areas. we have team coverage of the storm tonight. reporters spread out across our yair. bewe begin with some early decisions to close school tomorrow. >> hoar there's a complete list of all the closings scrolling across the bottom of your screen right now. but here are some of the districts making an early call. montgomery county schools, charles county prince william county pretty well ale and falls church all closed tomorrow. >> doug sounds like travel will be tricky later tonight and tomorrow morning even worse, huh? >> yeah most definitely. we've seen the snow coming down. what's happened here we saw the rain, the wet snow come down and the drier snow on top. what that does is create a layer of ice on the bottom. the plows can not get that ice up. they just can't do it. so they need to plow it then need to salt but then the temperatures go down below 20 degrees and that doesn't work either. the roads will stay a mess all night tonight, especially secondary roads, neighborhood roads. here's the radar, storm team 4 radar picking it up pretty well

for you now. the last gasp of snow trying to make its way through the d.c. metro area. a little bit of enhancement right downtown and through portions of northwest. still snowing heavily towards the south, southern portions of maryland fredericksburg still seeing snow and another band coming in from the northwest. this is actually the cold front coming through and boy, behind it it will be really cold. look at this band of snow right here fairfax through d.c. up there towards the baltimore area and more snow down toward the south. what are we going to see? the snow ending for the most part 5:00 back to the west 7:00 down toward the south and east with a few more snow showers, the roads extremely slick and cancellation we should change this now, probable not just possible. we've already gotten them across our region. next the cold moves in and we'll set some records again. >> winter's hanging on. thanks doug. right now, we're awaiting word on the status of commuter rail service. there are no marc trains running today because the federal government is closed. all vre service is canceled as

well. both marc and vre say they will make decisions about tomorrow's service at some point during the evening. we'll let you know as soon as we hear from them. we tweeted this alert about metro bus service being suspended at 9:00 tonight because the roads are expected to be too icy and dangerous. service will resume at 4:00 in the morning, but some routes may be suspended or detoured because of the icy conditions. metro rail is operating normally for above and below ground trains. metroaccess service may, may resume tomorrow afternoon with but the exact time isn't set yet. >> tricky conditions in prince george's county as well tonight. shomari stone in clinton, maryland weather more on that. shomari? >> reporter: i'm here on wood woodyard road in clinton, maryland and it is continuing to snow. we drove here from college park and it was a total mess on the roadways. we saw spinout, some cars in ditches and also accidents.

you look over there, stik roadway right now. plows have come through and then it continues to snow. and then they have to replow. one of the things we saw on the freeway, we would see snow from top of vehicles falling and distracting us. i must say that it's okay to clear thew off your windows but make sure you get the top of your cars because what happens is you have people who are driving, this snow is flying in the air and it's a huge distraction, it's a huge problem on the roadways. also over here you can see folks have been coming here trying to get gas and filling up and one of the things they're having a problem with is getting gas because right here he has to clear out all this ice because what happens, they have those truck, they come here they put the gas in which allows folks to go to the pumps and fill up their tanks, and this guy's been working really hard. i'm going to help him a little bit. it's hard because this ice is, you know really hard and i must say, hope you're okay, a lot of folks tell me they are around about the roadways.

as you saw, there is ice out there. if you plan on coming out, make sure you're okay. also you might want to stay inside because these roads are no joke. looich live in clinton, maryland shomari stone. fascinating video of a fire in hyattsville. a neighbor on jefferson street took this cell phone video just as firefighters were arriving this afternoon. several people were in that house, but they got out of there safely. we're told the snow did not slow the crews down from getting to the scene. still waiting to find out just what caused that fire. the national guard has been called in to help rescue hundreds of drivers stranded on interstate highways in kentucky. two sections of interstate 65 were shut down there stretch, the other ten miles long. 50 miles of interstate 24 also shut down in kentucky. nearly 2 feet of snow has fallen in parts of that state. some drivers had to spend the night in their cars overnight.

