o. then north and west of there, there is light snow in the gray zone. west of there, into washington county allegheny up toward martinsburg and just north of winchester getting a little bit of light snow right now. and it's not sticking though, because temperatures are above freezing there in the 30s. we're near 40 in the metro area and southern parts of maryland and on the eastern shore. total snow around the metro area by the time this all ends this evening, 4 to 6 inches this this blue zone. just near washington points south and east and north and west heaviest amounts 6 to 8 inches. rest of northern virginia panhandle of west virginia, areas just north of washington including northern prince george's county, montgomery and into howard and frederick into the afternoon hours. chuck bell is joining us live now. are you seeing any sleet? >> reporter: so far not a single sleet pellet has been seen or heard. we're keeping an eye on it,

though. we have the radar punched up. we're driving north as quickly as we can get there safely of course. maintaining our safe speeds on wet roads first thing this morning. and you should do the same because it's just wet for now but as we've been talking about, the opportunity for roads to freeze up by later this morning and into this afternoon is a real possibility. so you want to take it extra slow. if you get a sleet or snow report send to me @chuckbell4. and we'll be himself picking up potential for storm names, as well. yesterday i think we were snow-done with it all. so that's what we have so far. we'll continue our trip northbound on 270 here. should be in frederick in the next 30 to 40 minutes. for now traffic with melissa. sdl >> i'm sure we have lots of name suggestions this morning. perhaps just a -- i'm done. >> yep. >> unless you're home playing with your kids. it's not fun to be out.

we do have a disabled vehicle inner loop after braddock road. because the roads are just wet and of course it's so early not many folks out. stay home if you can. beltway at colesville road, also just wet there. 95 in and out of town bw parkway looking pretty good. same thing looking at 270 this morning. no major problems. as far as marc it is completely canceled today on the trains. 201 bus will be running between gaithersburg and bwi airport. and vre also canceled today. we'll be pushing these out on the nbc washington app and also giving you you info on twitter, as well. storm team 4 tracking the major winter storm. right now you're seeing rain outside your window but that will change over to snow. some of you could see as much as 8 inches on the ground by the time this is all over. megan mcgrath live at the salt dome. and we've learned montgomery county schools are closed today. everybody anticipating this

tricky winter storm. >> yeah you hear all the children going yay! that's what my kids' reaction was. lots of jurisdictions closing. it's kind of an odd situation because all we're seeing now at this point is rain. you can see the trucks are here. they're loading up. this one just fueled up. you look at the back there no salt in the back of the truck yet, but he'll be continuing to load up and gear up this morning. so we are seeing a lot of those trucks already leaving the lot, so they're ready to go just waiting on standby basically for the switch over to happen. and that will be coming up later on this morning. so don't be deceived. yeah, we're just seeing rain right now but that is going to change. we could start to see sleet a little later on this morning. and then the switchover to snow. now, this is one of those tricky storms. the trucks we rely on them so much. the salts, chemicals, brine that they put down to melt the snow when it starts to fall. the problem with this kind of

storm is that it starts as rain. and we've seen steady rain overnight and early this morning. and that will continue for a little while yet. so the chemicals that they would put down on the road, it would just be washed away. so when the snow starts to fall is a tough situation. because unfortunately, that snow will just stick to the roadway and that could make for very, very treacherous driving conditions. so while you're looking out your window right now and you're seeing just rain keep in mind that that is going to change later on this morning. so plan accordingly. don't position, oh,gosition think i can do things as normal. we will see the change joef and that will have a big impact on the roads. megan mcgrath, news 4. and as aaron mentioned, montgomery county school just closed and now frederick county maryland schools are closed as well. 4:35 right now. amtrak is running on reduced service this morning due to this pending storm. trains between d.c. and new york

will be running less frequently and that includes acela trains. because the go. is closed all marc train service is canceled take. the same goes for vre. if you're commuting today by taxi prices will be higher in d.c.. the taxicab commission announced their snow emergency fares will go into effect starting at 7:00 a.m.. fares will add a flat fee of $15 to the meter charge. that remains in effect for 12 hours with an extension possible depending on how much snow we get. pepco says it will work around the clock to keep your lights and heat on throughout the day. pepco says more than 400 contractors are on standby to deal with any problems. more closings coming in. it is a day off for most of you. federal agencies are closed opm says check with your agency to see whether you have to telework today. we're pushing new school closings to the nbc washington

