good afternoon. i'm pat lawson muse. >> jim handly on the news4 weather deck. do not let the sunshine fool you. all this white, fluffy stuff we got overnight will refreeze. you should know overnight it's going to refreeze because the windchill is going to be dipping down to almost zero so the big hazard is going to be our sidewalks and our roads, our cul-de-sacs, all those areas where we're trying to get around through the night and especially into tomorrow morning. we are not out of the woods just yet, especially for the latest part of the week. veronica inside in the storm center what can we expect as the sun begins to set? >> the road crews doing a fantastic job but some of the side streets, we're going to see those freeze up tonight and anything that's untreated and more melting has taken place today, not for the temperatures but the sunshine. nothing to report on storm team 4 radar, dry across the area our storm way up to the north

and east. temperatures below freeze most neighborhoods right now, 36, manassas 32 in fredericksburg. milder to the west. temperatures once the sun sets they'll drop very quickly. we go to 20 degrees by 7:00 18 by 11:00 p.m. so really it's a hard freeze for the overnight period under a clear sky. meanwhile, in terms of out and about, early tomorrow morning, any untreated roads again will become icy. then what's next in line for us coming our way tomorrow after the icy start, well that arctic front. another front steps into the area will bring more snow to the area. we'll talk about amounts. and those windchills that will drop down below zero in the coming days. we'll show you. >> we'll see you in a bit, v.j. thank you. back on the weather tech our d.c. snow emergency has been lifted. it went into effect early this morning went to 2:00 this afternoon, and that means you can park on snow emergency routes when it comes to taking a cab, those emergency fares have also been lifted too. they're back to normal.

take a look at what we found earlier today. snow emergency gives transportation workers a chance to clear key roadways curb to curb. residents and property owners are still encouraged to shovel their sidewalks and help your neighbors clear theirs if they are needed. since this time yesterday, the commonwealth of virginia has fielded more than 3,000 calls across the state. now, many of those calls had to do with disabled vehicles. about a thousand were for crashes. two of them were deadly crashes. news4's david culvert spent this day digging out in fredericksburg. he joins us now live from there. what's the scene where you are, david? >> jim, piles of snow just like this one behind me. they're filling parking lots just about everywhere you go in fredericksburg. you can see how far back they go. some of them about 6 feet high. the sun, you can see it's shine, doing its job to melt them a little bit. when it comes to the side streets, well, the sun's not quite enough. we started out where they began

digging out, at this woodbridge shopping center pap small frontloader doing the job. at the base of the national museum of the marine corps, lifelines burning fuel to keep the lot clear. in a break from the usual, we headed south for more snow. drive down 95 smooth thanks to these many road cries. route 1, mostly pavement with a few icy patches. but turn onto just about any neighborhood and side street this is what you'll find here a crunchy, slick drive. jay working hard to get his business back open. how much more do you have here to do? >> probably another -- looks like a good hour or so. >> reporter: ready for it? >> no. >> reporter: calvin bellmy had two of his family's cars to clean off. is it a pain? >> not really. got to do it. got to do it. >> reporter: calvin in a good mood there. most of us when we step out in the morning and see that car covered, a little bit of a

daunting task, have to clean off all the snow. imagine having to do that for 600 cars. that was a the reality for a woman we caught up with. you'll see her bitzusy day at 5:00. another day of travel problems at airports across the country. the weather caused the cancellation of more than 1,900 flights nationwide and thousands more were delayed. here at reagan national more than 200 flights were scrapped. at dulles there were 60 cancellations. and 68 flights at bwi marshall were canceled. storm dumped 6 to 8 inches of snow in charles county. we saw the higher amounts in waldorf. plows have made a lot of progress from there over the last few hours. as you can see, crane highway is now clear, but earlier this morning drivers say conditions were pretty treacherous. >> i was sliding, some other people were sliding. couldn't stop at one point in time i panicked. >> just hoping the car in front

of you that was actually going the right direction and keeping a straight track. >> in the neighborhoods, streets are still pretty snow covered. and we spotted a lot of maryland residents out there today tackling that chore of clearing their sidewalks and their driveways. a potentially dangerous situation in rockville after a pair of train crossing signs got stuck in the down position. take a close look at this. chopper 4 was over the scene as cars drove around those signs and over the railroad tracks. other drivers decided to turn around. this happened at randolph road and neville street. montgomery county police sent out a tweet warning people to avoid the area and to never drive over tracks when the crossing arms are down. csx crews were called to the scene to fix the problem. metro service is returning to normal right now. more buses are running at this hour compared to this morning, and metro says more will be added as road conditions improve. riders should still expect

