have a home and be in your home, that's the place to be during the storm. don't put yourself at risk. >> thank you. >> you've been watching a news conference from d.c. mayor muriel bowser. she's declared a state of emergency for d.c. and a snow emergency for tomorrow morning starting at 9:30. d.c. schools will be closed tomorrow as well as the d.c. government closing at noon. the mayor also apologized and said that the response yesterday for the snowfall was inadequate and she said she would be better prepared for the storm that's coming our way. "news 4 midday" starts right now.

ahead. "news 4 midday" starts right now. good morning, everybody. if you are just now joining us, d.c. mayor, murial bouser has declared a state of emergency. tomorrow, a snow emergency at 9:30. parking restrictions starting tomorrow at 9:30. because of this blizzard watch that we are now under, d.c. mayor, murial bouser declaring a state of emergency. >> parts of southern maryland and the northern neck. the difference between the two. if you are in green, you are not

only going to be dealing with heavy snowfall but windy conditions that will lead to reduced visabilities, blowing snow and blizzard conditions. friday night on into saturday specially during the first half of the day on saturday. here is the latest. the calm before the storm. the time to prepare is now. make sure you are stocked up on food and make sure your generator is working ond that sort of thing. 29 degrees. 35 will be our high. we will have some melting from last night's snow. some refreezing tonight. by 8:00, we are back below that freezing mark. i'll have the latest tlied for this historic snowstorm in ten minutes. >> thanks, amelia. we have ten coverage on this weather. the blizzard we are preparing for for tomorrow. >> icy conditions lingering on the roads tomorrow. megan mcgrath is at that news conference where the mayor apologized for what happened yesterday. >> she did just issue an apology and promised to do better when

the blizzard hits in the coming hours. it wasn't a whole lot of snow. she is apologizing for the reaction to last night's snow was rather light, less than an incompeten inch, less in some places but enough to wreak havoc in some areas. commutes dragged on for some areas. people were slipping and sliding on area roads. even the president of the united states wasn't immune. his motorcade slid on icy roads as he headed from andrews air force base headed home to the white house. lots of accidents that were reported last night. we saw abandoned cars still just left on icy rhodes around the city. today, an ongoing issue. the mayor has apologized for what she says was an inadequate response she at mids more should have been down. >> we are very sorry for

inadequate response. who we believe we did not provide adequate resources. we should have been out earlier with more resources. our city has a responsibility to residents and visitor toss deliver essential services every single day. last night, we didn't meet those goals. for that, we are very sorry. >> reporter: and, of course, we are preparing here in the district and all around the region for blizzard conditions starting on friday night and into saturday. the mayor says that they are going to begin to pre-treat in advance of that blizzard. they are going to be doing that today. she says that they have the trucks and all of the equipment that they need to be ready for this storm. she promises that the district will too a better job once the big snow hits on friday. with more on conditions and prips pri preps in the area, we send it over to molette green. >> reporter: megan mcgrath,

thank you very much. we are live here near the wilson bridge. a much different scene. the traffic is actually moving right now. this is a different scene than hours ago when the outer loop of the beltway, both sides of the beltway, really, absolute gridlock during the morning commute at the wilson bridge. that's because of the icy conditions from route 5 to the bridge. we are talking 5 and six mile backups that choked this area. in virginia, crashes and disabled vehicles just stranded the interstates and the highways. state police handled some 33 wrecks just during the morning rush until 6:00 a.m. the plan for tomorrow is to get out early and start that pretreating of the roads in both maryland and virginia. coming up in about 30 minutes. what maryland and virginia highway officials say you need to know before even attempting to get out in those blizzard

conditions tomorrow. back to you. i'm erika gonzales at the live desk. the snow emergency plan in montgomery county has been lifted. that does not mean that roads are optimal right now. we have video from chopper 4 to show you a multi-vehicle crash that's got police blocking blunt road south of brink road in the germantown area. a direct effect of those icy roads, which is also what has closed all southbound lanes of old georgetown road at braintree. we are going to continue to monitor. please go slowly. in the roads look wet, assume it is ice. back to you. >> erika, thank you. >> metro and metro bus are getting back on track after some delays and detours. metro bus has a light snow plan in place which all buses are running but there may be detours. the red line remains declad and

