tv News4 Today NBC February 14, 2014 4:30am-5:01am EST
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up near new york city. here locally, yes, the big story is -- the temperatures are beginning to drop even though at the airports, it's showing little above freezing. many of the neighborhoods are now dropping down to near freezing and a little bit below freezing. we're going to stay this way all the way through about 8:00, 9:00 this morning. northwest breezes will begin to settle down and shift into the southwest by the time we get into this evening. with lets of sunshine, we will have temperatures warming nicely. we'll have more melting going on today by noon. should be up near 40 degrees. during the afternoon, into the low 40s. are you going out tonight? we'll have a light southwesterly breeze for your valentine's evening. hour by hour, temperatures by 8:00 hovering near 40 degrees. we'll have more melting, a lot of slush on the sidewalks and the side streets. and by 10:00, still i think we'll be above freezing in the upper 30s. and getting back down maybe to theid 30s by the time clouds
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roll in. winds coming out of the south and west. yeah, we have a possibility of a little more snow coming in here. that will be on saturday morning. i'll show you the timing on that, how much we'll be getting coming up this half-hour. now a look at our road conditions. it is slushy and getting icy, danella. >> that's right, tom. you know that means accidents. here we go. a new one coming in to the first 4 traffic center. this is 66 eastbound at fairfax county parkway. crash here is tying up the right side oe so folks are getting by. your volume is light. as tom said, you know, you're seeing slush, but some of the slush is ice. so we'll talk about a weather closure. this is 66 eastbound at 123. they did have the ramp shut down because of icing. that ramp is open. you see the right side of the road having two left lanes get by. the trip from haymarket, dicey. you have to keep your speeds down this morning. now, talking about road conditions, we're going to head over to silver spring, maryland,
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as you make the commute in aspen hill. here we go. georgia avenue at aspen hill road. at this intersection, you see just a lot of slush and ice in the roadway. so it's going to be very important when you leave this morning to take your time. i'm back in ten minutes. over to you. >> all right. thank you. 4:33. and what a difference a day makes. this is what news4's richard jordan saw yesterday at this time in loudoun county. he's there again this morning, joining us folklife sterling. richard, what are you seeing today? >> reporter: aaron, what a huge difference. it's actually impressive that the plows were actually able to make so much progress with the big mess that we had out here yesterday. take a look. there is still some problem spots. here is the algonquin parkway. it is completely clear. you would never even know that there was more than a foot of snow out here yesterday and later through the night, we got the second round, wet, slushy stuff. you wouldn't know it. they've cleared this, it looks great.
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what happens is you come on to the side streets and are you finding it pretty icy, pretty dicey. especially just pulling in. you're going to see this is what the car is going to do. it is usually that tight turn, that right-hand turn. you see -- look at that. the driver didn't even see that you could pull up in there, that's because of how icy and snowy the side streets are here. so they'll have to back up and see if perhaps they can get it this time. that's what we're dealing with. so wet and slushy out here, just take a look. looks like a puddle, some of this is slippery. so that's what you're dealing with. again, it is that tight right turn. when you make that. that is the most dangerous part. that's when you might feel your car start to fishtail. so watch out for that. that's pretty much going to apply no matter where you are. that's the situation in loudoun county. pretty much anywhere you go, it is going to be the side streets that haven't been cleared. hopefully crews can make progress on that. and all the roads can look as good as that one. reporting live in sterling, richard jordan, news4.
