about what happened last night. has a failure to treat the roads left commuters stuck and idles for hours. it's a matter of hours before this massive snowstorm hit the area. all around the region plans are in place for this potential blizzard and a lot of schools are already announcing they're closing their stores. >> our team of reporters is out covering all of the angles and let's start in the storm center with chief meteorologist doug kammerer. this time yesterday you were warning us about how slick those roads were going to get. >> and that was because we were below freezing for well over three days and we knew that storm was going to come on through and we said it would be half an inch to an inch and we mentioned many times that as soon as it hit it would stick in immediately and the same thing would happen tomorrow. >> 1:00 to 4:00 conditions will go downhill tomorrow in a hurry and preparation is everything, of course, before that. >> that's why we have the blizzard warning and the winter storm warning.

>> a blizzard warning in effect for everybody in the red and that's frederick county maryland and loudoun county, virginia and all of the way to the east and the chesapeake bay. winchester, warrenton, what's the difference? the only difference between the two is the wind. everybody will see about the same amount of snow and we'll get 20 to 30 mile an hour winds behind it in the blizzard area, we'll get 30 to 40 and 50 mile an hour winds and storm team 4 radar nothing to talk about and temperatures above freezing in many areas for the first time and actually a pretty nice afternoon, but here's what's coming. here's the storm and you notice it's already picking up a ton of moisture out of the gulf of mexico. there have been tornado warnings from the storm down towards louisiana and that shows you how strong this storm is and by this time tomorrow the snow's going to be falling. >> with that much moisture it means we'll have high snowfall rates and when it starts falling when we get four or five hours

into the event and when it starts falling it starts falling fast. the snow pulls into the area and this will be an event for us, lasting just about 36 hours and historic storm likely with somewhere between 10 to 30 inches and with the high winds the drifts will be quite high between three and five feet and that means the impact will be felt for days and once again, arriving tomorrow afternoon with the heaviest snow friday night into saturday morning and as i said, conditions will go downhill in a hurry and we'll talk about those impacts in a moment. we know some schools are already closed tomorrow and they may be closed into the middle of next week and that's how long of an impact this storm is going to have. >> thanks, doug. we'll take you to metro's paul wiedefeld who is about to speak to the public. >> they run the bus operation and chief pavlik. i saw many of you this morning at the mayor's press conference, and as i said this morning at

our briefing, the decisions that we're making are twofold and based on two factors and one is the safety of our customers and our employees and the second is trying to get the service back as quickly as we can get it back. so with that, we've been closely watching the forecast and receiving updates regularly from the national weather service and we've coordinated with the jurisdictions, partners as well as out for personal management. as you know, the blizzard warning has been issued this afternoon and a very serious issue that we're all facing in the region and we expect the impacts to last through the weekend and into early next week. >> beginning tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. we will activate the emergency center and all of the marquee departments will be there to with any issues that may come up. regarding metro rail regarding

the closings and early dismissals and you'll see rush-hour trains and we'll be able to handle that and react accordingly. service will be operated tomorrow from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and then 11:00 p.m. friday the metro system will be closed and will remain closed all day saturday and sunday. in the interest of the customers and employees' safety toe allow a faster recovery time, once the storm passes, metro will protect hundreds of rail cars by storing them in the tunnels during this period. information regarding the restoration of the service will be provided via broadcast media outlets, social media, website, and the metro alert system, email and texts. in the area of bus, bus service will begin the day tomorrow, friday, as what we term as the severe snow plan and that plan you can find on our website and basically under that program we will be providing service on

major corridors throughout the region and only on those corridors. this limited bus service is during daylight hours and ensures that our customers and employees are not stranded. we will not provide service in the morning that we cannot put out in the evening during the storm and we will make sure we get the people that we send out. bus service will be suspended at 5:00 p.m. -- excuse me, tomorrow. the last bus will depart from origin point at 5:00 p.m. and that service will be suspended as well on saturday and sunday. finally, for safety reason, metro access service, the door to door service for riders with disabilities will be suspended tomorrow until 6:00 p.m. to prevent anyone from being stranded, we will not begin any outbound trips after 3:00 p.m. we will get people to their appointments and then get them

