and i'm jim handily. we'll stay on with you throughout the evening. first, the storm. what is it doing now? we have team coverage from storm team 4 we get to veronica in a minute. that was the snow coming in over the next few hours and we have heavier banding around the manassas and waldorf with heavier banding moving up and that is all moving up toward the north slowly and we are starting to see now at least some moderate snowfall in parts of the region and it's only going to increase as we move on through the night. the storm system itself is still way down here towards atlanta.

here's the storm and you can see it spinning as we move on through and what we'll continue to watch for is the transfer of energy off into the atlantic and then we'll see the storm ramp up as we move on through the overnight hours. so the blizzard is not here yet. the blizzard will actually start to take shape here and it won't be until tomorrow morning that that storm is still off the coast and that's when we start to see the blizzard conditions and this storm is what we'll be seeing here as the storm makes its way on up it's not too far off that we start to see that on the heavier side. as we move toward the rest of the day. blizzard and winter storm warnings and blizzard warning in red and storm warning in pink and 25 miles per hour for an extended period of time and a high wind warning separate from the blizzard warning, that's anne arundel county and there we can see winds upwards of 65

miles per hour and absolutely amazing and we've been showing you the snowfall forecast 20 to 30 inches and plus some areas that i'm not surprised to see three feet and 20 to 30 is the general rule and 10 to 20 to the south. depending on the mixing and no mixing and those numbers get a lot higher and a lot of mixing and those numbers are on the higher side and right now we'll go out toward veronica johnson and pat collins has their own snow stick and v.j., do you call that thing? >> it's a 48-inch measuring stick and it's mine. it's metal and i like it and i can take this thing anywhere and nothing ever happens to it. we have an inch on the stick and being on the storm team 4 weather patio and if the camera can go back a little bit and the three feet that we're talking about, that would bring it about to my waist right here and that's what we could be seeing in parts of our area. this much snow, this high up and take that into consideration along with the fact that we're talking about extremely windy

conditions, blizzard conditions with winds blowing at 50, maybe 60-mile-per-hour gusts for a time period and that will create incredible drifts across the area. the next change for us and the snow starting to go for more of a dry snow to trying to change over from the wet snow and the next big change for us is that we'll be seeing heavy snow across the area starting from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. and that snow will accumulate quickly and you can see by 11:00 there could be a foot on the ground in some locations and as much as 15 to 20 inches and almost two feet by 7:00 a.m. in the morning and of course, amelia, everybody gets excited for thundersnow. you're out tracking the road conditions and what folks can expect for any time period if they even try to get out into their driveway to start doing some clearing. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right and we're on the

kulles toll road headed to loud up county and road conditions within the last hour and a half has deteriorated quickly and taking a live look outside right now and we're behind a plow right now and what's interesting, as the plow is down and it's having little impact on the road and there appears to be already an icy slush that's adhered to the roads so as this plow is traveling along, we're still seeing cars slipping and sliding behind him. the good news, tysons, although we were more in the business district, but still it was pretty much a ghost town. really, very few cars in sight, but the cars that we have seen slipping and sliding as they do try to change lanes, steady snow continues to fall. i do want to say the visibility isn't horrible and still light to moderate in nature out here. you can see we're passing this plow right now. i don't know if you can actually see the sparks going off as he's going along the road right now,

but what's also interesting and it's cold right here and 22 degrees, doug. >> we hit 29 degrees and right around 9:00, thanks amelia and make sure you guys are there, as well and the current temperature right now and the current temperature was 29 and then the snow started to fall and with that we get some cooling and then the snow comes down and cools the atmosphere and 21 gaithersburg and 23 in culpeper. so very cold atmosphere and that means that the ratios, the snow ratios will be higher and that means that the snow will pile up quicker and we'll talk much more about this guys, throughout the rest of the day and i am currently on periscope right now and we're on facebook. if we lose power and i think a lot of people will lose power the great way to reach us will be through your device. so make sure you have that charged and ready to go. i'm @dougkammerer on twitter if

you didn't know that. we knew that and instagram and facebook, too. good backup plans. have those smartphones on ready. >> that's right. there's not a lot of time left if you're planning to use any form of mass transit. >> that's what you just took and it was a nightmare. >> the last metro busses. >> were you on a bus or a train? >> i was on a train. >> i should have taken a bus. it would have been faster. >> the metro rail service will be up and operating until 11:00 tonight with no, again, no weekend service for busses or trains. >> and both mark and vre are operating on the s schedules and the last mark train leaving d.c. will be at 5:53 this evening and we are told there will be no weekend service on the penn line. vre is asking that you not leave your cars in their lots over the weekend and now we'll check in with melissa mollet with a look at traffic. >> as we take a look at a brand new problem at 234 in dunn free