the governor has declared a state of emergency for the second time now in less than a month. laguardia back open now but a few hours ago a delta jet skidded off the runway and stopped just a few feet from an icy bay. 130 people were on that flight. it came from atlanta. five people take on the hospital with minor injuries. a wing on that plane sustained some heavy damage. it was snowing heavily at the time that plane was landing. but the national transportation safety board will investigate exactly what happened. the trouble we've been seeing on our roads all day long it is very likely to get worse overnight. we're heading into a deep freeze as we've been telling you. northern virginia bureau reporter david culvert is live in reston where even the snowplows have had trouble getting around. hi david. >> reporter: hi there, doreen. it has been a struggle for some of those plows. you're about to see a big parade of them coming up to my left here. this is on wheelie avenue.

it has been a struggle for these snow has just continued to come down. finally we're at a point where it's stopped and they're able to keep roads like this main roads clear. the problem will be the side roads, the neighborhood streets, vdot just tweeting out a short time ago that folks can expect in their neighborhood a path 8 to ten feet wide and they're working hard while these temperatures continue to plummet. a rough start on route 7 for this driver. the suv just couldn't keep straight. only took a few minutes for the tow truck operator to get him hitched and on their way. think the bigger the better? not the case for this salt and sand plow truck. it turned over in a ditch in reston. in less than an hour vdot crews got to work first trying to pull it up with the hopper on but the line snapped. then they tried without it. up it came. driver is expected to be okay. ahead of the deep freeze tonight, you're going to want to do some brushing. clean that car off. and some shoveling. if you've not gotten to it yet.

because all this slush will become ice. shoppers at this strip mall tempted by a swimming pool open sign today, thinking about warmer weather, albeit indoors. >> i'm ready for spring. >> reporter: she's ready for spring and a lot of folks also feeling the same way. believe it or not, next week spring break for a lot of universities here in the commonwealth of virginia. vdot tweeting out some suggestions for those of you who have kids who may be traveling for spring break, ways to get to the airport a little safer. find that on my twitter. i just retweeted it. live in reston. back to you. >> spring break on a lot of mind right now. thank you, david. >> snow emergency still in effect in the district right now now. for drivers it means you cannot park along snow emergency routes. that includes many main roads in the city. if you do your car will be towed and it's expensive to get it back. the parking ban lets crews clear

streets from curb to curb. you can find a map of the snow routes on nbcwashington.com. another school closing to pass along to you right now. prince george's county schools have announced they will be closed tomorrow. but this storm is not stopping the capps. the washington caps are hosting the minnesota wild at the verizon center tonight. tights team's 13th annual salute to the military night. the puck drop ts at 7:00. we'll have more of the weather impact on local sports and some warm thoughts from the nats spring down in florida coming up in the sports report. >> something to look forward to. >> absolutely. a family driving a pregnant women to the hospital couldn't wait for help after they got stranded on connecticut avenue in montgomery county this afternoon. they called an ambulance to take her to the hospital while waiting for help to change a flat tire. the ambulance arrived in plenty of time. news4's chris gordon is in rockville now with some of the other problems people are facing in all this snow. hi chris. >> reporter: hi doreen.

traffic is light and moving well along rockville pike much better conditions now than just a few hours ago. at times today, wind blew the snow horizontally right in their face making it hard to see. this car broke down on old georgetown road near the busy intersection with rockville pike. this must have been the best possible day for -- >> perfect day for this to happen you know? couldn't have been a better day. >> reporter: on river road there was a two-car wreck. montgomery county police tell us they responded to 38 accidents with property damage eight with personal injuries since midnight which is fewer than normal for a heavy snow day. at a park in north bethesda it was a perfect day. we found the answer to the question who let the dogs out as these owners played fetch with snowballs. >> she's loving it. she's running around. she loves getting -- loves eating snowballs when we throw

them at her. she's having a great time. >> reporter: taco got a face full of snow. >> he is a great reminder of the beauty of the moment. it's just really great to be engaged and present with him and his excitement for the snow. >> reporter: as for dog owners themselves they tell me they are over this winter weather, and that's a sentiment that probably a lot of people in this region share. that's the latest live in montgomery county. back to you. >> thanks chris. virginia's governor terry mcauliffe says his snow team hit the storm early and hard. the governor joined us on set here today for "news 4 midday." he says there are 9,000 trucks out on the roads in virginia and 3,500 of them are deployed in northern virginia. while the dpof nor was here we also asked him act the controversy surrounding hillary rodham clinton's emails. mccauliffe worked on her presidential campaign back in 2008. >> well we see the stories, many of the presidential candidates have been involved in

