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 in the

5:00 tack a look at the radar moving in here over the next few hours and you start to notice here, every once in a while you get the heavier bands around marshall and front royal through the d.c. metro area and on the bright side for the most part in d.c., but just down to our south right around waldorf and woodbridge and quantico. this band right here, an inch per hour and it will be moving up toward the north and it will be heavier in the d.c., metro area in the next half hour to an hour and you will continue to watch for the storm itself still getting organized off of the coast of the carolinas so that's what we'll be watching. how much snow? i'm sorry. 20 to 30 inches or more from this storm around most of the region. 20 to 30 inches or more simply amazing. veronica johnson, v.j., you were outside last hour, how have

things changed. >> the snow in this one pocket has slowed down just a bit and those areas that you just showed on the map, bright white where we're seeing the moderate and each heavy snow come into the area and that will allow us overnight to really ramp up as we'll go from this much snow to that much snow. look at the difference between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. from 2 to 5 inches across the area by 7:00 p.m. and by 11:00 p.m. we're talking about a foot in some locations and two feet of snow overnight while you're sleeping. we get so much because of the snowfall rates and two to three inches per hour and there could be some thundersnow and by late in the day this is 11:00 p.m. tomorrow. over 30 inches in many locations. this is really going to ramp up in a hurry which is why we're saying it's a good reason to clear the snow over every couple of hours so that you're not lifting all that heavy snow all at once. pack snow even three to five inches is five pounds per square

foot and the other thing we're seeing out on area roads and not just snow-covered roads and the visible is dropping and someone who knows about that is amelia segal and she's out all day long and the storm team 4 hitting the roads. amelia, still in prince william county or have you made your way to fairfax? >> we're not in fairfax anymore. we left loudoun county. we left leesburg and we're traveling along 15 right now making our way toward frederick and as far as the visibility goes, it's about a quarter of a mile right now. the roads are definitely slick and we've been going at a steady 25 miles an hour and a steady stream of cars out of leesburg, making our way toward frederick and you can see snow-covered roads a lead of us and behind us, as well and we're also noticing these cars when we were on the dulles toll road traveling at a very slow rate of speed. a major road there. it had that slushy snow all over it and something else

interesting to note. it has been cold and we've been out here since 11:00 a.m. this morning. when we got on the roads temperatures were 29, 28 degrees. doug, we continue to track a very cold temperature here of 22. cold enough that we had to pull the storm truck over and let the wipers defrost. the roads are slick and we have four-wheel drive and we're making our way around just fine and our plan is to hit frederick and go down to montgomery county. >> these are the snows and kind of storms that we build the 4 by 4, she'll be out there throughout the afternoon and we'll keep you here from the storm center. >> thank you, doug. time is running out for people using mass transit. as of 5:00, metro tells us it would suspend bus service for the entire weekend. metro rail service will stop after 11:00 tonight also

suspended for the whole weekend. >> on the trains both mark and vre are on an s schedule today with the last mark train leaving d.c. in less than an hour. vre is asking people to avoid parking in their lots over the weekend so they can clear them of all of that snow. melissa mollet has been all over a number of trouble spots on this first day, anyway. how is it looking right now, melissa? >> i have, guys. i would normally show you something that looked like this, it looks like it's jammed everywhere. here's the good news. people are driving slowly and that's why we're seeing this orange here so it's slow going and not because of the volume. so that is great for anybody who actually has to get on the road for some reason. take a look at this. everyone going slowly and 270 at montrose, and nobody is headed out for their normal commute like we talked about in the morning and northbound, a couple of cars here and there. again, amelia and the storm team

4 by 4 and headed into frederick right now and 95 at lorton road. you can see that the roads were treated here all over the area, but we do still have some real accumulation as far as things on the edge of the roadways and the grassy areas and woodrow wilson bridge looking good into maryland and virginia and everybody just hitting the brakes as they should be and right now all of the main routes at the top of the beltway also just fine and southbound on 95 kind of passing 32 in that area and no major issues and as we mentioned, metro shuts down at 11:00 tonight, closed through the weekend and they'll see you guys on monday. guys? >> thanks, melissa. you have until 11:00 tonight to use metro, metro rail, but the metro bus service is being suspended for the evening as we speak. >> news 4's chris gordon live at the rockville metro station where the closures are having an impact on the riders so far.

you mentioned this moments ago and the last metro busses came through the station here in vokville just a short time ago and we want to show you video. they came through almost like in a fleet to make sure that they could serve the passengers that were already here and waiting. there were delays throughout the afternoon for metro bus as the roadways got slushy and slippery, but the passengers were here waiting and some were fearful that they wouldn't make it home tonight. >> i'm just hoping and praying i can get home. >> you're waiting for a metro bus? >> yes. i'm waiting for a metro bus. >> and you know they stopped service -- >> at 5:00, yeah. >> reporter: so your concern is -- >> is that i might not be able to get home.