and right now you can see there is a crash off to the right side on the roadway. so take a look right now at 95. all of this white is snow. this is our radar, woing here on the traffic maps and showing you what 95 northbound and southbound looks like right there. inner loop at 95. top of the beltway and have the left side blocked right now with the new crash, 270 northbound and that has finally cleared out of the way. we had a crash there a couple of hours ago and that is looking a heck of a lot better than it did a little while ago. 28 southbound and i still have a crash there with the left side of the roadway blocked and the branch avenue right now looking pretty good and we're actually seeing a little bit of the black asphalt there and people taking it slow exactly as they should. wendy? >> melissa mollet. drivers are warned to stay off the roads and there are some who depend on drivers to bring them their food. >> their ons and mission are critical. we're not talking about the

pizza delivery, but the folks who benefit from the meals on wheels programs and bureau chief julie carey live in the hay market. hi, julie. >> reporter: hi there. i'll tell you more about the meals on wheels program and let me update you on the conditions on route 15 and route 55. boy, what a change we have seen out here since i joined you last hour. some of you for better and some of it for the worst. the good thing is the car to plow ratio has changed s significant significantly. last hour there were so many cars we could not figure out why so many people were still on the road. now i'm seeing one plow for every five cars, but the consequence of that, the roadway out there about an hour ago we were seeing wet pavement and now almost everything is snow covered. so it's getting more and more treacherous out there. as you were mentioning we started our day in alexandria with the meals on wheels folks, they were hustling today to try

to make sure that the seniors they serve don't go hungry. inside this bin, chilly for 75. 75, senior citizens who depend on meals on wheels for nutrition. the question was how to get the meals to them over the weekend? the solution, double up. >> today instead of delivering two meals we are delivering four meals and that's 75 seniors in the city of alexandria who will have food through the weekend. and good food, too. >> reporter: they schedule the many volunteers and they were eager to get going before the flurries started to fall. pete meadow was happy to see his visitors and joked about a missing ingredient he wished was in the bag. >> is there beer in here? no beer? >> reporter: no beer, imagine

that? you can't have your chili without your beer, but good news, those two hot meals delivered on sunday, the alexandria sheriff's department will jump in and help and they have suvs so they'll be delivering the meals, when i show you on news 4 at 5:00 and not a fender bender and it was a fender crusher. back to you. >> just the beginning of it all and you have to thank from the rails to the roads to how the district is gearing up to handle this storm. >> we'll check in with our mark segraves who has been all over the city today and now a look at the southeast with a look at how things are there. >> things are getting worse by the minute and the snow continues to pound down and i can tell you we're still seeing cars on the roads and we're over in anacostia now and the mayor will have another briefing for reporters inside the joint information command center behind me and we can tell you right now that the national guard has mobilized 100 national

guardsmen have been deployed into the district with 30 humvees and their primary task right now will be transporting essential personnel such as doctors and nurses to hospitals and we can also tell you they're busy and a snow emergency and the city has taken this very seriously and we want you to get your cars off of the main roads so they can plow them and emergency vehicles can get through. so far they've issued 2700 tickets and these are $250 tickets and your cars and they've towed 200 cars off of their streets and we had a conversation with pepco earlier today and they're warning customers that they are bracing for power outages that could last for several days. the combination of the heavy winds and this heavy, wet snow is a perfect storm for power outages and they want everyone to be prepared and said these outages could last as long as two days. we're expecting to hear an update from the mayor in about

an hour. of course, news 4 will bring that to you live. we can tell you that the mayor has made no bones about this. they say this is a life-threatening storm that will likely be deadly for some people and they're bracing for roof collapse as well as power outages and they're setting up the heating and warming centers across the city and pepco officials told us that their priorities will be keeping the power on in hospitals and those warming centers. that's the very latest from southeast washington. back to you guys in the studio. >> pepco earlier was saying if the power goes out, be patient and they don't want to put the buckets up which if it exceeds they're likely to do. let's see how the rest of the district is faring so far. >> meagan fitzgerald is in southeast. are you near capitol hill or where are you? >> exactly. right near capitol hill and near the eastern market metro. and the roads especially and it's starting to accumulate and stick to the roadways fairly

quickly. right now crews are out here and they're starting to plow and there are two inches of snow on the roadways. we are told this morning at around 6:00, that's when the city had their full launch, their full deployment of hundreds of pieces of apparatus including the snowplows. you can see the metro employees and they're treating the walkway there as we've been seeing some folks getting off of the metro and heading home to hunker down and that's exactly what the city's asking folks to do. hunker down and stay inside and there's not much to do out here anyway and we want to the walk down here and show you many of these businesses with the dunkin' donuts and the restaurants. they're all closed up and a few remaining open for a little while longer, but a lot of folks are just getting out of here and get home as they should because the mayor didn't mince words this morning when he said this doesn't have the potential to be a very deadly storm and incredibly dangerous. we had an opportunity to speak