is by passing the bethesda station because of a broken escalator. if snow accumulates 8 inches or more going into this weekend, it could shut down service, some or all. now is the time to download our nbc washington app. we'll send you breaking alerts. if you have it, go through and make sure you know how to get the information you need. >> we are going to be with you through all this messy neighborhood,i feel like it's got a lot of what we were kinda talking about. the kitchen is light and bright,new. we should definitely go see it. [agent] hi...welcome i'm maggie.melanie.maggie. so nice to meet you. [mother] this is brendan. [agent] hey brendan. living room.

[dad] hey. [mother] hey sweetie. [dad] sorry about that. what about this? this looks good. [brendan] no. [mother] isn't it so great?i think we found it. [agent] hey brendan,you might like this room. [announcer]redfin pays its agents based on your happiness... that's real estate, redefined. we are on blizzard watch. the small amount of snow we saw yesterday was an unsuccessful test of what we saw is going to come tomorrow. the difference is salt trucks will be out pretreating the

roads. we are going to get to dylan this morning. >> good morning, dylan dreyer. >> reporter: i'm seeing and tasting a lot of salt. it is just in the air right now. they have been chipping away at this massive pile of salt all morpg long, filling up the trucks. there are about 32,000 tons of salt to go around. by tomorrow morning, they will have trucks at both ends of this dome. they will have the shoots filling up the trucks. i thought it was busy today. tomorrow, they said they are going to step it up a notch. they said their whole game plan is to pretreat the roads today. they have to wait until it gets above 35 degrees. that's when they will put down the solution and the salt on top of that. so when the snow starts friday afternoon, it doesn't immediately start icing up and sticking to the roads. they are going to have their trucks out alopg the highway, on and off ramps in location ahead of the storm so that wups it falls, they can get ahead of it. they told me to tell everyone the biggest thing you can do to

help during the height of this storm, friday night into saturday, is to stay off the roads. they said, during blizzard conditions, even they, themselves, stay off the roads, because they capital see. they don't want to have to maneuver around all the other car that is might get stuck in the roads. they said, stay off the roads and they can do their job a lot faster. >> dylan dreyer is in northern virginia for us today. thanks a lot. >> we are going to need all that salt. >> be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" right

today's icy roads, you may have experienced them already. it forced a lot of us to spend hours op the road last night. pat lawson muse spent hours driving back from our station in northwest washington.

she called us at 3:00 this morning. have a listen. >> reporter: the sheets were literally a sheet of ice. cars were bumper to bumper, unable to move. i drove five miles an hour all the way home. >> pat said she saw lots of accidents. we know there were a lot of them. make sure you are careful out there today and get ready for tomorrow. let's check on our weather. here is amelia. >> barbara, the latest storm timeline. it looks like snow moves in tomorrow during the mid to late afternoon. as early as 1:00 to 4:00. here is the thing. it could hold off a little bit later. you just want to be at home ready and prepared for the storm by the early afternoon hours to get off the roads at that point. once the snow comes, it will immediate start to stick. we'll track heavy snow friday night and throughout the entire day on saturday. not only that but windy conditions created blizzard conditions. gusts up to 40, even over 40 miles per hour at times. snow ends very early on sunday.

here is our latest snowfall forecast. most of the area 1.5 feet. 18-24 in the forecast. lauren is outside. she will have the timeline. what can you expect by 10:00 p.m., and 7:00 a.m. saturday morning. we'll have that, barbara, coming up. >> amelia, thank you. we are here to keep you safe, before, after, during the storm. you may be surprised at the activity that sends a lot of you to the hospital. we're going to talk about that coming up. stay with us.