the same situation. general colin powell did the exact same thing. the law had been changed after she left office so, you know listen this is going to be a long campaign. you'll see a lot of activity on both sides. i hope she runs. >> in the meantime it could take months to vet hillary clinton's 55,000o they can be released to the public. that's according to the reuters news agency. the controversy erupted on monday when "the new york times" reported that clinton used her private e-mail when she was secretary of state rather than the government account. mrs. clinton tweeted last night that she wants the public to see her e-mails. she says she has asked the state department to release them. we're learning new details about the man suspected in a series of shootings in our area over the past week. charging documents released today claim that hong young admitted to the shootings and told officers he was hearing voyless. young was arrested this week after shots were fired near the

intercounty connector and the national security agency. police say ballistics link him to four shootings and he's a suspect in a fifth. no one was seriously hurt in any of the shootings. a virginia teenager radicalized by internet propaganda and now connected to isis. new at 6:00 nbc's pete williams explain what is got a local high school student arrested. another example of how treacherous the roads are tonight. this is the fairfax county parkway early. conditions are getting worse as temperatures drop. everything on the roads now is going to freeze.

live look at storm team 4 radar tonight. the snow is move for some of us but it's not over yet. >> we're going to take a look at the road now in nournl. looks not all that bad, really. he certain certainly looks passable at least for now. doug and veronica are will tell us about the trouble on the way after the snow moves out. the boston marathon bombing's trial as wrapped up for the week after two days of testimony. today the prosecution called more victims to the stand. they described for jurors what s exploded.

dzhokhar tsarnaev is charged with 30 counts. the trial continues on monday. it could last until june. >>. tonight the u.s. ambassador to south korea says he's doing okay after he was attacked by a guy with a knife in seoul. mark lippert was in surgery for more than two hours after a man slashed him on the face and the wrist. he required 80 stitches. doctors say he's suffering some paralysis of his face and arm. the suspect was protesting u.s. and south korean military xer siszs. he is now locked up. new information tonight about the woodbridge teenager accused of helping another teen travel to syria to join isis. we're learning he may have been radicalized online. nbc justice correspondent pete williams ha the latest developments. >> reporter: local and federal officials say a 17-year-old from the powells creek neighborhood

in woodbridge helped an 18-year-old get to syria with a goal of joining up with isis fighters. officials say the 17-year-old whose name has not been released because he's a juvenile was arrested a week ago at home. an internal advisory from the fbi and dhs issued last weekend to local law enforcement said isis propaganda "likely influenced a virginia-based youth to create produce, and disseminate violent extremist metsaging via social media." authorities say the student who attended osbourne park high school used the internet to make travel arrangements and find contacts in syria. federal officials say they're work ong plans to charge the student as an adult and they are preparing to file terrorism support charges against the 18-year-old who headed for syria. authorities say this is the latest example of what's becoming a familiar scenario. a young person radicalized by internet propaganda. experts say the jihadist message is attractive to young people who are struggling to understand their own identities and how

their muslim religion fits in with events halfway around the world. pete williams nbc news. >> pete will have more on the arrest coming up on "nbc nightly news" starting at 7:00. we go back to doug in the weather center now with the latest on has the snow stopped for us yet, doug? >> it's stopped for much of the region but still snowing in northwest, still snowing downtown area just a little sliver of snow continues but most down towards southern maryland. that's where the heaviest snow continues to be. take a look at the snowfall map. this was close to what we put out for last night. we did a pretty good job here 6 to 9 inches for the most part back to the west, a few areas got a little more 4 to 6 inches d.c. down to the south and we have seen totals over that 6-inch mark. fredericksburg at 7 inches down around the southern portions of leonardtown, just six miles to the north, about 5 inches of snow toward that region. a pretty good hefty snowfall around the area today. storm team 4 radar currently show where is that snow is.