back. in closing, i want to emphasize that we've been working very hard in the last week in planning and staging equipment and working with the details and we've kept the track work to make sure that we have all of the personnel available that we will need to get the system back up and running as quickly as possible. just to put this in perspective, we do have more than $130 miles of above-ground track miles and 50 above-ground stations and you can imagine moving two feet of snow off of those tracks and off of those stations. i encourage everyone to sign up for metro alerts which is text notification which will give you up-to-date notification. one final comment. we do understand the importance that metro plays in the region for the entire region, but it's our responsibility to make sure that everyone, our customers are and our employees are stave and that we recover as quickly as possible. with that, i'll be glad to take

any questions that you may have. [ inaudible question ] >> we did, yes. the question was did we consider underground service. >> that is with the blizzard with high winds there say concern of power loss and we would not want to have power loss in the underground tunnels where we're using our resources and also other emergency medical resources that come down into the tunnels if power is lost and that's a real possibility that that would be. the other thing, obviously, provides us the opportunity to basically shelter the equipment so that we can get up and running much quicker. as you can imagine, with the equipment outside you are digging out all those cars so this will give you a leg up in doing that. [ inaudible question ] >> sure. metro rail will shut down tomorrow evening at 11:00 p.m., okay? and they'll be shut down

saturday and sunday. metro bus will shut down tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and remain shut down for saturday and sunday with busses there is a caveat because the bus may have left at 4:50 and if it's leaving it will go through and it basically returns back to the yard. [ inaudible question ] >> a blizzard. that's what's driving it. we cannot risk putting our customers out there and leaving them stranded in the conditions that we're all expecting. >> you've just been listening to metro's general manager paul wiedefeld with a major announcement that will affect thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people right here in our area. the metro rail will close tomorrow at 11:00 at night. it's not going to open at all all weekend and the bus service closing at 5:00 tomorrow. >> and they'll be closed for the rest of the weekend, for the

rest of saturday and sunday. >> so we've been telling people we'll have to stay inside and this is pretty much saying if you depend on metro to get around and you are not going to be able to use it at all until monday at the earliest. >> metro access which is the service for the disabled and elderly after 6:00 tomorrow there will be no outbound trips after 1:00. so you'll have to adjust the weekend schedule and hunker down to get through this blizzard tomorrow. >> that's right. our transportation reporter adam tuss has been standing by. he's been looking at how the road crews have been preparing, but adam, pretty major announcement from metro getting out ahead of this storm. >> reporter: that's a huge announcement, chris. you can understand the general manager there why he's saying that i need to take that step and shut down underground service, as well. he talked about the high winds with this blizzard and that, of course, is a possibility and he's actually very right about his decision that potentially people could be stranded and that's the last thing metro wants.

ridership was going to drop anyway this weekend. he is going the extra step and saying that they're just going to shut it down completely so you understand that. i do want to show you what's actually happening out here on the roads. you've probably noticed that a lot of the roads have been covered with this white substance out here. they look a little chalky and that's all of the magnesium chloride and the salt brine going down. we've been following this anti-icing equipment right now. they've been out all day making runs. trucks will start being staged on the roads tonight and when the snow starts falling tomorrow, that's when it all gets really real about the plowing. we did talk to a vdot contractor about how long it will take to clean up from everything that's expected. >> it depends on how much cooperation we get from the public. as long as all of the contractors are doing what they need to do and we have our room to do our job we can get it cleaned up real quick, but if they're not doing what they're

supposed to do as the public and they're more or less a hassle to us then it's harder for us to do our job efficiently and make the road safe for everybody else. >> the best thing you can do is just stay off the roads so that these trucks and this equipment out here can get the things done that they need to do. that metro service is going to be shut down starting at 11:00 tomorrow night through saturday and through system. the system won't open back up until monday morning and again, at the airport, as well. we've been hearing stuff from the airports that service will start being cut in half tomorrow and then all flights into the area are going to be shut down on saturday. so you really won't be able to get a lot of flights in or out on saturday. we are talking epic-level proportions of transportation shutdowns that are happening around our area this weekend, and i've got to say that it's