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now 4:34. the countless snow and ice storms this winter have led to the highest number of flight cancelations in more than 25 years according to the associated press. take a live look at reagan national airport now. 70 flights are canceled today. the airport closed all of its runways for most of the day yesterday. a spokesman for the metropolitan washington airport's authority says both reagan national and dulles should be back it normal today. right now, only 37 flights are canceled out of dulles airport. the storm grounded about 65% of the flights out of the airport yesterday. only one of four runways was open. we ran into travelers who say they were going back and forth between airports trying to get out of town. >> i was supposed to fly out of baltimore. and the flight was canceled. then i came through dulles here. apparently my flight is canceled here, as well. >> i can't wait to get back home. >> right now, bwi marshall has about 30 flight cancelations. if you're planning to fly out of town today, you will want to
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check with your flight status before you head to the airport. could be delays. remember, we are going to keep you up to the minute all morning long, even if you have to leave home. download the "news4 today" app to your iphone. get the latest forecasts, school closingses and stream our -- school closings and stream our broadcast live. many of you had yourtors towed because of where you parked when the snowplows came through. this morning, where you can reclaim your property but not without a cop. and many neighborhoods look like this, a mess this morning. we'll talk to news4's megan mcgrath coming up. a warming trend for this valentine's day. we'll look at that and a chance of snow coming up. ♪
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a live look. many parking lots look like this, snow piled up in parking lots, another issue that could affect you head information to work. we're hours from finding out who saturday best in snow in our region. >> tonight the winner of the pat collins snowstick challenge will be announced during our evening broadcast. our panel of judges will review more than 2,300 entries of you and your friends. both you and your pets this afternoon. here are some that came in. during our 6:00 news, we'll announce who will get a replica of the coveted pat collins snow stick. 6:00 p.m. tonight. >> we had kids with their heads in the snow -- >> babies. everybody gets in -- >> lots of cute stuff. hard to judge. the other issue folks will be thinking about is the freeze after all the snow of pushed to the side. a lot of it is hardening as we look live over the capital. >> let's check in with storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein with weather & traffic on the 1s. tom? >> yes, indeed.
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you're right. we have a freeze underway. storm team 4 radar all clear. we've had the last of the snow from yesterday gone overnight. it's a clear sky, and under the clear sky, the temperatures have begun to drop to near freezing much of the region. so if it looks wet, in fact, that is probably ice. we had a lot of that snow melting yesterday, compacting down, turned to wat on many of the sidewalks and streets. now that water is freezing up. it's going to stay below freezing here i think through 8:00, 9:00 this morning. then, we'll get above freezing by noontime, bright sunshine, near 40 degrees, mid-afternoon the low 40s. the timing on some saturday? when it arrives and leaves and how much we'll get, that's coming at 4:51. danella is looking at the slushy roads and icy spots. any accidents yet? >> yeah, you know, still watching i-66. this is as you head eastbound toward fairfax county parkway, right side blocked by a crash there. reportedly involving two
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vehicles. folks are getting by just in the left lane. heads up, good news. closer to chain bridge road, the earlier plowing blocking the right side of the roadway. that is gone. you still have to look out for the plows while they're trying to get roads like this. this is for folks traveling in northwest d.c. this is the intersection of georgia avenue at kansas avenue. so this slush here can be really tricky to get by. aaron and eun? >> thank you. a different perspective on the snowhis morning. that's our tower cam pointed down at our parking lot here. nothing but snow you see. we have crews on the move for you working to show you conditions across the region. plus, the number of accidents stacking up. just how busy crashes are keeping police during this storm.
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plenty of extra time. chances are you'll have to dig out of your car. this morning, we are getting an idea of how bad virginia roads really were yesterday. virginia state police say it took -- they took more than 5,2 00 calls between wednesday and yesterday for trouble. more than 1,300 accidents, 14 disabled cars stranded on the roads. police said no injuries were reported. we're also keeping an eye on the roads in the district. megan mcgrath live near the eastern market metro station in capitol hill. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: well, we're seeing some icy conditions. it kind of depends on what street you're taking here. you see we've got a truck coming out here off of d street. and taking a left on to 7th street. you hear the crunching maybe of the -- the ice underneath the wheels of that truck. and basically everything froze overnight. we've got very chilly temperatures here. so anything that was wet, any slush, water, it is pretty much frozen. take a look at d street here.
