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 temperatures friday

to remain for the most part below freezing. out here right now a little bit of a breeze and hard to believe this time tomorrow we'll be tracking snow piling in spots. a wet snow, a dry snow and we think it will arrive as a dry snow for a few hours and friday into the first half of saturday and it will be more of a wet snow and then as this event comes to an end more dry in nature when it's all said and done. many of us, most of us earn in you aring this event in feet, not inches and v.j., this will not only have an impact on us over the weekend, but into next week, as well. >> that's right. so many things we'll have to deal with with this storm system as it comes through and 14 to 15 miles per hour and as we clean up the snow, windchills will be in the teens. we remember in 2010 and snowmageddon that lasted for days. the snow intensity friday night

especially into early saturday, we're not going to get the moderate snow with reduced visibility and we'll get the heavy snow and visibility that will be down to zero for several hours. blizzard conditions expected friday night through your saturday as well as the wind. again, those winds will be around 40, 60 miles per hour and there will be isolated spots that could see that for a brief period of time and right at maryland's eastern shore and just off the bay in the potomac and the possibility of higher winds with 45 to 50 miles per hour and a lot to deal with. >> starting in 24 hours. the worst of it 24 to 36 hours and getting better, 36 to 48, but we have a lot more to deal with even into early next week and we'll be in the storm center and guys, we'll be in the storm center the whole week. >> yes, you will. i'm sure you will. >> what do you think? >> now to some breaking news. metro just announced it will be closed through the weekend. our transportation reporter adam tuss is live in vienna to tell

you about that. >> reporter: yeah. this is a really unbelievable step that the transit agency is taking, wendy. the last time metro shut down completely was during super storm sandy and that was because they were concerned about all of the wind. a short time ago, metro's general manager paul wiedefeld that starting at 11:00 tomorrow night the rail system will shut down saturday and sunday and he said this was being done out of an abundance of caution for riders and take a listen at he was telling everyone. >> there was a concern for power loss in the underground tunnels where both we're using our resources and other emergency medical resources into the tunnel. the power is lost and that's a real possibility. it provides us the opportunity to basically shelter the equipment so that we can get up and running much quicker. >> reporter: yeah. so that lets you know more about their thinking.

clearly, they want to protect the rail cars and store them inside the tunnels. a lot of people were saying why can't they just run the below-ground service and not run the above-ground service. power was also a concern and the last thing you want is to be stuck on a metro train inside the tunnel. doug was talking about the storm team 4 by 4 and we certainly are going to be out all weekend long checking on weather conditions and i expect many, many more announcements to come. reporting live at the metro station, adam tuss, news 4. we are very sorry for inadequate response. >> cars on the side of the road. i saw cars run out of gas last night. >> we should have been out earlier with more resources. >> he's driving! he's driving! >> they were spinning around and going into the guardrail and all of that all night. >> if you don't pretreat that's when you get in a lot of problems. >> nothing, but ice.

>> we were out yesterday with 500 trucks just to northern virginia. >> i didn't see any road crews. none. no salt. nothing. >> i expressed my frustration this morning to our staff and to the department of transportation. >> we're in full disaster, crisis mode and they're talking about all of this snow coming tomorrow. i hope we're more prepared. >> all levels of government are working together. to respond to this weather system. >> people stuck for hours! hours! a lot of you are still recovering from last night's mess on the road. >> and we have team coverage as road crews ramp up for the drama to come. we begin with news 4's david culver who is in fairfax. >> reporter: wendy, the police here in fairfax county calling last night chaos and posted a hazard for many officers responding to dozens, upon dozens of crashes last night. he joined several other counties

to warn residents that with the upcoming storm fairfax is ready. >> it was chaos. >> slipping and sliding and just not moving for hours. >> we were overwhelmed and had a press conference today and acknowledging vdot was not prepared. >> they seemed to have caught onguard and maybe in preparation for the larger event. >> that cup are upcoming eventlikebiez preparing. >> we're rrg mending to the set ze citizens with the shelves. frank howard says just about everything snow-relate side gone. the generators and snow blowers are gone and the funny part of it is is they'll sit here for a year and then if we had ten more