with folks earlier today. here's what one woman in to say. >> the main thing is everybody just stay in, you know, and let the snowplows do they job and that way when it's time to go on the streets everything will be safe and we can do what we've got to do. >> reporter: plan on coming out any time soon? >> no time soon. once i'm in i'm in and that's it. >> reporter: no time soon. this snow is starting to accumulate and we're able to scrunch it up here and it's happening quickly and the snow continues to fall and the best advice that the city is trying to get out to folks is don't go outside because it's going to get dangerous out here. back to you. >> meagan, for what it's worth, that was a wimpy snowball and we'll check back with the progress and we assume they'll become weaponized at some point. >> yes. i can do better, i assure you. >> something tells me you'll have plenty of time to prakt 'tis out there. >> i think you're right. >> looks great on you. >> now to montgomery county

where the decision to close metro during this storm is not sitting well at all with one maryland state lawmaker. >> chris gordon is live and he's up in rockville. how does it look out there, chris, out there? >> well, we have a steady snowfall coming down and you see the people behind me waiting for the final metro bus ses which ed service by or before 5:00 and the ride-on busses and as far as metrorail, you know metrorail will stop service at 11:00 tonight. it's running into the snow and the outdoor platforms like here in rockville are being shovelled. a maryland lawmaker who is in charge of metro, a committee that governs metro says he very much admires the new general manager and respects the decision to close metro in this blizzard, but he hopes in the future, in future storms we can do better.

an underground subway system ought to be operating during inclement weather and that's why it's under ground and while the decision may have been sound for today, we have to -- i will look over the long run, over the viability of a transit system that doesn't run during bad weather. that's not acceptable for the people of maryland. >> reporter: okay. now behind me you see one of the last metro busses that will be coming by. they have to be back in the barn, i was told, by one of the drivers by 5:00. coming up in the next news hour we'll see how commuters are doing as metro bus curtails service and then we will be losing the ride-on service at 7:00 tonight. that's the latest, live from montgomery county, chris gordon, news 4. back to you guys. >> when metro was talking about shutting down, they were saying if there are power outages they don't want people stuck below in the tunnels and have an extra headache and emergency trying to get them out.

so i don't think they did this -- they made this decision willy nilly. >> reporter: no. they also want to store trains in the tunnels and get them and also they don't want people stuck on metro busses in traffic and have passengers stuck out there. so what he said is he respects the decision and he'd like to look forward and see if we can do better. >> chris gordon in rockville. folks are not only stocking up on food, but shovels and snow melt, too. >> reporter: tracee wilkins is in capitol heights with a look at is there anything left on the shelves or anything open at this point? >> reporter: no. >> if you haven't now, i think you're out of luck. >> no. there is nothing left. yeah. it's done. if you don't have it you're not going to have it until the trucks come back through and load up these stores. when we went to the home deep owe at :30 and we were talking to people with ice melt and the

manager said we're out of it. the people you saw there got the last of it. we have nothing left, so yes, the stores have been giving it -- not giving it, selling it all so the shovels have been taken out of the shelves along with ice melt and those were the big buys and people getting generator, as well. >> what was interesting is we talked to one guy who said i'm not just getting ice melt and i'm going to put some seed down before the snow starts to fall. >> i'm trying to get my lawn ready for summer and i'm planting my grass seeds and putting the fertilizer down and that's just about it. >> reporter: so you're going to put the fertilizer down so the snow is doing the good stuff to your grass. you're thinking ahead and the ice melt. >> i have a slope on my driveway and i don't want my mail person to slip and fall on the driveway. >> how worried are you? do you have your generator ready? >> i have everything ready. i got me some food, you know what i'm saying?

everything is ready. yeah. >> reporter: yeah. he was saying he's definitely ready. as you can see out here on richey road they're trying to take care of snow on the walkways and the businesses trying to stay open for as long as possible and we have trucks moving, as well. the county has 340 pieces of equipment, 350 pieces of equipment out here on the roadways taking care of all of the snow and slush, but i'm talking to people -- how are you doing? i'm talking to people out there who have been on the beltway and they're telling me the roadways are looking really bad and you can see how quickly we started to have snow compact here on the roadway and it's that fluffy kind of snow, but with all of the driving and all of that is making it pretty slushy and it's definitely not good to be out here right now. we have seen a decrease in the amount of traffic out here and cars out here. the gas station that was packed, now just a couple of last-minute cars coming in and it's a good