probably because we're on a weekend that a lot of these decisions are being made, as well. everyone really just hunkering down, staying inside. >> i do want to tell you if you have a street or that has not seen any treatment that needs this kind of treatment. we'll be out driving around. tweet me the name of the street and i'll get in touch with the road cruse crew so they can get you. our live team coverage continues with news 4's meagan fitzgerald and she's live with how prince george's county is preparing for the storm. meagan? >> reporter: well, pat, the county tells news 4 that they insist they are prepared. if you take a look behind me here, this is part of the operation and inside this dome, we are told is some 40,000 tons of sand and throughout the day crews have been loading up, heading out to put them down on the streets. >> prince george's county officials say much of today's focus has been on strategically placing snowplows so they're

ready to go tomorrow. meanwhile, other trucks were out salting and treating nearly 800 miles of road throughout the county. public works officials say much of the focus was on residential street as well as bridges and overpasses. starting tomorrow morning public works officials say more than 300 snowplows will be working around the clock at least until monday. county executive rashan baker said the emergency center will be fully staff. >> our representatives from utilities. so someone from the wssc will be here, pepco and the utility so that we're coordinating in case of any outages. >> reporter: coming up at 5:00, what baker says about last night's treacherous commute. plus, he shows us some of this massive operation that's in place before the blizzard hits to ensure that people are safe. chris? >> thanks, meagan. just a reminder, make sure you have the washington app on your smartphone. it's the best way to send you

breaking news and weather alerts during the snow. you can track the storm and even if you lose power you'll still be able to watch the slide. by tomorrow night we're expecting our area to be completely covered in snow. the warning from police about venturing out in it and the one incident that you do not need to call 911 for. it has us remembering other big storms. we have a list of the ten worst snowstorms in d.c. history. that's over on the nbc

right now the clock is ticking. first at 4:00, a blizzard warning goes into effect in the area and less than 24 hours the entire nation's capital can be under a foot of snow. doug will have an update in two minutes. the list of schools that will be closed tomorrow is growing. rid now all d.c. public schools will be closed friday. fairfax county schools and prince william public schools in virginia are closed friday through sunday. in maryland, howard county, charles county all closed tomorrow. montgomery county schools just announced they'll be closed friday through sunday and fauquier county schools close at noon tomorrow and they'll remain closed all weekend and we're putting all of the school, church, business closings, they'll all be in the nbc washington app and make sure you downloaded it by now. once the snow starts falling you should stay off the roads so first responders being get to people who have emergencies as quickly as possible.

>> if you are involved in a minor accident like nobody is injured chief cathy lanier says don't call police. >> so we tell the residents or visitors if you're involved in a minor accident. exchange information with the other driver and clear those vehicles because when they sit and wait for a police officer to respond and then there's no police report then that blocks up traffic even more. >> reporter: chief lanier says pf all of the calls they received last night only 10% actually required a police report. of course, a lot of you are still recovering from last night's treacherous commute home. >> yes, indeed. news 4's david culver heard from fairfax county leaders who say vdot was caught off guard. >> it was chaos. we were overwhelmed. they seemed to have been caught off guard and maybe in the preparations for the larger, vent. >> we also stopped by this hardware store in culpeper, virginia. take a look at the shelves,

empty. no shovel, no snow blowers and no salt. they do expect to get more shipments tomorrow morning and customers are so anxious to get their hands on the snow-related items they've helped unload some of the trucks as they arrive. we'll have much more ahead on news 4 at 5:00 and that's the latest from fairfax. i'm david culver, news 4. >> let's get the latest now on the weather from doug in the storm center. right now not a lot going on and that's a good thing. we had last night's little event and we have tomorrow's event today and it's a good time to start preparing for the storm as it makes its way on in here. at least we got above freezing today and look at the potomac, and look at the ice on the potomac river and that will continue and take a look at the numbers and 33 degrees and winds out of the northwest at 12:00 and that puts the windchills into the 20s and yes, it's another cold day across our area and that's why it's such a big