delays and detours. metro rail is open but operating on a saturday schedule on all lines. trains are departing about every 12 minutes and you'll pay the regular weekday fare. and metroaccess, the door-to-door service for disabled rider, is still canceled today but are will resume operations tomorrow. another frustrating day for rail commuters in the boston area. with long delays and limited service there. crews are again shoveling snow off tracks to get trains rolling again. officials say it could take a month before service is fully restored. riders complained that service is an ongoing problem, that trains are breaking down even in the heat of summer. they head of the system is stepping down in april following criticism of how the agency handled delays this winter. we'll go thrive boston in just a few minutes. i'm wendy rieger at the live desk. we just learned in the past half hour a second case of the measles has been confirmed in

the district. the department of health says it's not linked to the outbreak that started in california and has no connection to the case that was confirmed earlier this month in the district of columbia. that case was related to international travel. everyone who has come into contact with the person most recently diagnosed, they have been contacted. measles, as we have said, is highly contagious but health officials continue to stress that it is preventable if you have a measles vaccine. at the live desk wendy rieger back to you. residents in west virginia are advised to continue boiling water as a precaution. but there is an encouraging development in the wake of that fiery train wreck that sparked concerns about the water quality there. the train that derailed and exploded yesterday was carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil, but nbc news has learned that authorities no longer believe that a tanker car fell into the river contrary to earlier reports.

>> we were stand tong riverbank when we saw the train explode or a car explode, and it shot up a much room cloud about as high as those -- like that. >> the fire was still burning this morning. a nearby home was destroyed, but no one was injured. two water treatment plants downstream from the derailment were shut down as a precaution. however, several rounds of water testing have found no oil in the water. the plants are being restarted right now, but authorities say lit take a day or two to flush out any bacteria that may have accumulated. drivers struggling just to stay on the road. the close call along a virginia street that was all caught on camera. >> reporter: another pat collins snow stick challenge. a chance to win one of these

puppyies puppies. i'll tell you all about it co

. talk about a close call. a tv news camera with our affiliate in norfolk was on the side of the road in hampton, virginia.

take a look at that maroon tahoe host in the center lane. it skids out of control, hits another vehicle, and stops just inches from the tv camera. thankfully, the photographer was safe in a nearby news truck at the time. icy conditions and speeding may have played a role in this deadly crash in brookfield this morning. howard county police tell us a man was driving a car along route 97 near jennings chapel road took a curve too fast and the car hit a patch of snow or ice on the shoulder reentered the road and crashed into a pickup truck there. police tell us the road had been plowed. out of control, the drama off the screen as moviegoers get out of hand and it was all caught on camera. to cabin fever here. caught in the middle of a huge snowball fight. many of the contenders grown men and women. >> that's where i needed to be. the story of the day a winter storm leaves behind several inches of snow.

thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. for making me wait longer to share my photo albums. thank you cable, because if we never had you... ...we wouldn't know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. in customer satisfaction studies, fios is rated #1 in internet speed and reliability - 8 years running. plus, fios has the fastest wi-fi available from any provider. for a limited time, get a fios triple play online at an amazing $79.99 a month guaranteed for two years. plus, a $400 bonus with a two-year agreement hurry, deal ends february 21st. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

we live in a pick and choose world. choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime? ...why settle for this? enter sleep number, and the ultimate sleep number event, going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! now we can all choose amazing sleep only at a sleep number store. right now save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed. know better sleep with sleep number.

one, two, three! >> charge! it was no doubt the largest snowball feegt in our area today, about gathering at meridian hill park in northwest d.c., to pummel one another gently. it was organized on social media. a lot of the participants were

local college students who had the day off thanks to the storms. a lot of time on their hands ark lot of snowballs on their hands. it was originally scheduled to be held at dupont circle but crews cleared all the snow before their event. more pictures on our nbc washington app. >> having too much fun. >> oh yeah. it's not just the college kids enjoying this snow day. >> we've heard from a lot of pet owners out there taking their four-legged friend out today nap's why our pat collins asked you to show us your snow pictures of your pets. pat's live along connecticut. >> reporter: jim, it's snow us your pet. snow us your pet. now, look if you're measuring snow in washington there's only up with way to do it. that's with the official pat collins snow stick. we even have all the big snowstorms from the past listed here right on the side. now you have a chance to get a snow stick of your very own. it taos snow stick challenge.