thing because prince george's county is under a state of emergency and resean baker has said please stay off of the roadways and asking folks to give these trucks the opportunity to do the work they need to do to get the road ready for the next thing. they're asking everyone to please stay home and a lot of people starting to follow that advice now and the wind is picking up, so it's also just coming in a lot harder than it was earlier. tracee wilkins, reporting live from capitol heights. back to you in the studio. let's get that big picture as we bring up the radar and this thing is fast approaching and it is here, but it is only going to get worse. >> she's saying the wind is starting to pick up. are we expecting that right about now? >> we are. well, the winds will pick up this evening just a little bit. >> and then tomorrow. >> really ramping up especially saturday. >> and we're not going to feel the blizzard conditions until overnight tonight and tomorrow. let's take a look at the radar. the snowis here and you know

that already and we're starting to see areas of moderate snow and most of it has to be on the lighter side and we talked about this. it has been so cold this week that that snow has been sticking immediately and we're already seeing one to three, four inches in kull pepper and three inches around the reston area. take a look at the snowfall and we'll show you around the winchester area around leesburg and you can see the brighter white and chester and i don't know why it's doing this for me. right around winchester and notice the heavier, bright band around the cabletown area and moving toward brunswick and the darker, the brighter white, that's where we're seeing some of the heavier snow. now as we move on down toward the d.c. metro area, you notice brighter white around clinton and mount vernon and fairfax and woodbridge in manassas and we're starting to see it come down there, too and back down to the west where we've seen the heavier snow around culpeper

county and also around the warrenton area and you see the brighter white colors here and just about everyone will see brighter white as we move on through the night tonight. here is the storm itself and right now the upper level low spinning and we're starting to see this in here. >> and i want to zoom in down toward carolina and right off the atlantic and the that's the area of low pressure starting to form and what's happening now? we've got the snow and veronica, as we talked about, it will get a whole lot worse once this guy gets into the mix. >> and i came outside with the weather patio and those flakes are getting a wet snow consistency to it and because the flakes are so big and we're starting to see snow throughout the entire area and check out the visibility as they've already dropped under a mile in most locations. we're not going to spend long on that because the bigger part of

the story is not just the amount of snow and also the high winds that we're going to get. it's getting just a little breeze in some areas right now, but the bigger winds will come late tonight and we don't have any gusts to report currently, but that will change by early tomorrow morning and blizzard warning throughout most of our area and power outages are possible if not highly likely in many areas along i-95 and just east of i-95 and you're looking at the wind speed on the left, 40, 50 mile per hour speeds tomorrow morning at 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 a.m. and by lunchtime it will still come down to 40 miles an hour and it will still be windy, but more in line with 30 to 35 miles per hour. of course, with as much snow as we're being iffing, two and three feet in some area, that will create incredible drifts across the area. you know, we are going to be looking at those pictures for years and years to come of just how high some of the drifts were in this area. for friday night and saturday

morning again, if you are in this area in orange, calvert beach, annapolis and on up toward baltimore and these are the areas that will be impacted the hardest from the wind and there could even be some thundersnow in this same area and winds could in isolated locations go as high as 50 even 60 miles per hour and power outages, likely to be numerous. with snowmageddon we know we had hundreds of thousands of power outages across the area. frederick, lly leesburg on off the east. >> we'll continue to watch it for you and we'll have the latest updates coming up in the next ten, 15 minutes. >> thank you both, doug and veronica, we are in good hands. with a storm like this when you're stranded or stuck in inside we can still be social so follow the two of us on facebook and instagram, too. we're sending behind the scenes pics. >> i have been trying to get a picture on facebook because i'm that stupid. >> it's a good one.

>> it's worth every minute. >> we want to check back with you. >> here we go! >> the big fun so far has been the pictures from all of you out there. >> wendy and jim, by the way, i follow you guys and some of your pics, they are interesting. so definitely follow them. as that snow begins. i saw the one in the dressing room, jim. >> okay! we'll talk about that later. as the snow begins to build up out there, many of you are getting antsy to get out and check out this adorable picture and mom says zoe and rhino watching mom to put down some salt and how many are begging to go out and play. this little guy wasted no time and trying to make snow angels and thanks to elizabeth for sending us that. >> we may have pat collins, but american university says they have pete the penguin and pete is so excited to get out there and measure the snow. i think we have a snow stick showdown on our hands and even

our meteorologists getting very creative here. we have chief meteorologist doug kammerer saying all aboard on the blizzard bus. you can actually see him have a little fun right here and create this master bees of a bus on our nbc washington facebook page and we want you to ton share your snow moments with us and just use the #, blizzard 2016 and you can tweet them @nbcwashington or send it to jim or wendy and they'll send it to me and we'll get it on the air. >> angie, thanks so much. >> it's h-a-n-d-l-y. >> i think it works. >> we have much more coming up. you know we have crews that have covered this storm throughout the day. we're going to be with you throughout the night, too, and we'll be on the air very early tomorrow morning starting at 5:00 a.m. >> we will? >> we will.

and welcome back. news 4 tracking the snow on radar. a live look outside coming up. we're in southeast d.c. where we've got reporters standing by, too, and they have been getting. >> it looks beautiful right now.