we could sell them. >> back to fairfax, leaders there saying they're prepared. are you? >> please get prepared today if you're not already. >> reporter: and as you saw, we started our day in culpeper county. coming up ahead on news 4 at 6:00, wendy, why points farther west are concerned about the upcoming storm and what their biggest fear is. we'll share that with you. >> all right. david culver. prince george's county is getting ready to activate the operation center. >> meagan fitzgerald has more on what they're doing to keep you safe. >> starting tomorrow at 3:00, that operation center will be fully staffed and it will be operating 24 hours a day at least until monday. they also tell us that some 300 snowplows will be on the street for the duration of the storm. you could call it the calm before the storm.

tomorrow this time prince george's county executive rashearn baker says the emergency operation center will be fully staff with state officials. >> homeland security preparedness will be here, police department and public safety. >> reporter: that also includes raptives from the power companies. so if electricity goes out, crews in the field can respond quickly. baker says the command center will monitor the conditions around the clock at least until monday. public works officials say snowplows were out all day treating roads and focusing mainly on neighborhood streets, but many residents want to know what happened wednesday night when an inch of snow led to a travel nightmare across the dmv? baker insists the county was aware. >> we have pre-treated our roads and it's a matter of coordinating with our state and our partners in the washington region. >> nevertheless, it took drivers hours to get home.

as for the next storm baker was encouraging residents to stay off the road. >> prepare now, do all of the things you need to do today and be prepared to stay home tomorrow. >> res denneds to call 311 for non-emergency issues that may arrive during the storm. >> coming up at 6:00 what they say is a massive plan in pace if residents do lose nower. >> you heard d.c. mayor muriel bower apologize for last's night meltdown and the diehl is digging through -- countless drivers with what's going on in the district. >> reporter: there was trouble all over the city and now all over the weekend.

>> i was out here and this street was a mess last night. cars were backed up all of the way. >> reporter: the minister hagler says he appreciates mayor muriel bowser's apology yesterday for the city's poor response last night. >> we should have been out earlier with more resources. >> reporter: but he's worried about his parishioners and residents of his senior living complex with a bigger storm approaching. >> this is more than public relations and this is actually about getting something done and anticipating and snowstorms could be tricky things. >> we will have resources on hand. >> reporter: beyond the apology the mayor focused on what people need to know now. d.c. schools closed saturday and the mayor decided to close now. no emergency goes into effect until firther notice it's a $250 pine and $100 towing fee for run on emergency routes. it will be closed friday except

for essential personnel and friday businesses should consider closing too. >> it's bringing hundreds of crews for power outages. >> if you see a down wire don't go near it. >> and the anti-abortion walk for life have been cautioned the event could be curtailed to keep streets clear for afternoon traffic. >> >> reporter: that annual march can attract more than 100,000 people. the city organizers say that march will not be cancelled. in the district, tom chsherwood news 4. >> how icy roads caused accidents in montgomery county despite being treated by county crews. the story ahead. and you can add alexandria, arlington and montgomery county to the list of schools that is going to be closed tomorrow. stay with us through the hour. we'll be updating the list on your screen and on the nbc

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[announcer]redfin pays its agents based on your happiness... that's real estate, redefined. >> a lot of people tweeting at nbc washington after that dig traffic nightmare. adam tuss posted this picture saying most roads now are getting a thorough dose of treatment. makes you feel really good now

that you just are probably gotting home. the term historic has been thrown around a lot in the last couple of days. >> we have. in 2009. we saw the one in december 2010. two of those are in the top five and we only need to get to 17 inches of snow in order to become the top five snowstorm and every single computer model that we've seen for the last week has put us over 20 inches and we're actually top two and i think we'll get there. i do. i think 22 inches is a good round for areas around the beltway. take a look right now. let's go right downtown and show you the white house. you can see it there and you can see the snow on top of the potomac. that's good news. notice how most of the snow melted because it was so little. we did not see much in the way of snow at all and an inch to an inch and a half at the most.

