the hallelujah chorus is winding up. there's massive effort under way to get the roads across our area cleared and ready for you. >> we're also watching a developing story in manassas after a roof collapse overnight forces dozens of people in the snow. it's 9:00 a.m. we have special coverage of blizzard 2016. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. of course, the big question, how much snow will melt? >> i don't think a whole lot,

but i'm no meteorologist. chuck bell is. hey, chuck. >> aaron, what is eun yang's favorite thing in the whole world? aaron gilchrist chocolate. >> favorite living thing. >> panda. >> i was asked if i had a panda suit a little while ago. >> please tell me yes. >> what i will tell you is photoshop plus boredom equals trouble for me. there's me in a panda suit on the twitterverse. really, really appreciate that. >> you are my best friend. >> even the tie matches. >> i didn't think i could love you any more, but now we're reaching epic porportions here. >> twitter and photoshop are not going to be my friend today apparently. in arlington, buried in arlington. thanks for your picture. there goes the setting full moon early this morning. it's been replaced full sun.

even some single numbers in some of the rural areas. be ready. the meltdown continues today. not the mental meltdown but the snow meltdown. rising to the low 30s this afternoon. bone-chilling cold tomorrow morning. temperatures tomorrow once again above freezing under an increasing number of clouds, so the meltdown will continue during the course of the day tomorrow, but the refreeze is going to be an issue day after day after day. so on the roads, what to expect. deep ice everywhere. travel is extremely dangerous. my personal estimation, no chance for school at all monday, tuesday, or even wednesday. that looks like a slim chance indeed. more about the meltdown coming up in a few. >> thank you, chuck. we'll see you then. right now i-270 is back up after

a governor mandated closure. i-70 is also back open at this hour. let's check in with "news4's" david culver. he's in the "storm team 4" times 4 driving down 270. david, how's it looking? >> eun and aaron joining us again on a weekend morning. good to be with you and good to have you. take a look in front of us. you can see what 270 looks like. we're in the midst of a convoy. i lost count at this point of how many plows are in front of us. at least a dozen. we're kind of in the midst of it. you can see that. you can see some drivers getting a little impatient because they're trying to make their way through here, but the plows are trying to give them something to drive through. over the course of the evening and the morning it was shut down. the governor made that decision because it was too treacherous. there were too many tractor trailers jackknifing or going out of control.

they were able to reopen it. we were live on the interstate as it reopened and cars immediately heard it was back reopen, started coming back out here, but the reality is while it's open, it's still not a great condition-wise. they're trying. you see plow after plow pushing them off to the side and off the sides of the roads, there's mountains of snow. they had these huge snow blowers trying to push them even farther out. but that is causing some of the exit lanes to get blocked up. as we're coming through, this is the seneca creek area, some of the lanes are just impassable. you can't get through them because there ee's 3, 4, 5, 6 f of snow. they ee trying to figure out which lanes are blo-- ones are . you can see the sun is bright on the windshield. we'll send it back to you. take a look at this. this car getting honked at

because they're cutting off some of the plows. not a good idea. give them some space. >> especially since it's a cleanup day. >> a good example of what not to do, folks. thank you, david. snow plows have been hitting the roads hard since the first flakes started falling. the big message, of course, from everybody around euour area, st off the roads. vdot sent us a message reminding everybody even though the roads are not as bad as they were yesterday, that doesn't mean you should be out driving. you still want to give the plows some room to work. >> across the region airports are trying to clear the runways. this is a live look at reagan national airport. some airlines are already starting to scrap monday's flights because of the airport conditions. we'll get that to you in just a bit. we had video of dulles, nearly 7,000 flights canceled over the weekend. right now no flights to or from

dulles, bwi/marshall, or reagan national. be sure to check the airlines for nr information. we expect a lot more cancellations today. rail services are limited. amtrak is operating on a moid feed schedule in the northeast. that includes acela express. there will be no service for those in the southeast. >> m.a.r.c. has canceled its weekend penn line service. we'll let you know the updates. they'll be posted online. there's a reminder that amtrak will not accept m.a.r.c. tickets today. >> a snow day for some students -- all students. i'm just putting that out there.

