breaking news for federal workers, we just heard from opm in the last half hour. the federal government is going to be open tomato but all federal offices will close at

noon. >> that means just about everything is closed or closing early for our monster storm. hello, everybody. it is the eve of an historic invest and all haschools have canceled classes tomorrow and even the metro is shutting down. >> 90 million in its path and we have seen tornado warnings and a blizzard for us. >> tomorrow morning may be the last chance to get out of the house until sunday. tonight, we've seen food, water, batteries flying off the shelves and gas pumps going dry. >> we start with doug in the storm center. we know it will be snowing this time tomorrow, doug. the big question is when does it begin? >> i think the timing on this getting a little bit better h e honed in. between 3:00 and 5:00 and down to the south.

take a look. we have nothing around the region. we will have a little bit during the day tomorrow. all we have to do is widen out a little bit. the closest to our area, northern portions off north carolina. look at all the moisture. you can see the upper level of disturbance here. look at the snow on the backside and shows you the cold air here and all will shift off the coast. we have a blizzard warning off to the east, i-95 corridor, fredericksburg, d.c., back towards lueesburg, frederick, annapolis. that's the winter warning and the pink is in hagerstown and la ray. the only difference is the wind. blizzard conditions and you will still see snow and everybody gets the same amount of snow and wind is a big factor dealing with power outages. this will be a storm we could be talking about for years, could be the top storm in our history

across portions of our region. it's not number two. some of those numbers, guyr are only going up. >> we've had new closures coming in. we told you the federal government will be open tomorrow but all offices closing at noon. in the past hour, george mason university announced it's clo closing all offices friday through sunday and prince george's and montgomery county is staying open with liberal leave. d.c. federal government closing at noon tomorrow and all these closures are running at the bottom of your screen and we're constantly updating them on the nbc washington app. more closures, this is a big one for the first time since hurricane sandy, metro is completely shutting down this

weekend. they will close at 11:00 p.m. tomorrow and buses will finish at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow and will finish their routes. metro access will ends at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow and the entire system will be closed saturday and sunday. the metro manager explain ed tht trying to keep underground stations open would put a strain on resources. >> with high winds we could have power loss in underground tunnels where we're using our resources and other medical emergency resources to come down into the tunnels if power is lost. >> wiedefeld said sheltering them will help them get up and moving more quickly when they do resume service. >> saying be ready to lose power this weekend and by looks of the shelves, many of you are ready tonight. talking to people who are sto stocking up tonight, live at

rockville. shomari. >> reporter: many people are watching the storm very closely and many cncerned at liberty gas station at rockville pike, it says no regular. a manager tells me people are going crazy over this storm. gas stations are selling out of gas. you have grocery stores and hardware stores and folks are stocking up, concerned about getting snowed in. at the top of the list, they're making sure they get plenty of groceries and those storm supplies. >> tired but anxious. really ready for it to be over. >> reporter: laura scott worries about this weekend's storm and stocking up on food at safe way in bethesda. >> i was nervous and thought i better hurry up and get in here before things were gone. >> reporter: tonight, she and hundreds of people are getting ready for the big one major storm expected to dump 18-24 inches of snow. >> i am concerned about getting snowed in. it's never fun when you can't

get out and the kids get restless. >> reporter: some store shelves empty, bottled water and peri perishable items are popular if people lose power? maybe we will lose our lights. >> i have no idea how to use a generator. >> maureen also bought a space heater and not one but three shovels. >> i have five kids and want to keep them busy around the neighborhood making a few bucks shoveling other people's drivew driveways. >> reporter: this store is sold out of snow blowers. >> the last time was 2010. >> reporter: laura scott remembers it well and doesn't want a repeat. >> i'm hoping i get out monday. if we are snowed in saturday, sunday cleanup and monday back to work. >> reporter: i talked to a manager at a nearby wine store. he tells me sales are up 75% compared to any other week. he says, at least this time last year, he say as lot of folks are

buying wine and liquor and beer because they're going to be indoors for a few day, at least that's what's expected. live here, shomari stone, news4 in rockville. >> i can tell you i expressed my frustration to the staff and department of transportation. >> we are very sorry for inadequate response. >> we have the people and folks and mobilized and ready. >> if you don't have to drive, don't drive. >> we will stand up our operations at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, where we will have resources onands for a full deployment. >> cost is not an issue. we take this very seriously. that is a lot of snow for this region. >> last night's commute was the nightmare that caught local leaders off guard. 1 inch of snow and perfect conditions for icing on area roads. >> tonight, they say they're ready to handle whatever comes our way or as ready as one can be for an historic storm. jackie bensen is live at one of the vdot salt domes in fairfax