we call it snow us your pet. now let's get on with it. you know how they say ducks go to water? well milo he goes to the snow. milo is a -- >> 7-year-old nova scotia duck retriever. >> reporter: that's a mouthful. >> it is. >> reporter: he uses his nose like a metal detector to sniff out the snow. i don't know what he's snitching for, but he does a great job of it. he can eve don snow tricks. cue milo! >> yay, milo! >> reporter: let's hear it for milo! now on to the snow us your pet challenge. we've received scores and scores and scores of entries. horses. deer. big farm animals. don't ask me. i grew up in the city. now, for what you might call the dapper dog category. look at some of the outfits these dogs are sporting.

this one has booties. there's one in a banana outfit. or this number. it's like formula tire with a hood trimmed in fur. and these two little guys all dressed up but do you really want me to go in that snow? and what about this pooch, posing at logan circle with mardi gras beads? why, it's almost regal. now, it's still not too late to enter. what you do is take a picture of your pet, tweet that picture to ath patsnowstick and you could end up with an official pat collins snow stick. now, coming up at 5:00 we have some dogs and some dogs that brought their own sticks to the party. and some cats. some really cool cats. jim and pat, i'll see you at 5:00. >> those are good -- my dog needs to step it up i'm telling you. he's not bringing it.

those are great pics. >> the booties are designer definitely. >> we just got a notice that schools are starting to close. culpepper county schools are announcing. >> i would think that's the first of others to follow. >> certainly haven't got an chance to get out there and get those roads clean. with the hard freeze that's coming our way tonight. well tomorrow we're talking about a little more snow that's coming our way. i'll take you step by step show you through the hours tomorrow when we're expecting that snow and how much we'll get. to the weather wall, the melting today again all due to the sunshine. not so much the temperature. we're at 29 degrees right now. the winds not too bad. that windchill temperature currently at 20 degrees with sunshine across the area. now, here's a look at your future weather starting at 6:00 a.m. i do think that tomorrow we will be starting out with a little bit of sunshine then clouds will start to increase throughout the day. so i'm going to stop it right now at 1:00 tomorrow. clouds moving in. it will be mostly cloudy i

think, throughout much of the area by then and way off over here that is snow that will move into our area from west to east. this is a fast-moving system not a strong system at all, but we will see some burst of snow coming our way for the afternoon. remember on valentine's evening when those bursts came through of snow, came down pretty good reducing visibility. that's exactly what we'll see with this tomorrow when it comes into the area. best chance is between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. moving from west to east. 5:00 p.m. hagerstown winchester down towards charlottesville, burst of snow pretty good moderate may be heavy for a brief period of time coming into the area. look at this. stretching right through from areas of northern maryland down towards southern maryland the northern neck again. it will be hard to tell who gets the most snow because i think area wide we're talking about a coating to well just around maybe, maybe an inch of snow in some areas. a 50% chance that we'll see up

to a trace that's for most of the area right now. a probability we'll see a trench to around an inch. a 10% pretty low chance we'll see around 1 to 2 inches of snow out of this system. for travel tomorrow roads could become slick in om areas. in just a couple minutes we'll take a look at your forecast. for thousands a party in the streets. mardi gras is happen right now in the big easy. we'll give you a break from the snow and take you to the

festivities there. >> no coats required there. it's the story affecting millions all over the country. heavy snow stranded drivers and flights grounded.