university of maryland rngs to understand end eun verds and anne arundel college are all closed monday. more school cancellations will be coming in, likely coming in. we'll have those updates for you. you can find them on the bottom of your screen and the nbc washington app. >> i petbet a lot of places wile making calls. >> it would be odd if they didn't. even if they're not cleared, the school properties, the streets that they're on -- >> be sure you have that nbc washington app and stay with us online and social media. we'll keep you up to date. all that snow had people going a bit stir-crazy. some of the crazy things we caught them doing during the snowstorm. >> long list. plus we're live on the streets helping you prepare for what to expect when you step outside. our coverage of the blizzard of 2016 continues.

we're getting a first look of what blizzard 2016 looks like. amtrak running limited service through there today. we're also following developments on i-270 which reopened a little while ago, a little after 7:00 this morning. "news4's" david culver has been on the road all morning long in the storm team 4 x 4 following some of the plows, and you can see the picture from behind the 4 x 4. you can see a long line of traffic. that's kind of surprising on the interstate. wefr're going to check in with david on this a little bit later. now to phase 2, the digout of blizzard 2016. we're checking in live with

molette green out of germantown. the area was hard hit yesterday. what you do see today? >> reporter: there is some progress on the major roads here, i'm happy to report. we're here at germantown road and aircraft drive. a couple of big trucks just rolled into this gas station. this has been the scene throughout the morning. there are two feet of snow. it takes time. possibly days before things get back to some sense of normalcy here. and also it takes time for emergency vehicles to get to you if you have to dial 9/111. we talked to the montgomery county emergency cheefr who said don't hesitate to call 911. >> as soon as there ian indication of an emergency, call us. our travel is going to be delayed. the longer you delay that 911 call, the longer it starts the chain further down the process. if you think there's an emergency, call 911.

>> don >> . >> reporter: don't hesitate to call. the main roads are looking better. icy in some spots. they're looking aet the secondary roads to clear that snow. it is a lot of snow to clear. then the neighborhood streets come last. and i talked to some of these guys working this area. they say it ooh's mess still in some of the spots. many want to reopen their stores. lots of restaurants in the area. i'd love to go to the panera bread back there. it's not open. these guys are telling me it's not looking good in terms of being able to reopen thes bys in the area who desperately want to get back open and make some money. that's the latest from germantown. back to you. >> it's 9:12. right now stafford county fire crews are on the scene of a partial roof collapse. this is happening on plantation drive. a passer-by noticed this and called 911.

we're told part of the roof collapsed because all of the snow. that was a big concern we had. we're told there were no injuries in this area. we knew there were some place where the snow was going to be particularly heavy, the wet stuff that gets really heavy or there could be roof collapses or partial. there were issues in montgomery county and manassas earlier today dealing with some issues. >> don't try to clear the snow off an elevated surface, especially by yourself. you have to leave it to the professionals. we know you're worried about it causing problems in your home but you can add more problems. please be careful out there. >> i want to check in with meteorologist tom kierein. he's outside for us. tom, i know the sunshine is nice to see brilliantly out there. >> definitely you need sunglasses for any length of time to avoid blindness.

you have to remember 48 hours this was a nice green manicured lawn. now it looks like a station in ant article. we've got snow plowed up to the berms and sides here. it's getting tough to find places to put snow. ice deep. neighborhoods are socked in and snowed in. so the roads are extremely dangerous. a lot of people will be getting out here trying to get around. and the snowfall records. reagan national tied for fourth all-time on the list. reagan wasn't there then but they've been keeping track since then. bwi/marshall, all-time, 29.2. dulles, second all-time, 29.3 inches. just astonishing how the