>> reporter: the only busses here at the station right now and i'm looking around to check are ride-on busses. they will continue service until 7:00 tonight so this is no joke. if you're trying to get home, you've got to now try to get on the ride-on bus and they will stop at 7:00. coming up on news 4 at 6:00, a man who may have to spend the night at work. that's ahead. back to you. >> thank you, chris. >> we'll head to d.c. mayor muriel bowser who is holding a news conference. >> it started snowing about 1:00 p.m. in washington, d.c. and the snow has been accumulating for the past several hours. fortunately, we are still seeing a lot of people on the road and driving and we're reminding everybody that unless you're a first responder, you don't need to be on our roads. so we're urging all residents and visitors to get off of the roads, find a safe place and stay there and we continue to

think that the forecast will hold true and that this is a 36-hour storm with expected, dangerous winds and we expect that unless everybody does and acts as they should it could be a dangerous situation. we expect two feet -- at least of snow in washington and the snow is coming down wet and-y which means that we could see trees and power lines down and a loss of power and we are using every measure of precaution this morning, as i reported to you earlier. we stood up our emergency operation center here at our homeland security and emergency management center and we fully deployed the district's snow team. i declared a state of emergency to allow us to secure whatever resources we need to keep our city and residents safe.

i've also called on the national guard to support our efforts by transporting essential and emergency personnel in the district. men and women of the d.c. guard have reported to duty and will be dispatched as needed. this morning our snow emergency went into effect at 9:30 a.m. and it is, in effect in the district of columbia until noticed otherwise. it means you cannot park in a snow emergency route. if you are parked in a snow emergency route dwou you will be ticketed and towed. it is critical that we keep our main routes open and as i said, and i will repeat again, we want our residents to stay in place during the duration of the storm. wei we don't want anybody driving during a blizzard. it's dangerous to do so and it also can prevent our for the responders and our road crews for making the roads safer when

this storm passes. i want to turn to director geldhart now who will talk more specifically about operations and he will also direct your questions. >> thank you, madam mayor. my name is chris gellar and i'm with the homeland security management agency to give an update of where we are right now as the mayor covered the snow has started in the district. we are looking at what the storm has done and continues to do on this track to here to keep up-to-date and ensure that we have the appropriate resources moving in the right direction. we have been, over the last several days, reaching out to jurisdictions and states to ask for assistance with all sorts of manner of things to include snow removal equipment as well as support for our human service areas. >> right now we're watching the storm like you are to see what we'll get and where we will end up with this and we want to

reiterate again to folks just as the mayor has. this is a dangerous storm. there are way too many people out on the roads now and we need to make sure folks are getting where they need to be. we ask folks to be off the road and where they're going to be for this storm at 3:00. we're past that, if you're not where you need to be, please get there. it is just going to get worse and it's going to get worse fast. the snow is going to come in and you can see the initial bands that you have. we already have a lot of accumulating snow and we're starting to get accumulating snow on the roads. so again, this is a dangerous storm we're asking folks to make sure you are where you need to be now, and that's all i have. we'll take questions. >> how would you rate the government's response and the public's response. it sounded like the mayor is a little frustrated that the public is still out on the road. are you guys keeping up with it

and how is the public adhering to the warnings? >> i think as far as the government's perspective, we had preparations ongoing up until now. it looks as where we stand today the preparations that we put in place are holding and they're what we need to do and we'll continue to watch the storm and continue to ensure that we're tracking all things we need to. we'll be plowing continuously throughout the event to make sure that we can get our emergency crews where they need to get to and make sure we're getting the snow off the roads as we can and i think that's in place where we need it to be. as far as response from the public, we're encouraging and urging again everybody to get off the roads and to be where they need to be. as i said, on the outset, this is a dangerous storm and it's coming fast, and if folks haven't realized it now you all i'm sure realize that coming here, this is deteriorating quickly. we need folks to get to where they're going to be. >> did you guys learn anything from wednesday night's drama during rush hour that's