problem and just like last night, as soon as it snows it will stick on the snow and here are the blizzard warnings and for everybody in the red here goes into effect tomorrow at 3:00 in the afternoon and the winter storm warning for areas to the west and the only exception is the ridges of the blue ridge here and you can see 30, 40, 50 mile an hour wind gusts and that's something to think about, too. expect your power to go out. i can't say that enough. expect to go out and prepare for it to go out and hopefully it doesn't. storm team 4 not showing anything here, but again, the wider view shows the clear skies and a few clouds making its way on in here and here is the storm down to the south and it's starting to spin here and you notice we've got severe weather and tornado warnings down to the south and any time you have tornado warnings in the month of january and any time you're talking about a potent storm and a ton of moisture moving into the gulf of mexico and tomorrow morning it's a-okay and friday at 8:00 a.m. we're fine and

front royal and manassas, quantico and manassas, culpeper and 1:00, until 5:00, that's when everybody starts to see the snow and it's starting to clear in parts of northern virginia by 5:00 in most areas and then by 10:00, everybody gets in on the action and this is when the snow really starts to come down, overnight friday night into saturday morning and very heavy snowfall and one to two inches per hour and thundersnow is possible and this is when the wind kicks up and notice in calvert county and st. mary's county and you could see a mix in here and that's yet totals may be less and that will continue and everybody is dealing with the snow and very heavy at times and starting to let up at 8:00, 8:00 saturday night the heavy snow is about done and it will still keep snowing and sunday morning in some locations and then it gets out of here by 7:00 a.m. and that's very good news and we can start to clean up and it will

take a lot of time because of the amount of snow and it's 18 inches down to the south and if you get a lot of mixing and 18 inches at the max and 18 to 24 plus. what's the plus mean? >> i do think some areas could be upward of 30 inches of snow in some areas and where exactly is the bull's-eye in the model has been all around and 18 to 24 and a very good bet across the entire region and friday, conditions deteriorate between 2:00 and 4:00, hass douse and roads completely impassable and on sunday, most roads, stay closed and i do not think you can drive in this and sunday, we do get breeze we temperatures of 34 and 37 degrees on monday and we'll start to warm and we'll start to melt and dry out and things will get back to normal and it will take a couple of days, guys and we'll keep you updated in the storm center. >> thanks, doug. >> forced to give up and even get out and walk. first at 4:00, you'll hear from

people whose commute was so nightmarish, it

we're getting closer and closer. storm team 4 is keeping a close eye on the incredible amount of snow headed our way. a blizzard warning takes effect for much of the area. doug, veronica and amelia will

keep us updated throughout the hour. a couple of surprises at the sentencing of serial killer charles severance. an american is back home after being let out of prison in iran. amir hekmati just landed in his hometown of flint, michigan. the u.s. marine went to visit his grandmother in iran nearly five years ago and was arrested.

saeed abedini's wife posted on facebook that her husband is also expected back home this afternoon. a washington post reporter is still being treated at the u.s. medical center in germany and jason rezaian will come home in the next few days. they were all released sunday as part of a prisoner swap with iran. thousands of jobs are coming toharbor as the new mgm casino goes up and folks get to hear about other career opportunities at the new resort and casino. radio one held a career showcase at martin's crosswinds in greenbelt. folks got a chance to talk to employers and career specialists and mgm national harbor is expected to open later this year. well, we're not the only ones bracing for a strong winter storm. how it's going to affect some areas that have already seen enough damage from mother nature. here at home, we've been saying this for days. a storm team 4 weather alert. heavy snow and potentially more than a foot will start falling in about 24 hours. we're covering it every inch

of you, storm covera

in less than 24 hours we will be under a blizzard warning. right now at 4:30, the nation's capitol area braces for a storm that could bring heavy snow and winds that could knock out power. some new information coming in we just learned, arlington, stafford and loudoun county