a controversy at the movie theater over the weekend. most theaters sold out and managers refused to sell teens tickets for "50 shades of grey" so the young people didn't buy tickets. they just stormed into a theater showing "50 shades." >> there's whole bunch of kids trying to get r-rated tickets because we sold otd the pg-13 movies and they started running in. >> the management says after 9:00 in the evening anyone under the age of 17 who wants to be on mall property must be accompanied by an adult. critics of the policy say it punishes teenagers have who haven't done anything wrong and just want to hang out with their friends. well it's fat tuesday, folks, and they are letting the good times roll down in new orleans. >> it's the last day of mardi gras and the weather is not getting in the way of a good party. jay gray joins us live from bourbon street. hey, jay. >> reporter: hey, there. how could the weather get in the way of all of this? there were concerns there's ban little bit of rain, the

temperature cooler than normal. take a look though tens of thousands getting out and having a good time here. it doesn't seem any are having problems staying warm. it is a celebration. that in so many ways mir royers this city. >> happen by mardi gras! >> reporter: unique balance between tradition and temptation. >> we like to promote our city in the best possible light -- friendly, fun loving. >> reporter: a sea of costumes flooding the french quarter, some funny, others fancy, others skimpy. though this year cloud and a bitter wind keep manager bundled up. still, the weather can't stop the party here. >> scarf on thermals drink, alcohol, doing all of that. >> reporter: or the parade from marching on. a carnival beat.

>> it's awesome. crazy. >> reporter: some like sam are here for the first time. >> costumes are awesome, something else. food the is fantastic. nice cold beers. i mean and it's okay to have one at 10:00 a.m. it's cool. >> reporter: or even cold. as the mardi gras party grows into what some describe as a hot mess. yeah. you know the chaos continues until at least midnight. that's when the street sweepers come out, try and clean up the quarter just a little bit. even then, a lot of these parties will just move inside. that's the latest from mardi gras in new orleans, i'm jay gray. >> have some fun for us. jay, thanks so much. >> all decked out in his beads. we are keeping a close eye on the weather this afternoon, the snow may be done falling but your streets and sidewalks could still be dangerous as we head into the evening. veronica will be back with an update. >> this winter storm was one for the record books along local roads but not necessarily in a

good way. team coverage of this winter storm.

♪ insight is knowing you made the right decision from the start. insight is knowing how to handle things that don't go as planned. and sometimes it's knowing when to step back and see things differently. when you have insight, you can handle your finances with confidence. that's why at pnc insight is behind all the expert guidance we provide tools we create and services we offer.

right now at 4:30 dusting off after our biggest snowfall of the season. >> we are covering all the angles this evening first at 4. the big problem right now, even though the snow is done tonight and tomorrow morning could still be very tricky very slick. even if your streets and sidewalks look fine right now. >> we have team coverage of thousand this winter storm is affecting millions of people this afternoon. let's begin with storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson. v.j.? >> quite possible we'll see delays across the area tomorrow maybe a cancellation or two. right now the temperatures are in the 20s, upper 20s with some of our highest temperatures in neighborhoods just west of d.c. manassas down to warrenton, fredericksburg charlottesville,

just at freezing and slightly above. but everybody's going to drop fast like a rock tonight. all about the refreeze for tomorrow morning. leave yourself extra time in the morning and this time tomorrow a little more snow into the area. moderate to high impact tomorrow with a burst of snow coming through because we will get a quick coating out of this in just a little bit. we'll talk about ow low our visibilities are going to drop for late tomorrow during the afternoon. the other big story, windchills minus 32 for wednesday late through thursday and we could see some pretty low windchills here. we'll talk about friday near-record cold in a few minutes. >> whoo-hoo! looks like fun. snowy hills around the u.s. capitol were just too good to resist. folks grabbed their sleds and had a blast this morning. unfortunately didn't last long. sledding on capitol grounds is a

no-no. capitol police eventually came by and shooed them away. lost power, flights canceled drivers stranded on snowy, icy roads. >> much of the east coast is dealing with the winter storm that did the most damage to our south but brought more misery to winter-wary new england. sarah dallof joins us from boston. >> reporter: the new snow is expected the push boston into its second snowiest winter on record. it's not the state that's getting hit hardest by this winter storm. mother nature on the attack targeting a large swath of the country from the midwest to the east coast, new england to the south. >> it don't snow like this all the time but when it gets here -- >> it comes in with a vengeance. >> the storm blew in monday nigt night spare nothing one. air force one landed in a snowstorm returning president obama from sunny california. today, federal offices in washington are closed and a

state of emergency declared in d.c. as well as north carolina virginia mississippi, georgia, kentucky and tennessee. some 1,400 flights canceled and parents told not to send kids to school. >> the snow outside the windows in my classroom, 7 1/2 feet above the adjoining roof covered the windows to the top snoshgs kai visible whatsoever. >> reporter: roads slick with ice sending cars sliding and an even bigger skating rink a frozen hudson bay, seen here in this photo from nasa. >> i am sick and tired of it. everyone is. >> reporter: communities in new england were already dealing with record amounts of snow before this latest storm's arrival. in boston rail and bus service was halted by the weather. officials say it will be at least 30 days before everything is fully operational. frustrating for those who rely on public transportation. >> it's been like this three weeks. >> what are you going to do in sn. >> it's going to suck. >> frustrating. >> reporter: forecasters are warning a bitter cold coming to the midwest and northeast.

