enjoy it while it lasts, our quiet night is about to give way to a powerful storm. it's brewing out west and heading our way. we have the latest on the storm watches already posted for our area. and new questions surround the raining of a rookie firefighter. he failed to act during an emergency, just steps from his firehouse. good evening, i'm chris lawrence, we begin with winter's latest punch, a powerful storm has been dropping tons of rain

on california. now it's mixing with a cold  front and headed to our neck of the woods. storm team 4 meteorologist amelia stinger is at the weather desk. >> a good portion of today is going to be dry, but by the late afternoon and evening hours, rain will be araving in our area and that will turn into a wintry mix and then into storm. the entire area is under a winter storm watch, a wintry mix tomorrow night changes to snow on monday morning. now with this wintry mix, we're looking at mainly sleet, the chance of some freezing rain. so we could see some ice on top of snowfall as temperature s plummet during the day on monday. this will lead to danger travel on monday, and snow coming to an end in the late afternoon and evening hours on monday.

winchester, leesberg seeing rain, rain in the metro area by 7:00 p.m., at midnight ux this is when we're seeing some sleet, maybe some freezing rain, that wintry mix continues until very early monday, 7:00 a.m., this is when we see snow in the d.c. metro area and chris, it snows heavy at times, throughout the day on monday, coming to an end around 7:00. in just a few minutes i'll tell you how much you can get in your area. >> as this system heads our way, stay up to date, download the storm team weather 4 app. just search nbc washington in the app store or on google play. breaking news tonight in the district, just moments ago, d.c. police announce yet another homicide. it happened overnight and brings the total number of homicide this year up to 45. darcy spencer is live in washington. what are the latest details on this one?

>> reporter: we did just get a briefing from the lieutenant at the homicide unit at the crimes branch in southwest washington. he did not provide a lot of details, just basic information about each killing, he said they are working 24 hours a day to get the cases solved but they need witnesses to come forward to help them make arrests. in t since the beginning of the year, there's been 25 homicide, just in the last five -- billy harris found dead at 9th and decatur streets. andre mcentire was murdered, police say he suffered trauma to the head. and two brothers were gunned down in the 500 block of lee street northeast. the shootings happening just outside a church where worshippers were attending a

children's service. on wednesday two teens were killed in separate incidents. 17-year-old jonathan adams was stabbed to death on halle terrace. d.c. police are asking for the public's help in getting these cases solved. >> every murder that occurs in the district gets a great deal of attention, we have devoted extra resources, extra manpower, as far as patrol is concerned. we have detectives working around the clock, have not been home, trying to get these cases closed. >> reporter: that lieutenant also said it does not appear that any of these recent cases are connected in any way. reporting live from southwest washington, darcy spencer, news4. the most recent homicide victim in the district was a lovable person, that's according to his mom. someone shot and killed 51-year-old billy harris early this morning along 9th and

decatur streets northwest. harris divided his time between his children and his mother. >> to be around him before your time was over, he probably would be kidding or picking at you about something. so, just lovable. >> reporter: d.c. police haven't released any details about a possible suspect or motive in harris's death. late developments in the crisis in ukraine, a short time ago, president obama spoke to president putin about the situation. the call came after the russian parliament gave putin permission to send the country's military into the ukraine. obama warned putin that there would be costs to russia. meanwhile the president's

national security team met today to discuss policy options and outside the white house today, protesters called the white house and europe to do more to combat russian aggression in the ukraine. 27 people were killed in china. media reports there say several attackers boarded a train at the railway station. they were all armed with knives and started stabbing people on the train. more than 100 people were injured including four police officers. there have been as many as seven attackers and police reportedly shot all of them. the chinese government is now investigating that attack. a man went into cardiac arrest outside a firehouse and the rookie firefighters who could have helped him should have known he could respond. the cadet was properly trained, that firefighter had told investigators no one had told him what to do if someone

actually approaches the station needing help. the 77-year-old man who went into cardiac arrest died in january when no one came to his aid. d.c. mayor vincent gray just picked up another endorsement in his re-election bid. the caucus held a forum with all the candidates a at the butler center in northwest. fire investigators are looking into how this home caught fire in wheaton. this is on henderson avenue and when crews arrived, smoke was already pouring from the attic. no one husband hurt, but investigators tell us three families lived there, and it's not clear if they'll be able to go home tonight. the d.c. department of transportation is warning folks tonight about a certain area of the district. if you're planning to be along 8th street northeast, you should keep an eye out for live wires.