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and you see all of the slush that is piled up here along the curb. you're probably going to have to dig your car out if you haven't gone anywhere since the storm began. you're going to have to dig your car out. as the plows went through, they buried all of the cars. give yourself extra time. might not be a bad idea to take a snow shovel with you just in case you encounter some problems. but we are seeing some very icy conditions out here. some streets are better than others. i should say that the major roads, not a problem at all. i had no difficulty getting to work this morning. this is the kind of thing that you're going to have to be aware of. keep your speeds down because you hit a big pile of frozen slush like this, and there is really the potential to slip around and get yourself into trouble here. so just take it easy. if you're cautious, you should be okay. keep in mind you don't want to wait to leave the house at the last minute because it is going to take you some time to dig out if this is the first time that you're moving your car here this morning want reporting live in capitol hill, megan mcgrath, news4.
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back to you. >> all right. thank you. this morning, a few hundred of you may be getting ready to pick up your car after it was towed during the storm. d.c. public works tells us it towed 200 cars that were parked along emergency routes and ticketed 600 more. if your car was towed, it's going to cost you at least $370 to get it back from the impound lot on shepherd parkway in southwest. and keep in mind the lot is only open until 630s tonight. it will be closed for the long president's day weekend. valentine's day plans might be on hold for a couple of days. several delivery-based service the including flower shops say they may not be able to move around town to drop off those bouquets. snowy roads are making it difficult for vans to move through the streets. many online shows say the best way to know if your delivery will be on time is to watch the tracking nuer. many florists delivered yesterday. i received mine with a note saying they had to go early in case they couldn't make it today. >> is that okay?
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>> fine, it's fine. this wintry sblaft also freeze -- blast is also freezing out a lot of businesses. >> not good news after a tough sales start in january. according to numbers, if business doesn't pick up, the 2014 first quarter will be lower than expected which is being called frozen-omics. some economists argue the bad weather is hitting hourly workers the hardest as it's cutting into their paychecks. >> people staying home from work, those are lost hours. people not going to malls, those are lost sales. houses that could have been built, all sort of things, economic activity that might have happened that because it's been too cold and snowy, it's not getting done. >> to give you more context here, last year at this time, 43% of the country was covered in snow. right now, 60% is. 13 before the hour now. the winter olympics reaching a new milestone. molette green with more. >> reporter: just a few minutes ago, we got some news from organizers in sochi about ticket sales. they say they passed the milestone with one million tickets sold and that russian
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men's hockey team is getting credit. those in charge say more than 100,000 fans packed olympic park to see them beat slovenia. this suggests a big turnaround for organizers who admitted just days ago that volunteers were being paid to fill empty seats at some events. that is the latest from the live desk. back to you. >> thank you. and it's time to turn over to our forecast now. snow moved out, but now we have these really cold temperatures, freezing overnight. and that could cause significant problems today. >> yeah. just when i was parking my car in the lot, a lot of it was wet from the snow that melted. started to turn icy. you've got to watch your footing as you head out the door on this valentine's day morning. later today, you're going to love the forecast for this afternoon, for this valentine's day. i'm talking love. >> love. >> there is capitol hill under a clear sky now. reagan national is above freezing. temperature there at reagan national is generally in the mid
