yang. >> reporter: good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist here. we expect the pope may be up inside the vatican. we know he's an early reiser. that's possible. we've been watching all morning. here, too, at the vatican across massachusetts avenue there is a crowd that's growing. about 100 people we believe already gathered here with signs and t-shirts and with instruments, largely latin american crowd gathered here to see the first latin american pope to hold that position in the catholic faith. we want to sort of give you an idea of what we expect will be happening today. 8:45, 8:55 this morning the pope's motorcade will leave the vatican and head to the white house. that's about a three mile trip ruffly. there will be rolling road closures. once he arrives at the white house he'll be greeted by president and mrs. obama there. from there he will head to the south lawn for a welcoming

ceremony. only invited guests will attend that ceremony. 15,000 people expected to be there. after that the pope mobile will travel down -- it's a retrofitted jeep wrangler. travel down 17th street, across constitution avenue and up 15th street where it will create the circle, if you will, around the ellipse before returning to the white house. he will head to saint matthew's for a prayer service. at 4:00 this afternoon pope francis will cannonize a new saint. so a very full day today for the pope, eun, and all along his travels today you can expect that there will be huge, massive crowds gathered to see the pope wherever and whenever they can see him across the city. >> thank you, aaron.

the pope's visit could impact how you get to work this morning. melissa mollet is tracking traffic problems. what are you seeing? >> good morning. we have a brand-new closure that actually just popped up. connecticut avenue and 17th. this started at 6:00 a.m. in addition, we have all of the parade route closures. 17th street between lincoln avenue. constitution between 12th and 23rd there and then 15th street between h street and maine avenue as well. a couple of closures here happening for you right now this morning. also green line delays, i should say, to branch avenue and 3rd street the off ramp to massachusetts avenue has all lanes blocked there as well. chuck? >> all right. outside on a wednesday morning in the nation's capitol. mostly clear sky.

temperatures are delightfully cool. 59 now college park. 55 in restin. planning to be outside this morning, temperatures near 60 at 7:00 a.m. if you're going o down to the ellipse. 65 at 9:00 a.m. and 72 degrees at 11:00 a.m. the pope will go from the white house over to saint matthews around noontime. later on this afternoon outside at the basilica temperatures will be in the mid to upper 70s. plenty of sunshine. put your sun block on before you go. we'll talk about the commuter impacts from the weather. for now back to the news. the gates are open and the music is on hours ahead of the papal parade later this morning. hundreds of people are already in line buzzing with excite am. news 4's adam tuss is there as well. are there already a lot of people in line? >> reporter: definitely, eun. those people are getting moved

through. earlier we were showing you hundreds if not thousands of people that had lined up. they're all now getting into position for what's happening later today. this is 15th street. this is as extensive a road closure scene as i have ever seen. on 15th street, aaron was mentioning it earlier, this is where the papal motorcade will go around. the pope mow deal will actually go down 17th over constitution and up 15th street. you can see the papal flags are now lining 15th street. people are already in there trying to get their spot. there's been a little bit of confusion down here about what exactly should happen. they should be on the 15th street side or the 17th street side. we talked to one guy and helped him out.

>> i'm learning the way. you guys helped me out with a little bit of direction. this morning i hopped on over and came here. it's been great. people have been wonderful. >> reporter: so a lot of people trying to figure out where they should be. very festive. they're singing and cheering. i can tell you if you're even entertaining the idea of driving down here today, don't do it. back to you. >> thank you, adam. there is some controversy surrounding the guest list of the pope's visit to the white house. among them a leader of trans gender rights. a guy catholic logger and first openly gay episcopal visit. the president is trying to put pressure on the pope over social issues. representatives say they're not concerned and the guest list

controversy will not sour this morning's events. the green line should not be a problem for you this morning if you plan to take metro to get to any of the papal events. service is fully restored after a power problem with absolutely terrible timing. metro feettweeted some updates r some passengers had to walk through the tunnel. a couple of things you can do right now to make your metro ride smoother. leave early. we've been saying it, leave early. leave early. metro is open. buy your smart trip card before you go to the station before it has plenty of spare on there to avoid any lines there, too. leave your selfie sticks, biegs sickels, coolers and chairs at home. you can't take any of those items to the papal events. plan plenty of time. they havenq search any of the bs