>> this is when snow is pretty. check back with us tomorrow and on sunday. by monday we'll all be going -- that snow! >> i've got to give a shout out because at city center, chef amy just texted me to say centralina will be open. go down there and have some pasta. >> and wendy will be getting a free bottle of wine there on sunday night. >> we're eating potato chips. how are we on the time line? amelia is out in it. >> exactly, guys. the time line being looking very good right now. we're mentioning a 1:00 to 3:00 start time and most people have heeded those warnings and the crews are able to go out and do their jobs and storm team 4 radar and the snow continuing to pile on in and this will look like this for hours and the only difference is by say this time, by about 10:00, 11:00 and by this time tomorrow morning see

how the snow is coming from south to north. by tomorrow, it will be coming in off of the ocean and you'll see a different viewpoint here, but still, notice some of the heavier snow around the leesburg area and right now down towards the washington, d.c. area and you can see that back towards leesburg and some of the heavier snow toward fairfax and where's amelia? i want to show you what she's dealing with right now, as well. i'm -- okay. i'll ask amelia. where are you driving right now? we asked people to get off the roads from storm team 4 by 4. >> right now, doug, we're making our way to leesburg and road conditions are by far quickly deteriorating. they are not great at all. if you don't have four-wheel drive this is white-knuckle driving at this point. the good news is we take a live look outside with the storm team 4 by 4 and you can see we are some of the only folks out here and cars traveling very slow. the storm truck is encountering

icy patches and you can feel that as we go along here and it's a winter wonderland and you haven't seen this all season long and the road conditions aren't great and visibility now and a quarter of a mile and there is a car up in front of us and it's hard to see the taillights from the car here and you can see an oncoming car in the other lane and our plan, doug is to continue to drive toward leesburg and go through the town there and stop for a little bit, stretch your legs and from there make our way into frederick county and montgomery county and check out conditions in those areas. temperature continues to hold at 22 degrees. >> as you mentioned that temperature definitely on the cold side and the temperatures have dropped in many areas down from 29 in d.c. earlier and here is where amelia is, right around leesburg and she's going to go up toward 15 and back down into the district. most likely and hopefully off the roads here by 6:00, 7:00 because that's when they'll really be bad. she's seeing some of the heavier

snow and that's exactly what we're talking about. the wider view showing this storm. snow back toward kentucky and severe weather back toward florida. a major ice storm happening into portions of north carolina. for us, what kind of storm is this going to be? well, a crippling storm. the highways will be closed and power outages will be likely and impacts right on into the middle of next week. we'll continue to keep you poefrted and see you in ten minutes. >> thank you, doug. many of d.c.'s most popular tourist sites are shut down and here is a live look at the national mall. the mall and the national memorial sites will be closed through this weekend and the lincoln memorial, vietnam veteran's memorial and all of the other war memorials and the smithsonian is closed until monday and that includes all of the museums in the district, the national zoo. so if you want to see panda little baby bei bei, you will have to settle for the panda cam. go to nbc washington's app for more on what's closed and

canceled for blizzard 2016. >> those guys love the snow. >> the threat of today's storm did not stop dozens of anti-abortion rights advocates from marching down to the supreme court. today marks the 43rd anniversary of the high court's landmark hours that we've been here. about a half-dozen calls and as soon as they sit down -- [ no audio ] >> reporter: i'm going to switch out mikes and make you can hear me a little bit better now.

that's probably easier for you. if you look across the street here you can see along the pike and not many cars out on the road and we were out there a short time ago and people seem to be taking the advice from officials to stay off the road and it's making it easier for the occasional plow that we see coming through. when it comes to first responders and being able to get to you, should there be an emergency and captain david barlowe and i asked him how he's preparing. [ siren ] >> our preparation at the firehouse is no different than it is for any homeowner or resident of fairfax county. we have to prepare for guests that are coming in. we have additional staff that are coming into the firehouse and staff rigs and staff additional units such as plows and what not. so we're making sure the rigs are ready to go and the firehouse is ready to go and getting everything cleaned up and getting some extra beds in place and make sure we have enough food for the day and running the backup generators and making sure we have a power

supply for the remainder of the week. we know these are campaign events so as the week goes on we want to make sure that we're able to provide a service to the community and not be a liability to anybody. we have to be self-sufficient with food, staff, personnel, water, power and everything that we need to be able to answer 911 calls. >> and then not only upstaffed with several more first responders. he's got several more cots and that's for the national guard's men and women who will be staying here because this is a state of emergency and should they have to be deployed they can do so from this station. if you want a quick measurement that we haven't touched here and it's a couple of inches and as you heard the meteorologists say, much more to come. >> you'll need more than that ruler. >> there is a new trend. everyone has a snow stick out there now. prince george's county officials say they have 40,000 tons, tons of salt ready to go and hundreds of folks working