again, it's just down to the south in through southern maryland leonardtown picking up 1 to 2 inches per hour right now. here's that band coming in through the d.c. metro area. and then back to the west we've got another band that we're going to be looking at too. we have some live pictures. where are these from guys? oh this is prosperity road in fairfax. this is a plow plou that is stuck. we have our crews out there right now. yet another plow actually stuck on the roads too. you can see this is one of those back roads there in the areas of fairfax county. fairfax county upwards of 4 to 6 inches of snow. some areas, reston coming in at 8 inches in fairfax county. but the snow is all done. down to the south, still seeing that snow down toward st. mary's county southern portions of calvert county. another band right here. what is this band? that's the arctic part of this front. it's coming down behind it much colder air. temperatures now in the single digits to lower teens back there and that's where we'll be overnight tonight. our snow will continue to move down to the south by 8:00 tonight, just about everybody, a few snow showers left over.

but the real factor tonight is going to be the cold. once the snow is ended, the cold really moves in and it will be rather breezy too, so with that we're talking act windchills and a windchill advisory in in effect. 25 in winchester 28 down towards fredericksburg. that after a high of 51 yesterday. much colder today with that snow and there's that windchill advisory. howard county montgomery county loudoun county northern faulkier and everybody to the west. windchills tonight 15 below to 5 below zero. now, just because southern maryland fredericksburg the northern neck just because d.c. you're not in the advisory to be just as cold in those areas. take a look. feels-like temperatures tonight, down to 15 in gaithersburg by 8:00 15 manassas by 11:00 sinls back to the west 16 in d.c. and by early tomorrow morning we're below zero in many areas. 5 below in gaithersburg 3 below martinsburg, 3 below in leesburg fredericksburg coming in at zero degrees. a very cold start to our friday. good thing that the schools are

starting to cancel because it's going to be very slick, very icy, and, yes, very cold too. 27 for a high temperature tomorrow. 42 degrees on saturday. 47 on sunday. and notice we're moving in the right direction. 50 on monday. let's just keep going. we increase every single day. 53 on tuesday. 59 on wednesday. 64 on thursday. the last time we had at least three days in a row, 50 degrees or better christmas. >> say that again, doug. next thursday looking at -- >> 64! >> okay. just wanted to hear that one more time. we'll get through this. because that's what we have to look forward to. thanks doug. this is a big storm. it's affecting millions of people. all the way from texas to massachusetts. we'll check in with the weather channel next to see how it's affecting people all over this country. and we're keeping track of the friday school closings in our area for you. download the nbc washington app for breaking news alerts.

♪ ♪ wow something sounds sweet in here!!!! ♪ ♪ need a little honey in the bowl. yeah!!! badabopbopbopa!!! no? must be the honey!!!

back on news 4 at 6:00. props to the mailmen braving the

slippery sidewalks and steps. we appreciate them. >> we do every one. lots of people got to stay inside today, very nice warm dry, but here's an important reason to maybe step outside. consumer reporter erika gonzalez. here now with a safety warning. >> absolutely. we talked about all the mound and mound of snow. everybody is nice and toasty inside but we need to pay-pay attention to the exterior of our homes. critical vents, the gas meter around your home may be snow covered. very dangerous. let's start with the dryer vents. if that's blocked with snow that can cause a fire. we've talked about snow today. we don't want to be talking about fires tomorrow okay? make sure that the outside vent is clear. have a heat pump. make sure that you clear the snow off and away from that. and gas meters outside your home. make sure that that's clear of snow. be real careful removing that snow. you can brush it off. you don't need to take a shovel to it. nice and easy dust that off.