app. we just learned again montgomery county schools are closed today. so are d.c. fairfax, prince george's county prince william county schools. we also just learned frederick county maryland have closed. arlington, loudoun spotsylvania stafford and fredericksburg city are closed as well p. also fauquier culpeper rappahannock and king george all closed. in maryland charles, st. mary's howard anne arundel and we've learned calvert county schools are now closed. >> alexandria falls church manassas manassas park schools are closed as well. the complete list on nbc washington nbcwashingto and at the of your screen. we're covering all angles of the storm. and temperatures will be dropping with the snow. tom is timing out when it would be the coldest. >> and you can't talk about the snow without talking about a snowball fight. where you can join in on the fun today. >> and while you're just seeing rain now you will see snow later on this morning. a live look at radar here for

you. you can see the pink and white starting to mix down into our area. the full for

the 4 x 4 is driving around 270 northbound. here is a live look. chuck bell is in there. you can tell it's just raining right now but we know the snow will be coming and the roads covered later today. tom will tell us when the

temperatures will drop. >> do you ever feel like you want to build a snowman and then just go in on -- that's where i am with the snow right now. there is a snowball fight that will be happening in the district today. take a look at some video from -- >> we've reached that point in our lives. >> just grab hands full of it and go this. the event started here five years ago. the organizers say it's growing every year. there will be a prize for the best dressed snowballer. is this happen th happening at the 5:30 at due you upon thepont circle. so have at it. >> better a snowman than an actual man. grant county west virginia schools are now closed as well. is is this snow the kind that you can have a snow ball fight? >> yeah it should be good packing. they are getting snow north and west of us in the gray zone.

the green zone is rain. and just to our north, this area in the pink maybe a little bit of sleet trying to mix in with the rain in fairfax, montgomery northern prince george's county. live view from the tower camera showing just rain here in washington now maybe a little sleet in and out through 8:00 a.m. and after that the snow moves in. 10:00 or so this morning. and then snow heavy at times during the afternoon and then quickly tapers off by 8:00 p.m. and temperatures continue to drop to near 20 degrees by late tonight. 4 to 6 inches. a look at the timing coming up at 4:51. melissa, any problems? >> roads just wet at this point. we'll talk about the rails here in a second. beltway at colesville, everything moving nicely. same thing at kenilworth avenue. downtown east capitol at southern just wet there, as

well. going to look very different later. also in the district, 14th closed at cedar because of a police investigation. marc canceled today. 201 bus will run. vre also canceled. it is 4:42. we're working for you in laurel where a snow emergency is in effect right now. laurel police department is asking you to keep snow emergency routes clear. no parking is allowed even on the side of street of those snow emergency routes. not just the main routes, but the side streets. you could be ticketed or towed. and we're making sure your car is safe and running if you have to venture out. don't try to charge your battery or warm up the car in an enclosed area like a garage. make sure your tires are properly inflated, too. you want to keep your gas tank at least half full to avoid a gas line freeze up. and top off your washer fluid with a winter formula. >> radar is very colorful.

it is show something rain right in the d.c. metropolitan area. we have sleet and snow to the west of us. tom kierein has the latest on the snow timing at 4:51. >> and we'll check in with our crew in northern virginia where they're calling for all hands life's

morning multitasking. it's multiple ideas for growing families and drawers with many layers to show exactly what you need. life's the food that brings us together. and kitchens where every meal is the most important of the day.

good morning. tracking rain sleet and snow.rain in green, sleet in pink snow is in white and gray. that stretches all the way back to texas, but right now around our metro area, getting rain in washington points south and east. and this little pink zone getting a little bit of sleet in parts of montgomery county into howard county, that is tracking north and east. but this is the area of snow darker gray is just very light snow now falling in parts of frederick county, maybe mixing with rain. and then the brighter white area is where the snow is coming down a little bit harder. near hagerstown and along

interstate 68 and interstate 70 there and along 81 south down toward martinsburg. 4:46 how. we're tracking preparations all over the area. derrick ward is in northern virginia in vienna. derrick, good morning. >> reporter: looking at route 123, maple avenue as it comes through this part of vee enin in avienna. and again, we're seeing just wet streets. the rain has pretty much let up here temporarily. we imagine this is just the proverbial quiet before the storm and the cold before the storm. temperatures are pretty cold right now. and you have your snowplows and your spreading equipment on the side of the road. all hands on deck here. vdot says 3800 pieces of equipment will be out keeping the roads pass able once they can actually do something. hills, curves residential area

