14 miles south of philly. the student who was shot last night near the athletic center is in critical but stable condition this morning after surgery. the victim was sitting in a car when he was shot, but still was able to call 911 for help. no word yet this morning on a motive. police are looking over surveillance footage for clues in this case. that's the latest. back to you. thank you. we are following a developing story in nebraska this morning where investigators will be back at a collapsed plant this morning looking for what made the building crumble.

to people were killed when the second and third floor collapsed at the animal seed plant in omaha. one of the bodies remains in the building because the scene is unstable. firefighters are not saying for sure there was an explosion but workers heard a blast. it is 4:51 and the region is about to get hit with what could be a major winter storm. we are learning about a few more closures, jefferson county, west virginia, winchester city, falls church city, st. mary's county in maryland and charles county all closed. >> chuck bell is now joining us once again tracking this storm for us. good morning to you. good morning. all the closures today are in preparation, there may be just as many closures again tomorrow as we deal with the after effects of what's going to be our most significant snowstorm by all indications in about three years. the last time we had more than three inches of snow at national airport was january of 2011. it's been literally a long, long time for us. snowflakes already starting to reach places like hancock,

maryland, and pawpaw, west virginia. a few snowflakes out in the shenandoah valley, stanton, you are getting some in the way of light snow. the heavier snow is back across eastern kentucky. and the main area of low pressure that's going to drive the formation of this whole storm is still back here in southwestern indiana. it's going to make the dip and the turn aiming for the lower parts of the chesapeake baby about sundown tonight. and as it makes that move, it has the ability to throw moisture back into the cold air, which will be settling in during the course of the day. and that will make everything snow. so heavy snow is coming today. here's the future weather forecast for this timing of the snow. by 8:00 this morning, three hours from now, most of the i-81 corridor is getting snow by 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. by 9:00 to 10:00, the snow moving right into the heart of the d.c. metro area. and by lunchtime today, snow pretty much everywhere, even down into southern maryland by lunchtime. and the snow could be briefly

very heavy at times from 2:00 this afternoon until 6:00 or 7:00 this evening. eventually after about midnight tonight, things will rapidly come to an end. and we'll actually get clearing skies, but the problem is after the skies clear out, the bitter cold air settles in. for more on that, we have amelia segal outside in what is not the bitter cold just yet. >> reporter: you're right, chuck. the temperature here right now is 38 degrees, but not only are we getting snow today but also falling temperatures. you mentioned the potential for maybe even some school closures tomorrow morning. well, tomorrow morning, not only will you be shoveling snow, but you'll be shoveling snow in bitter cold. here are the lows tonight. that's right, single digits. a low temperature in washington of only 8 degrees. so we are going to see about a 30-degree temperature drop throughout the day today. here's a look at your windchill forecast overnight tonight into tomorrow morning. 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning as commuters start to get on the road, look at how we'll feel

outside. anywhere from about 10 to almost 20 degrees below zero. chuck, the chill sticks around throughout the entire day tomorrow. but the snow is confined to today. >> always good to know for a lot of people who don't care for falling snow. the actual impacts by tuesday afternoon, later on today, the roads will get increasingly worse after about lunchtime, so if you don't have to go to work or school and do still have things to get done, the sooner the better is always going to be the case. by later on this afternoon, a high impact on travel delays. that will include amtrak, that will include all three of our metro airports. and that will include i-95 and i-81. snowfall amounts, it's going to be a medium amount. four to seven inches of snow is not the biggest snowstorm we've had. the big double blizzards back in the 2009/2010 winter, those would be high impacts. those were the 17 to 24 inches, but in and around town today, 4 to 7 inches of snow for most of us. we'll get into the seven-day forecast and more of the hometown amounts in a few

minutes. for now, back to the news. good morning, chuck. unfortunately, i'm still tracking breaking news with folks travel the beltway in prince george's cook. the inner loop is closed because of the earlier fatal accident at route 50. police are forcing you off onto eastbound 50. take that to mlk and make a right to get back on westbound 50 and connect back to the inner loop of the beltway past the accident there. shooting over to route 1 richmond highway at furnace road, still seeing one lane blocked in both directions. but the commute on i-66 outside of the beltway, nice and clear. also inside, no accidents to report. thank you, danella. another school closure to tell you about, hampshire county schools are closed as well. 4:55. we are getting you ready for the day as the winter storm moves in. coming up, gear up for a long day. we are watching how road crews are getting ready to tackle the storm to bring heavy snow later today. and team coverage from storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell and amelia segal are working

hard to see how the snow and cold air will affect your day and when.

welcome back at 4:58. if you are just joining us, we are about to get hit with a winter storm. take a look at this radar, heavy snow and cold temperatures are about to move in. and in just a moment here at the top of the hour, we'll check the latest school closings, get your latest forecast and get an update on the commute.

people in connecticut already got just a little taste of what they can expect later today. a quick snow squall hit part of the state leaving behind a light coating here, but today the story will be very different most of that state could see five to eight inches of snow with some areas along the coast expecting up to nine. and with the dangerously low temperatures in the forecast, fema is reminding everybody to stay safe today. >> here are a few tips on how to stay warm. first, stay indoors as much as possible. if you use a space heater, put it on a non-flammable surface. not on rugs or carpets. make sure to turn them off before going to sleep. >> another big worry in cold temperatures, freezing pipes. open your cabinet doors below the kitchen and cabinet doors so warm air circulates around the pipes. also keep a small trickle or both hot and cold water running throughout the night. if you have not done so already, disconnect any hoses from outside spigots. news4 continues at 5:00 a.m. with everything you need to know about this winter storm.

>> "news4 today" starts now. >> ready or not, just a few hours from now snowflakes will start to fall here in washington. and by the time it's over, we could see the region's biggest snowfall in several years. this morning, team cerage to get you ready for your day ahead. it is 5:00 a.m. straight up. i'm aaron gil dis chrchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. the federal government is closed today. here's a live look at capitol hill. while all government offices are close closed, every major school system in our area is closed as well. >> prince george's, anne arundel, frederick and charles county schools are closed. so are st. mary's schools, students in montgomery and howard counties are scheduled to already have the day off. >> fairfax un