we are getting you ready for tomorrow's blizzard, you us, the people in charge of making sure things go well out there. we sent a news 4 crew to bethesda and found a lot of you were picking up shovels and salt and sleds. >> as for the governments and the schools, we just learned d.c. will declare a snow emergency tomorrow morning and schools tomorrow will be closed. loudoun county schools moved several events from this weekend to today. several other counties plan to pretreat the roads and get plows out there ahead of time. we will let you know what they are doing. colder weather and old pipes may mean there will be more water main breaks. preparations are underway in montgomery and prince george's counties as a big storm heads

towards the region. we are talking about it all morning, all day, all week. it is updating the contractor's list and testing the equipment. they have salt and snow removal equipment placed at key locations. you can also help by reporting water maine breaks as soon as possible. d.c. water wants to help keep your water flowing through the storm. a few reminders to prevent your pipes from freezing. if you have pipes outside and exposed, wrap and insulate them. the flow of water will help prevent your pipes from freezing. if you see a drop, run warm water through your pipes. >> we want you to stay ahead of the weather with our nbc washington app. it is your best option in this coming blizzard when we are not bringing you live updates, you can use that. let's check in with amelia segal. we have freezing temperatures out there right now, amelia. >> exactly. everybody just below the freezing mark. we are looking at a high of

oor around 35. today is the day to prepare. still, some isolated slick spots out there. throughout the day tomorrow, the roads will be okay. once we get into the mid afternoon hours, the snow moves in. roads become dangerous after dark. you want to be prepared for the storm ad home by the midday hours tomorrow just to play it safe. i think widespread road closures are certainly in the forecast for saturday even on into sunday. now, with the timing of this storm, we are thinking it could move in as early as 1:00 to 4:00. with that, we're going to send it out to lauren on the weather deck. we are talking about impressive amounts by the time people are waking up on saturday morning. >> reporter: you are right about that, amelia. by the time you wake up, we are going to have possibly double digits on the ground on saturday morning. we want to plan it for you in case you have to be out and about on friday. a lot of people may be headed to the caps game. a lot of stuff going on in d.c. they want to see if they can get it in. let's time it out and go to the

maps for you and let you know what to do. 10:00 on friday, a dusting to possibly about 5 inches depending on where you are. a little less to the north and east towards baltimore. a little more south of lieu rain. by saturday morning, possibly a foot in some spots. south and west, the storm is coming and originating from that area. we are going to see upwards of 20 inches by saturday morning. then, by saturday at noon. not done yet. it is not over until saturday night. we are looking at over a foot here in d.c. as well as baltimore. >> thanks, lauren. we are on delivered watch. we are working to get you ready before the big storm gets here. here are four things you need to know about shoveling. first up, dress appropriately. dress in light layers that are easy to remove and don't restrict your movement. be sure to wear those proper boots that have good tracks. a lot of the heat comes out of your feet too. remember, frostbite can really ease in quickly. be sure to wear the hat to keep the body heat in as well. now that you are dressed warmly,

be sure you use the right shovel. you want to shovel with a nonstick surface. spray it with some lubricant to prevent the snow from sticking. that will make your job easier. while you are shoveling, do it the right way. you have to have good posture. >> wup thing to try not to do is arch your lower back while shoveling. while you are todoing it, you ph and. >> you want to use the legs and not hurt your back. >> when is the best time to shovel? >> we decided to ask some of you when you start shoveling. >> if i'm home, i try and go out every three hours to clear it off. if i'm not home, i'm working, you have to deal with whatever is there. >> depends on how much it is snowing. maybe after every inch, maybe half an hour, an hour, so you don't have to keep doing it all the time. >> you are going to be shoveling all day tomorrow. for more tips on how to shuffle,

check out the nbc washington app.

. >> >> police want to keep you safe in the upcoming snowstorm. if you can avoid the rhodoads, y home. if you can, use your headlights and slow down. don't tailgate. keep your distance. make sure your windshield wipers are in good condition and you have the correct tire pressure and make sure you buckle up when you head out. eun? >> first responders say it will take them a little longer to get to you during the storm. firefighters, police officers and ems crews throughout the district, maryland and northern virginia are all preparing for the worst. they are also asking for patience once this storm hits. >> we don't have magic powers to plow through the snow

automatically. >> you may not see your typical emergency vehicle. it could be a jeep armed with a snowplow and ems workers. they say the one thing you can do to help out there is to clear three feet around your nearest fire hydrant. >> take a minute to download our nbc washington app. you can use it to see when the snow will be moving into your neighborhood and you can get updates.