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to upper 30s. and we've got a wind coming in out of the northwest that's beginning to settle down. it was gusting over 30 miles per hour here just the last hour. it is quickly settling down. now for the day today, if you're about to head out with your car and haven't taken the snow off, do that. get a push broom and push it off. don't drive with snow on your roof. that can fly off and hit the car behind you. completely clear your car before you head out. post your pics. we had a lot of great pictures and the pat collins snow stick best in snow. we have great photos for that, too. we'll have the winner coming up later today. it is an icy morning because temperatures are right down near freezing. we've had a lot of melting, but now everything that was wet is starting to ice up. fredericksburg down to 31. and it is near or below freezing farther north and west. even our nearby neighborhood at the airport showing it a little above freezing. but many of the neighborhoods are down at or below freezing. now we have some more snow
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returning for saturday. here's the timing. this is as of 6:00 saturday morning. this area in the lavender and pink is the zone of some accumulating snow. it's going to begin to move in to the shenandoah valley by then. 6:00 saturday morning, into western maryland. then after that, it advances to the east, gets closer to washington. as of 9:00 saturday morning, it starts to get into frederick county, loudoun county, east of the blue ridge. then by around 11:00, noontime, that's when we're going to have the band of snow come right through the metro area and even farther to our south across northern virginia, into southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore. by 3:00 in the afternoon, it will be a quick-moving band of snow. then it will leave. how much snow will we get? here are some of the totals i think that are going to be likely around the metro area. i think we'll have maybe just one to two inches in washington, our nearby southern suburbs, northern neck, eastern shore. our northern and western suburbs could get two to as much as four inches in some of the higher locations in northern montgomery
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county and northern loudoun. and some of the higher ridges farther west and north may get up to six inches there. but generally around four inches there up near the pennsylvania border. and then after that, we'll get sun back on saturday afternoon with highs reaching the upper 30s. and then on sunday, cold start again. another refreeze. we're going to have to deal with iciness on sunday morning. sunday afternoon, partly cloudy, interest the upper 30s. then on monday, another refreeze. i think we're still going to have some snow around. and what ices up on monday will quickly melt during the day with highs reaching near 40 then look at this -- these are the best numbers on the seven-day outlook. the 50s on tuesday, wednesday, thursday. remember the 50s, danella? >> maybe last year, tom. you know? i swear this winter is not leaving without a fight. i'm not ready for this fight. let's head over to good news. i-66, this is eastbound at fairfax county parkway. was tracking a crash here tying up the right side of the
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roadway. that is gone. now on 66, not seeing any accidents or delays. you still want to give yourself extra time this morning. we'll shoot over this time, if you're heading toward the clarendon metro station, want it show you this for metro riders. you see still slushy on the sidewalks. make sure you wear your nice, safe gripped boots. the other thing in the roadways here, too, again, slush and ice. you have to give yourself extra time. and use caution. other roads looking really nice. this is georgia avenue heading toward the metro station. yesterday i checked this, cars were stuck all along the road here. not today. it is pretty clear. the side streets you have to look out for especially for forest glen road. back in ten minutes. back to you. >> see you then. 4:52. as we deal with the aftermath of record-setting snow in washington, president obama is traveling to california today to see firsthand the state's severe drought. the president will visit fresno in central california where 90% of the state's farms are
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located. the president along with local lawmakers will hold a roundtable discussion about providing federal funding to help with the problem. california is having its worst drought in state history. why courthouses will be extra busy especially today. and if you had yesterday off and you didn't move your car, chances are you're probably stuck today. give yourself extra time to dig out. more coverage ahead. this is a live picture from loudoun county, virginia. that car is going to be buried for a while probably. a lot of folks waking up to that this morning. more storm team 4 coverage coming up.