affecting how you're handling tonight in reinforcing the roads? >> sure. i think the mayor addressed this earlier today. you're talking about two totally different events. you're talking about what was supposed to be a half inch of snow that became two inches of snow and the pretreats that we needed to do for that in the timeframes we needed to do it were not in place the way we needed to. this is a different event and we treated 100% of our roads before this storm came in. we've done that. we are now at the point of where that pretreating is not going to be able to sustain with the amount of snow in the time lengths that the snow is coming in. we knew that which is why we're going to plowing now. you're really talking about two different types of storms so i don't think you can compare the response that we had earlier in the week to what we're doing for this one. >> yes, sir? >> you were complaining about groups having events and things like that. >> i believe that the

recommendations that we give to folks, the right for life march happened and they were able to hold their event well. we had many cancellations and events that folks had scheduled for tonight and tomorrow, so i think that folks are really understanding that this is a severe storm and very dangerous and i think that we've gotten where we need to with that. >> i'm hearing something about street cars practicing up and down h street. is that correct, mayor or -- are they continuing their practicing runs? >> well, i frank. >> the director of ddot why don't we let him give us a transportation update including street car? >> the simulated service for a street car has been suspended so the street cars were operating today, but as the hass douse conditions moved into the area they suspended service just like the bus service did at 5:00, so

when you simulate service you simulate the operation plan you had in place. >> they stopped at 5:00? >> they stopped at 5:00. >>. >> this is a question for chief lanier. at what point does the storm become a problem for other response? when does it become difficult? >> obviously, the challenges are different for law enforcement than fire, but through the last snowmageddon which was two feet of snow we found that we were able to, through most of the storm get to the call of service for suvs and the vehicles that we have, we did move to some humvees in some of the tougher areas of the city near the end of the storm and in some cases officer his to get out and walk the last block or so to get to some calls and we made it to every single call for service. >> chief, i think brian does go

down. >> it typically does, yes. >> it gets a little bit more difficult to get around. >> so the fire trucks are heavier and moving around and getting through the neighborhoods and dpw is doing a great job and allows us to get around and for the more narrow streets we have access to the humvees to be able to move arou around. --? can you update on what the constituents are doing? >> i should note that we've been joined by a member of the council of the district of columbia who represents ward 8. one of the district's 8 wards and this center is located in ward 8. so council member may? >> thank you, madam mayor. so i've been out. there are still people out on the streets which we are encouraging them to get back inside. coming here i've been riding around the ward and so you can

definitely tell that the streets have been treated and the travel is a little bit safer, but not safe enough for people to be out. so my team and a team of volunteers are actually calling around to our seniors and disabled residents checking in on them to make sure that they have any needs that they're able to respond. >> should i mention and council member mays ward, there is a grocery store that had, i think, the most supplies of any grocery store in the district of columbia and a helpful staff. are there any other questions? yes, mark and chris. do you want to step up, please? >> you talked earlier, direct loor about the possibility that you would possibly dump snow and can you talk about efforts with the pollutants and the runoff and what not doesn't get into the anacostia. it was a minor problem during snowmageddon and i believe you were telling me earlier that

you'd taken some steps. >> sure. working with the department of environment with ddot and dpw crews, making sure that whatever we're going to do for our snow removal when we do dump it that we're doing so in accordance with all of the regulations from epa and that we're not violating anything as we do that. so we've done expensive things we need to do with that, as a matter of fact, i just got off the phone with the department of environment director for one last measure and we'll be good to go. >> can you tell us what those measures are? >> we put barriers down between the lot and the river and we'll put a silt fence along that, as well to make sure there is no runoff. >> the blue jersey walls that i see down there, those are new? >> yes, sir. >> okay. thank you. >> yes, sir? >> also there was talk about the homeless and i notice the homeless around 7th and constitution they're still there

on those grades. is there anything that you will do or not do? what's the policy? >> we've had an extreme cold weather emergency in effect and as you know we've had cold weather this entire week and that has been in effect and what we did even though it warmed up beyond our criteria, we maintained that cold weather emergency which does put us out there on the streets and give the opportunity for folks to come in and more shelter for folks out on the street and we is several measures that we can take and the first and foremost one that we go with is we try to encourage them to come in that's close to where they're used to being so they can feel comfortable to doing that and another call is to ensure to get the crews out there to have engagement with the folks to get them in throughout the storm. >> if they want to stay there

they can stay there. >> there are several thing, but we cannot and it's very difficult and it's a situation that we handle very delicately with them and when we need to get forceful or more enforcement with that, we do it, but that's our last effort in there. >> thanks, everyone. >> let me just say that we -- we plan to have a regular briefing throughout the event at 10:00 a.m. and at 5:00 p.m. we will evaluate what the weather what the conditions are in the morning to see if whether we'll be able to do it in person or a conference call and we'll evaluate what the conditions are to see what the location will be. our first choice will be to meet here at 10:00 a.m. and if not, we will get the word out of the location as early as possible. thank you, everybody.