schools have joined the growing list of counties that have canceled classes by tomorrow. i have a feeling by the end of the tonight they all will be closed and it is on the washington app at the bottom of the screen. veronica johnson is picking up our coverage and pat was saying these models haven't changed one bit. >> you talked about how consistent they are and we assume that hasn't kafrjed? >> it hasn't changed. the 18 to 24-plus inches that we're expecting throughout the area, the only area that will see slightly lower totals is down around extreme southern maryland and portions of maryland's eastern shore. let's talk about what's going on and a cold one, of course, and finally above freezing and we saw the melting on area roads and still enough wind where the windchill temperatures have been in the low 20s. now that's the thing as we move through in the next couple of days and the storm system moving in and we'll have a lot of wind with it and the windchills will be in the teens. for tomorrow morning dry. 22 to 25 degrees. so it will be dry, but overcast. there's your snow coming in

between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. our team coverage continues and let's go with mike seidel who is in front of the capital. hey, mike. good afternoon, veronica. we're in town to cover the big storm here in the washington, baltimore area and we're expecting, as you know, upward of 20 inches of snow in the district. i was here for the blizzard of 2010. we had two big snowstorms, and i was here for the second one and on the 10th of february, 2010, i was standing over there on d street northwest and that whole area was where they piled the snow from both storms and the pile was 25 feet high and you couldn't even see the capitol from the snow and blowing snow from where we are here. you can see the scaffolding around the rotunda and the dome. late afternoon for the rush hour and d.c. schools are closed and everybody will head home early and hopefully not have the debacle we had last night with an inch of snow here in the d.c. metro area. we'll be out here covering it

for you live throughout the storm on the weather channel and we'll have continuous coverage starting tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. and right on through noon on sunday. good luck with the storm, you and your crew and we'll keep you updated from out here on the streets of d.c. back to you. >> thanks a lot, mike. this time tomorrow we expect to see several inches already in some areas. so that's what the capitol on the other side could look like. now's the time to plan with having to make sure that you've got the gas. your generator is ready to go. you've got food, water, medicine. expect to be snowed in for quite some time. this will be a crippling storm system for this area. again, impacts for days. we've got more on the aims coming up in just a few minutes. all right, veronica. metro is monitoring the forecast to determine train and bus schedules for friday, but metro's just announced that metro will close at 11:00 tomorrow night and stay closed for the rest of the weekend. saturday and sunday, bus service stops at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon

and bus service will be suspended throughout the rest of the weekend. metro access stops at 6:00 on friday, 6:00 p.m. and the next one will leave at 1:00 in the afternoon and keep the washington app handy to get updates on metro. d.c. mayor muriel bowser had to do two things, apologize for last night's meltdown and let the district prepare for what's coming. tom sherwood is along connecticut avenue in northwest and that's where i saw dozens of drivers just stuck in their carts all night, tom. what's it looking like now? >> reporter: well, chris, you know, it's kind of nice for a change to see normal rush hour here. traffic at this major intersection last night was -- is now moving along nicely. last night it was a different story all over d.c. and that prompted the mayor's apology. mayor muriel bowser huddled this morning with advisers and

emerged at a city stock dome to say the city failed its citizens last night with the light snow that snarled traffic for hours. >> first and foremost to the district of columbia that we are very sorry for inadequate response. we believe we did not provide adequate resources at a time when we could make a difference in last evening's commute. >> the mayor focused on the big storm ahead saying schools are closed tomorrow. the city government will shut down at noon and snow emergency rules on street parking go into effect at 9:30 friday morning to allow the city to gear up for the weekend's storm. >> it is only the second such time in recent history where this much snow in a single event has been forecasted. >> reporter: if you park in a snow emergency zone it's a $250 fine plus $100 for the towing

and police chief cathy lanier cautioned the storm and high winds could be deadly. >> don't take this storm for granted. this is 36 hours of a major storm and hopefully everyone will stay in their homes and stock up on some food and stay in their home until it's over. >> again, you can't park on snow emergency routes like nebraska avenue and connecticut avenue beginning at 9:30 tomorrow morning and mayor bowser said don't even park there tonight. you might oversleep and you might get your car towed. i'm tom sherwood. back to you, chris. you don't want to oversleep. >> great advice, tom. >> we saw so many people just dealing with this nightmare in the district, in maryland and virginia. pat, you called into the station on your way home. how long did it take you to get home last night? >> it took me eight hours. i left the station at 7:00 yesterday evening and it normally takes 45 minutes to an hour to get home.