day-to-day life frozen until it passes. temperatures could dip below 30 degrees normal for some. >> we're sympathizing. thanks so much. this just in faulkier county schools have announced they will be closed tomorrow. faulkier county, we announced culpepper county schools closed tomorrow. watch for updates on the nbc washington app. winter weather is also hammering amtrak. service between boston and washington takeing a lickinglicking. usually about 2,200 acela trains per day along the northeast corridor. only about half that number today. amtrak officials say it's not clear yet when service will be fully restored. and if the frigid temps killed your car battery, you have plenty of company. aaa atlanta fielded a record number of calls for roadside

assistance yesterday. 12,078 people needed help besting the previous sing hfl day record by more than a thousand calls. and 47% of those calls were battery related. southern maryland digging out from the heavy snowfall. we continue our team coverage now in la plata, where jackie bensen has the latest. >> reporter: to give you the feeling how much more snow fell in southern maryland this is pileup on the side of the road very soft very deep. over across the street you can see the street is almost down to black top, but take a look at that suv over there. that is how much snow people saw when they came out this morning. they had to do the shoveling, snow blowing, lots of different things but because so many people were off from work today they took the opportunity to spend some time with their kids have a good time taking advantage of a picture postcard snow. in la plata, jackie bensen

news4. >> reporter: i'm kristin wright in montgomery county. it is a snow day. schools across the d.c. metro area are closed. for students it means fun. it means sledding. for parents it means making a few adjustments. >> it's a little more challenging. work has to be rearranged to different times of day. but it's so nice and sunny and beautiful and this hill's so close to our house that we had to come over and let gravity to-do its work. >> reporter: tonight on news4, a tally of how many snow day our local school districts have used and how many are left as we prepare for more brutal winter weather and soon. they were tense moments. police returned to the scene of a terror attack because of new concerns. the incident that had the criminal tape up for the second time in a few days. not according to plan how things went from bad to worse on one street just as the snow came

at the live tesing i'm wendy rieger. it is completely uber to call uber or lift in virginia. governor terry mcauliffe signed a bill into law today regulating ride-sharing companies. they had been operating on temporary licenses since the summer. when virginia nearly banned the services from the commonwealth. but under the new law drivers have to be at least 21 undergo background checks and they have to carry liability insurance.

they also have to have driving records and any sex offender status examined. this bill received bipartisan support. at the live desk, i'm wendy rieger. back to you. it was more than just the snow causing problems on this road. take a look at this snowplow that fell into a sinkhole this morning. the driver escaped and was unhurt. it could take hours to get the truck out. there's a program coming to town to try to help you know your value as a woman. the effort is being driven by mika brzezinski of msnbc. she wrote a book last year about the roadblocks she faced in her career and how she overcame them. now she wants women to share their own experiences with one another. so she's gathering groups of experts for day-long interactive programs in five cities. >> we're going to have successful women experts on this and we're going to be working on stage but also

engaging the audience in a number of different ways including competitive ways to help women really come out of themselves and learn how to negotiate effectively. >> there's also a digital component to this a sight that will feature live streams of the conferences and other resources for women to learn and to network. "know your value" comes to washington in may. honoring veterans decades after their return from war, why thousands of them are about to get special recognition and why it took so long. scaring off on capitol hill and it could affect the lives of countless people right here in our area. and veronica has her eye on this wintry weather for the rest of the week. v.j.? >> that's right. you know it's going to be icy tonight. snow showers tomorrow.