>> there you have it. mayor bowser and her team. the first word from them, please, too many people are on the roads. stay off the roads. don't eaven attempt to go out there and they're finding too many people out on the streets. 411 total pieces of equipment including about 140 some-odd dump trucks and heavy plows. >> it's not just in the district that people are not heeding this. our team coverage continues with julie carey. jules is in the hay market area. are you seeing a lot of cars on the road out there? >> reporter: hi, guys. it is getting quieter and quieter by the hour. see the sign behind me? you don't want to be driving to any of those places today. you want to be staying at home. luckily, you see on route 55 out here, wow! an empty scene behind me and let's look over at the intersection here. this was packed with cars two hours ago and now far fewer out here. a lot more plows on the road.

virginia state police across the commonwealth today have dealt with 500 accidents up here in the northern region, about 19 accidents and 60 disabled vehicle spinouts and things of that sort and we were only out here for a little while in hay market before we found an accident. >> the snow had barely started to pile up in prince william county when this happened. more than a fender bender, this was a fender crusher as an suv slid into the back of a sedan. >> just sitting here at the light and bang. i don't think she was paying attention, personally, but she said she slid, but we were hit pretty hard if you see the damage. >> yes. >> and then did it bump you -- >> we ran into them, yeah. >> did they regret their decision to go out. >> we ran out for a quick something and sitting at the light and bang. what are you going to do? >> and the crash scene in the dominion valley, a small armada of landscaping trucks, now fitted for plowing, sanding and

salting. this driver trying to get psyched up for what's ahead. >> it will be a big paycheck, but it pulls a lot out of you. we'll pull 24 or maybe more before we go home and take a four or five-hour nap. >> i think there will be a lot of coffee consumed in the next 24 to 48 hours. now what would you do if your wedding was scheduled at the peak of a blizzard? coming up on news 4, i'll tell you how one mclean couple solved that problem. >> yeah, you wonder about that. that and the bar mitzvahs and everything else today. yikes! >> we want to get back to having some fun with the people who are enjoying the storm. >> at this point, anyway. let's head back to angie goff. she's at the big screen with a look at what people are posting this evening. >> we are about six hours into our continuous snow coverage. my question to you both, are you here yet? take a look at this picture. debbie says these guys -- actually, not that guy.

these guys. >> i love those guys. they were pretty much done with playing in the snow. aren't we jealous? and it's snow that continues to build up big time. stephanie says she loves being buried in snow on my birthday and let's see if we can find her. we had some pictures of her. there we go. coming down hard earlier and i guess if you are a snow lover, this is the ultimate gift. so happy birthday to you. >> in frederick, it is the snow for these little guys who have been slipping and sliding on the pool cover. this is brandon. he's from hometown herndon. he seems unphased from the flurries and his t-shirt saying key west and has the cabin fever set in? they sent us this, take a look, they are dressed like minions. that was earlier this afternoon and who knows what they're like right now. it appears that they're going

bananas? >> i know, i had to do it. i have two small kids. dogs, snow, whatever, sends how you're dealing with the snow so far. isee@nbcwashington.com or tag us @nbcwashington or oh my goff on social media. >> a great way to stay connected. >> can you please take a picture of the high heels. >> look at that! the rest of us don't show my pedicure. take the camera away. camera 3. >> it's a great time to stay connected and make sure you follow wendy and me. >> angie will go get a pedicure during this break. [mother] yeah but this neighborhood,i feel like

it's got a lot of what we were kinda talking about. we should definitely go see it. [agent] hi. melanie. maggie. living room. [dad]what about this? this looks good. [brendan] no. [mother] isn't it great? [agent] hey brendan,you might like this room. [announcer]redfin pays its agents based on your happiness... that's real estate, redefined.