they're now running up and down the street to help power the new streetcars and the lines will stay on even as crews test the system. ddot is asking you to stay at least ten feet away from the wires and please don't touch the poles. he helped mentor students for half a century. today a very special memorial for a high school football coach in montgomery county. plus we'll take you inside the massive new home for stray animals in our area. and the rain that's dropping on the west coast will be our snow w

what started as a simple energy call -- that's just across the street from the volunteer fire department, but we're told the fire truck actually came from a different station and was responding to a call. fortunately no one there was hurt. we're learni ining new deta about a fire that bloke out last night at the oak crest towers apartment on brooks drive. prince george's county fire department says the fire caused at least $10,000 in damage. in that fire, no one was hurt. montgomery county officials just cut the ribbon on the

newest and largest animal services and adoption center. the compound is nearly 50,000 square feet. the center has a medical clinic, adoption area, private animal holding areas, even classrooms. it's going to house everything from dogs and cats to turtles and reptiles. look outside,

-dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios

are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

. the gaitersburg high school community paid tribute to the school's former football coach. his career lasted more than four decades. among those who spoke tonightering one of harville's former assistants. he joked about the time that he told harville that he was going to leave and go coach at another school. >> a lot of people don't know this, i know you always wanted to be here and you wanted to replace me and i only planned to be here for a year or two and i'm going to recommend you for the job. i said okay, i'll think about it. you know, hopefully, a new school, following john what aha, that's a no-brainer. that was in 1974. >> john harville died this past

december, he was 88 years old. if you were in alexandria today, chances are you saw a lot more green than usual. today the city kicks off the first st. patrick's day parade. a classic car show and a fun dog show were also part of the festivities. folks gets a jump there. heavy rains have displaced hundreds of people in california. officials had to evacuate people there. they saw more rain in the last 24 hours than it saw all of last year. some areas are getting an inch an hour and that's causing massive mud slides. rescue worker s spent the day pulling out stranded animals, stranded automobiles. you get all that rain and you think of it being snow. >> because if that's the snow mixing with the cold front that is just going to bring a mess, a

wintry mix to the area tomorrow night and then continuing on monday. and it's kind of that very cold air, that cold air mixing with kind of warm, moist air that's just causing the storm system to blow up for us. we are looking at a high impact event. tomorrow before the rain arrives, it's not going to be a bad day at all. in fact it's going to be mild relatively speaking. high temperatures for the most part will be in the mid 50s. getting into the afternoon and evening hours, rain arrives and then we see that changeover to sleet and then freezing rain so we could see a layer of i freezing up and the snow piling up on top of that. snow coming to an end in the late afternoon and evening hours. and to add to everything else, a it's going to be bitterly cold on tuesday, starting off on tuesday morning, temperatures will only be in the teens. 44 degrees in washington, 37 in

gaithersburg, 42 for those of you in camp springs. 46 degrees down in culpepper. tomorrow it's going to be a chilly start, plenty of clouds around throughout the day, but like i said, the day, all in all, not so bad for your sunday. getting some grocery shopping done. the weather cooperating just fine. 3:00, this is when rain will start arrive for areas to the west of washington. high temperature in washington, 55 degrees, a high in hagerstown of 42. frederick, a high of only 48. then you head south, where temperatures will be mild. 57 for a high in culpepper and fredericksburg, nams -- it's raining in d.c. metro area, we're starting to see a wintry mix for areas like frederick and washington counties in maryland,