landscape has been transformed in less than 48 hours, guys. >> wow. all right. thank you, tom. today you can head to a -- appreciate it, tom. thank you. today you can head to a post-blizzard snow party here in the district. a snow wars -- >> get it. >> themed snowball fight will take place this morning in dupont circle. apparently that's where tons of people will get together. don't forget the metro service is canceled. dress warmly and put on big boots. there are other fun things you can do. you can build a snowman. they've got silent disco dancing. >> silent disco dancing? >> it's all right there. it starts at 9:00. be careful. try not to walk into the streets. if you can make a sidewalk of a sears of footprints, that's the place to get around. >> we were joking about it. you might as well as have a snow

wars. all right. giant began. our tuan tuan loves playing in the snow. he's reveling in it. it's so, so good. it's making me so happy. zoo news says tuan tuan woke up so excited. tons and tons and tons of people like it. . is there anything better than a giant panda playing in the snow? guess what. it seems the panda may have some competition. can you believe it? some of you want to at least share in his limelight.

some of you have shared your pictures. they're wall lowing in it. i hope you've dressed appropriately. those are women. >> that's a woman with the fur coat on. >> having a good old time. good for you is what i have to say. more power to you. you are never trying that. >> we've got nbc's luke russert out at freedom plaza where he's been stationed for a good chunk of this snowstorm. he's live for us now. luke, how's it looking where you are? >> reporter: good morning, guys. this is the hearst i would say of the federal government of the washington, d.c., and it's very similar to the rest of the city. the main thoroughfares, 14th is beginning to be plowed and being

plowed very effectively, however the side streets, e and f, not quite there. i thit's going to take quite a while for the dikout here to get things back up to speed. of course, the mayor calling it the d.c. digout. we've seen some committed tourists down to visit the site. obviously they weren't able to do that yesterday but they're walking along. may i implore of you, please, if you're walking outside, don't walk down the middle of the street and use extreme caution because it's not safe. i'm cure wrus what's going to happen with the federal government. we haven't gotten a concrete call here. looking around, it's not traversable. they're not coming back until tuesday. in my entire life, e've not seen this like that.

120u, the snowpocalypse. down here in the center of d.c. as we always think of plowed and open for business. >> you make a good point, luke. you mention congress not being in session right now. we would imagine a lot have gone home and getting a plane back in here might be a problem for some of them. forget about metro. >> reporter: yeah. that's the thing is the airports are still closed down. they were supposed to come back on monday. probably not till tuesday. but just looking out at this, this is a heck of a job on the hands of d.c. officials and in maryland and virginia. they're moving around. the capitol price have done a good job and the white house. if it's anything like this tomorrow, i don't think they're necessarily open for business because this is pretty dramatic

stuff. >> maybe in a few days. luke russert on the national mall for us. thank you, luke. >> take care. i'm angie goff at the live desk. follow i following up on ocean city, i want to bring in the mayor of ocean city, mayor rick knee lan. what is the situation right now. we're looking at some of the live pictures and it looks like there's a lot of damage. >> i'm looking on the boardwalk and assessing. we're very lucky. i don't see damage to buildings or bids other than wind damage to the signs. if you look on the beach, we experienced some erosion. went through a high tide and the ocean's beginning to recede. the inland parking lot is still frozen and covered with sand

from the storm and you see the remnants of the parking lot of the end of the fishi ining pier destroyed. that's like the third time in five years. it's a result of the huge waves over the weekend. we're in cleanup mode along the oceanfront. baseside we're getting ready to go into a high tide situation. we do have standing water downtown south of the bridge. philadelphia avenue is closed. some of the streets along the front remain flooded. it's just the streets. it's not the property, it's not the building. took a lot of damage to the dune structure north of the boardwalk. the duned did their job but we experienced some serious beach erosion and damage to our dunes so we'll be out there tomorrow assessing that and talking with the army corps of engineers and