12-hour shifts. >> derrick ward joins us from college park on the conditions in that neck of the woods. hi, derrick. >> reporter: they could use a ton or two on route 1 and i'm sure they've treated this road at this point. take a look at the conditions that folks are encountering and this is traffic coming down from the university of maryland headed north up toward baltimore and points north of here. you can see the roads are passable and these vehicles are coming off from a dead stop and take it slow, not spinning out too much and you can see some pavement and some slushy pavement out there in the middle of the road and there's one guy who has been on this road for a while now who is not a first responder and he's not a doctor and he's not a police officer and he's immensely popular. take a look. this is the guy who drives the tanker trucks and those guys fill up the tanks for the people trying to get home or trying to make whatever necessary trip they have to.

he's become a very popular guy and he doesn't quite understand why he's so popular. take a listen. >> they're running out and they're happy to see us and i don't know why because if it's too much snowsvñe they can't go anywhere anyway. so, you know, however, i'm out here to make the money, you know? >> what's it like driving this thing around? >> well, without the snow being on the ground is just like anything else, you know what i'm saying? you just got to look out for the four wheelers, you know, people that doesn't really see you, big old size, i don't know how they don't see you, but you've got to be careful especially due to the inclement weather. >> reporter: yeah. indeed you need to see trucks like that out on the road and as we said earlier. he said he would be out as long as it was safe. he has deliveries to make and he'll be driving from the baltimore area on route 1. he said other drivers report on the conditions they're encountering and foremost his own judgment about him and his vehicle's safety as well as those around him.

a lot of four-wheel drive vehicles that are taking down to the roads and some of them are contractors that will be doing some stuff, but they're out and they're being safe, we hope. we are live in college park. derrick ward, news 4. like the guy right behind you. yeah. >> god speed. >> thank you, derrick. power outages, we can't say it enough, and they will be inevitable, folks. if you're lucky enough to have a generator, we have a warning for you tonight. >> our news 4 consumer reporter susan hogan has more on what you need to know to be safe. >> we all love a generator baz it does come in handy, of course, one of the biggest risks of using a generator is carbon monoxide poisoning and let's get you trite what you need to know. take a look. never use a generator inside and that includes, folks, your garage and basement and by opening up your doors and windows and that will not build up carbon monoxide buildup in your home. the best place to store your generator is under a deck or a

canopy and away from windows, at least six inches to a foot away from your home and keep that generator on a dry surface. >> you know, susan. we all know that carbon monoxide they say is the silent killer. what are some of the warning signs for people to remember? >> a silent killer means just that. you can't see it or smell it. if you start too feel sick, dizzy and weak, and the generator is on you have to get outside immediately and shut it off. this is why it's such a good idea to have carbon monoxide detectors in your home always. >> do you need a special outlet if you'll be plugging in your jgenerator because that determines where you plug it in. >> so many people plug it into the home outlet and that is so, so outlet. you need beforehand to have a professional come and put in what they call a power transfer switch. you can plug in your appliances, but with that you need the heavy

duty cords that we talked about earlier, as well. this is something you can't just mess around for, but you have to preplan for this, but having a generator is key for sure. >> important information. >> before you go, would you like a complimentary sweet potato? >> thank you. >> yeah. i will take it. >> it's great to have you with us. >> so great to be here, too. >> you don't get to take the bag. it's all we have to eat. >> forget it! >> the snow is really starting to come down. in montgomery county, people are making their way out to get essentials? goodness! >> reporter: tisha thompson is in silver spring near the metro center. what's it like there? are they still walking around? >> reporter: so things have really dropped off in just the last hour. i was just looking around. you can see -- this is what we're starting to see, two or three people coming from the silver spring metrotransit

center and the marked trains and the m track they all come through this area right here so we do see a handful of people coming off of the trains and the busses when they arrive. less than an hour ago it was a completely different story. we saw tons of people out on the street doing their last-minute errands and we definitely saw some interesting stories including a guy in shorts. >> you're wearing these shorts. >> did you go to the gym? >> i just got out of the shower and i'm really warm and i'm making a quick run to the liquor store. >> the liquor is important, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: well, run! >> reporter: he had a much more serious reason for being out. they told us they were moving locations including this one woman on crutches pulling a suitcase. >> i'm checking into the hotel.