and welcome back to news 4 at 5:00. here is our radar. as you can see, we are in the thick of it and let's go outside to montgomery county and that's one of our favorite people these days. the plow driver. we hope you're all staying inside and enjoying the restful

time and just stay off the roads and just chill. you've been officially told by the government to chill so do some chilling. >> and doug and amelia and amelia is covering a lot of ground for us in the 4 by 4 and doug, you're holding down the fort in the storm center. >> one thing we are seeing is more and more of the heavier snow starting to develop and take a look at storm team 4 radar and we'll show you what's going on. right now looking at some of those totals and some areas at the airport that picked up 2.2 inches up toward dulles and you notice brighter whites here and most of the area are reporting light to moderate snow and you get the bright white bands here and right on in through the district. i want to circle this one for you and i'm going to bring out my friend here so you do have is right in bethesda is right on in

through the d.c. metro area and let's move on down to the south and down towards the next band that will be coming up here and next band around quantico and woodbridge. one inch an hour snowfall rates and again, that will continue to increase as we move on through the night tonight and let's get rid of our guy here, if we can and i went into the atlantic. what's going on down to the south? we are still seeing that storm moving in. 20 to 30 inches and that is simply amazing and maybe even more than that. right now we get upward of 2 to 3 inches off the roads and that's where amelia segal is and she's in the storm team 4 by 4. how are you doing, amelia? >> pretty good, doug. we're here in buckies town right now. we pulled over to get gas and one of the safety protocols. we never let the gas tank go

below three-quarters of a tank, and we're at the bp and if you're familiar with frederick you know exactly where that is. >> you can see it's completely snow covered and i estimate we have two to three inches of snow here on the ground. joe, would you say that's about right? >> i would say so! >> my photographer agreeing with me. what we are noticing is the winds are starting to pick up here and the winds right now are at about 10 to 15 miles an hour. snow intensity here is light to moderate in nature and definitely a steady snow falling and it's definitely a winter wonderland right here and as we did travel from leesburg to frederick, via 15 and it was a slow go, only about 25 miles an hour and that was a good thing and there were no issues at that point and there was a steady stream traveling northward and headed southbound at that point and our plan is once we gas up, stretch our legs for a little bit, we will continue to head south on into montgomery county and check out the road

conditions and visibility with the snow is pretty good. i'd say it's over a quarter of a mile, about a half of a mile. doug, what i'm continuing to keep an eye on and what i find pretty interesting is the temperature. so we are now down to 21 degrees. so it is quite cold. i can hear even the storm team 4 by 4 tires traveling over the snow. it kind of sounds like the cold snow, if you know what i mean. >> i know exactly what you mean. the crunchiness that you have across the area. as you mentioned the temperatures and take a look at the current windchills and 11, 6 in martinsburg and 13 in annapolis as the winds pick up and we'll see those numbers go even lower. a very cold night and the wind starting to pick up, and by early tomorrow morning we are in the full-fledged blizzard and we'll continue to keep you posted. >> d.c. is shutting down for the blizzard, obviously and the major memorials and monuments will be closed and stay closed through the weekend. here is a look at the national

mall and we do have a beautiful town even in the snow. especially in the snow. crews will be clearing the sidewalks and parking lots and the facilities are closed and no park rangers will be on the job and only the u.s. park police. if you thought about going to a museum, you're out of luck and the smithsonian will be closed until monday including the national zoo and go to the nbc washington app for more on what is closed and canceled for the duration of the blizzard. >> we can still check out bei bei on our cell phones. he just got his first taste of snow today which is fabulous. >> you have a choice about driving in this weather, but first responders, they don't and they need to take special precautions. >> our northern virginia reporter david culver joins us and he's at a firehouse at bailey's crossroads where he's doing a ride along just to show why we need the roads clear. >> derrick? >> wendy and jim, you'll hear me over the phone, but the picture we're looking at is live and

we're driving along fire station 10 and this is the bailey's crossroads fire station. they have made about a half dozen calls over the past three hours or so and i've been asking them to give you an idea what the question of the snow has been on the street and the conditions are getting worse and worse and they've driving on cable wire and they have better traction than most folks and we almost had a close call with one pickup truck that spun out making a turn trying to get a little too close to us, but they have to be out here. as you mentioned, they got off one run and they made an ems run near the bailey's crossroad area and they're having to make several of these, but the conditions, as you can see on the roads is pretty heavy. they say it's not that slick, but there are some close calls that we have. so we're riding along with them and they are going to be on some lodge shifts and not only do they have to be out here when they have the calls and they