didn't of natural resources what actions we need to take to restore the dunes and replenish the beach. what i can tell you is the sun's out and cleanup has also begun and we'll be back open for business next weekend. >> the sun is out and we do know cleanup is under way. this is a situation we've seen beforing you mentioned the streets as an area of concern. is freezing an area of concern? do you still have a message for residents not driving around especially with the extra challenge you're dealing with? >> well, i think we have a consistent message, you know, that has been given and the governor's given throughout the state. this isn't the best time to be out and about or traveling. in ocean city, we did get snow and ice. that's the earliest since last friday. we have icy conditions, water in the roads in various areas. so anybody who does go out and

about, that i have to make sure they take extreme caution, be very cognizant of where you are and your surroundings. the situation is going to improve. we haven't had any injuries at all in oelgs city and we want to keep it that way. >> that's sought good news there. no one was hurt. mayor rick meehan, thank you for checking in again. we want to send iter of the chuck bell. the wind as waves taking a toll on ocean city. >> oh, absolutely. i was looking at some of the buoy reports. measure 27-foot seas. it went farther out in the ocean and was measure 45g-foot waves. when those come in and turn to breaker ostown beach, that is a dangerous situation for sure. obviously not because anyone is going into the water but that's not the kind you want to get into.

i saw this a couple of times in oklahoma during a windy snowy event. that's from amanda page. a great picture there. i got the answer to the math problem to the snow in just a second. laura lofton, where to start. she's feeling much like everybody else. i'm guessing that's her poor husband out there. over his waist with a single shovel to work with. start indeed. work yaur way from the front door. elizabeth scott says she needs a bigger shovel for sure. jonathan lowe, 30 inches of snow. looks like the snow moguls. temperatures starting to melt. the direct sunlight starts the

meltdown process. better to shovel today than tomorrow because each day the snow cop compact as little harder and it gets harder to lifting shovel, and scrape. windchill numbers in the single digits and teens. we'll have full sunshine. it was breezy a little while ago. the wind will be lying down. transportation. all three of our airports, dulles and reagan in particular are completely closed. b.w. i, i haven't heard officially from them. i don't know how they're going get any plains in or out. extremely limited amtrak service. i'll be surprised if they can get any operations going today. commuter, if you dare try to go to work tomorrow, extremely icy, temperatures in the teens first thing. slushy. temperatures above freezing tomorrow afternoon. if you can find any way to get out of work, i would do it. there's future weather. the cold, refrez again tonight.

tomorrow, starting out with plenty of sunshine. we'll get a couple manufacture clouds late in the day tomorrow. you'll remember it as being a sunny day. then as we get into the day on tuesday, mostly cloudy and there might be a hit and miss light rain shower. they're coming at the time of the day when temperatures will be in the low to mid-40s. high temperatures above freezing. this is going to be a long duration cleanup for everybody across the area. aaron, you wanted the math problem. we're assuming will there are 13,000 mys of lane to plow. >> this is from vdot. >> the road is 30 feet wide, the snow is two feet deep. we've got different answers. it comes out to 75 billion pounds or 37.5 million tons. that's just v do.

th -- just the district. it doesn't include maryland or virginia. >> you just blue my mind. >> we're going to contact nasa. >> thank you, chuck. that's why you're the scientist. you've been sharing your best pictures with us. if you thought you were cold yesterday, take a look at these guys. they are swimming in the snow. look at this. they're twauflly doings the strokes in the snow. i can't even imagine. that seems a little crazy. don't try that at home. i love this picture. it was a super snow angel from the falcon. at first we were looking at that. wi thought it was a real person. it turns out it's an action figure. love it. snap a photo if you're helping

out a neighbor. you can tweet it to us at the hash tag and don't forget, we're going to be on facebook and social media. share your thoughts and pictures with us. >> we're helping you track the snow plows in your community and your street to see when it will people be plows. we're going to take you live to david culver's location with more on the conditions there. and what's back open. that's next.