they will put sand down so that will give you traction. but again, they can't really treat a whole lot while the rain is down because it will simply wash away. so if you are parked on a street in virginia they're asking that you can either park in a driveway or on the odd numbered side of the street to allow those trucks to get through and to keep these roads passable and get a grip on what is coming our way. now, with more on what we're seeing around our area darcy spencer is in the laurel section of prince george's county. dars city what are you seeing? >> reporter: good morning. yeah, i'm feeling like it's getting always colder out here. we're getting some wind. we have a right line here in prince george's county. and i'd rather be standing out here in snow than the rain. it's a little bit on the miserable side. this is route 1. you can see there are trucks that have been coming through here it looks like they're probably getting ready to stage. we haven't seen any sign of any snow at this point. here is another couple of trucks coming through here. this looks like this is going to be a plowable event.

recently we've had a lot of ice and freezing rain and things like that where they have had to use a lot of snow. but it looks like they have had to use a lot of salt, excuse me so it looks like this will be mostly snow and they can get out there and do some plowing. schools have been closed in prince george's county. a lot of workplaces are announcing people can stay home take. so we're just waiting for the snow to come. people get ready state highway administration says that they will have their trucks out ready to plow. they ask for you to stay out of the way if you can, let them do their job, stay home if you can and enjoy the snow. we're reporting live from prince george's county darcy spencer news 4. if you are looking to have some fun in the snow today, you will not be able to go shredding on capitol hill. eleanor holmes norton asked police to allow sledding today on the hills afternoon the u.s. capitol, but the capitol police board said no citing safety

concerns. safety first. tom kierein is on his way in here right now, but first, you should know that you can follow @pat's snow stick. you knew there would be one. the winner gets his or her very own pat collins snow stick. so far this winter we've seen some of your best snow pet pictures and hats. today's contest could have something to do with spring. it's alledgedly not too far away. >> allegedly. i'm going to have to see to believe it at this rate. let's check in with amelia segal now to find out what kind of day we'll have. so snow is coming for sure. >> absolutely. and in fact on storm team 4 radar, just starting to see indications of sleet sinking into parts of washington. as we work our way into the mid and late morning hours, mainly around 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. this is when we'll really start to see sleet and snow begin to mix in and then after that roads will go downhill. you might be wondering why schools have called off.

you will see later today. and it's all about the temperature. as we work our way throughout the morning hours, we'll continue to track falling temperatures. by 7 ouk a.m. here is the temperature forecast in your neighborhood. washington at 36 degrees. so still above freezing at that point. so the road conditions in d.c. at 7:00 a.m. should be okay. but you notice the suburbs, gaithersburg at 30, frederick at 32 as well as leleesburg, manassas and culpeper. throughout the morning it only gets colder. so that means wet heavy snow starts to transition to a drier snow and that will be able to accumulate a little bit more. so 10:00 a.m. you can see washington is at 32 at that point and that's when sleet and snow starts to stick to the area. tom by 1:00 p.m. we're looking at temperatures in the mid-20s to upper 20s in the suburbs. and 30 this washington. this could be the biggest snow storm the d.c. metro area has seen this season. we've been talking about it all

morning. >> those temperatures are critical. right now we're in the 30s near 40 with rain. as the temperatures drop and snow comes in that's when it will really start stickinging. but not until later this afternoon. look at all the snow that area in the white and gray. it is snowing pretty hard now in kentucky and parts of west virginia ohio. that snow zone extends all the way to texas. so we have a lot more to get through right now just getting a little bit of some rain here in washington this area in the pink maybe a little sleet trying to mix into the rain in our northern suburbs. but this is an area of snow just to the north of there from northern montgomery county and into frederick and washington county and then maybe a little bit of snowflake mixing in with a little bit of rain.y light right now. and the timing and heavier snow that will be arriving not until around noontime. that's going to be moving in to the metro area with the sleet zone sinking farther south and east and rain continues to pull away. then the snow gets heavy at times between noon and around 4:00 p.m.. that's when we'll get the most

accumulation. and then by 6:00 or so most of that heavier snow is in southern maryland northern neck and it really starts to tape are off north and west of us by then. but still snow falling through the metro area. and then it's quickly done. maybe a few lingering flurries by around 10:00, leaving about 6 to 8 inches north and west. that includes shenandoah valley parts of the panhandle of west virginia and east of there, southern washington county all of frederick and all of montgomery northern fairfax, loudoun, northern prince william and fauquier that will get 6 to 8 inches. and maybe around 6 inches or so right here in northwest washington. but generally less than that maybe 4, 5 inches in the blue zone. including prince george's county fairfax, southern prince william into charles county and parts of calvert. st. mary's and northern neck lighter amounts, generally 2 to