>> reporter: are you really? >> you're okay? you're not slipping yet? >> not yet. >> reporter: what's your plan? how long will you be in the hotel? >> you didn't even wait. >> no, i booked it three days ago. >> reporter: you learned the hard way. >> 20 years here you learn that power goes out. >> reporter: so you can see just from looking at that video to what you can see here now, what has changed in less than an hour. we've got two inches of snow now on the ground. the cars are still able to get up the roads and we have seen plows come through here and these are major roads and that's coalsville road and the mcdonald's back there did not plan to shut down, but has since shut down. the 7-eleven is still open, but most businesses in silver spring have definitely shuttered for the day. now speaking of the metro system, you are looking at the very last busses that you will see for the rest of the weekend

and these busses are on their last routes because in about 15 minutes they will make their final run of the day. they will be done for saturday and sunday and metro rail is going to wrap up at about 11:00 tonight so we'll send it back to you guys? >> thanks so much. >> talk about stores being bare on the shelves. talk about bare. >> this is how glamorous it is. look at this. this is the dunkin' donuts just brought to us and we have half of a doughnut left and a big fork. >> it's all yours. >> it's like an eclair thing going on. >> we'll be right back. >> stay with us. we have much more ahead. amelia, doug and veronica and we have you covered around the region and our live team coverage continues with the blizzard of 2016. >> you're not getting

>> i'm pat lawson muse at the live desk. a montgomery county firefighter is hurt after battling a blaze that destroyed a home in north potomac. the blaze started in the basement of a home on turley drive. a smoke detector did go off and all six people who were inside were able to get out, thank goodness, but firefighters say the home sustained major damage and the family, unfortunately will be looking for a place to stay. firefighters are reminding you tonight to check your smoke

detectors right now to make sure they're working with with the possibility of power outages and keep the generators outside and away from your house. capitol bike share will be closing at 7:00. closing this evening at 7:00. we sent out word about that on the nbc washington app. back to you. i would not want to be riding a bike in this stuff. especially not tomorrow. we'll take a look at the radar just to show you. there's no running away or hiding from this. it is now everywhere. >> let's get the latest tracking on the radar from doug and veronica. they are in the storm center and what are you seeing? this thing came in on cue. are we exactly where we thought we'd be? >> we really are. just look behind you. we have an inch to an inch and a half here at the station. we said it would come between 1:00 and 3:00, get off the roads by 3:00 the latest because then it will get bad. >> the snow is coming down pretty hard in some areas and we

were just checking with storm team 4 radar right here and looking at some of the snowfall rates that are already running in many pockets at around an inch per hour and of course, ñ talking about two and three inches per hour and of course, some areas that will be saying boom, thundersnow. doug? >> i'm excited about that. that's one of the cool things about storms. you don't see thunderstorms very often, but with a storm like this we may get thunder storms and with that we get thundersnow. don't be surprised in the morning. we think the best time for thundersnow will be around 10:00 p.m. tonight and around 6:00, 4:00 in the morning. so you may be woken up at 1:00 and think what was that? there may be thunder in some area. first off, i'm going to take you right now around the montgomery county area because montgomery county, this is what we are looking at coming down around an inch per hour around clarksburg and the bethesda area and we'll

zoom in and in toward north bethesda and you see where this is around the north bethesda area and right around the old mall there and up towards the north and we're looking at areas such as gaithersburg and seeing that, as well. head's up in those areas and an inch an hour over toward love i etsville and lighter snow now, but look at this band around quantico, just to the south of waldorf. quantico, you're about to get the heavier snow and woodbridge about to get the heavier snow and you'll get some very heavy snow for a while and lighten up a little bit and then it gets heavy again and as the storm really develops that's when we start to get into the very heavy bands and that's when the snow begins to pile up. continuing to come, veronica has much more on this part of the system making its way our way and bringing with it heavy snow and wind. >> yes. it is going to start getting windy out here. right now, not bad at all.