gas meters have vents as well. if they are blocked, it can cause gas to leak. make sure that there is a clear path to the meter in case of an emergency. if you've got an indoor meter, make sure that the outside vent is not blocked either. we've seen so many accidents on the roadways. this is not something that we want to see tomorrow reporting on this stuff. we hope that everybody takes just a couple minutes. go to once around the house, make sure that those areas are nice and clear. it will save you a lot of time and hopefully keep anything like that from happening. >> and clear the snow before it frees. >> absolutely. so heavy to clear tomorrow. just do it tonight. a dangerous driving situation in the memphis area after today's storm dumped several inches of snow on top of ice that formed last night. the weather channel's chris warren has a look at conditions in that region. >> reporter: here in memphis, they're triping to cope with all

that precipitation that fell overnight. first it was sleet, then a little bit of freezing rain. then we had about 4 inches of snow. it's packed down on the roadways here. as the car traffic comes down it's pushing onto something that's slick. all-wheel drive cars are doing okay front wheel, not so bad, rear wheel are spinning out. they don't have a lot of snow removal equipment here in the midsouth. they have some equipment for the interstates. but coming town the highway here they do have one piece of heavy equipment out, not exactly a conventional snowplow but they're using it to drag the snow off this overpass germantown parkway where it crosses over interstate 40. as he goes by i'm going to pan the camera over here and show you i-40. the state has been able with the scraping and salt and sand to get it down to one lane going in each direction. but it's slow. if you look at the highway maps over into arkansas i-40 covered with slush, all the way to little rock i-55 the same story going north and interstate

40 going to nashville to the east from memphis, the same story. going to be very slow. not as bad as kentucky but here in the memphis area they're still going to be coping with this situation. schools closed byes closed pretty much they're hoping for some sunshine in the next couple days. they're going to clear these highways off. back to you. >> this storm is costing millions of dollars in our area. new at 6:00 we go inside a storm command center to see how this winter season is impacting one county's budget. snow's about to move out. it won't be lasting much longer. but as we were told it's going to get really cold out there.

so the heaviest snow is behind us but the storm isn't done yet. >> no it's not. after our winter storm warning ends a windchill advisory begins. things getting easier yet? >> remember last night we talked about the light at the end of the tunnel? >> yes. >> it's getting brighter. >> not for days. >> we have another dark spot to go through, tonight and into the day tomorrow but then it will start to improve our weather and our temperatures. storm team 4 radar showing where the snow is.

still a lot of snow towards southern maryland and the northern neck. that's where we're still seeing snowfall lates over an inch an hour. snow through d.c. metro area and another batch to the west. look at this band. ahead of it we're cold 28 in d.c. but 15 in pittsburgh, that's the cold air setting in. talking about record-breaking loathe low temperatures tonight. we'll talk about those. there are two sides to every story. in the case of this storm there are those who love it and those who hate it. chris lawrence found both kinds up in gaithersburg tonight. hey, chris. >> reporter: hey, doreen. the one thing that made everything bearable here was that so many people stayed off the road. that let the plows push a lot of this snow off some of those roads. but now a lot of people need to get out, need to start getting back out there and getting things done and that's going to make for some rough going tonight. when the white blanket came down

on gaithersburg the snowplows had a hard time keeping up. families were stuck too but most had no problem staying home. >> i work in downtown washington so it's a long way to go on a adey like this. >> reporter: jason edward has an even longer drive ahead of him. >> i have friends coming in from houston. they're flying in tonight unless their flight is canceled so i'll have to pick them up. >> reporter: from reagan national more than 30 miles away. >> a little bit of a drive, yeah but hopefully we'll be able to get down there safely that is if their flight isn't canceled. >> reporter: there are two sides to the hassles and beauty of winter. >> i'm done with the snow. waiting for spring. >> love it. hoping to get more. not enough trette yet. >> i'm ready for it to be over. time for springtime. >> reporter: the problem now underneath all that snow you're starting to see a thin layer of ice form. because the trucks are able to move lot of it off the road you

can see now they're starting to get some of the salt in there. they will be hitting the roads soon as they try to clear some of these roads. but again, it's going to be a very very tough go tonight. live in gaithersburg chris lawrence news4. >> chris, thank you. it's becoming a tradition to blow off a little steam and break the cabin fever. dozens of people turned out tonight for a huge snowball fight at dupont circle. we took a camera into the middle of the battle to get an idea of what it was like out there. the first snowball fight in dupont circle was five years ago. it has been growing ever since. dozens of families defied the warnings and they went sledding today on the capitol grounds. sledding is not allowed there. capitol police say there are security and safety concerns we're told. but in the end, kids went sledding anyhow. and there were no problems. >> good for them for letting the