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welcome back at 4:55. a live look over the capital on this second day of a storm. the snow's moved out, but a lot of ice on the ground now. people are still buried in from yesterday. tom told us about yet another chance of snow for the weekend. what about dayton tonight -- date night tonight on this valentine's day? his hour-by-hour forecast coming up in weather & traffic on the 1s. there is a lot of broken -- there are a lot of broken hearts in georgia this morning. that's because one of the sheriffs there canceled valentine's day apparently. he posted a message on facebook designating a no-valentine's day zone until february 18th because of the ice, snow, and freezing rain there. >> you can cancel valentine's day? >> good luck to that guy. >> really. now 4:56. today d.c. superior court is celebrating valentine's day by performing twice as many weddings. the court typically performs about 14 weddings a day. but they'll be performing 28
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weddings in two ceremony rooms today. congrats. new york city is celebrating love by holding the 20th annual valentine's day weddings at the top of the empire state building. three couples were selected to exchange vows at the new york landmark. it's making the event even more special, the building will be bathed in red and pink lights for valentine's day. your child might be telling the truth when he or she says they need more sleep during the winter. a new study finds that schools that change their start time during the winter months by just a half-hour had better functioning students. researchers say when students got 30 minutes more sleep, they paid more attention in class, took fewer naps, and were used -- and they used less caffeine. depression also went down among students who were able to get more sleep. do you need a new fridge? this may be a good weekend to shop for one. maryland holding a tax-free holiday for some energystar appliances. that includes energy-efficient refrigerators, air conditioners,
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washers, dryers, and more. we have a list on nbcwashington.com at "tax free holiday." >> you need a new fridge, dishwasher, laundry. >> i'm good. >> what -- washer/dryer. stay with us. "news4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. no heavy snowfall this hour. you're still going to have a rough time getting around as the d.c. area tries to dig out after a massive winter storm. we're live around the region this morning tracking the conditions you'll have to deal with if you're leaving the house. of course a lot of you will have a little extra time before you need to be at work this morning. the federal government will open two hours late today. federal workers do have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. and look at this local map. the public schools in the red counties are closed again today. d.c. public schools were already closed for a teacher in-service day. we have a complete list of closings on the bottom of the
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screen and on nbcwashington.com. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein here with the conditions you're going to step outside to this morning. and why some of us may not have seen the end of the snow. tom? that is right. there's a view from our storm team 4 tower cam looking down on -- here in northwest washington. the circle right in front of nbc 4. you see all that snow on the ground there, and where it looks like it's wet, in fact, that is iciness. it's going to stay icy with a clear sky all the way through around 8:00 this morning. what did melt and turned to water overnight is icing up. then i think by mid morning, we'll get abovefreezing. by noon, 40 with bright sunshine. a southwesterly breeze should get us into the low 40s with a partly cloudy sky by mid to late afternoon. are you going out this valentine's day evening? for your date night tonight, it should be fairly nice. you're going to be dodging the slush on sidewalks and many side streets that remain unplowed,
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still slushy. above freezing through the evening with a southwesterly breeze. staying into the 30s, mid to upper 30s. right now storm team 4 radar scanning the sky. don't have any snow. and we've got a clear sky now. we've got the moon in the western sky. jupiter in the southern sky, nice and bright. look at temperatures now, they are dropping to near or below freezing much of the region. that is just going to continue to ice things up as we saw where richard is there in loudoun county. he said everything is really getting solidly icy there, too. that's happening, too, all across most of virginia, most of maryland, and our nearby suburbs. still a little above freezing around the bay and on the eastern shore. i'm back in just a couple of minutes. we'll look at the chance for snow on saturday and how much we'll get. now let's look at what's happening on our roads. can't be too great, right? no. not too great. i'm just watching a lot of fender-benders in the area. it is slick out. here's another one. for folks traveling in maryland, along routes 50, as you get -- along route 50, as you get prior to 410, that's where the crash
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is. so it's on the right side of the roadway blocking the right lane and the right shoulder lane. heads up there. another thing i'm tracking, broken down car. so beltway, inner loop of the beltway just before you get to connecticut avenue, you're going to see the left lane blocked by a broken down car there. outer loop, nice and clear. nice folks taking the rails this morning, i have your commute coming up in ten minutes, as well. we'll look at d.c. cameras and head to southeast. >> all right. thank you. 5:01. you should have an easier time getting around loudoun county this morning. richard jordan's been driving through the area. he joins us live now from the countryside community. richard? >> reporter: yeah, getting on the roads and getting around shouldn't be a problem. but you know, what might be tough is getting into your car. a lot of people took the advice we were giving them yesterday and stayed off the roads, stayed home. this is what happens when you parked on the street. you had the plow trucks moving through, then your car is basically stuck there, covered with the leftover snow that was left behind.
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