in fact, we don't have gusts to report and the visibility is dropping with the one inch snowfall rates and let's take a look and here is the visibility. under a mile and those are the areas that are getting some of the snow here and some of the moderate to heavy snow last. >> following here, this is a time line that i'll put together for you. i'll take you hour by hour right through the day tomorrow. 5:00 this evening. moderate to heavy snow across our area. as we get into the evening hours around 9:00, 10:00, very heavy snow and we'll tell you about the snowfall rates around two, three inches per hour and it's still going to be coming down and coming down big with huge flakes of snow. by this time, we get to lunchtime tomorrow, still, heavy snow and we'll start to bring you down as we get through the afternoon and evening hours and it is still going to be snowing late tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. as you imagine, the amounts will be huge and we've been telling

you about the 20, 30-inch snowfall totals and near record snowfall that we are forecasting. the blizzard warning for saturday and the drifts will be big, about five, six feet across the area and the highest winds coming across the top early in the morning. nonetheless, you still want to tackle this storm system in stages because we'll be dealing with a lot of snow to shovel across the area and the possibility there in the orange where there could be many power outages in the hundreds of thousands with those winds going over 60, 65 miles per hour for a brief period of time. >> and that's when we're concerned about the storm and it's not today and want even this evening and it will be overnight and tomorrow morning. much more to come. thank you. our live team coverage continues now with news 4's jackie bensen. she's live on the national mall with closures this weekend, but it does look beautiful behind you. >> reporter: it does, and i want to show you something veronica

referenced with the wind that's picking up a little bit. take a look at the dome of the u.s. capitol, but we are less than a block away and we're down on third street and look at how the visibility has dropped from where we stand. you can barely see. as you mentioned we do have closures and the national mall and national monuments closed at this time. the park service says they cannot staff them, staff the restrooms and the various facilities. and those are closed through the weekend, but we are told that the u.s. park police will be on duty so it's -- there is a police presence here. there are, believe it or not, people out here today and coming up on news 4 at 5:00, i'm going to show you something very special. you know, when we have days like this, special things happen and i'll show you something very special and some kids, a whole bunch of kids seeing snow for the very first time. very exciting, live on the national mall, jackie bensen,

news 4. >> thanks so much. we look forward to it. you may have noticed there is someone missing from the historic coverage. there he is. our pat collins is resting up and staying warm in preparation for the long, big day tomorrow. >> when he hits the streets of d.c. you have a, yes, people, brace yourselves. he's going to have a new snow stick. a new snow stick challenge for you. in the past we've seen your best snowmen, your pets and even your snow over it face and even pat knows what tomorrow's challenge will bring so get ready for some fun tomorrow and bring your imagination. >> and only we have pat collins and we'll have to compete on that level. we'll take a really quick break and we'll be right back.

welcome back to news 4. it is now 5:00 and the snow has been coming down for several hours now. right now it is still pretty, but boy, this time tomorrow we'll have a whole different opinion of this stuff. our storm team meteorologist will tell you what to expect in the coming moments and days in just a few minute, but again, this storm is covering a pretty large swath of our region, as

you can imagine. some areas are getting hit harder than others and our team coverage of the blizzard of 2016 continues now with nbc's jay gray and he's down in roanoke, virginia, where it hit worst. hi, jake. >> reporter: good afternoon, jim, wendy. the snow still falling in roanoke and has been since 5:30 and not likely to stop, forecasters say until some time tomorrow eveningnd all said and done some of the hardest hit areas could see 30 inches or more here and it could be a record-breaking snowstorm and that's what they've been preparing for and there have been crews out in the streets and those crews trying to make things passable. it's a tough fight with the snow continuing to fall and it's been coming in waves and getting thicker than it seems like right now and that's going to be the way it is for the next 24 hours, at least, according to forecasters. this is just the leading edge of this storm that's moving through your area, as well and will continue to. it's going to affect about 80 to 90 million people as it

basically swallows the eastern seaboard here. on the ground in virginia the national guard has been deployed. stepped up the troops today and went from 500 to 700. every state police officer has been deployed, as well, responding to this storm and power crews are stretched out across the region waiting for what could be some severe outages here. i haven't seen that to this point and that's the good news and the continuing snow along with strong winds that the national weather service will be 50 to 60 miles an hour at their peak. they are concerned that there could be some people without power and for quite some time. a lot of people prepared here and a lot of stores and markets and a lot of the milk, water, bread and things like that gone and there are provisions in place and it seems like most are staying inside and that's the great news and they'll have to do that for the next 24 hours or so as the system continues to move on. that's the latest in the roanoke right now. i'm jay gray, jim, wendy, back

to you. >> we'll be tested in this county and the region. >> we're preparing for worst-case scenario. >> i want to emphasize. this storm will be deadly. we need people off the streets so if you expect to see your street to be plowed during the day on saturday, or saturday evening, it's not going to happen. right now at 5:00, folks, the wait is over. the blizzard that we told you about all week has arrived. >> and it is just getting started. this is going to be a marathon, folks. it will be here for the next couple of days and so is our team of reporters, anchors, meteorologists. we are just getting started as well this afternoon and we'll be with you all night and all weekend and we'll talk to everyone through the course of the evening. >> it's a full screen. we'll start off with chief meteorologist doug kammerer. how is the storm measuring up so far? >> like we were thinking it would. moving in the 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 hour and getting heavy