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thankfully the snow has stopped falling but they're working to get the roads cleared. >> the winds still blowing hard around the yafrmt you can see the conditions crewing are seeing right now. it's 9:31. good morning to you. thanks for staying with us. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. it's still sunday, it's not monday. >> we're all confused. >> we're trying to ride it out with you, folks. the sun is out for the most part and the digging out starts. the digging out of the sidewalks and cars and all that stuff.

meteorologist chuck bell with what's cominging next. i want you to say good things are coming. >> no more snow in the forecast. lauryn and tom, no more snow, right, guys? >> no. >> no more snow. three meteorologists say no more snow for you today. >> out she goes. a lot of a great pictures come in. i'm doing my best to share as many of them with you as i can. germantown, maryland. this little dwight bierly made the cut for the big snow starm. he had 32 inches and this little guy is 33. job well done. you made it just under the wire, just over the wire. stanley has got his little helper. little kid, little trouble. you're going to need a bigger

dog. come on. trying to pull somebody down through the team. it's a cold one. temperatures in the 20s. windchills are still down in the single numbers and teens early this morning. layer up. you need extra layers. not big tight fitting coat. you need a couple of layers. if you need body heat going, you can shed a layer. next 24 hour, cold now, refreezing hard. a bitter cold start for tomorrow morning. extremely dangerous on the way in if you even dare to go. school outlook, this is my opinion. no chance. monday and tuesday. slim chances at best. >> thanks so much, chuck bell. 9:34. right now, 270 is open after a government mandated closure.

take a look. i-70 is back up this hour. let's get right to "news4's" david culver. he's driving in a storm team 4 x 4. do you see pavement? >> reporter: yes. i've got b.j. behind the wheel. one of the things he's equipped with is sunglasses. the sun is bright. it's causing a glare. you've got a series of these. we're showing you the rear camera from here. you can see. he counted, b.j., that is, 16 plow trucks that are clearing off interstate 270. it looks good, but it's deceptive at parts. this is where you've got some parts of the interstate easy to pass by, but then if you're changing lanes, you've got big patches of snow and ice in some spots causing problems. if you look, look to the right.

look at these mounds of snow. it's almost a perfect wall along barrier they've got there. this is what they've been cleaning out with. the big snow blowers if you're following us on twitter or live facebook chat of some of the snow blowers as we've gone past them. they're pushing the snow first into the exit ramps. you can see it's open southbound. northbound on 270,ite's different scenario. we've seen several of them. they're working hard to try to dig out the exit ramp. what we're saying is the closure of 270 has ended. the reality is the conditions here are still pretty rough. they're working on it. they've got a lot of crews out here trying to make it clean for you, but it's still a struggle. and some of the drivers getting really impatient and trying to pass the plow trucks as we're working and really dodging some areas.

they're honking at them because they're trying to clear the roads and they don't want to cause an accident and hold people up even more. one of the things that were pointed out, some are coming out with things on top of their car when there's snow. if you don't have to head out, it's cliche at this point. just stay off the roads. back to you. >> david, a question for you. we were kind of surprised. we took your rear camera for a second a while ago. there was a significant seemed like a line of cars behind you. i'm a little surprised to see so many vehicles back on the interstate at this point. was me perception skewed or is it kind of busy? >> no. you saw it just as it was. i was busy. there was a good amount of traffic and they're behind this now. 270 back open and they're thinking 270, clear. not the case. sure it's back open but it was closed because of how much snow was blocking the roads. now they've got it where at

least part of it is passable but it's not perfect condition-wise. that's what they're working on. >> today's going to be the big digout and clean-out. thanks for the reminder. we'll check in with you in a bit. thanks, david. you might ask what happens when an emergency responder gets trapped in the snow. >> one, two, three. keep going. >> you get a bunch of people to jump in to help you. some people walk back from a bar. this was about 1:30 this morning. they helped push out this police suv. it got caught in the snow right near idaho avenue and mass avenue trying to make the turn there. i this i the police station is on the street there. good samaritans used their hands, grabbed some shovels, and used a whole lot of strength. >> we sat around here and pushed for 20 minutes and the next thing you know, we have about eight people to plow him out.