if the weather is okay. traveling at 5 miles per hour or less on every highway, 295, 395, the tidal basin, massachusetts avenue, even. people were spinning out and hitting the sidewalk and suvs were getting stuck. there was just no way to speed it up. >> what were you seeing? you said people were crossing the median? >> other than red lights and taillight which it seems i was for hours and i was seeing red lights in my sleep last night. a lot of the traffic was not even moving slowly. it was stopped and it was a parking lot, and so after hours and hours, some people decided to cross the highway where they could and drive against oncoming traffic with their hazard lights on. very dangerous, and they were so desperate. >> that tells you how frustrated they are to do something that crazy. >> i got home at 3:00 this

morning. >> wow! ladies and gentlemen, look how great she looks. this is on, what? three hours of sleep, and i feel your pain because all those people in, you know, sitting in traffic are out there with me. we all suffered through it together. >> as much as the east coast plans for a huge winter storm, we're going to show you how help is on the way for people who are already seeing some tense winter weather. here at home, a blizzard warning goes into effect tomorrow afternoon and doug will join us after the break and remember, you can track the coming storm in your area with the interactive radar in our app. track the weather in up to eight locations on the nbc washington app

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>> take a look outside right now. national harbor looking great across the area today. plenty of blue skies. nice weather today. the good news is we've got another day to prepare for this. it will be 24 hours from now to see things go downhill. nothing on the radar and you have to go down to the south to see where the storm is and you can see it forming down here. look at all of this moisture down toward the gulf of mexico and all of that will be moving our way and it's sucking moisture out of the gulf and you'll pull moisture off of the atlantic and that's why you will see blizzard warnings for everybody to see here in the red, winter storm warnings for areas back in the pink. stronger winds in this area. everybody gets the same amount of snow.

coming up in a couple of minutes, veronica and amelia will have much more on the timing of this and when you need to be off the roads tomorrow because once you're off the roads tomorrow you might not get back on until monday or even tuesday. we'll talk more about this. see you in a moment. we aren't dealing with expected bad weather. north carolina is under a state of emergency just before tomorrow's storm. >> the governor is asking people to stay off the roads as doug mentioned as travel conditions become more dangerous. power crews from florida are headed up to north carolina if and when residents start losing power. the duke-north carolina basketball game on saturday can be rescheduled, but what to do sunday when the nfc championship game kicks off between panthers and cardinals? >> and also talking to officials who were maybe having major events and we'll be giving them very clear updates on what we recommend as to whether or not people should attend those games.

>> the governor says two people died overnight from some of the winter weather already hitting the carolinas. >> it's an annual tradition, but it's about to get upstaged by the coming blizzard. will a popular attraction go on as scheduled. >> the last place you want to be a snowstorm is in your car. our consumer team is telling us which things to have ready just

first at 4:00, we are getting you ready for a blizzard. >> that's right. the snow will start falling tomorrow afternoon and once it gets here it is going to cause some big, big problems. >> we have team coverage this afternoon and we'll get to amelia segal in just a moment. let's start with meteorologist veronica johnson. veronica, talk about totals. how much are we talking about? two feet? yes, we are in some areas talking about two feet. a lot of locations, most locations we'll see over a foot and we'll break it down for you in just a couple of minutes as to how quickly we'll get that foot. your commuter forecast out of the door and it's a dry start for us and 24 degrees, the temperature with an overcast sky and you can see by tomorrow afternoon we've got snow that will be falling. so this time tomorrow, yes, already a few inches of snowfall. roads will become snow covered and yes, slick just like everything. we'll show you the snow line up