it still caused a ton of problems. all they had to do was treat the roads and we would have been fine and that puts the windchill in the low to mid 20s. the blizzard warns are up and they're issued today. blizzard warning in effect from i-95 from fredericksburg to baltimore and leesburg all of the way toward the bay and this is the area that will see the best chance for winds gusting over 35 miles per hour and 40 and 50 miles per hour and closer to the coast in annapolis in chesapeake beach and 50 mile an hour winds for sure in your area. martinsburg and winchester and the pink area is the winter storm watch and you'll still see winds 20 to 30 miles per hour and they won't be quite as bilge. >> not much around the region and you can see clear skies and a few clouds came in today and watch down to the south. this storm is really, really starting to take shape and you can see the spin in the atmosphere and notice the moisture coming right out of the gulf of mexico and right on into

portions like louisiana and mississippi. severe weather, they've had tornado warning down there today and that system bringing all of our moisture that way and incredible amounts of moisture for a winter storm. you don't see this very often and that's why it will be historic. friday 1:00, tomorrow afternoon and most of the area still looking okay, but you see the snow creeping in. fredericksburg, kull pepper and 5:00, everybody's seen it and now is the time that we're looking to see this start to increase as far as the intensity goes and right on through saturday it gets very heavy. how much snow? 18 to 24 inches and we could see some mixing and most areas and everybody is asking how much for me? 18 to 24. everybody, could we see more than that? i do think we'll see a couple of areas and maybe even an isolated 30. before tomorrow evening, get gas in the car and get the dinner if your heat goes out in the car, food, water, medicine. make sure you have all of those and expect to get snowed in and

remember, you're running out of time here and make sure you get these things done before tomorrow afternoon and you do not want to be running around tomorrow and be caught in the snow. heavy snow into saturday and all day saturday and it's done by sunday and the impacts will be very long lasting with the storm system once again and we'll continue to keep you posted. we're on the nbc washington app and i'm on facebook and twitter and if you lose power in your house and you still have your phone, remember to charge your phones and we'll be live streaming on your phones to give you the latest update. that's exactly what we'll continue to do. >> great advice, doug. >> we've been telling people all day, that may be the way you stay on top of everything is on that cell phone streaming the nbc washington app. maryland governor larry hogan declared a state of emergency ahead of the blizzard and work is getting under way to keep the roads as safe as possible. news 4's chris gordon is in rockville and what sort of preparation are you seeing that way? >> montgomery county has plenty

of salt on hand for the entire winter, it says and enough to share with its neighboring jurisdictions. yesterday, montgomery county pretreated streets hours before last night's icy mess, traffic tie-ups and accidents in the area and today montgomery county executive told me that even his wife took hours to get home. >> she got home this morning at 2:30 a.m. and she works in the district of columbia and she was caught coming out of the district. >> reporter: here in montgomery county, icy roadways continue toed to cause accidents in germ antown. tate is responsible for numbered roads like old georgetown which was closed for a time this morning by an accident caused by an icy patch at green tree. >> thou did this state do if this morning they were having accidents on old georgetown road. >> the state was somewhat challenged as a result of the snow as well as other area

jurisdictions and montgomery county started at 11:00 a.m. yesterday pretreating our roads and continued throughout the night. >> montgomery county is loading salt on to trucks. 500 county trucks will focus primary and secondary roads. >> we have 500 tons of salt. >> reporter: the state of maryland has a fleet of 2700 trucks on call including independent contractors to clear state highways and roadways. >> reporter: ahead, how -- ahead how montgomery snow crews will live like an army to battle the blizzard ahead. that's coming up on news 4 at 6:00. the latest in rockville, chris gordon, news 4. >> all right. for those of you sitting at home, there is still time to get your house ready for all of the snow. time is ticking and if you wait too long it will cost you.