that you bring on the train. >> reporter: eun, all the problems they've been having on metro lately, some riders are turning to pope francis for help. what they hope he'll do to improve reliability. also, the pope's visit and canonization mass is getting a lot of attention. what's in store when he meets with the american

breaking news. a homicide overnight. police have already made an arrest. they found a body on 14th and v street northwest. there is your map. so far no information on who the person was. the investigation is continuing right now, eun. >> kristin, thanks so much. it is now 6:11. time for weather and traffic on

the 1s. a very important day. a lot of outdoor events. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck belle is here with your forecast. good morning, chuck. >> that's right. very pretty sky outside early this morning. a couple of clouds on the eastern horizon. mostly clear sky from i-95 westbound to the blue ridge and shenandoah valley. frederick county, zero visibility now. really that's the only potential weather slowdown early this morning. got the green lights for later on this afternoon and later this evening. temperatures will rise from the 50s to near 60 now with a little bit of area fog. upper 70s to near 80. check on the increasing weekend rain chances. for now back on traffic. >> the increasing closures that are kind of happening by the mind here. of course, a lot of closures from downtown. a live picture from 15th street there at pennsylvania avenue. a whole list of closures for you. we've been tweeting about it on first 4 traffic. we'll be talking about them all

morning as well. green line delays to branch avenue. tramp times, 270 south looks good. 66 in bound, you're on time. 95 north on time. listen on wtop when you're in your car this morning. a front row seat for pope francis's visit this morning. the maryland girl that was there to shake the pope's hand is talking about the experience. plus, asking for his mercy. the message some catholics hope pope francis will hear while

this morning pope francis is waking up for the first time in the united states. in a few hours he will visit the white house. take a look at these live pictures of the crowd that has gathered across the street from the vatican embassy. maybe not expected. maybe it was expected. we would see more than 100 people here we expect at this point who have gathered with signs and with t-shirts, some with musical instruments all for the opportunity to possibly see pope francis when he wakes up this morning and prepares to leave the embassy. they've got a pretty good view of the front door at the embassy just behind me. they should be able to see him

before he goes to the ceremony at the white house. we expect another 15,000 people will be. we expect to see that the pope will pray with american bishops at 11:30 this morning when he goes to the cathedral of saint matthew, the apostle. that is the mother church. the prayers themselves will be private. we don't expect we will be able to see much of that, but you may be able to see the pope arrive or leave there along rhode island avenue near connecticut. so we expect that there will be large crowds gathered on the sidewalks in that area as well. there will also be a message for the pope today at saint matthews. advocates with the human rights campaign have put up a banner right across the street. you see it here on instagram. the hrc posted a picture of this banner with the message asking the pope to welcome lgbt catholics back into the church. pope francis has said in the past that it's not his job to judge people based on their sexual orientation. there's also a petition that's

circulating right now to get pope francis to bless the metro system. this popped up yesterday as metro was dealing with those huge delays along some of the lines, a tunnel problem there. the petition is on change.org. the author wrote our metro system is having some trouble. all dc would be grateful if you could find the time to bless it during your upcoming stay. the author also said at this point i'm willing to try anything. so far that petition has more than 2100 signatures. no indication that the pope will take action on that while he's here. everybody is looking for an opportunity, if you will, to connect with pope francis while he's here in the states, eun. this is just another opportunity for people to sort of reach out for him and to try to have a part in the experience of having a pope here in the united states. this pope in particular who has been popular in social media, has been able to connect with people in ways that we've not seen folks connect in the past. eun? >> absolutely. there are people, catholics and non-catholics, very interested

in what he has to say today. aaron, thank you. we'll check in with you in a bit. there are several masses going on to celebrate the pope in town. in ten minutes mass will begin at saint steven martyr church in foggy bottom. the people attending the mass will receive a wrist band that gets them into the viewing area along the papal route near the ellipse. to celebrate the pope's visit the kennedy center and arch diocese of washington are having a free concert in his honor tonight. pope francis will not be there but a med sage from him will be read by cardinal donald wuerl. the music celebrates the pope's message of understanding. tickets will be handed out at 6:00. all day long you can find out about pope francis's events and updated road closures on our nbc 4 app. search papal visit. angie goff is live in the newsroom tracking other stories we're following. angie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun.