toward hagerstown and this is at 3:00 p.m. once the snow moves in it will be coming down very quickly. the snowfall rates will be very high friday in through early saturday morning and we could have snowfall rates of 1 to three inches of an hour and folks are asking could we have thundersnow? the answer is yes, we could possibly see that especially with the higher amounts coming through up until about noon time on saturday. that's when we'll see the heaviest from 1:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on saturday and areas south around st. mary's and cambridge and salisbury could see a little bit in the way of ice pellets and wet snow coming in and it's dry snow on the back end and one thing i want to stress to folks is this will be a back breaking type of snow. so tackle it every couple of hours. we'll be snowing in for a couple of days at least through sunday and let's break it down for you, though. as i said we'll show you how much snow we'll get and at what

time amelia segal has more on that outside. >> the pat collins snow stick and i'll show you how much we can anticipate in total. here is the snow stick. here's one inch and here is 24 inches and this is about the length of my arm is how much snow we'll be picking up in this storm in total and as soon as it arrives it will start accumulating and look at the snow graphic. by 7:00 p.m., four to eight inches and by 11:00 p.m. up to a foot in spots. 7:00, we continue to track snow. so by 11:00 a.m. on saturday this is when the heaviest snow starts to come to an end and at that point we're talking about 18 to 24 inches from this storm and it's a foot and a half to two feet across the area and v.j., the other aspect to the storm will be the winds and that will be hard to measure and it will continue to cause areas of blowing snow and drifting snow and brutal windchills even on

into sunday. >> a lot of folks are asking about the winds and our worst winds will be at the shore and areas off of the potomac and we could see some beach erosion as well as high storm surge. 40 to 50 miles per hour winds and sustained for quite some time and as we head east toward la rhea and 30 to 40 mile per hour winds and drifts will be high, over five feet and the snowfall that we're predicting and 18 to 24 inches with lighter amounts down to the south, we'll continue to show you this, but i can tell you it is not going to change very much. our temperatures as we make our way through the day on friday will be right at freezing. so in terms of the next couple of days, folks, temperatures will rise and by the time we get to tuesday still schools could be closed and 47 after the big snow and we have more on the timing of this event coming up on news 4 at 5:00. >> thanks, veronica. despite the blizzard, the auto show, if you can believe it is scheduled to go on as planned

at the washington convention center and it kicks off tomorrow and runs through sunday evening and it will follow the district's emergency and transportation procedures. if you've got tickets you will be allowed to use them as long as the show remains open. >> i know we're expecting a lot of snow and the washington auto show will be open even if we get ten feet of snow which we're not going to get. we will be here and if you can get down to us we welcome you and it will be a great time to come. >> the show runs until friday night at 10:00 and saturday night at 10:00 and closes for good at 7:00 tomorrow evening. >> you see how empty it will look? that's exactly how it can look, i can't imagine anybody being able to get down there unless you live right in that area and you can walk over. >> metro closed and emergency routes unpassable. >> the last place you want to be during a blizzard is stuck in your car. >> that's right, but if it does happen to you, news 4's susan

hogan has life-saving essentials that you need to stay safe. >> reporter: even though we're telling you to stay off the roads. we get it. sometimesshvoidunavoidable. you have to make sure your car is, quipped with essentials that could save your life in heavy snow and frigid temperatures. >> were you caught up in this mess? drivers stranded on roads last night for hours and that was just one inch of snow. with the next round on its way, forecasted in feet instead of inches, drivers could be in for a lot worse. >> preparation is key. you've got to make sure in your car you have a shovel to dig yourself out and kitty litter in case you need some traction. another must-have in your car is an emergency kit. you should have something like a flashlight or flares to be visible. also, you want to have water and snacks to deep your energy up in case you're stranded for hours and jumper cables, too, are a

must have. since you could be stuck for hours, make sure you throw in some extra blankets and extra clothing and one thing you should never run out of is washer fluid. make sure that it is full and also make sure you have a full bottle before you get into your car. and one other major safety tip, your tail pipe. if you've been stranded for hours and the snow is piling up, it can actually create carbon monoxide inside your car so you constantly want to make sure you're clearing the snow away. i'm susan hogan, news 4. what's that about, pat? >> oh, it's just the piece of fiction. you know, i'm here getting some rest, getting a little warm because you know, in a short time we're going to get a doozy. snow like we've never had it before, not to worry. i'm ready.