oh wintry and white. first at 4, we're already receiving our first school delays for you now, faulkier and culpepper county schools will be closed tomorrow. we'll keep you updated all evening long on air and on nbcwashington.com. >> we're not out of the woods yet. our team coverage continues now. storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson and doug kammerer are tracking what's

left. >> we begin with veronica. veronica, what's in store for us tonight? >> tonightitis all about the cold and, yes, the refreeze. so that means, again, a lot of delays across the area for tomorrow morning. meanwhile, this time tomorrow some more snow to the area. finally that extreme cold that's going to hit us. yes, it's going to be colder than this past weekend. take a look outdoor impact forecast for wednesday, starting out 7:00 a.m. 15 degrees. that is it. 15 degrees, folks. a lot of folk what kind of exercise? well of course shoveling. something some folks still cleaning the driveways and sidewalks. upper 20s we'll max out just around the freezing mark for tomorrow. that snow doesn't move in until after 5:00 p.m. but when it does it will come down fairly good at times, burst of snow coming through. that means reduced visibility on area roads. 5 to 9 is the time period we're looking at with a quick coating to an inch.

what happens after that, the wind will start to pick up and we'll take you hour by hour in just a minute and show you just how windy it will get across the area and the impact that wind will have on temperatures and what it feels like. your snow impact forecast for tomorrow slick spots on area roads, yes. a quick coating to maybe an ninch a few locations. that snow when it does come down tomorrow will accumulate on area roads, reduced visibility also on area road because of the clip it will be falling at tomorrow. by friday morning, the wind the temperatures all factor together will deliver some very low windchill readings 15 to 20 degrees below zero. that of course hypothermia weather, which is frostbite within 30 minutes. when will the windchills be at their lowest? when do we get out of this cold? doug kammerer is in the storm center. >> getting out of the this will be a little harder than you

would think in the month of february. we'll show you what we're going to be dealing with. tonight not that bad as far as the windchill is concerned. those feels-like temperatures right now, windchill by early tomorrow morning will feel like 7 in d.c. 11 in fredericksburg 4 in leesburg. we can deal with this. look what happens during the day. we go up into the teens and low 20s around 4:00. then we see that arctic front pass through the area tomorrow. you mention the snow that comes with it and the very cold air in behind it. 8 in d.c. 3 in martinsburg, 5 in leesburg. by thursday morning in the negative numbers again between zero and about negative 5, maybe negative 10 but as you mentioned, colder on friday. >> don't worry phones. we your countdown. 30 days until spring. let's look at the numbers here. i know. somebody has to keep track. the high 18. that's when the low windchills

will start in the coldest air we've seen in a long time. near record cold air for friday morning. mixture of snow chaining to freezing rain and eventually to all rain on sunday. 43 on sunday from windchills 20 below. more coming in on news 4 at 5:00. >> counting down with you. a fiery train crash in west virginia with a ripple effect in our area. a controversial plan to expand a tunnel running in local homes. and the defense secretary's first day in office. we'll tell you why his wife is grabbing a few headlines. more than 40 years after u.s. troops withdrew from vietnam, maryland senators want to thank them for their service designating march 30th as welcome home vietnam veterans

day. the measure moves to the house of delegates. now to denmark where the city of copenhagen is understandably on edge. this morning the bomb squad was called back to the scene of saturday's deadly cafe attack to investigate a suspicious package. authorities found no explosives. the gunmen who killed two people in separate attacks on saturday is said to be omar al hussein, a danish citizen who recently sent two years in prison. a friend told the danish media he declared his allegiance to isis on facebook prior to the attacks. a horrific mardi gras accident in haiti. at least 16 people were killed and 78 injured during a carnival parade overnight. a float came into contact with a low low-hanging power line. at least one person on the float was electrocuted. others on the ground were

electrocuted or killed in the panic that followed. today's festivities were cancel. the man accused in the murder of hannah graham is set to be arraigned tomorrow. jesse matthew will appear by video link. he's awaiting trial on sexual assault and attempted murder charges from a case in 2005. graham disappeared last september. her body was found a few weeks later. matthew was charged with a first-degree murder which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison sxwroop a potential setback for president obama's solo move to change u.s. immigration policy. a federal judge in texas ordered a temporary delay in the plan blocking work permits to millions who have no paper bus do have children born in this country. news4's steve handelsman is live on capitol hill with more details. >> this is not a ruling against the obama plan.