here is a look at current temperatures. notice, every major reporting site still at or below freezing. still getting reports of icy patches on secondary roads. heads up if you are hiding out

this afternoon. on storm team 4 radar, widespread, 1-2 feet across the area that moves in later in the day tomorrow. tips throughout the day on saturday and comes to an end on sunday. today, the day to prepare. a high of 35. mostly to partly sunny skies. for tomorrow, a dry start. warm to 33 degrees. snow is here tomorrow evening. we track heavy snow tomorrow night and throughout the day on saturday, not only that but blizzard conditions with impressive winds, specially during the first half of saturday. friday and saturday, storm team 4 weather alert days. on sunday, maybe some light snow showers around. we will still be tracking areas of blowing and drifting snow if you live in more rural areas and you have one of the houses where the plow comes through, the winds blow and the road becomes snow covered again. that certainly will be a concern on sunday. we'll dry out on monday. a high of 37. a chance of rain and snow.

>> thank you, amelia. in the district, you will not get a ticket if you don't immediately shovel your p sidewalk. we told you about a new d.c. law ticketing people for unshoveled sidewalks. when the law goes into effect, homeowners will receive a $25 ticket and businesses, a $150 ticket for any unshovelled sidewalks. >> next, live neighborhood,i feel like

it's got a lot of what we were kinda talking about. the kitchen is light and bright,new. we should definitely go see it. [agent] hi...welcome i'm maggie.melanie.maggie. so nice to meet you. [mother] this is brendan. [agent] hey brendan. living room. [dad] hey. [mother] hey sweetie. [dad] sorry about that. what about this? this looks good. [brendan] no. [mother] isn't it so great?i think we found it. [agent] hey brendan,you might like this room. [announcer]redfin pays its agents based on your happiness... that's real estate, redefined.

let's take another look at the roads. traffic is moving on the beltway. >> the interloop was gridlocked due to slick conditions. our team coverage continues with molette green live in oxen hill. what are you seeing now? >> reporter: it only took up to a dusting to an inch of snow to bring parts of the capital beltway to a complete stand still. so drivers beware of what up to 20 inches of snow can do to your drive. >> it doesn't matter how good you are. when you are on ice, you are not in control. >> reporter: and going nowhere for hours. >> for maybe two hours, three hours. i left my office at about 6:30.

i got home about 12:00. >> reporter: an inch of snow and iced-over roads created gridlock. maryland state highway tried to explain it all to frustrated commuters. >> the snow is piling up. if somebody spins out or there is a crash or something. then, we are playing catchup and defense. >> reporter: tractor trailers turned the bridge into a parking lot. truckers and other drivers stuck for hours fell asleep. >> all of the pickup trucks are really catching it bad. they were spinning around, going into the guardrail all night. >> reporter: big rig driver, keith bonner managed to get off and park his 40,000 pounds of milk that he is hauling to new jersey in a shopping center close by. >> it was pretty bad. the city out here didn't do anything for the highways. >> reporter: if it is this bad after a dusting, who can imagine

driving after a blizzard? >> i'm not driving in. it doesn't make sense. it is crazy. it doesn't make sense at all. >> i think that's a very good idea. what you should plan to do, be prepared by friday around the midday, earliafter noon hours. prepare to hunker down at your home throughout the day on saturday, sunday. throughout the day on sunday, main roads should start to become okay. i think secondary roads will still be major problems. this storm directly impacts the area for two days. we are going to feel the impacts from the storm for days after. friday, problematic, specially as we get into the evening hours. crippling saturday and i think sunday as well. monday and tuesday, still dealing with problems. school closures, i think, are a high likelihood monday as well as tuesday. wednesday, still some inconveniences from this storm. now, as we look to today, today is the day to plan. tomorrow at noon, a blizzard watch goes into effect for just about the entire area and a winter storm watch if you are not under the blizzard watch,