i've got my boots. i've got my hat. i've got my gloves and i've got my coat. i call this the solution. it never lets me down. >> and i have the official pat collins snow stick. it has markings on one side to show all of the big storms we've had in our city over the past years, and the one we're getting this weekend, why, it could be right up here. i'll be out there saturday measuring every inch as it comes down. watch on saturday and you could end up with a pat collins snow stick of your very own. bundle up now. >> i can't wait to see what kind of pictures people take with that thing in this storm. >> and you know the snow stick has its own twitter page. it started tweeting last night. >> very popular. don't want to miss that. >> plenty of tweets to come. this snow will spell trouble for millions of people out there.

>> why snow isn't the only issue this storm could bring. it could also cause more problems for people who are still dealing with the aftermath of another storm just a few years ago. and here at home, doug, v.j. and amelia are all working for you, tracking this storm. >> that's right. this is special coverage. you're watching news 4 at 4:00.

>> right now storm team 4 is in

weather alert mode. we're tracking and timing the arrival of a blizzard right here in the nation's capital. doug, veronica and amelia are all working out to figure out how much snow we'll get and when it will continue to fall. storm team 4 continues in just a few minutes. the jersey shore is bracing right now for some of the worst flooding its seen in years. reporter ted greenberg shows us how people there are getting ready for the high water. they're building barriers to help hold back the mighty atlantic on beaches in ocean city and all along the jersey coast, makeshift dunes are going up before the storm moves in. >> better safe than sorry. >> reporter: brendan mcbride is building this house on yacht avenue in cape may and today moved his tools and materials to the second floor to keep them away from high water. >> everything that was of any value we're worried about the flooding coming. >> reporter: moderate to major coastal flooding, potentially

the worst since hurricane sand they could last for three high tide cycles starting saturday morning along with high winds. >> we are raising everything up. >> equipment has been coming off the floor at the popular lobster house restaurant and fish market just outside cape may in a floodprone section of lower township. >> i think we'll be open friday. i think we'll be closed saturday, and i then we'll open up on sunday. john shore winds are expected to be a major factor on the shore. news 4 at 5:00 starts now with wendy and chris. now at 5:00, a blizzard warning in effect for most of the region. i'm meteorologist doug kammerer and this massive storm has taken shape. >> i'm meteorologist veronica johnson and we have a better idea of what will be an historic snowstorm for the areatarting tomorrow. >> i'm meteorologist amelia segal and the heavy snow expected to impact 15 states and 80 million people along the east coast. our team coverage begins right now.

♪ ♪ and we are talking about that blizzard warning. there is a state of emergency declared from north carolina up to pennsylvania for what could be this blockbuster storm. that snow will be falling fast and just in the last hour we learned metro will be shut down friday night and the school closures for tomorrow is growing and we'll continue to run those on the screen. doug, veronica and amelia have team coverage on the storm that will impact all of us for days. >> storm team 4, we'll be all over this for you. we have amelia outside, as you said. adam tuss will be in the storm team 4 monitoring the traffic over the next 24 to 48 hours and that's going to be the key here. 24 hours from now, that's 5:00 tomorrow afternoon and that's when things really ramp up. >> the snow starts and it's going to start fast and then for about 36 hours we'll stay in this event with at times some very heavy snow and as we deal

with the snow very low windchill readings and it will be a bad storm across all of the area. take a look outside right now and storm team 4 radar is clear. we have nothing to worry about tonight and nothing to worry about early tomorrow. the storm itself is way down to the south and down toward the gulf coast here and we're looking around dallas and that's where you see the spin in the atmosphere and look at all of the moisture looking its way out of the gulf of mexico and this will continue to make its way our way and eventually move in and it will bring us a historic storm and the blizzard warning in areas to the west and the pink and that's the winter storm warning. the only difference between the two, much windier conditions as you get closer toward the chesapeake bay and that will have an impact as far as power outages go. we talked about this last hour and amelia segal is outside right now and just like last night, it's been so cold, once the snow comes down we'll have impacts immediately. >> exactly because we're anticipating