>> investigative reporter susan hogan has that. >> we still have some time. here are four things you should check off your list today or first thing tomorrow before the snow actually hits. make sure to disconnect your hoses from the outside spigots and drain and turn that water off. >> number two, you want to take a look at your gutters, downspouts and outside drains. make sure they're clear of all of the sleeves so snow can melt and drain. also consider buying that weather tape. it is flexible and it can help seal cracks around the windows and doors to prevent drafts and finally, number four, to avoid having your pipes freeze, you should wrap any exposed water pipes that are near an outside wall with a foam sleeve and those are certainly good to have and tonight at 6:00, you've got the bread and the milk, check, right? you may have left some crucial items off the list especially if you're snowed in in a few days and we'll reveal what those are coming up. we decided to give susan a

washington welcome. >> yes. >> she just joined us here from rhode island. so we thought we'd bring you a blizzard to show you how well we do. >> in fact, i thought i would have brought this blizzard here because normally this is what i'm covering up in new england, but yeah, it's great to be here and i'm really, really looking forward to my career here. >> you can show us how to get our cars out of the parking lot tomorrow and we're not real good at this as i'm sure you heard. >> i'm happy to do so. >> thank you so much, you guys. also our adam tuss has been out on the roads all day and he talked to virginia's department of transportation about what they're doing to make sure they are ready for this next round. i'm julie carey in fairfax county where cereal killer charles severance learns his final sentence as the judge fights back tears remembering

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three life sentences forñü serial killer charles severance. the jury followed the recommendation after severance was convicted in november. >> julie carey reports from the fairfax county courthouse where the killer showed no remorse, only contempt? as he entered the courtroom, charles severance leaned into the microphone and said sadism, sadism and launched into complaints about his lawyers as he's done so many times, but it was judge randy bellows who had the final word, sentencing

severance to three life terms. >> for the rest of his life the defendant will be housed in a maximum security prison free to wallow in the anger and loathing with which his life has been filled. he deserves no better. >> reporter: severance was convicted in november of shooting to death three prominent alexandria residents as they answered a knock in their front door. nancy dunning, ron kwishy a decade later and ruthanne lodato. he harbored a deep hatred for public officials and those he considered the elite after he lost a bitter custody battle and his mental illness fueled his anger spelled out in rambling writings. the judge fought back tears in court as he talked about the victims. severance hated the victims for what they were and what he is not. he condemned family members to bear witness to a nightmare. the victims' loved ones wept and hugged and several standing arm in arm as the representative

spoke about what this day means. >> i think the families want to move forward as they only have. it's the only thing they wanted from the beginning was a fair and just trial. >> brian porter returned to a point he made several times. nancy, ron and rutharound lived and loved as they should. violence does not win in the end. love wins. >> ahead at 6:00, where the prosecutor says this case is the perfect example of why virginia needs more regulation of gun purchases. in fairfax, i'm julie carey, news 4. you may be wondering, where is pat collins and where is that snow stick? we caught up with him as he prepares for the storm. stocking up before the storm. people don't want to hunker dow

snow moves into the area tomorrow afternoon and it's going to start to pile up quickly. coming up, i'll let you know accumulation amounts by the hour and how much you can expect by tomorrow night and how much you'll be waking up to saturday morning. i'll show you the start times for your neighborhood. i'll take you from the beginning to the end of the storm and show you the impacts it will have on our area. store shelves across the area are cleared ahead of this blizzard. hunt shipman tweeted looking for strawberries and bananas in falls church, keep looking. >> that's like siberia.