we have a lot going on around washington. a loudoun county sheriff's deputy, john gregory, is facing a misdemeanor assault charge. there are not many details of this incident and that is simply because the sheriff's office refuses to release the incident report. there are some calls for an internal investigation to try to figure out whether county procedures were properly followed. police in the district may soon be wearing body cameras. dc is getting $1 million in federal cash to equip the police officers with those cameras. this is part of a larger $20 million that's being districted to dozens of agencies across the country. they voted to allow the mayor to buy more than 2400 body cameras with that money. the city and the mayor are now working on the final details. china's president says he will ramp up efforts to work with the u.s. in fighting cyber crime. xi jinping says during a speech

in seattle yesterday that he will also work with the country on other issues. shipping ping will jinping will arrive tomorrow and will be honored at a state dinner at the white house. the pope is making his first ever visit to the united states as the jewish faith celebrate yom kippur. this means day of atonement. it's a day of prayer, fasting and asking for forgiveness of sins. the holiday ends tonight. a live look right now at the basilica where the final preparations are underway before the pope celebrates mass there this afternoon. just a beautiful view. chuck bell is here to bring us beautiful weather. thank you, chuck. >> i've worked all week to try to get this forecast just right for the papal activities around town, today and tomorrow.

perfect weather mid week for all that you want to do outside today. unfortunately, the price we're going to pay for it is increasing chances of rain just in time for the weekend. outside on our live tower camera looking eastbound towards what will soon be the rising sun, sun's up at 6:56 this morning. nice, cool start. wonderful low impact weather day coming your way. plenty of sunshine and warmer today than it's been the last couple of days. courtesy of the clouds. 48 now frederick, maryland, m t martinsburg, west virginia. downtown d.c., temperatures near 59 at 7:00 a.m. mid 70s at noon. mid to upper 70s by late this afternoon into early evening. another great night for baseball. that's what we should have done is have pope francis bless the nationa nationals. they need some work. mid 70s at first pitch. very good night for baseball. future weather all sunshine all

the time for today. a clear, cool come if i start this morning. then again, another partly to mostly sunny day. few more clouds late tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night. a cloudy day coming up tomorrow night. moisture coming our way just in time for the weekend. 81 today with the sunshine. 80 tomorrow. mid 70s on friday with clouds increasing and a risk of a shower late, late, late friday night. most of the rain chances really are stacked up on to saturday and early sunday with highs back in the 70s. more traffic nightmares around town with melissa now. good morning. >> it is going to be a heck of a slow day for a lot of folks here around town. again, a lot of closures. we've been tweeting them about from first 4 traffic. we have a full list for you if you really want to see everything on twitte twitter @first4traffic. live picture where adam tuss is. at the vatican embassy we have northbound lanes blocked.

southbound lanes you can't get through if two are a truck tomorrow. blue line delanes. then on vre, we have delays on both lines because of the security sweep that happened between crystal and the city here this morning. big look on the beltway. top of the beltway. back in ten minutes. in the newsroom, we are following the volkswagen scandal closely. board members are holding a crisis meeting today where ceo martin wintercorn will have to make his case. what did he know about the scheme to dupe consumers and regulators. vw admits they've been using software to rig some 11 million diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests. now the automaker's stock value

is tanking. we'll see what happens. at the meeting there are calls for the ceo to step down. pope francis is in washington. he's inside the vatican embassy in northwest washington. take a live look at the picture. you can see dozens of people gathered outside of the embassy to catch a glimpse of the pope when he departs for the white house this morning. we will have more on his busy agenda later today. four children have a story about the pope to keep their friends jealous for the rest of their lives. a first, third, fifth, seventh grade er from local catholic schools greeted pope francis with flowers at joint base andrews. you can see them there shaking hands. one of them was jocelyn aquino of silver springs. she attends sacred heart schools. >> it was nice to meet the most important person in the world. i got to meet the person that teaches students love and his