4 inches. look at this big zone under winter storm warnings from dallas all the way to new york. and we are under this winter storm warning all the way into this evening our entire region that's the pink zone there. after we get through this snow tonight, it will get cold. tomorrow morning down into the teens. so snow wouldn'tone be going anywhere. we'll have icy conditions tomorrow morning. teens again saturday morning. finally above freezing saturday afternoon. then we move our clocks forward one hour saturday night. quite a bit of melting going on on sunday. temperatures should make it in to the 40s. and then maybe near 50 on monday with sunshine. it will be beautiful next week. payback is nice. we'll be into the 50s on tuesday and again wednesday. wednesday maybe even near 60 degrees. and lot of rapid melting. >> be still my heart. i just want to give this a big

hug. looks pretty good to me. all right. taking a look now at some roads seeing one of our photographers driving through leesburg and he's been telling us it is just wet here at this point this morning. so no big issues there. which is basically what we're seeing all over the place. 270 at montrose all these folks headed southbound. just a little bit of sheep on the roadsheen on the roadway. 66 same situation. 95 in and out of town, no problems there. beltway at good luck also looking quite good. we'll need a little bit of this luck i think today to keep everybody safe on the roadways. marc everything canceled train-wise. route 201 buses going to run today. as long as they can run. that's between bwi and gaithersburg. and then vre is canceled. it's 4:54 now. you might start the morning in your rain boots. you will end the day in your snow boots. we'll get your snow totals

forecast. and new this morning, how a tweet from hillary clinton is addressing a scandal surrounding her e-mail

here is a live look now at the road conditions on 270 in frederick county. here is chuck telling us about what it's looking like on the roads. >> reporter: good morning.

so we are just on the west side of frederick, maryland on interstate 70 going westbound and the temperature p right here in the 4 x 4 has dropped to 33 degrees. and we have switched over to sleet and snow. back to you. >> thank you, chuck. the month of march is known for pretty wild weather swings. >> like having 8 inches of snow on march 5th. that's kind of wildmelia segal is here to show us how wild the weather can get. last year it was st. patrick's day we had this much snow. >> it's pretty impressive. so of course as we change from winter to spring during the month of march, we can have very cold temperatures, very warm temperature its and a lot of snow. the coldest it's ever been in march. 4 degrees that was all the way back in 1873 p. hottest, 93. almost 20 inches in 1914. last year march 11th we had a

temperature of 78 degrees. and then about five days later, we had 7.2 inches of snow fall across the area. that led our snow totals for the month last year to just over a foot. now, one other number i want to throw out there, the average high this time of year it's about 53 degrees. if we could only get there. at least that's coming next week. >> 53 sounds so warm. it's not even really that warm. >> i'm scratching my head. here is a look at other stories we're following today on news 4. this morning the state department will begin combing through more than 55,000 personal e-mails from hillary clinton. they will reles regarding the u.s. mission in benghazi in 2012 to the house committee investigating the deadly attack there 37. the "new york times" was first to report that clinton used her private e-mail account exclusively while working as secretary of state rather than her government account. raising some questions about transparency. clinton says she wants every to see those e-mails and looks

forward to their release. we will hear from the family of michael brown today, they're reacting to the justice department's decision not to file civil rights charges against darren wilson the former police officer who shot and killed brown last summer. stay with us. "news 4 today" continues at 5:00 a.m.. right now a sloppy serving of winter weather to start your thursday. radar showing a big snowstorm getting ready to unload on us. it will could be the worst storm of the season for the metro d.c. area. >> most of you are you seeing rain outside of your windows right now. tom kierein has been busy on the timing of all the snow. here is a look at the radar now and his latest models are showing a bit of a change. >> good morning. it is 5:00 a.m.. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. let's check in with tom and a amelia for our forecast. >> monday it was looking like a light wintry mix on