county. >> reporter: most of the equipment is already in place. i want to show you a very heart-warming or something that should give us a thought. right down there, you can see the spare plow blade, always a welcome site when we're talking about that much snow. you can see a skeleton crew because the big preparation, the work for this goes into gear tomorrow. if you come and look over this way, you can see, this is what we were talking about yesterday, what we wished we had a lot more of, salt and sand inside there. local leaders faced the cameras earlier today and talked about preparation. >> virginia counties are not in charge of clearing roads. that's the responsibility of the state and we appreciate your help with getting that message out to the community. >> they're pretreating the roads. they've done that again this

morning. they've already lined up the trucks to go out and plow the roads in the county. >> the county's going to be ready. we want the residents to help us by making sure they're off the roads friday afternoon and possibly all the way through sunday. >> reporter: we have some numbers for you. know 4,000 plows will be h hitting the streets of virginia tomorrow. d.c. says it will deploy 411 pieces of equipment and maryland plans to have 27 pieces of equipment to deal with snow on the roads. it all begins tomorrow morning. live in fairfax county, jackie bensen, news4. >> thank you. six states and d.c. have all declared states of emergency as the storm moves up the coast. maryland and d.c. already have national guard troops on standby to reach people who may get trapped in the massive snowfall.

jurisdictions to keep routes clear for the blahs, maryland's will go into effect across the esta estate -- state at noon. several cities declared snow imagine in manassas and falls church at noon. >> this coming storm is already grou grounding a lot of flights. united airlines says no flights will be leaving d.c. after 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. delta and jetblue have canceled dozens of flights as well. american and southwest canceled a handful. reagan national airport and washington dulles, bwi and marshall have canceled flights for the weekend. >> you might still be able to get out amtrak as of now. as of now they're set to run on modified schedules with fewer trains. amtrak says keep an eye on its website if you have tickets for

saturday and sunday because there could be changes. one definite cancellation, the auto train between lortolorton, virginia and sanford, florida. back here at the live desk, we're getting a better idea how massive this storm is and how many people in the country are impacted by it. this is from lamar county, mississippi. you can see damaged tree, homes, debris in the road. this is basically the storm down south turning into snow as it hits our area. more than 77 million people are under a winter weather advisory and spread out across 16 states. in new york, a winter storm warning goes into effect in about 45 minutes. the governor is deploying the national guard and snow could start falling on raleigh, durham as early as sunrise. there have been four dyeds including one in virginia. officials will decide friday

morning whether to declare an emergency in that city. just looked at all the latest data. the numbers are going up and in a big way. i had 18-24 earlier. i just told you they're going up. the latest forecast for you in about five minutes.

new at 11:00, an off-duty police officer steps into action to help a child who fell through ice. officer chris mamalis was on his way to work when he saw a group

of children who appeared to be dragging another child who had fallen into a nearby creek. the officer placed the 9-year-old into his veck and put his own dry clothing. we caught up with him tonight. >> my son plays with most of those kids and know who i am and know me as a police officer and started flagging me down. >> the child is being treated at the hospital for injuries and expected to be okay. >> you have to wait until monday to check out some of the coolest cars in town. the washington auto show decided to postpone its opening because of the state of emergency, a change from this morning when the show's chairman told us it would go on as planned. now with the no metro service, it opens monday at noon and runs to next sunday. the 43rd annual march for life is going to go on as

scheduled. tens of thousands of people have traveled to d.c. for the march. organizers say use your best judgment whether to watch it in person or watch it on tv. if you can't make it, you're urged to participate on social media with the #whywemarch. this is expected to be one of the top five snowstorms in our history. a look at the top five so far. >> washington's top five snowstorms have had 17-inches or more of snow. the most recent snowmageddon february 6th and 5th of 2010. >> fell friday into saturday crippling the area days later knocking out hundreds of thousands of electrical. the biggest was 94 years ago when 28 inches of snow fell on january 27th and 28 in 1922.

this storm was called the knickerbocker storm as heavy snow caused the roof collapse of the knickerbocker theater in washington, d.c. unfortunately killing 98 and injuring 133 people. many people remember the blizzard of '96. i know i do. it brought two days of snow over three days. it was warm temperature leading to very fast snow melt. thoer top two hat 20-inches and 19 inches of snowfall across the area. for more on the top five snow events in washington open up the app and search biggest snowstorm. >> all those memories. we want to be clear prince george's county government have not made a decision yet. stay tuned about whether they'll be open tomorrow. doug has just looked at new updated storm models that come

in at 11:00. you're not smiling. >> i'm not smiling. you know i love snow. these numbers are going up in a way that really is getting me worried about what indekind of m we're getting here. i had 18-24 inches earlier, that number has gone up a little bit. amelia mentioned the knickerbocker storm of 1922 of 28 inches. we could surpass that in many air, what we're talking about. currently outside, it's cold. 27 degrees and winds out of the northwt at 13. you know with the cold night across the region will stay cold. clouds off to the south and west, that's from our storm and this is really a monster of a storm. you can clearly see the upper level low spinning back here and snow with that and tornadoes and tornado watches towards portions of the south picking up tremendous amounts of moisture in the gulf and atlantic. blizzard warning continues in effect and through the red.