>> no smoothie for you. >> people make a mad dash for the last few items they don't want to live without. >> a lot of you are seeing gridlock in the parking lot and derrick ward is in fairfax. how does it look? >> reporter: it looks pretty crowded. that's an indicator and suppose you don't have access to the broadcast, a good indicator of an impending snowstorm, a grocery store parking lot. it's all around us. >> grocery store parking lots are a sure sign of coming snow. there's another indicator. >> got some bread in here and eggs. >> milk, bread and all those things. >> yesterday was the busiest day the store has ever had in the 17 years that it's been open. >> reporter: one line snaking amid the aisles and split off to three for the open registers. >> next, it will be perfect for you, sir. >> i think we prepped pretty

well for it, but you just can't order enough milk. >> and for some, you just can't be too prepared especially with the little ones. >> i think we'll have some activities to do, some homework to do. >> reporter: homework on a snow day? got to keep those young minds at the ready and to keep those minds of legal drinking age at the ready. there's another popular commodity in this rush? what kind of wine goes best with being snowbound? >> pinot noir that will be your most neutral to go through everything as you scrounge around for anything left to eat. >> people running low on cynicism on the be obligatory r? >> is it white? does it come from the sky? oh, my god, i need more wine. >>. >> reporter: on a more serious note. >> be safe. >> reporter: good advice if you're going in or out. the manager at trader joe's says if the food lasts until the snow starts he may close early, and

the safety of the employees and customers is also very important. >> we are live in fairfax, derrick ward, news 4. we've been tracking the storm system for days and now getting closer and closer to our area. i told you that we would show you the start times for your neighborhood. well, let's take a look. here's a look at the timeline starting on noon on friday and already there will be some looks and laray down toward fredericksburg and between 1:00 and 4:00, snow overtakes most of the area and even by 4:00, there will be a few pockets seeing moderate snow and even around charlottesville. as we get into the overnight, midnight and the wee hours of the morning and first thing early saturday around 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. and that's when there will be heavy snow occurring as well as a lot of wind throughout our area. hitting neighborhoods like fred ricksburg and warrenton and leesburg and that heavy snow and very low visibility, too, and

that's why we have the blizzard conditions where we stay up around 40 and 50 miles per hour for quite some time. it ends early sunday morning and will we stay in this event for quite a while and by the time all is said and done and areas will be picking up 18 to 24 inches of snow and amelia has the breakdown hour by hour around the storm team 4 weather deck about what we'll get and when. >> our temperatures are right around the freezing mark or below 2 and as soon as the snow moves in and it will start to stick to grassy surfaces and untreated sidewalks and eventually roadways. by 7:00 p.m. tomorrow evening already talking about 4 to 8 inches on the ground when you're waking up saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. and a foot of snow or more have fallen in parts of the area and by saturday at 11:00 p.m. as far as impressive accumulations go, we'll have 18 to 24 inches. v.j., i can't get over the fact

that folks will go to bed and they'll have snow on the ground and by the morning hours a foot to a foot and a half widespread across the area at 7:00 a.m. on saturday. >> that's right. let's talk about saturday because late friday evening we'll have several inches and the high winds, can't stress that enough and a foot of snow and we'll try to tackle the storm system in stages and it's back breaking when you try to clear it all at once and roads impassable and we'll be dealing with windchill temperatures in the teens throughout the day on saturday and crippling conditions for saturday evening. again, those winds finally start to relax late in the day and early sunday. all i can say is throughout the weekend and even early part of next week and best bet is to stay at home. now is the time to prepare. we'll have more on preparations for you coming up in a few minutes. >> d.c. mayor muriel bowser is apologizing for what she calls an inadequate response to last night's snowfall. >> she tried to reassure

everyone that the city has been preparing for the blizzard all week and we'll be ready when that hits. >> as we saw yesterday, conditions can change at any moment and we're working very hard not only to be responsive to the predictions, but also be nimble enough to respond to any changes. >> a snow emergency is going to go into effect in the district starting after rush hour tomorrow morning and then after 9:30 in the morning the district will start removing parked cars in the streets that are designated as those snow emergency routes. out in virginia governor terry mcauliffe claims hundreds of crews hit the pavement early yesterday treating roads across the commonwealth and he says they'll have 13,000 pieces of equipment out on those roads working to treat and clear them. >> we have the equipment and we have the folks and they're mobilized and ready and we've already been out now for almost 24 hours and could cost me $2