message. >> jocelyn also had a chance to meet president obama. she said the president danced with the students before greeting the pope. very cool. look for a lot more people with their phones out today sharing glimpses of the pope and their meetings and their sightings. the white house used periscope to stream the pope's arrival from the tarmac. you can see the video. they called it the pope scope. that's a good name. the white house joined periscope and gathered nearly 10,000 more followers. many more to come. that's for today. the pope's visit to washington means a number of security changes around town, too. it is even impacting service in one of washington's busiest hospitals. what med star washington wants people to know before trying to go to the hospital today. another live look at the ellipse where the lines are growing as people gather to catch a glimpse of pope francis when he visits the white house. what you can expect at today's ceremony.

. a with us busy day across washington as people are trying to catch a glimpse of pope francis. while the pope gets his day started at the vatican embassy, crowds are already building to see him at the white house and at the vatican in just a few hours. of course, the two most crowded events for the pope today will be both held outside including the one at the basilica which you can see behind me. just a gorgeous setting there. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell tracking conditions you can see during these events. chuck, good morning to you. nice weather. >> beautiful morning outside. a little on the cool side this morning. as you're heading out the door this morning you may need a shedable layer of fleece. it will turn into a beautiful, warm, sunny day. outside this morning there are some cool spots to be found. skies cleared out last night. a few clouds in our eastern sky

but it is clear from dc westbound to the blue ridge and the shenandoah valley where it's coolest. we also have some areas of thick fog near the shenandoah valley near martinsburg. upper 50s to near 60 in shenandoah valley. 60 at 7:00 a.m., 65 at 9:00 and 72 at 11:00. if you are going to be outside at the basilica, temperatures in the mid to upper 70s. a nice day to be outside at the basilica. otherwise, temperatures quite mild, indeed. mid to upper 70s. around 80, 81 degrees in downtown d.c. we'll talk about the school day forecast. more new traffic troubles from melissa. >> new traffic troubles. top 's a little further bac65 than we would like to see. you can see this is causing some delays, 2nd street at k street. another accident. northbound massachusetts avenue in front of the vatican embassy going to be shut down until tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. a lot of road closures. have them listed at first 4 it. there are so many people, more than 100 people over there at this point. they are quietly waiting to see the pope a little bit later on. we expect 8:45, 8:55 this morning, somewhere in that window the pope will leave with his motorcade from the embassy and head down to the whiwhite h president and mrs. obama. there are gates cordoned off near the ellipse with large numbers of people who have been gathering for some of the papal events waiting in those cues, those lines to see some of the events here. we started hearing music and seeing folks about 4:15 this morning. so while we are here outside the vatican embassy, news 4's adam tuss has been on the mall near the ellipse for the entire morning watching as those crowds have been growing. adam, i know there's been a little bit of confusion out there as well, too. >> reporter: that's right, aaron. a little bit of confusion. first things first. you come down here, you have to get your papal swflag.

a lot of people are doing that. let's show you how many people are down here. this is 15th street on pennsylvania avenue. we're talking about easily a couple thousand people who are in line just right now to get down here. there's a lot going on. people down in this area. of course, what's going to be happening later on today is the pope coming here to the white house. i want to show you an animated map of the route that he's going to take around the ellipse. he's going to go down 17th street, go across constitution avenue and then come back up 15th street. now if you can come back out here live, want to show you where 15th street is down there. you can see the papal flags lining that route down there. there are already some people who have made their way out to that area to try to catch a glimpse of the pope. there's a lot going on down here. tons of people lining up, some of them with tickets, some of them trying to get into the public event. plenty of excitement cogoing on.