barbara. >> there are fewer delays for most of metro trains and metro buses at this hour. the red line remains delayed and is by passing bethesda because of a broken escalator there. metro bus has a light snow plan in place. services running. plan for some detours or longer rates right now. some service could stop during the storm if there is too much snow. 900 workers are prepared for the weather. a live look at reagan international airport where it is a bit better to fly than drive. at reagan international report, no flight delays or cancellations have been reported yet. two flights have been canceled and four others delayed at dulles and two at m bwi, thurgood martial. flights could always change. check with your airline before heading out to the airport. right now, jesse matthews lawyers are trying to get more

evidence thrown out in his murder trial. he is at a hearing over hannah graham's death. it will open the chance for more search warrant information to be released. last year, he was sentenced to three life sentences in the murder case of a fairfax woman. happening today, convicted serial killer, charles severance, is being sentenced right now in fairfax county. the hearing was off to a strange beginning. he shouted sadism and asked for a protective order against his own attorneys. then, former virginia governor, bob mcdonald showed up. he went to high school with the husband of one of the victims, ruth ann ladato. severance was convicted of killing ladato, ron kurring and nancy smith. >> a former police officer will find out if he will spend the rest of his life in prison. a jury convicted him last month

on 18 accounts including rape and battery. prosecutors say he preyed on black women he met on his beat. he faces up to 236 years on his prison. he was denied a fair trial and filed a request late yesterday for a new trial. folks are getting ready to be snowed in tomorrow and saturday and stocking up on essentials in case the power

this week's wednesday's child is a wonderful 11-year-old. >> we visited phantom comics here in washington. >> i any ththink this is a plac are going to like if you like super heroes. >> the store manager, jake shapiro, was all set to show

alexander around. >> reporter: i think he wants to see everything you have here. >> i heard you like superhero comics. >> i do. >> who is your favorite character. >> batman, the teen titans and all that. >> let me show you around. >> reporter: phantom is overflowing with comics and other books about just about every superhero you can think about. jake led us to his all-time favorite, batman. >> what do you like about batman? >> he has all these gadgets and he was a kid once. >> reporter: alexander feels a connection with batman, who, like him, ended up as a young child with no parents. >> alpha took care of him and when he grew up a little bit more, he went to get trained and all of that. >> alexander has been in the foster care system for about two years. alexander is a wonderful young man. he is one of my favorites that i have ever met in my life. he is so intelligent and he is

intuitive. he is wise beyond his years. >> reporter: here at phantom comics e got a lesson in cartoon drawing in leah lee. he says he wants to be a cartoonist someday and has ideas for a new superhero. >> reporter: he would be a kid. >> like 11? >> yeah, 12, 11, 13. >> reporter: social workers are working hard to find an adoptive family for alexander. >> someone ha can give him what he deserves, the life to be a relaxed little boy and enjoy all the things that all boys that age should enjoy. >> he proved to have some real talents in drawing his favorite character, batman. >> great job, i'm very impressed. >> you could start being a cartoonist right away. that would be a dream come true for alexander. >> an even greater dream was about to come true when someone

walked thu the door. >> glad to meet you. how are you doing? >> good. >> i heard you did some drawings today. >> yeah. >> what did you draw? >> batman. >> awesome. >> batman brought along some gifts for alexander and phantom had some for him too. the best part was having bat mapp right there in the room. >> pleasure meeting you, buddy. >> reporter: batman invited alexander to get closer for a photo opt, that they made a great team and he knew he would grow up to do great things. he took p another photo with all of us leaving alexander with dreams to grow up to be like his hero. if you have room for alexander or another child who is waiting, please call our special adoption hotline, 1-88-to-adopt-me or search wednesday's child. >> thank you, barbara. looks like a fun place.