million to $3 million an hour to do what we need to do, but cost is not an issue. we take this seriously. >> the governor says they did treat all of the major highways yesterday, but even when pretreatment when there is ice there can be complications. yeah, the road's getting a lot of attention right now. take a look at i-66 in northern virginia. you can see the white marks and i'm adam tuss and what vdot is doing to keep you safe. >> we've been putting the school closings up on the screen? get updates on the nbc ♪

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the approaching blizzard means a three-day weekend at least for most of your kids. >> news 4's staying on top of all of the closings throughout the wear and they've been multiplying quickly. pat lawson muse is joining us with some updates that are just coming into the newsroom. >> they're pouring in, chris. most districts have canceled classes. arlington reported within the past hour and those schools will be closed tomorrow through sunday and school offices close at noon on friday. loudoun county also sending in its report now. all school and administrative close offices closed on monday and all school facilities will be closed through the weekend

and fairfax will be closed. montgomery county and prince george's was scheduled to be closed and d.c. schools will be closed for this blizzard. for a list of closings in our area, make sure you check the bottom of the screen and go to the nbc washington app and all of the closings are list letted alphabetically. >> you can't have snow without having pat collins. he's getting ready with all of his snow acute ♪

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in the last hour and a half, just metro shutting down, announcement, the school's closing. you can feel everything, you know. it's great. >> that's pretty wise. >> yeah. >> it's really bad. i talked to a couple of school districts and the one thing is if anybody gets out on the roads at 3:00, 4:00 and what happens last night, we saw people on the road for six, seven hours and the snow stopped at 10:00. what happens if the snow continues? that's what we're talking about here and getting stuck on the roads and the snow continuing for days. it really is going to go for days and this is for 36 to 48 hours and we want to make sure you're off the roads and i'm so glad to see the closures and let's show you what's happening, first up and we have the blizzard warning and you can see there highlighted in red and the

pink, that is the winter storm warning and you see the areas there in red and that's frederick county and loudoun county and down toward fredericksburg and everyone to the east, that's the blizzard warning and you will all get the same amount of snow and the difference is the wind and the impacts from the wind. friday night into saturday and 25 to 35 mile-an-hour winds back to the west and that's still strong winds and it's not blizzard conditions and blizzard conditions is over 35, and 35 to 50 miles per hour and some locations around the bay may be in the way of higher gusts and that includes d.c. and howard county, montgomery county and down toward quantico and fredericksburg and up to 50-mile-per-hour winds and power outages and that is very likely and i would expect your power to go out and plan that your power will go out and have a backup plan if you do need it. clear skies around the region and that means we'll cool and get down into the teens in many locations and once again, 20s in the city and watch how much moisture is being sucked out of the gulf of mexico and not just

that, look at the thunderstorm activity. a very intense area of low pressure aloft and that's helping to produce the storms and numerous tornados and tornado warnings and the whole system moving our way. >> obviously, for us it will not be that way severe weather wise and by 1:00 tomorrow afternoon, massas, quantico, culpeper seeing the snow and by 5:00 it's everywhere. once it starts it gets heavier and it continues and it does not stop until the day on sunday and 10:00, and overnight, very heavy snow down to the south. notice a little mix in extreme southern county and that's why we have you in a little bit less snow, but i want to show you this in a different way here. 7:00 a.m. on saturday. 8 to 12 inches. by 7:00 a.m. on saturday most of northern virginia has gotten a foot of snow by early saturday morning and we'll continue to watch that and by the end of noon, rather, 18 to 20 inches and some areas seeing two feet