>> papal swag, that's a new term we've heard. adam tuss live from the white house. as we said, the pope will meet with president obama a little bit later this morning, and he will not be leaving the vatican embassy here in a big armored limousine as you might expect with some dignities who come through the district. instead, he will ride in this. we'll show you some video of this, it's a fiat. it's a $20,000 fiatl. license plate reads scv 1 which are the latin initials for the vatican city state. #blessed. francis has made a point of using more modest vehicles. he rides around rome with the blue ford focus. he has the windows down waiving to the crowds. the pope took a vow of poverty to join that particular religious order so we see some

humility, humbleness to the pope as he makes his way around the area. looking forward to t aaron. patients and visitors at med star washington hospital center should be prepared for big delays to and from the hospital because the hospital is so close to the basilica, there will also be more security around the hospital. anyone entering the cam pupus w have to show i.d. and say why they're visiting. the campus will be closing at noon. there will be a welcoming ceremony on the south lawn. the "today" show's matt lauer is there with more on this historic meeting. good morning. >> hey, eun. it's exciting. coming up on "today" we'll have complete coverage as the president rolls out the red carpet for pope francis. thousands already lining the

streets of washington for just a glimpse of the so-called people's pope. we'll bring all of that to you live. changing subjects. the tributes are pouring in for yogi berra who died overnight. he was a legend. we'll talk more about him. is he feeling pressure? we'll catch up with trevor noah. so a lot to get to on a wednesday morning. we'll start here at the white house. eun, back to you. >> very exciting, indeed, matt. thank you. >> we'll see you soon. >> okay. a live look at the basilica in northeast washington where 20,000 people are expected to hear the pope celebrate mass later today. the final represent races underway for today's big celebration. right now, again, we have lots of road closures downtown. we're going to talk about those and then have a new problem here on dre because of a disturbance due to the pope's arrival. details coming up. first, sports fans right now are remembering a legend after the death of a baseball legend

overnight. how yogi berra is being

well the come back. 6:40. baseball fabs are waking up to the sad news of a legend's death. yogi berra was a three time mvp. he had 20 homers in ten straight seasons. the team won 14 pen nantz and ten world series titles with berra. he will be remembered for his witt off the field and his yogiisms. berra was elected to baseball's hall of fame in 1972. he was 90 years old. legend for sure. let's check in with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. weather track at 6:41.

hey, chuck. >> one of the best yogi berra quotes for weather. this is the time of year when it gets late early. autumn arrived today. 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night on this equinox day. mostly clear sky. temperatures in the upper 50s to near of 0 degrees for your out the door weather. bus stop weather, early morning bus stops. low to mid 60s between 8:00 and 9:00. resets gets an a today. upper 70s to 80 for the high. for now check on traffic with melissa. good morning, of course. lots of road closures downtown. tweeting about all of them at first 4 traffic pushing things on the nbc washington app and facebook as well for the full list. a live shot of where adam is for us. 15th and pennsylvania closed. manassas line, just wrapped up

on vre. maryland and virginia looking good. outer loop, remember to listen to our friends on wtop 105 fm when you hop in your car. >> reporter: i'm aaron gilchrist outside the vatican. preparing for an historic first here in watching to be. we'll take you to the basilica of the national shrine for the final preparations underway there. and what would a major event in washington be without jimmy fallon making a joke about it. we'll tell you what he had to say about the

the excitement is building this morning as people gather around d.c. as people catch a glimpse of pope francis. our crews are among those crowds bringing excitement into your home with extensive coverage of today's events. we begin with aaron gilchrist anchoring outside of the vatican embassy. good morning, aaron. >> reporter: good morning, eun. we are live outside the vatican entrance. the first security has shown up across the street. there are a large crowd of people across massachusetts avenue here hoping to get a glimpse of the pope this morning as he leaves. they've shown up with signs, banners, flags, musical instruments. more than 100 gathered there now