great kid. we are on blizzard watch at this time. tomorrow, we will be in a full blown preparation mode getting ready for the storm with you. news 4 is getting you ready for the worst. >> amelia is tracking the tim

the latest timing on snow moving in. temperature around 29 degrees. snow moves in during the afternoon from south to north between about 1:00 to 4:00 at the earliest. by 10:00 in the evening, 3 inches is already possible here in the d.c. metro area. temperatures still in the low 30s. overnight, throughout the day on saturday, thundersnow isn't out of the question. at times, we could have snowfall rates of 2-3 inches per hour. when it is all said and done, we are looking at a widespread 18-28 across the area. about a foot and a half to two feet of snow. this is looking like a top five

snowstorm and record keeping history here in washington. it is not just snow. it will be the wind as well. high winds at 40-60 miles per hour leading to blizzard conditions at times as well. we now know how long charles severance will be hypbehind bar. three consecutive life terms plus 48 years and $400,000 in fines. you will remember, we've been covering this case extensively. he is the serial killer convicted of killing three prominent alexander residents over the course of a decade. this just now coming in to our newsroom. charles severance sentenced to three consecutive life terms in jails. back to you. >> thank you, erika. as we saw last night, an inch, just an inch of snow can

completely paralyze traffic. what drivers

> . >> looking live over the monuments at 11:44. a reminder that the snow can make our roads very dangerous. >> speaking of dangerous, maryland state police are investigating a pedestrian's

death. they say a snowplow hit and killed a man on route 1. you can see lots of police on the scene near the intersection with naples avenue. we are working to learn who the victim was and exactly what happened out there last night. we have team kofrm coverage on coming storm. >> news 4 megan mcgrath is live in northeast washington where the streets are still not back to normal yet. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yes. some of the side streets, the streets that were untreated are still a mess this morning. very slick and treacherous. we are seeing people trying to chip out and shovel off their sidewalks. it is not an easy go. this was just a real, light snow, nothing like what we are expecting in the coming hours on friday. delivered conditions. it was a real mess for just such a slight snow. cars were abap donned all across the city.

take a look at the video. a bunch of cars left behind by their drivers. right there on an icy hill. the drivers considering it to be too unsafe. so they just parked them there and started to walk to their des stip nation. there were lots of accidents last night as well. today, there are still a lot of untreated neighborhood streets that are snow-covered and icy. mayor murial bowser apologized and said the district's response was inadequate. she said, we should have been out earlier with more resources. we spoke to a man in northeast who had a terrible commute last night. he does hope the district does a better job with the blizzard. >> well, every year seems to be a bit different. some years, they seem to have learned and roll out their services better. on the whole, you need to expect that the response time won't be the fastest and you need to add in a fair amount of buffer time. >> reporter: and the mayor has

declared a state of emergency and a snow emergency begins tomorrow which meeps they can to you cars off of snow emergency routes and friday, d.c. schools will be closed. with more, we send it over to amelia. >> here is the latest. winter storm watch for the counties here in blue. this begins tomorrow at noon. the blizzard watch for the majority of us begins tomorrow at noon. both run until 6:00 a.m. on sunday morning. the difference here, blizzard watch, a high wind component. wind gusts at times over 45 miles an hour. you want to prepare today. 29 degrees is the temperature right now. highs in the low to mid-30s. some melting in spots. we'll still have icy conditions out there today. anything that does melt has the potential to refreeze tonight. you can see by 5:00 p.m., temperature around 33 degrees. mostly to partly sunny skies throughout the afternoon hours. by 8:00, everybody is back below the freezing mark. we'll start off the day tomorrow dry but we are looking at snow

to move in tomorrow afternoon. the timing right now as early as 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. it could hold off in the 5:00, 6:00, 7:00 o'clock. we are talking about massive impact from the storm. >> we're having trouble with lauren's microphone there. we'll get to her soon. >> reporter: here at the nation's capital, 1125 days until the last blizzard warning. don't expect another day without a blizzard warning. very high confidence and a very crippling storm. so many attributes. we will have a severe side with tornadoes for parts of the south and potentially ice storms for charlotte, north carolina. what does that mean for the

arizona cardinals as they try to make their way intown? we have a tripling storm up 81, 85 and 95. what could be a major coastal flooding event with tropical storm force winds and huge waves at the time of high tide for so many from the outer banks up into southern new england. a far-reaching storm which is just getting underway now. for washington, d.c., we will be in the blizzard warnings by this time tomorrow. we will have impact starting afternoon on friday. the evening rush could be just as bad as it was with 0.7 of an inch last night. this time, we expect snow. places like d.c. expect to shut down. jim cantore, from the weather channel, you know when he arrives in your city, it is going to be bad. where is jim going next? >> i think everybody knows we are waiting for that storm that is supposed to come tomorrow. i think we have on great