of snow and others maybe even up to 30 inches and some highways will be closed and this is why it will be a crippling snow and all of the way into the middle of next week and temperatures only in the 20s on saturday with rather windy conditions and the windchills will be in the teens all day and getting out there to clear the roads out a little bit or shovel the drive and that is going to be a very, very tough proposition dealing with the wind and that cold, too. >> the temperatures will start climbing by tuesday and it gets close to 40. is that going to help at all? >> the roads, i think, should be pretty good by tuesday and what we ran into in 2010 and even some of the storms in the last two or three years, out west, some of the higher terrain and those schools did not go back for up to a week and that's what we're watching here. >> and the neighborhood could be snowed in a lot longer. >> that's the thing, too. get ready to stay in your house for two or three days. >> thanks, doug. >> our team coverage will

continue with transportation reporter adam tuss, he's been keeping an eye out on the roads in virginia. >> adam? >> reporter: that's right, chris. i can tell you right now it is full go out here. take a look at i-66 here in vienna. you can probably make out some of the white on the road right there and that's because vdot has been out all day putting out salt brine and liquid magnesium and the traffic on the other side of 66. you probably wish that it was rolling like that last night and even though it's a little bit slow out there and last night is a distant memory and i can tell you the contractors i've been talking about today are being called in and they're being prepared to work long hours and we talked to vdot about their plan for staging for the storm. listen to what they had to say. >> tonight we'll bring in 4,000 trucks throughout northern virginia. once that snow starts to fall it's all about plowing and treating the roads with salt to keep them from refreezing and we'll be out there plowing and

on the main roads, the interstates and the neighborhoods and we want to get through the neighborhoods as soon as it starts to snow. >> reporter: that's an interesting part about all of this. don't be surprised to see a plow in your neighborhood overnight. they say once that snow starts falling, the general rule is when there's two inches on the ground that's when they start pushing the snow and as soon as the stuff comes down and sticking this time around, they want to get it out of here because they know it will be a constant battle over the next couple of days and we are in for a long battle here, but the road crews are confident. reporting live in vienna, adam tuss, news 4. i'm pat lawson muse at the live desk. we've just gotten details about amtrak's service for the weekend. accela express will be running and they'll be running on a modified schedule and there will be fewer trains running. amtraks to keep a close eye on the website if you have tickets

for saturday or sunday because there could be changes. >> there's one cancellation that could impact you. the train that runs between northern virginia and sanford, florida, will not be running tomorrow or saturday. and united tweeted it will suspend flights at dulles and all mid atlantic airports starting at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. nearly 200 flights already canceled at our three local airports for tomorrow. that's it from the live desk. >> thank you, pat. we'll give you a breather about this blizzard talk to tell you about a lovely program. dozens of children struggle with food and security every day because they don't have access to enough food to live a healthy life. there is a local organization that is bringing nutritious food directly to these children's schools so their parents can feed their families and build some good habits. eun yang takes us to one of these joyful markets as they're called in southeast. >>. >> what did you say, though? >> rendell rich peruses fresh

produce options as he considers what to feed his three young children for dinner. >> i'm going to do four, four, four. four oranges, four bananas and four apples. >> he's not shopping at a grocery store. he's picking up food at a market set up at his son's school in southeast. >> you can take this to any station you want and start. >> once a month, d.c.'s non-profit martha's table in partnership with the food bank, brings the joyful markets to 12 d.c. elementary schools in underserved communities. they offer free, fresh fruits and vegetables to families who otherwise don't have easy access to healthy food. >> produce is expensive and every nugget helps. >> my youngest gets off at 4:15 and they don't did go to the same school and i have to wait around and then to go to the grocery store and go home and cook. so when they have this it really helps out. >> there are only three