on a hill ovechk. the pope will begin the first bit of a trip today, the trip to the white house where he will be greeted by president obama and mrs. obama as well when he arrives there. from there we expect that the pope will go to the south lawn of the white house where he will have a welcoming ceremony. a live picture of the crowd gathered across the street. now to that welcoming ceremony on the south lawn. this will be invited guests only for that particular event. about 15,000 people we expect on the front lawn now -- on the south lawn. papal motorcade, he'll circle the ellipse. he'll then head to saint matthew's where he will have prayers with american bishops. hundreds of them gathered there as well as other dignitaries from our area. 4:00 this afternoon pope francis will cannonize a new saint during a ceremony at northeast d.c. deacon dave cahoon spent weeks

building an altar. that's recycled wood bought from local vendors. the 450 pound altar will be at the center and at the top of the steps. after that the altar will be carried inside the sanctuary where it will be used for years to come, as a matter of fact. molette green is live for us at the basilica. the national shrine of the immaculate conception. molette, 25,000 people expected to hear mass today? >> reporter: absolutely. this east portico has been transformed, aaron. in about 15 minutes we're told the secret service should wrap up its sweeps of the grounds here and then the gates should open in about an hour or so for the folks to start going through the security check. behind me you can see the altar that aaron just mentioned for this day, this historic canonization mass where some

25,000 will witness this but this is a ticket only event. no ticket, no getting in here. i'm not sure if we're still live on camera here, but there are so many chairs out here. just to give you an idea of just the enormous amount of people that will be coming through here very shortly. we also want to show you a map of the pope's travel from here after this mass. the mass starts at 4:15. expect it to end somewhere around 6:15, 6:30. pope francis will head out to st. john paul ii seminary on taylor street. that's also in northeast d.c. and then he will travel back to the vatican embassy. at the seminary pope francis will meet with seminarians for a brief photo op and then his closed motorcade will then take him back to the vatican embassy after quite a long day. reporting live outside the east portico, i'm molette green, back to you. >> molette just mentioned pope

francis will cannon blessed father junipero serra. an 18th century missionary. this is the first time someone has been cannonized on u.s. soil. he traveled to mexico and then traveled to san diego. it was there that serra set up a series of catholic missions. before his death he founded 9 of what would eventually be 21 missions throughout california. they would become city centers in many cases. 90,000 americans were converted to catholicism. serra's canonization isn't coming without controversy though. many believe serra was in a way responsible for the death of more than 100,000 native californians by virtue of his ties to the mission system. you can see updates of road closures and all of that on the nbc 4 washington app. search papal visits.

eun, we'll send it back inside to you. >> aaron, thank you. there are several masses going on this morning to celebrate pope francis being in town. right now masses happening at saint steven martyr church in foggy bottom. the pope is not at this mass. the people attending will receive a wrist band that will get them in the viewing area along the paapal route. the green line should not be a problem. service is fully restored on both metro's green and yellow lines after a power problem with terrible timing. metro tweeted the update after some passengers had to walk through the tunnel when the power went out. that was near the georgia avenue and columbia heights stop last night. now if you missed the pope mobile, maybe you can keep up with the pope on twitter. angie goff has been tracking his movements on 9. this pope knows how to use social media. >> yes, he does. this is the guy that said the internet was a gift from god, you might remember.

he hasn't tweeted though since he's been here in the u.s. his last tweet was 16 hours ago when he wrote, thank you to the cuban people, thank you from my heart. pope francis is the most followed world leader on twitter with more than 23 million followers. this is across his nine official accounts. that's more than president obama and president obama has a pretty big presence online. a reminder, we want you to share your pope experience. be sure to use #popeindc. the cute capitol and statue of liberty. despite his presence, eun, you might be surprised to learn that the 78-year-old pope does not own a computer or tv but yet he's pope scoping, right? >> he has other people who help him with social media. >> that's right. >> very tech savvy. >> thank you. pope francis's holy visit has been a nightmare in terms of traffic for a lot of you. you probably know what we're