authority that it will be here sometime tomorrow. now is the time to download our nbc washington app to stay on top of it. >> we'll send you breaking alerts and everything you need to know to keep you and your

we take a look back at washington's top five snowstorms. washington's top five snowstorms have had 17 itches or more. the most recent being sn snowmageddon on february 1st of 2010. it fell friday into saturday crippling the days for days after. that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and left many schools closed for days after this event. this storm dropped 20.5 oichs of

snow in washington. the biggest snow stork on record was 94 years ago when 28 inches fell on january 27th and 28th. in 1922. this storm was called the knickerbocker storm as heaviest snow caused the roof collapse of the knickerbocker stadium in washington, d.c. injuring 133 and killing some. many remember the blizzard of '96. a nor'easter brought 17 inches in three days. horrible flooding occurred shortly after this event from warm temperatures leading to a very fast snow melt. the other two top five had 20 inches of snow and 19 inches of snow fall across the area. for more on the top five snowfall events in washington, open up our app and search biggest snowstorms. >> we warned you it was coming. in less than an hour ago, mayor mur

yikes, scary moments for a snowboarder caught in after avalanche. the snowboarder was wearing a camera when he boarded a steep run at the sugar bowl resort in california. that resort has been closed for years, because of the high avalanche area. the resort says a snowboarder triggered the avalanche, putting himself, his friends and ski patrols at risk. the snowboarder fought his way back to the surface. someone then posted the video online sblchlt did b online. >> boy, was he lucky. >> over the next few days, our area may look a lot like this. look at the icicles. folks bundled up against the cold and snow whachlt y. what you are looking at is winter in romania. some folks are staying indoors.

others opting for weather fun, breaking out the sleds. we will be able to do that probably on saturday. this is an eastern european preview of what we have to look forward to as our weekend storm rolls in. not just bad weather but some good times coming too, right? >> yes, as long as you are prepared and you hunker down over the weekend, you are going to be just fine. download our nbc washington app. we'll be uptaiting the forecast there and you will get the latest weather alerts and forecast for your neighborhood. we are going to be tracking snow moving in during the afternoon. as early as 1:00 to 4:00. by that time, you should be at home prepared for the storm. by 10:00 p.m., a dusting to 5 inches already possible in parts of the d.c. metro area, back into fauquier county. 5-10 inches around charlottesville. up to saturday morning, up to a foot potentially in spots in the metro area. by noon, impressive snowfall totals, 15-20 inches on the ground at that point in total.

18-28 inches for most of us. we will dry out on sunday. a high temperature of 36. also, notice, still tracking breezy companies. we'll continue to deal with blowing and drifting snow. i think this storm system will continue to have a major impact, at least monday and tuesday and with more on the impacts, we send it out to lauren live on the weather deck. >> reporter: yesterday, we had a lot, a major impact with an inch of snow. i do want to remind everybody to stay put. if you need to go somewhere, stay put. pour out ams are going to be widespread. guys? >> thanks, lauren. that does it for "news 4 midday." thanks so much for joining us today. we are bark on the afternoon, first at 4:00. >> at 4:00. in the meantime, stay with nbcwashington.com. if you don't already have it. download the nbc washington app for breaking news alerts on this storm. we hope you will stay safe. stay with us. we're going to try to keep you safe throughout the storm. you are going to be here tomorrow morning and i'll be here midday. we are all going to be here through the weekend too. we'll look forward to having you

with us. have a great day! stay

♪ today on the meredith vieira show. you will not believe what one girl is doing. and plus, adorable babies and terrifying adults. we are revealing the all- time favorite viral videos. and josh holloway, talking about how he almost did not get the part. >> and locked away ten years. >> like income a bad mood. >> how he finally became a free man. all starting right now on meredith. ♪