>> it meant a lot, especially nowadays when you hear a lot of negativity about how civilians feel about police officers. >> a driver for nbc 4 actually jumped in, too, to help out. the officer gave out high fives and hugs for the hard work. very much appreciated. >> love too see neighbors helping. >> this is the time for it. officials remainland people to go out and shovel sidewalks today. we see scenes like this people walking in the middle of the street because the sidewalks are still covered with snow. officials say it is dangerous. so please do not do this as you may get in the way of some of the plows out there. some of the first responders. and, quite frankly, you don't know what hazards might be in the street who still havy it to be uncovered. we have breaking news out of virginia. dozens of people are in a temporary shelter after a roof above a stairwell collapsed at an apartment complex in

manassas. nearly 70 people were displaced early this morning after the roof collapsed under heavy snow. "news4's" derrick ward is live there. derrick, what do you know? >> the alarm you hear went off just after midnight and led to 67 people being evacuated. that roof over the stairwell collapsed. the same situation seemed to have prevailed. were taken to a nearby fire station. they're being kept warm on buses until more permanent housing can be found for them. >> i've been there for seven, going on eight years. that roof has been ready to collapse. >> i heard a lot of stomping and they were hitting my window.

they were trying to get me out. we all woke up and they were here. >> reporter: the investigators will come to this scene, determine exactly what happened. structural engineers will determine if they can eventually be let back into the building. it's going to need more shoring up before kit be reoccupied. derrick ward, manassas, "news.". surprisingly the number of power outages pretty low. just over 600 customers waiting to get the lights turned back on in northern virginia. bge has 200 without. pepco reporting 20 outages across its area. power companies say they're working to get you back up to running as quickly as possible. look at this massive fire. this was a scene at carpet store in prince george's county. incredit by intense.

firefighters could only attack this from the outside. a lot of hard work. luckily nobody hurt here. >> another reminder to clear it. they have a tough job to fight the fires. all right. every wonder what winter looks like from space? astronaut scott kelly tweeted this photo showing the size of the recent snowstorm. you want to take it all in. it shows the white cloud stretching from new england to florida. he also posted a video of the storm from the north. stunning. >> just awesome. the fact you can do that -- >> you're not getting any pictures. he said, look. i'm an astronaut, i'm basically giving you pictures from space. i win. >> our "storm team 4" lauryn

ricketts live on the weather deck. they had to clear you out. >> it's just a little bit, i've been doing it with my boots. you probably can't see because i have mittens on. i had to stand off. i'm sure you're going to be doing that if you're headed out and about. one thing i do want to mention if you're heading out and about, those kids are wanting to go outside and play. we want to say, yes, but you have the winds. 25 is our air temperature here under blue skies. beautiful. 28 winchester where they got 28. 29 in manassas. 29 in fredericksburg. it's a little on the school side and then you factor in the wind. this is what it feels like. 13 in washington. 9 in manassas, 14 in leesburg. we have these winds 10 to 15 miles an hour. they're gusting up to 25 miles

an hour at times some of really what we're experiencing are these windchills. the good news is the winds will start to settle down. if you want to wait until after lunchtime to go out and shovel, it might be a good time to do it. maybe you won't get the blowing snow. back to you in the studio. >> you've got it. the snow that fell is going to stay in place, although it's compacting down. reagan national, 14.89. that ties all time for the records being kept. that marchs the same total for the blizzard 20610. bwi/marshall all-time max numb for this particular storm, 29.2. and at dulles, 29.8. all time. ores, 40.5 fell in shep herds

town. panhandle of west virginia. stafford didn't get quite as much as southern maryland. quite an astounding storm, guys. >> thanks, tom. we have breaking news. the us dp s repor usgs reports e earthquake hit. it's 160 miles from anchorage. first reports say it was 6.4. that has been upgrade. we'll bring you that as soon as