always have to stand by at the fire station through this weekend and that's what they'll be doing and we're close to the area and you'll see some folks standing in the middle of the road. we see a few with some people not able to walk on the sidewalks and they're having to go to other means and it's unfortunately bringing them on to the streets in this area. we'll stay along with them and bring you updates if we come across interesting calls and we'll bring them to you guys. >> david culver on the road. thanks so much. >> let's head up to the big apple where our friend al roker is tracking the storm. >> they say we're the bull's-eye, but the northeast looks like it will be getting snow as well, al. >> we're getting slapped around as well, not quite as badly as you guys as far as accumulations are concerned, but we are looking at decent accumulations and strong winds and coastal flooding from the delmarva peninsula right on to the long island shoreline and beaches. we're expecting say philadelphia, 12 to 18 inches of

snow. new york city and we'll see 6 to 12 inches and then as you get north, those numbers drop down pretty drastically. in fact, boston, maybe two inches? maybe? the big fly in the ointment here is going to be the winds because they're going to be coming in at perhaps the worst time. tomorrow, we'll be looking at astronomical high tides and we look for coastal beach erosion and coastal flooding and we expect power lines coming down and blizzardlike conditions because we'll have the strong winds blowing that snow around. and even for you guys we'll see that probably, as well, starting later tonight on into tomorrow. >> al roker, thanks so much. >> our scott macfarlane is in germantown tonight. >> he filed this from his cell phone with folks waiting for one of the last bus rides home tonight. >> we're in germantown near aircraft and germantown road and this is the major transit center

here and i'm standing beneath one of the three or four bus stops and we're waiting for perhaps the last wave of ride-on busses in montgomery county and a lot of shops, restaurants, pharmacies and stores and you can see a few of them here and they need a ride home and the busses willind a tough slog here and the roads are covered and i-27 is getting increasingly treacherous nearby. in germantown, scott macfarlane, news 4. the threat of today's storm did not stop a big demonstration. >> dozens of anti-abortion rights activists marched down to the supreme court. today marks the 43rd anniversary of the court's roe v. wade, and they're gathering outside the supreme court to have their voices heard, as well. >> it's starting to get more difficult to get around out

there. the snow is coming down even faster as transportation options become more limited. >> our tisha thompson is live near the silver spring metro station in montgomery county once again. how much snow is on the ground there now, tisha? >> reporter: it's about two inches, maybe a little bit more. it's kind of hard to tell, i don't have an official snow stick, pat collins snow stick, but it's slippery, but if you're on the sidewalks and they've not treated it's definitely slippery out there. this is the silver spring transit center and this is where the metro rail and metro busses all meet up and the ride-on busses, i should add, as well and we have watched the last of the metro busses leave. there are no more busses going by and the few that we have seen say they're not taking passengers anymore, and they're not in service. however, if you look over here and my photographer, and i'll have them point to the right and you will see that the ride-on busses are still going until 7:00 tonight. metro rail is going until 11:00

tonight. we have been watching marked trains going by all afternoon and people are coming off the train and we've seen people coming off of new york, but i have to tell you in the last half hour it has died down mostly in parts because the metro service has been suspended and no busses will be operating in montgomery county from 7:00 until monday. once the ride-on busses stop, that's it. metro and ride-on will not be operating for the rest of the weekend. back to you. >> tisha thompson. thank you. we have all our teams out there, as you see. the snow is just getting started and so are we. we'll be right back.

>> and welcome back. there's the radar, folks. it is shipping fast and furiously in our direction and check out the shot behind wendy and me. this is the front lawn window and the flakes are heavier and they're falling faster. >> right. >> is that our front lawn or side lawn? >> it's your weather deck. >> we have to be accurate about

this stuff. i'll be out there in a few minutes and i'll give you an accurate measurement. >> your snow state got there, as well. some areas picked up two, three, four inches of snow. >> culpeper, stanton area and that's where the higher snowfall amounts are there already and we're checking in how strong the winds are. >> here we are at 5:45 just before 6:00 and some areas as we mentioned already four or five inches? we're just getting started for sure and take a look at the snow across the region and now we're seeing banding issues here and a little bit of areas of heavier snow back toward winchester and the leesburg area and notice the white snow and the bright white area and that's winchester to loudoun county and that will pile up pretty good for you and as we move on down toward the south around the d.c. metro area here and also around quantico starting to see the heavier

snow, too, and watch out and we will see one inch per hour rating and we'll see the change in the storm, notice around the atlanta area, and notice earlier and the moisture back into this area, but now the transfer starting to happen. look at this down here toward the south and a lot of moisture and the storm starting to got its act together and we're expecting that blizzard warning in effect until sunday morning and veronica, a lot more to come here and we're talking about the potential for a record breaking system. >> indeed. >> and a lot of folks remember the storm of 2010. and you baby boomers remember 1979 and all of the snow that piled up quickly. >> take a look, here's with we're looking at versus what we're forecasting. 28 inches the record and what we're forecasting, between 20 to 25 inches.