sledding on capitol hill go on. >> for not stopping them anyhow. we've had pets kid, creative hats all over the place. this time our snow stick challenge is getting back to the basics -- snowmen. >> the entries that we have received this time around are anything but basic. pat! what you got out there? he's on connecticut avenue by the way. >> reporter: vance, i am looking for the best snowman maker in washington. i'm looking for the best snowman. if you build it i will come. and i'll bring one of these babies with me. the snow stick challenge. march snow mania. best snowman gets an official pat collins snow stick. the entries keep pouring in. tall man. tall snowman. yikes. how did he get that hat on that baby? the easter snow bunny with a basket of treats and grass at hi

feet. so that's what grass looks like. a montgomery county police department entry complete with a police tape scarf and a look that you might say has some flare to it. can i take a minute to say not all the snowmen are men? there are some women out there as well. take a close look at this one. it takes a few second to figure it out. it's a high in the sky look at a snowman on steroids. and what about that gigantic carrot nose? now we come to a category we call wishful thinking. jamaica. take me to jamaica. somebody, please. and i know our time springs forward this weekend. can the real spring be far behind?

now the deadline for entries 7:00 tonight. judging tomorrow tomorrow somebody's going to get an official pat collins snow stick. jim, doreen? >> got to love the snow women with the bikinis. >> i love that. you also have to love the one trying to hitchhike to. jamaica too. >> maybe to new york. >> that's going the other way. >> i don't think a snow person is going to make it to jamaica in any case. >> all right. thank you, pat. 20 minutes to get your entries in. pat lawson muse is at our live desk with that. pat? >> nbc news has confirmed actor harrison ford has been seriously injured in a plane crash in venice california. it's a vintage world war ii training plane. we don't know whether he was the passenger or the pilot. but it landed on a golf course

in venice. the actor was stabilized and taken to a local hospital. sources say he sustained cuts to the head. there's no word on other injuries or what caused the plane to crash. one passenger on the plane not clear if harrison ford was the passenger or the pilot. i'm pat lawson muse at the live desk. i already feel like we're the most connected but i think this solo date will seal the deal. sure! i offer multi-car, safe driver, and so many other discounts that people think i'm a big deal. and boy, are they right. ladies, i can share hundreds in savings

with all of you! ju today. but right now, it's choosing time. ooh! we have a winner. all: what? [chuckles] vhe's supposedto pick one of us. this is a joke, right? that was the whole point of us being here.

news4 spotted a few people out and about downtown as well as a few ducks chilling out in the chilly waters at annapolis. the storm has of course created some dangerous row conditions down in prince george's county but not everybody is upset about the snow. our zachary kiesch is in chillum tonight, where some people are taking advantage of it.

>> reporter: in the car, driving the bus, whatever it was, today here in prince george's county it wasn't ideal for any of you. >> came up here to get me and my wife some coffee. >> reporter: okay. >> then we're going to hibernate. >> reporter: lawrence haines has the right idea take that sports car home and park it. there are some people around here who don't actually see snowflakes. they only see dollar signs on days like this one. >> i look forward to, you know being out here and trying to capitalize and make as much money as i can. got to make that -- >> reporter: snow equals paper. >> absolutely. >> reporter: angel is one. cashing in. >> money is always pleasure. >> reporter: lawrence is from boston and knows a thing or two about snowstorms and is not quite sure this one lived up to the hype. >> i think they just don't like snow in washington, d.c. >> reporter: it's been steady here pretty much all day long just like many of the other areas. we're starting to see this thing die down just a little bit. again the point of concern now is how these roads and sidewalks are going to react to these