possible. metro is trying to get the service going. you think of it as an underground system but more than half uses the outside stations. paul wiedefeld told us it's been a battle to clear the tracks as the snow kept on coming. >> as we cleared it out it came back out. >> they'll check the tracks again today and make a decision on when it will reopen. we might hear about that sometime this afternoon. we'll keep an ear out. the snow has fallen and now you probably want to know when a plow will clear your street. this is what you want to watch closely today. pe put a link to all of these. d.c. shows where it snowed and what's been plowed, what's been salted. vdot showed the streets they plowed too. maryland's didn't of

transportation lists all the closures and travel speeds. >> let's head to german town and check in with molette green. molette, how are the streets looking? it seems like one of the places the snow kept coming and coming and coming. >> oh, yeah. two feet of snow or more. plow drivers are still pushing it. there are some trucks gassing up. on top of the white trucks, a bunch of salt. they're going to be using it to clear more of the streets and the main roads. a couple of restaurants tell me they're going to try to reopen. a steak place, a burger place. the contract workers i talked to, they're still moving the snow say it's pretty icy.

>> i saw it back in 2009. this is really nothing like 2009. close to it. though. on a scale of 1-10, probably about a 5. >> reporter: so, again, the main roads are looking better, still a little'sy. they're going to try to get to the secondary roads and continue working on those. the neighborhood streets, you're going to have to pack your patience. the only thing open around here is the gas station and the attendant has been on duty for some 40 hours. aaron and eveun, i want you to meet my friend, germantown gigi. >> we need to get you some

coffee. >> germantown gigi. >> she got coffee from the gas station. i'm a little more of a snob, i'm sorry. i need something else. that's her hair and she has highlights. >> good for her. girl friend's got it going on. >> the service connects people. we don't know when that service is going to restart. >> the snow may have stopped but the real work begins now, clearing all of the snow out of our region. to do that d.c. mayor muriel bowser is still asking residents to stay off the streets. this will help plows and first responders get to where they need to go to make sure it is safe for everyone who is trying to get out once the storn is clear.

the mayor asks for volunteers to help neighbors. she'll have more at 10:00. our tom sherwood will be standing by with that. we want to get to john crawford with emergency management. >> good morning, john. how are things? >> they're getting better. the big dig happens today. the snow has stopped so snow removal efforts are continuing. we ask businesses and residents to clear your sidewalks. if you have any fire hydrants close to where your business is or where you live, them auto the first responders. the main message we want to push out is, please, continue to stay home and offer the roads all allowing crews to clear the roadways. what we saw yesterday and we're seeing this morning is people are curious, they want to get out and see the snowfall and they can only walk on the roads

and that's really inhibiting the crews who are trying to plow these major arteries through arlington county. we ask that, you know, check on your neighbors as well because you know, many hands make light work. help one another out at this time. >> that's good. help others instead of just walking around. this isn't a push it aside and let it melt kind of storm we're dealing with, right? >> no, this is not. this is a major snowstorm, and the cleanup efforts are going to take quite a long time. what we had this morning was a power outage in the crystal city, pentagon city area, which affected 439 people who are currently out of power between south hayes and south front

street from 18th to south nesh. that's hopefully the only major power outage we get to today as road crews and dominion power are on their way to try to fix this problem. >> john, should we expect to see any plows in the neighborhoods in ar ling toon today? >> yes. here in arlington, we have four phases of snow removal. the first one, of course, is the alert, and then the pretreats of the road with sand, salt, chemicals. the second phase is the primary route. we're in phase two and continue to be in phase two, continuing to plow the major arteries. the secondary roads are phase three. we will move into phase three, but when we do, we will alert the neighborhoods, we'll put it out on twitter, social media platforms to let people know we're coming into and starting to plow the secondary roads. so it's going to take some time. we just ask people to please

pack their patience. >> all right. john crawford with the arlington management management office. we appreciate your time. one of the things that's interesting to learn. arlington is one of the few counties in virginia that handles its own plowing. most of them are managed by vdot. vdot told us they're going to do the main roads and subdivisions at the same time. wherever you are in northern virginia, it's going to be a few days. >> right. be patient. >> this is an nbc 4 tradition. we're talking about the pat collins snow stick challenge. >> don't you love this? so many of you responded. more than 1,700 people of you sent in your best cabin fever cure. pat collins takes a like at them that has our attention.