full-service grocery stores in all of ward 7 and ward 8 east of the anacostia river. these neighborhoods also have the district's highest poverty rates. >> we read that as another opportunity for us to come right in and provide fresh, high quality food in a meaningful way, in a dignified way and in a way that focuses on healthy food. >> we'll make our own sautee collard greens. >> at joyful market, cooking lessons come with the shopping experience. >> take a little bit of onion and you will put some in here, okay? >> doctors also answer questions and offer tips for a healthy lifestyle. >> did you know what's part of being healthy? >> the american academy of pediatrics now recommend that doctors screen children for food insecurity at their annual checkup. they say hunger can lead to decreased academic performance. >> if you have poor health and you have increased risk of obesity and increased rick of diabetes because the food that you're able to get oftentimes is

of lower quality, has lower nutritional value. >> martha's table is helping to have families put wholesome meals on their table and teach children to find joy in healthy eating one vegetable at a time. >> he's eating greens and onions. i need to get this recipe, because he's eating these greens. >> eun yapping, news 4, washington. >> it's always good seeing a little person eating greens. you can find out more about this beautiful program. it's on eun's facebook page. >> kudos to those volunteers. >> we like to think of ourselves as hearty souls here. it would aren't be a winter storm in washington if we didn't have fun with it and let's check out with our chief snow correspondent, patrick collins who is gearing up for this big event. >> the doomsday book, what's that about, pat? >> oh, it's just a piece of fiction. you know, i'm here getting some rest, getting a little warmth 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 hats, and i've got my gloves and i've got my coat. i call this the solution. it's never let 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. >> bet you just can't wait for the blizzard just so you can see pat. >> i can't wait to see pictures that people will take in that

storm. >> we do have fun with it. >> i know a lot of federal workers are coming home right now wondering what tomorrow has in store. according to the federal news radio, opm is talking about what they'll do at 9:00 and they'll have a decision. >> we're monitoring it and when we get that information we'll ♪

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video camera on the spot. from snow to ice to bitter cold we're not the only ones

bracing for severe winter weather. >> jim cantore reports on that and what can happen in the coming days. >> reporter: well, if last night was any precursor as to what's to come we are in big trouble in washington, d.c. only .7 of an inch of snow, but look at the headache it caused in and around the district. we had accidents everywhere, 150 of them reported by the police department. with traffic pretty much locked up everywhere and even major interstates with less than an inch of snow. >> there were so many aspects of the storm it boggles the mind. we have a major ice storm possible for charlottesville, south carolina. memphis will have the snow as the colder part of the storm moves overhead and then there's the crippling snow which we've had such a high confidence in talking about in virginia, west virginia, delaware and southern pennsylvania for the last several days and now it looks like these 20 to 30-plus inch snowfall amounts could actually happen. this will be a blockbuster and

certainly has the potential of shutting down washington, d.c., starting friday night. back to you. tonight, a big move by metro as a blockbuster of a winter storm approaches. >> the metro system will be closed and will remain closed all day saturday and sunday. >> all of this comes as local leaders apologize after last night's crippling commute. >> we are very sorry for inadequate response. tonight, people are stocking up. >> some milk, bread and all those things. >> reporter: and heading out before 2:00. >> news 4 at 6:00 starts now. >> we're covering every angle of this blockbuster storm with crews around d.c., virginia and maryland. >> let's go to doug with the timing and the amounts, doug? >> guys, continue to watch you on this storm will progress and one thing that has been quite amazing about this storm is that we have been predicting pretty much the same amount the entire time. we've been calling this a

historic storm and a potential blizzard since monday and that's exactly what we have here and now we have the blizzard warnings and they go into effect tomorrow and blizzard warning all of the way over toward the chesapeake bay and back toward frederick and back toward the west into the pink and that's the winter storm warning and the only difference, stronger winds in the area and red and everybody gets the same amount of snow and nothing in our area now and you have nothing to worry about and go to the store and get last-minute items and tonight is the night to do it because here is the storm and it is a monster of a storm. already tornadoes down to the south and it's all making its way our way and the travel, stay put. once the snow starts tomorrow night, you do not want to leave your house. they will be structural issues and heavy snow on top of roofs and especially the flat roofs and that will be something we watch and the trees and power lines and the onse