maybe even northern parts of loudoun county in virginia. 6:00 we're already down into the mid 40s, and then temperatures will drop quickly as that arctic cold front pushes through the area. here's your snow forecast. by the time we hit monday afternoon and evening, here's how much snow you can expect, the entire area, almost, picking up five to ten inches of snow. so travel will y on monday morning and monday evening. for the most southern parts of southern maryland and areas around the northern neck, a little bit less there, of about two to fiv inches. i'll be posting this snap on my twitter and facebook pages and of course we're going to continue to track this forecast u because if the storm moves a little bit further north or further south, we could see more or less snow. a good chance, a 50% chance that we're seeing five to ten inches of snow, but there's also a chance that we could see a little bit more snow, 10 to 12

inches, about 30 perce% chance that. we're definitely going to get snow on monday. 13 degrees tuesday morning, so the snow is not melting on tuesday a high temperature of only 29 degrees, wednesday a high temperature of 34, maybe some rain by the end of the upcoming week. boy, if you've got anything to tomorrow, tomorrow's day to do it. coming up in sports, virginia does something on the court for the first time in over 30 years.

boy, i don't think too many people would have given uva a fighting chance today. >> no give tony bennett, head coach of virginia, he's done an outstanding job with that program and those players. they're having an outstanding season. virginia fans have a good reason to smile these days, not only are the cavaliers number one in the country, but virginia would win their first outright acc regular season title since 1981. coach tony bennett and the cavs looking to rise up against number four, syracuse. the cavaliers up,s tos over to

mitchell for the alley-oop there. uva is down one at the break. second half. justin anderson knocking down the three-pointer, virginia's up 7, just over two minutes remaining. the cavs in control here, joel harris. oh, pretty little play there. 75 to 56, all tears from coach tony bennett, virginia wins their acc regular season title this year. all right, blacksburg, roy williams and unc visiting virginia tech, first half, early lead, driving here is james mike mcadoo and boy can he finish. unc is up 7 at halftime. this is devon wilson, knocking down the three from the top of the key. he had 13 points. meanwhile north carolina starting to pull away a bit.

mcadoo again with the flush, 15 points for mcadoo. mike brennan america, hosting the bisons of bucknell, second half, bucknell's up four, jesse reid leading au back, the little shooters here on the jump shot. eagles down just a point. under a minute left, bucknell trying to close the door, shot the rejected, but starkey is there for the put back, bucknell, may hold on to beat american, your final score is 56 to a 51. all right, let's move on to hockey now, the capitals are wasting no time getting themselves back in the playoff picture, after the olympic break, two games played by the caps and two victories, today's win game against the best team in the eastern conference and alex ovechkin made a little

history today. second period, caps lead it 1-0, they're on the power play. marcus johansen with a beautiful feeder, and ovie is there for the second timer. 48th career point for alex ovechkin and the cavs are up 2 2-0. that's ward's 18th goal of the year. the caps take a 3-0 lead. third period, bruins come up. a break away goal there. capitals, they take this one, your final score is 4-2. it's their fourth straight win. >> we're going to have -- we don't have time to make mistakes. you know, we're at a point now that we have to win games.

>> the capitals are back at it, they will take on the flyers tomorrow that, game will take place here at the verizon center. let's move on to baseball now, for the next month, the nationals will have just two days off as a team. welcome to spring training, ladies and gentlemen. right now. natts hosting the braves. jordan zimmerman on the mound for the nationals. he's going to get dan uggla to go out swinging, he only allowed one hit in two innings of work. tyler moore takes this pitch back to center, zack peterson and ryan come in the store. the natts go on to win this one 16-15. got to love spring training. to lacrosse, maryland hosting number one duke at bird stadium. second quarter, we're tied for

3. dukes up 4-2, but here comes maryland, thanks to freshmen man maryland up 8-5. they would knock off the top ranked blue devils. your final score is 10-6. your maryland fan, does that make up for the basketball losses? >> no. >> i tried. >> no, lacrosse does not -- >> hey, look, we're tracking the

on this saturday night, escalating crisis, putin is ignore i ignoring a blunt warning from president obama and putting washington and moscow on a diplomatic collision course. march madness, a massive storm triggers mudslides, tornado warnings and evacuations, proving too much for drought-stricken california to handle. now it moves east and delivers crippling snow and ice and more arctic temperatures. without