talking about here. yesterday the president and first lady left the white house to greet the pope. late night jimmy fallon took notice. quote, i saw president obama actually picked him up at the airport. what better way to alleviate traffic the pope is about to cause than sending out a presidential motorcade. jimmy always taking a moment to poke fun at us and the traffic. >> i thought it was great that the pope got into a tiny fiat flanked by big suvs. >> he's really true to form for the pope. >> such a huge personality. >> absolutely. >> luxury. perfect weather for the papal visit as well. a live picture of our eastern sky. sun, just about ready to come up over the horizon. surch rise at 6:56. gorgeous day in washington. another plane load of folks leaving national airport. off they go. should have stayed one or two more days because the weather has turned cloudy to near

perfect today. cool morning now but tons of sunshine and warmer than average weather coming our way later in the afternoon. hovering near 50 degrees. gaithersburg, leesburg. inside the urban centers temperatures in the low 60s. not a bad way to get the day started. 59 in brandywine. outside t outside at the ellipse, temperatures at 60. 65 at 9:00 and 70 near 11:00. at the basilica it will be a great day to be there. have your sun block on. full sunshine and even though today is the equinox, 12 hours of day and night, sun is strong enough to burn you. no rain for today or tomorrow but that does change as we get towards the weekend. rain chances back late friday night, very late probably after sundown friday night. rain is likely on your saturday and probably into your sunday morning as well.

today and tomorrow will be the best two of the next seven. melissa? >> all right. right now of course we have a lot of road closures downtown. going to be tweeting about them all day from @first 4 traffic. 15th street on pennsylvania avenue, northbound massachusetts avenue going to be shut down through tomorrow. of course right there in front of the vatican embassy, vre. those lines we still have some delays. they are done with the security sweep. metro is honoring tickets. 20 to 30 minute delay. university boulevard, it's slow because of a crash on 66. no problems in prince gorges county. top of the beltway looking good. volume there at 270 at montrose road. green line delays still hanging around ther to branch avenue. blue line is just fine this morning. third street tunnel northbound off ramp to massachusetts avenue has reopened after that emergency road work. eun? >> thank you, melissa. the lines are moving now as thousands of people make their way to their spots for today's

papal event near the white house. adam tuss is on 15th street for us. adam, d.c. used to see these big events, but you're saying the security we're seeing, what's some of the most extensive you've seen? >> reporter: without question, eun, this is pretty impressive from a security standpoint. roads closed all around here. we're talking all morning about the pope making the trip around the ellipse, down 17th across constitution and up 15th. that is 15th street down there and look at the people who are now lining that route. of course, he's not expected to make that move for another couple of hours but people are out there. the papal flags are up flying on 15th street. the excitement is building. yeah, if you're going to try to get down to this area, don't even think about getting in your car and coming down here because it's just not going to work. this is one of many events.

we have this event, saint matthew's, the basilica which is another huge event. that will put a lot of stress on the red line. remember, 25,000 people expected to go through brookland metro system. >> brookland is the smallest station in the system so be prepared to wait. adam tuss, thank you. aaron gilchrist has more on the day ahead. what's going on there? >> reporter: we are starting to see more security move into place outside the vatican embassy. we know the pope will be coming out in a couple of hours to start making moves through the city, headed to the white house. there are crowds gathered here waiting to see the pope as soon as he emerges from the doors behind me. throughout the city it's worth noting that you very likely will see little crowds of people. hoemg the pope will do one of his sort of signature moves in

terms of stopping and meeting people, maybe shaking some hands and kissing some babies. it's all possible. that means there will be issues on the roads, too. melissa mollet has another look at the commute this morning. all right. taking a look right now again downtown 15th street there at pennsylvania avenue. lots of closures. we'll be tweeting about all of them at first 4 traffic. and what about the forecast for today? >> sunshine and gorgeous. near 60 now. 80 today later. >> perfect weather. tha

good morning. he's here. pope francis waking up in the u.s. for the first time this morning after being greeted by the president, the vice president and an adoring crowd at andrews air force base. he was whisked away in a tiny fiat dwarfed by the secret service vehicles surrounding him. in just a couple of hours, he'll arrive at the white house and offer his first words to an american public anxious to hear from him. we're joining him on his journey live from the south lawn today, wednesday, september 23rd, 2015. >> announcer: from nbc news this is a special edition of "today," pope francis in america,h