winter storm warnings towards the west. a little less wind exceptions noticed tops of the blue ridge. easier to get higher winds and elevation. the d.c. metro area, we're talking winds. what about the wind impact. 25-35 miles an hour in westchester and warrington but 35-50 miles an hour towards the coast and that could definitely take out power lines. we will be seeing some power outages around the region. i want you ready for the power to go out in your house. remember that. 1:00, snow just down to the south. some of the latest models trying to bring that snow in a little bit faster tomorrow, around the 1:00 d.c. metro area. by 5:00, everybody is seeing the snow, friday night.

and earlier today i was talking a foot of snow by 7:00 saturday morning. now, it looks like we could have a foot, foot and a half in some areas saturday morning. saturday is the day we told you, you're not going anywhere. simply that. take a look. earlier i had 18-24. i'm now going 20-30 inches of snow plus. i do think there could be some areas that see 3 feet of snow. that's how much we're talking about. this is a monster of a storm. 10-20-inches to the south. a little mix in southern maryland. 10-20-inches of snow. it will take a long time for us to clean up from that. friday conditions deteriorating between 2:00 and 4:00. get off the roads as soon as you can. saturday, roads impassable. and sunday, still most roads closed. saturday morning, that's the real big deal. heavy snow and high winds, when we could see trees down and

power outages, a foot of snow already and maybe a foot and a half in some spots. all roads simply impassable. don't even try to get out there saturday, especially if you don't have to. as far as temperatures go, those are the least of the news i have for you. 29 on saturday, 34 on sunday. we do warm above freezing tuesday. just like what happened in 2010, this kind of a storm, school may be out until next wednesday or thursday, that's how big a storm this is. i'm very happy it's happening during the weekend, that will help a little bit. >> stay off the roads and let them plow. more snow and an earlier start. >> more snow and an earlier start. chuck bell will have the latest and tune in. we're on all day from 11:00 in the morning all the way through with this event. >> you talk about heavy snow early saturday. when do winds die down? we're talking power outages. it will be tough for crews to get out there when the wind is

wh whipping. >> after the 4:00 hour we will see it change and between 7:00 a.m. and the afternoon is when we will see the 30 to 40 miles an hour wind gusts. >> you better get some rest tonight. we will need you. >> i think i will sleep well. >> caps making a huge move and welcoming back an old friend. >> first, jimmy fallon. >> thank you, doreen and jim and everyone in washington d.c. ♪

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jason pugh has free caps tickets for the first 10,000 people that like your facebook? >> i doubt we get 10,000 but we'll see. so many changes involving the world of sports due to snowst m snowstorms hitting the area. all athletic activities at the university of maryland have been postponed, g.w., men's basketball team. they will play tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in stead of 7:00. for a list of postponements, check out nbcwashington.com. another team that will be pl playing tomorrow, washington capitals. their game scheduled for 7:00 p.m. has been changed to 5:00 p.m. they're hosting the ducks. a familiar face coming back is bruce boudreau who hasn't been

here since 2011. they're looking forward to seeing him again. >> i imagine he looks at his y guys he kind of brought up and helped start their career and probably sees how they're progressing for now and showing them, yeah yeah, you made the right choice and we can play now and all that kind of stuff. >> very thankful all the man has done for me, still a fan. probably say hi after the game but during the game try to win the hockey game and keep a good thing going here. from the ice to the diamond, nationals reports have offered free agent cespedes a five year deal. he was dealt from the tigers and tore it up in new york, you have to give him that much. 17 home runs, 44 rbis in 57 g e games. he helped lead the mets to the world series. elsewhere, out in baltimore, it is now official, khris davis

back with the orioles. they agreed to a seven year, 1 $161 million deal, the biggest contract in franchise history. he's led mlb in home runs since 2012 sluggi ingin inging 159 an runs last season. the expectations that come along with that contract, he is ready with that contract, he is ready to embrace it and

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one more look at that new updated information. >> yeah. it is continuing to be updated.

we'll look at this tomorrow. chuck bell will be in. we upped the totals 18-20 to 30 inches. i would not be surprised to see 3 feet of snow in parts of the area. we will be monitoring this very dangerous situation and continue to keep

[ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- sarah silverman, republican presidential