all of the areas that we're doing 20 to 30 inches for and to a plus, some locations could pick up as much as three feet across the area and the isolated pockets could see snowfall when we get the snowfall rates overnight with two to three inches per hour. down to the south and east if you're in leonardtown and st. mary's, if you know folks in salisbury and chincoteague. overnight there may be a period there where there could be some ice pellets starting to mix and the big change for us is 8:00 when we go from snow to heavy snow and notice the temperatures, too, and it will be 28 to 10:00 chlt. m. and could get thundersnow and another reason why you will see some of the ice pellets again for a brief period of time coming to areas of extreme southern maryland and down through the northern neck. of course, a big part of this is to tackle the storm system in stages. you can't say that enough

because it will be a very heavy, weighted snow at the end. when you talk 20 to 30 inches and the fact that in one shovel, your snow shovel when you have the dry, powdery type early on when the storm system first started and that's five pounds in your shovel when you get it loaded down and it becomes more wet and that's 20 pounds into your shovel and one reason why you want to clean it out in stages, right, doug? >> that's right. we're just getting started on this event and this event now lasting another 24 to 36 hours and the impacts will stay with us right on through early next week. >> thank you, both. extra blankets, fire in the fireplace, there are lots of ways to try to keep warm. and susan hogan is here with a very important warning. >> space heaters are great. they do keep us warm, but really they can be a matter of life and death if you don't use them right. space heaters can give off pretty good heat, but be careful where you place them.

space heaters need space. keep the heater at least three feet away from anything combustible that can catch fire. that means three feet away from your bed, couch, dresser or your drapes and the heat is not the only thing posing a fire hazard. >> space heaters also contribute to fires because of how they're plugged in. if you use an electrical space heater with an undersized extension cord we have a fire hazard. >> the consumer product safety commission reports thousands of fires associated with these portable heaters. you should never, ever go to bed with it on, either. >> tragically, we do too many stories about that during the winter. >> you're right. >> thanks, susan. >> well, many of us are used to the snow, but for some children from china, today this storm is a rare treat. >> just imagine, news 4's jackie bensen shows us from the national mall the children who could not get enough of this.

>> reporter: this was the type of thing that makes living in the nation's capital so special. this group of children was here as part of a cultural tour and obviously the blizzard of 2016 interrupted those plans. some of the kids were from southern china and had never seen snow before. they took to it, ran around and figured out pretty quickly how to make a snowball and from what we hear, this is going to be the type of thing that is going to interrupt their trip. >> it was supposed to be a quick three-day trip and they're leaving on the flight to west coast from the airport, and of course, it's closed for tomorrow and everything so, yeah, we're going to get stuck over here in a hotel for, like, two days. >> reporter: we want to show you again what we talked about before and how the visibility has dropped here. you see the beautiful dome of the nation's capitol behind us. the national park service announced a short time ago that

all of the monuments and the mall are closed through the weekend because of the weather, but obviously, there are many people out here enjoying the last few moments. in fact, i want to show you what's going on here live right now. just things that we don't get to see very much here anymore. >> you know, jackie. >> a beautiful sight as the nation's capitol gets red for an evening that we understand from doug and veronica that is not going to be this beautiful, but still for right now it's pretty nice. live on the national mall, jackie bensen, news 4. >> that is so cool to see people cross-country skiing. the athletes and the winter olympics on the mall and that is so beautiful with the capitol behind it. how lovely. we need to take that up. >> jackie is rocking the heck out of that hat. >> she certainly is. >> loving it. >> we want to check the conditions over in maryland, now. >> that's right. we have shomari stone joining prince george's county and what's it like where you are,

shomari? >>. >> that snow is definitely coming down. take a look right down here. we have at least two to three inches accumulating and we were on the i-495 in prince george's county and let's roll video right now. there were some drivers out and many of them trying to get home. some of them had to work and the roadways would have -- excuse me -- a gentleman that's really being dangerous right now on the roadway. on i-495. there were a lot of drivers out there and a lot of folks were trying to get home and the snow was accumulating. there were also snowplows and it's worth mentioning that the bridges and the ramps freeze before the road surfaces so when you're out there keep that in mind. emergency managers are recommending that you only come out if it's an emergency. they highly recommend that you stay inside. back out here live. let me walk right over here. some folks have been coming to this gas station here and right now, as you can see, it is empty and again, officials recommend that you stay inside.

i'm shomari stone reporting live here in prince george's county, back to you in the studio. >> look at that. >> if you are out. a lot of people have to be out on the roads and the doctors or nurses at the hospitals or checking on the elderly. i'll bet seeing a gas station open is a good sight to see. >> we'll be on the air with you throughout the night and we'll be up bright and early tomorrow morning starting at 5:00 a.m. >> and we can't wait.