freezing temps later on tonight. in prince george's county, zachary kiesch news4. if you're feeling done with all this snow and i think that would be us -- >> yeah. >> here's a silver lining for you. some local restaurants are offering snow day deals. check them out at nbcwashington.com. just click on "the scene." we have one more school closing to tell you about. fairfax county schools will be closed tomor doug and veronica coming back to tell us if maybe this is the

the last of the light snow has stopped falling in northwest washington. still, though, a good idea to stay off the roads tonight and let the plows and salt trucks do what they can. >> our team coverage continues now at 6:45 with a strain on local snow budgets and the forecast. >> and the forecast. let's start with news4's mark segraves. he's looifr in clarendon. what's going on, mark? >> reporter: i've taken off the hat and the parka. this storm is over as far as arlington is concerned. earlier today people were preparing for the worst. we met one woman who walked miles for grocery and another woman who drove state to state looking for salt. it never fails. when there's a big snowstorm, there's a rush to the stores for those essentials people just can't seem to live without.

for many beer was on that list. kathy doan was in search of ice melt to keep her sidewalks from freezing over. she struck out in maryland and d.c. but got lucky here in arlington. do you feel hike you struck gold finding that ice melt? >> yes, i did. we have none in montgomery county. >> reporter: this woman walked for more than a mile each way to get a few groceries. fearful she might be snowed in for days. what did you have to go out and get? >> some groceries. >> reporter: yeah? >> in case this snow became worse. >> reporter: you don't want to get stuck alone without any food. >> no. that's right. >> reporter: now gn just a very light mist falling here in arlington. if you were with us at 4:00, you might recall that i noted that the sidewalks here hadn't been cleared and within minutes a crew showed up to clear those sidewalks, well then at 5:00 we noted that the plows weren't able to get down to the pavement and within minutes backhoes came

in and have now scraped down wilson boulevard all the way to the pavement. that's the scene here in arlington. jim and doreen back to you. >> winter storms are taking a toll on the local government's money. montgomery county is one that has blown through its snow removal budget. now at 6:00 scott mcfarlane takes a look at how all that money was spent. >> reporter: removing the snow from here in the county cost $80,000 -- an hour. this will likely be a $1 million to $2 million snowstorm. they already spent $20 million removing snow this winter twice what the county budget is. they'll move money around to balance the books. county officials in the highway services department say they have enough salt and supplies to go for the rest of the winter and are not at all exhausted, at least not yet. >> we had a lot of marginal events, a lot of events right on the cusp of freezing and so

forth. it was more of a nuisance. february mother nature showed up. our stocks are good. our salt supplies are healthy, our trucks in very good condition. >> reporter: in all montgomery county using 375 trucks for removal today presumably perhaps the last major snow removal of the winter of 2014-2015. scott mcfarlane news4. we've got some more school closings coming into our newsroom. fairfax, howard and prince george's county schools will all be closed tomorrow. also on the list, montgomery and prince william counties and also we just heard that loudoun county schools will close tomorrow too. the complete list on your screen and you can find it also in the nbc washington app. let's feel better. here's a bit of perspective on the day we've had. check out the right side of your screen. you know what that is? that's miami. beautiful. sunny. 77 degrees today. >> looks beautiful. >> on the left, that's the

capitol dome. can you see it? >> no. >> it's in there somewhere. look real closely. doug veronica 77 sounds awfully good right now. >> great. >> 77 sounds great. having the kids at home for four days in a row, i don't know how great that sounds. but that's going to be the thing as we make our way through the next couple days. tomorrow a cold day and, yes, the snow continues to move on now. >> cold and windy, especially for the start early tomorrow morning. we'll have those windchills coming up. >> let's take a look and show you what's happening on the radar. one thing you notice where we had been out of the snow we're back in it up towards frederick county and in maryland panhandle of west virginia berkeley west virginia county up towards hagerstown. on the light side and that's the arctic front bringing in colder air. look at this little band here going over the woodrow wilson bridge down to the south. st. mary's county still seeing some of that rain. we'll widen out and i'll show you this front that's coming

right on down toward the region. we had one front come through last night and we have that arctic front with the cold air. right now 28 degrees.l drop to 24 by 9:00, a little on the breezy side. 20 degrees by 11:00. we're just getting started with the cold air. v.j., we think we're going to break a couple records tonight. >> temperatures will continue to come down. talking about being in the single digits some areas to about 14 degrees right in d.c. take a look at the records. dulles to reagan national dulles record 15 degrees from 1978. bwi marshall thurgood 13 from 1901. these record have held for years and maybe one or two could have a new record by tomorrow morning. record cold and wind. the winds will be over 20 miles per hour and that will take our windchill temperatures, what it feels like in the morning down to 5 to 15 degrees below zero. you ready? >> in march.