>> this is what's at stake, the official pat collins snow stick. these are just some of the things we've seen so far. we're looking for the most creative cabin fever cures. how do you keep from going bonkers during the blizzard? the best cabin fever cure gets the official pat collins snow stick. >> oh. these are more of the videos and photos that we got after pat issued his challenge. it fwiengs it's going take a while. >> we don't take our job lightly. >> pat's going to go through them with some judges, usually you and me and some other people. >> believe me. we look at the entries. we love them so much. the snow sticks are hard to come by. thanks for sharing. >> did you ever hold one? >> i remember holding one briefly because chuck bell brought it in. >> was that your own? >> he has his own. you u lock it up after hours so nobody gets to it, right? >> that's locked under lock and

key 24/7 until i personally hold it out to show. it's the same one, an exact duplicate of the one that be won by some lucky viewer today, so that's good stuff. i had a great experience a couple of years ago, i actually got to go out to dulles airport and drive some of the snow removal equipment. of course, the day we went out to do it, it was bright and sunny. these pieces of equipment out of dulles. this is the real deal. these are the things that can move the snow out of the way very, very quickly. that right there is the snow brush. there's me driving it. look at that. no incidents of any kind. these things are awesome. each one of these plow and rotor things, $700,000 apiece. keep in mind if you want one for your very own. you're going have to cough up a pretty penny to do it. they run the plows and this is what it looked like this morning. there they are scraping and

blowing it out off the airport. they're doing everything they can. there will be no inbound flights or outbound flights today and there be few numbers in and out as well. your a great pictures. marian lippe, 27 inches. muriel berger, sligo creek parkway buried up to the side of the row. and thin free ice bar available. the goose. what am i going to put the ice in. jennifer in friendship ice. they've got bottles of vodka standing on the side of the road. no drinking and driving. you shouldn't be driving so that makes the absolutely solution to what you should do on your sunday. nothing going around here today. i wanted to take you back and show you what it looked like 24 hours ago. apparently the computer's going leave me hanging dry on that one. temperatures right now, mostly in the 20s. we're on our way up. we should make it to 30 degrees. the next 24, 25 at 11:00.

22 at 8:00 tonight. once the sun goes down, that's all going to be a sheet of ice once again. by 11:00, close to the freeding mark. plenty of melting to come during the daylight hours. here's the way tomorrow looks. it's going to be a tricky go for your the rest of the week. sunshine giving way to clouds tomorrow. here's your seven-day forecast. every day it will be at or above the freezing mark but every night will be well below freeze, plus we have a chance for a little light rain shower activity late in the day on tuesday. it won't be much but just enough to add insult to injury. be ready. this is going to be a long slow process. >> yikes. all right. thanks, chuck. >> among every do a reminder every homeowner has to clear their sidewalks. we'll put that up to around midnight. prince george's county, you have 48 hour.

in d.c. residents have 24 hour, however, fines are not being handed out this snowstorm, we understand. in fairfax, it's encouraged but not legally required. we have much more coverage of the blizzard of 2016 ahead this morning on this big digout day. >> be sure to download our nbc washington app for the latest weather alerts. we're back in just a moment.

it's 10:00 a.m. and we're waiting for mayor muriel bowser to give us an update. we hear she's on site. she's meeting with officials right now. tom sherwood is there as well and we'll bring you live coverage as soon as it begins. in the meantime we're talking signs of progress. all of 270 back open in maryland. ahead the massive effort under way to get the roads cleared and ready for you. it's going to ta