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well, as we approach 6:00, the storm is on top of us and it will be here for a long time so get cozy and stay inside. >> look at our beautiful city. isn't that lovely? >> nice to look at from this vantage point. >> yes, it is. >> this is what it looked like as the storm hit southern virginia earlier today. wow! folks, there are dealing with freezing rain, sleet and snow and roads are trying to keep the roads cleared. they're in the thick of it rid now and the snow is expected to keep falling there through tomorrow and here? let's check out this mess on this hill in nashville, tennessee. car by car, slipping, sliding teching as they try to make their way up this icy, snow-covered road. a state of emergency has been declared in tennessee and

officials are urging people to stay off the roads as they are here. scott macfarlane just filed this report from his cell phone and he is along i-270. >> reporter: we are above i-270 in germantown over germantown road and you can see traffic is particularly light and the traffic that is moving northbound and southbound going one-third to one-quarter its typical speed and you see people pulling over with their hazards on trying to get traction and the onramps and off ramps are a mixed bag and some seeing cars careening to the side and hitting the curb and hitting the side and a lot of towing in germantown and for now 270 still moving, but clearly at a slower speed. in germantown, scott macfarlane, news 4. >> it doesn't look too slow. some were going fast. >> we aren't the only ones bracing for the blizzard. >> along the jersey coast they're also worried about a

dangerous storm surge. >> they sure are. brian thompson is on the jersey shore where voluntary evacuations are right now under way. >> reporter: on the jersey shore more and more communities are receiving evacuations and in barn barnegat and the surge of the ocean water will come close to matching sandy regardless of how high it does come, many people are taking it seriously. some people are saying they will stay. nonetheless, law enforcement is worried about having to do rescues in high-water vehicles with blizzard conditions, white-out situations and high winds of up to 50 or even 60 miles an hour. that's why these voluntary evacuations are taking place in community after community here in new jersey. in barnegat, i'm brian thompson,

nbc news. a massive winter storm. >> conditions are getting worse by the hour and once it's over, this snowstorm will be measured in feet, not inches. >> reporter: store shelves cleaned out. thousands of flights cancelled and in only a few hours metro will shut down. >> tonight, we are live with team coverage across the region. >> from the first responders on the road. >> to the emergency deck la raisi declarations across our region. >> news 4 has every angle covered. >> the forecast has been spot-on and we have not seen the worst of it yet. >> no, we have not. not by a long shot. our news crews have been braving the elements all day from d.c. to maryland and virginia, we begin tonight, though with doug. he's in storm center 4 with the very latest on what's happening out there.

>> just a couple of areas and montgomery village, 2.3 inches and 5.4 in compton in st. mary's county and over towards hills borough, just to the west of dulles airport coming in at 2.8 inches. we've already gotten a few inches across the area and it's only going to continue to pile up as we move on through the night tonight. you can see the snow moving on in here and that snow has been light to moderate for the most part and we haven't seen too much in the way of heavy snow and we do expect that to come over the next couple of hours. see the white bands and that's where we're seeing half inch per hour snowfall rates and another one about to come right back to the d.c. metro area and through warrenton and manassas around the springfield area. you can see those two bands and around leesburg and bluemontt and manassas and over toward woodbridge and clinton and that will move over to alexandria and washington and your snow will get heavier in the next 15 to 20 minutes and the wider view

showing the storm system and look at how massive this storm is. snow all of the way down into central alabama they're seeing some snow. on the front side of it we're picking up some thunder and some lightning down there and some thunderstorms down toward the carolinas and western carolina, already some thundersnow reported there and yes, we could see thundersnow in our region, too, and that's why this is such a dangerous system and a lot going on and the winds will be a big factor and right now we do have some snow coming in and that reduces visibility and veronica johnson, we're on the storm team 4 patio and we've seen the visibility go up and back down and that's the bands that we continue to see move through. >> exactly. the intensity of the snow changing and the visibility has been down a half mile and it's still about that in much of the area and either a half to a mile and we've got the graphic here for you two inches now and they keep plowing, and the wind speeds and y