kind of hard to believe. we'll set a couple records tonight. look at the numbers. these are the actual low temperatures we're going for, 14 in d.c. 9 in leesburg 8 in winchester 12 in fredericksburg a very frigid morning. as we mentioned we think we'll break a couple records. the good news is warming next week. here's our storm. the cold air aflorida, you just showed florida, we're finally going to get some of that warmer air. not quite that warm but at least it's on the way and looks like it wants to stay. 42 degrees on saturday after 27 on friday. 47 on sunday. 50 on monday. notice the trend here. so far this month we've gone up and then right back down. but this time every day is warmer than the next. 59 next wednesday. up to 64 degrees next thursday. let's hope we continue that trend. guys? >> we like that trend, don't we. >> that map looks like a full house. i'm betting on that one. i like that one. coming up sports. late development involving the caps. alex ovechkin i'm talking about.

spring training. we get our first look at the nats new $200 million man.

doug showed us his weather wall, a sign of spring but jason has another sign. >> much better weather down in florida for the nationals sprapg. first spring training game for the nationals.

giving fans their fist look at max scherzer, the $210 million man. manager matt williams told us not to read too much into scherzer's starting today as any indication who would be the starter opening tay. with that being said scherzer had his ups and downs in his debut. 84 degrees florida. scherzer check this out as he walks to the dugout. he's so focused, coaches and teammates trying to shake his hand scherzer walks right past them. the guy is locked in. doesn't matter if it's spring training or not. as for the game after a flyout to start, second batter infield fly here. it's the nationals new first baseman ryan zimmerman making a play. top of the second, a little trouble for scherzer now facing john mayberry jr. he takes him yard to left. scherzer went two innings, gave up one run on 29 pitches. right now the mets they lead

the nationals 4-3. that game still in the fifth inning. tomorrow the nats are back at it. they'll take on atlanta in orlando. let's move on to hockey now. the capitals start a five-game home stand tonight and they'll do it without alex ovechkin. he is out for the first time this season with a lower-body injury. ovi played in 96 straight games and a big blow tonight for the caps against minnesota. to vech lin leads the league with 43 goals and is tied with teammate niklas backstrom in points with 67. ovi has scored four goals in the caps' last two games, both wins including the game-winning goal in each of those contests. to the hard wood. the wizards practicing this mourning preparing for the miami heat. they come to town tomorrow night. just one win in their last eight games for the wiz kids. they top 100 points just once during that stretch. the offense struggles have been

evident, the defense causing major problems for the wiz. >> the key with us is playing defense. when we play defense, everything -- we have that big lead we got a lot of steals early on. until we exit gete committed back on the defensive end, it won't work. >> defense, when i say we're inconsistent and not all on the same page all the times when the best part of game all five guys locked in having to trust knowing where each one is going to be when somebody makes a mistake, somebody can make up for it. we're in the stretch run this point in the year so hopefully we can be a little more locked in. virginia forward justin anderson out for tomorrow's game. had an appendectomy today for the virginia cavaliers. he will not play this weekend.

on this thursday night, edge of disaster.

a delta plane careens off a runway in a snowstorm slamming through an airport fence on landing leaking fuel. passengers just feet from plunging into the water. stranded for miles, an epic scene still playing out on a major highway. hundreds of drivers trapped since last night. the national guard now sent in to rescue them. that shocking tack on an american ambassador, how did a man lunging with a knife get so close? face-to-face, the bombing survivor from that iconic photo takes the stand during a dramatic day in court in boston. and disappearing act at the greatest show on earth. a big change under the big top. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world