it's a delay until the case could be heard. the president says he plans to win when that happens and insists he does have the power to do what he did. they came from mexico without papers but hope to stay in the u.s. legally because their daughter heather was born here. but that plan, the obama plan, is the one that's been blocked. the exec tiffutive action is not dead says jose but maiya is feeling down, worry about heather's future. ruling delays the implementation of president obama's executive order that 4 million to 5 million people without proper papers can stay in the u.s. and work. in texas, federal judge andrew hanen warned the genie would be impossible to put back in the bottle if the obama plan took fekt e fekt before a court could rule on it. governor is celebrating. >> in texas, we will not sit idly by while the president

ignores the law and fails to secure the border. >> reporter: led by texas, 26 states sued mr. obama. >> he doesn't have the authority to give l millions of work permits, social security number et cetera to millionings of lanlts. >> reporter: also affectd are so-called dreamers brought to the u.s. as children. a quarter million more of them could stay in a program. >> this affects their live their livelihoods. it would allow them to get a work permit and all of a sudden they've been told to wait. >> reporter: attorney general rick holder vows an appeal but opponents vow to kill the obama plan even if that means more delays in funding homeland security. republicans are rushing again to point out that president obama used to say he doesn't have the power on his own to change immigration policy. but he says again, when this case gets to court that he'll win. i'm steve handelsman news4.

spot lg vain ya counties announced they will join tomorrow joining culpepper and faulkier county that announced they were closing earlier this hour. keep it here and on the nbc washington app for updates. this winter storm raising big concerns for your four-legged friends. so what should you do to keep your pets safe when the snow and cold strike?

okay, i need a better pizza. one made with only real cheese. and dough that rises naturally. with no chemical leaveners. a pizza my family will love. (announcer) freschetta naturally rising crust pizza. no other pizza tastes like freschetta because no other pizza is made like

freschetta. and try great tasting gluten free freschetta. ask for it at your local store. we are digging out after a winter storm. stafford county joins the closing list of closings for tomorrow with spotsylvania county culpepper, and faulkier county. what happens next? in a few minutes doug kammerer joins wuls the latest information and another round of snow in our forecast. this cold weather can be dak dangerous for your pets especially when there's ice and

snow on the ground. how long should you stay outside with your dog? reporter tim furlong has advice from the experts. >> reporter: karen had to get out today. more specifically her stir-crazy doglegga had to get out. so they came to a popular but freezing dog park even if it meant suffering in the cold. >> she's worth it. >> reporter: we went to a veterinary hospital to ask how long is too long for our dogs to be outside? >> if you're outside with the dog and you're cold your dog is cold. bring them in. >> reporter: she says five to ten minutes at a time is pretty much the max on this bitter day, especially with snow and ice on the ground. >> the dog's feet are going to be cold. my poor dogs were gimping back to the house after being outside five minutes. >> reporter: each dog is different. some preeds thermoregulate themselves, some can handle the cold but tiny dogs like george might need to do their business inside right now. if your pooch really wants to go out, you go out too to make sure

they are okay. tim furlong, nbc news. right now at 5:00 digging out, crews working hard neighbors too. clearing those walkways those driveways after monday's snowstorm. and what a stunning difference 24 hours makes. this time yesterday the snow was falling steadily. now take a live look at our national harbor camera. the sun is about to set. >> but don't be seduced by the sunlight. this is just a brief respite we'll get before more bone-chilling temperatures join in. i'm wendy rieger live in the weather deck once again out in front of our nbc 4 station. i'm jim handly in our news4 studio. the major concern is the refreeze. slick roads and sidewalks will ice over tonight and you have to use caution. just in of course cheers from faulkier, stafford spotsylvania and culpepper counties all canceling for tomorrow.

>> doug how much time do we have to brace ourselves before we get hit again by more cold weather? >> about 24 hours. that's exactly what we'll be dealing with, that 24-hour period. i wouldn't be surprised to see the stuff maryland county schools closed as well. that's the area that saw all is the snow. these were the toe tallas we saw this morning. 2 to 4 inches to the north. that's what esau towards frederick, martinsburg, about 3 inches here gug around 4, 4 to 6 inches in and around the d.c. metro area back towards fairfax, did well here and down to the south 6 to 10. the highest total we saw around 8.3 inches. storm team 4 radar is clear for tonight and most of the day tomorrow. the highlight for tomorrow or the low lights or let's just call them the headlines. cold but nice early pip think most of the day on wednesday is looking okay. then here comes the arctic front. it will come with a burst of snow. we'll tal