from mother nature. >> some rain moving in right now that could help to melt some of the snow. but it might create some challenges, too. doug is going to tell us all about that. doug? >> i think we're going to have a lot of challenges on those roads. if you've been out, you know the challenges are there. the snow on the roads, the slush that's out there. the ice that remains, and we have lot of melting. temperatures got into the 50s across the area. now you throw into the mix a little bit of rain which is only going to a, add to the melt, b, add to the water on the roads, the roads are going to continue to be a mess. i saw a lot of standing water on a lot of the roads, a lot of sidewalks, it's going to be nasty tonight. i think a very nasty commute tomorrow. here's the rain from baltimore down through d.c., back along 66 towards front royal and warrenton. we're going to see mostly light rain south and east of this light. frederick, hagerstown, winchester, you won't see any rain. it will be to the south and east. you can see what's happening through the rest of the evening we'll see more showers trying to

come through the region. behind this we get cooler, if not colder tomorrow night. that's when we have a kpletly other issue. we'll be talking about all of this coming up in my full forecast. that's why we continue to be in the weather alert. d.c. public schools will reopen tomorrow. but others still have a lot of work to do before they can. many wonder if their children will able to go back to school at all this week. let's start with scott mcfarlane, he's been canvassing counties in maryland found a big to do list still remains. >> there's a wall of snow behind me here in montgomery blair high school in silver spring. this is what they removed from the parking lot. the problem is the sidewalks throughout this area to get you here loosh about the same. which means if students had to walk to montgomery blair high school tomorrow, if it were open, they would have to walk in university boulevard, that's a nonstarter. so schools are closed tomorrow. a lot of public school buildings still have to be cleared out. and the school buses, too.

chopper 4 shows you the crews trying to clear the school buses at the montgomery county public schools depot in bethesda. on the ground we found about a third of the buses remain snowed in at a depot in rockville and at the fairmont depot in prince george's county where the bus that takes these kids to vansville elementary school sits. eric henning hopes it will be running and the kids will be back to school before the end of the week. >> i think everybody is anxious to get back on track. >> get back to normal. >> yeah. >> no firm projections about when prince george's on montgomery county public skoolts will reopen. the seven acres worth of space must first be cleared of snow before the buses run. >> after you get all the ground clear, then you got to take collectively that's seven and a half acres worth of 26-inch deep snow and pull that off the top of the buses and find a place to put that. >> four plows cleared the lots at laurel high school today. prince george's schools must

also clear a half-dozen other schools by tomorrow so they can serve free meals there for the students who need them. donte french says his friends are ready to go back. he is. too. at some point you got to be hoping, you're probably hoping to get back to school soon, aren't you? >> yeah, definitely sitting in the house doing nothing all day is kind of boring. >> donte is a community college student at montgomery college and they're closed tomorrow, too. students of all ages eager to get back to school. as of tonight in the maryland suburbs, no firm promises or projections as to when school will reopen. live in silver spring, scott mcfarlane news4. keeping on top of schools in montgomery and prince george's county. at the live desk we're looking at the school closings coming in in the last hour. here's the latest. anne arundel schools will be closed tomorrow. it was suppose to be a teacher work day. it will get bumped to thursday. stafford county schools will be closed. as well as manassas park city

schools. employees there on a code red. also closed tomorrow, arlington county schools, but the offices are going to open at 10:00 a.m. alexandria city schools and offices will be closed wednesday. as for colleges, american university is open tomorrow, montgomery college is closed. those are some of the latest closures, you can see them at the bottom of your screen and a full list on our nbc washington app. d.c. government offices were open today. the snow emergency in the district will end tomorrow evening. and d.c. schools will reopen in the morning. but with so many sidewalks still buried under snow, there's some concern about kids and their safety. tom sherwood continues our coverage with a look at school conditions. tom? >> jim, we're here at the harriet tubman elementary school in columbia heights, northwest. its parking lot and walkways are clear. the issue tomorrow across the city will students get to the schools.

sidewalks and parking lots at more than 100 d.c. public schools appear ready for the students to return. but nearby neighborhood streets and sidewalks don't look as good. >> a little bit treacherous. you walk part a lot of houses that had ice and stuff in front of their doorways and the kids will have to walk past it tomorrow to get to school. if they can, they need to shovel it. >> this family was checking on programs at mckinley high school in northeast d.c., ready for the schools to start up again. >> once you're here it's okay. but to get to the schools where it's a little more dangerous. in the mornings there will be a lot of ice. >> mayor muriel bowser said schools would open on time wednesday morning and school officials tell news4 every school will be ready. but could use your help if you live nearby. >> we can't do it on our own and we can't shovel every sidewalk. we need the residents to step up and make sure that they're shoveling their sidewalks and helping their community members shovel those that haven't been

shoveled yet. >> the city's public charter schools are also getting ready. the teachers here shoveling the sidewalk at harmony elementary in northeast were joined by their principal. >> we the roads are clear, i think so, we are ready for tomorrow morning. >> of course, we should always be careful when you're driving near a public school or any school. tomorrow, you should be extra careful. tom sherwood, news4, back to you, doreen. >> thank you. the condition of the streets in your neighborhood depends a lot on where you live. three days since the snow stopped falling here, some people in northern virginia are seeing their first snowplow tonight. that raises questions about commute back to work and returning to school. bureau chief julie carey joins us live from bristow, virginia with more. >> hey, doreen, the folks at v-dot tell me they're making good progress on prince william

county street. that's one reason prince william county schools are tentatively scheduled to return on a delayed start on thursday. over in loudoun county, school officials tell me they expect to to make an announcement within the hour what they're going to do the rest of the week. some moms and dads out in loudoun still looking for the first plow. bob kinsler is fed up with waiting. waiting for a plow to reach his street. rosemead place in leesburg. his kids are flying back from hawaii tonight and he's determined to get to the airport. so he is snow blowing the street himself. >> yeah, i'm frustrated. we're in the middle of town. i mean i've got friends that live out in the boonies and they're back to work today. so -- here i'm just i missed two days of work already. so got to get out and do something. >> with up to two to three feet of snowfall. leesburg and loudoun county with the hardest hit and the slow toebt get dug out.

those still plowed in who need nonemergency help, say a ride to a dialysis appointment are urged to call the town or county for assistance. leesburg leaders promise a plow by tomorrow night at the latest. v-dot has better news. >> our goal is to have a path for everybody to their subdivisions by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. >> it will be days before commute resble a normal drive. this is what a vdot passable street looks and feels like. sometimes just one lane and it's a rough ride. and this is what the walk out of one ashburn subdivision was like. the parking lots and sidewalks at loudoun county schools are still snow covered. meaning there's a lot more work before kids can get back to class. this crew, though, is content to keep playing in the snow. in fact, they built a snowman wall across their unplowed street. warning the plow drivers to keep out.

vdot getting a little help from these guys to make the street a little more than passable. back out on the street that's still snowed in in leesburg. if the plow driver comes in during the daytime he might be greeted bay few snowballs. back to you. >> people in fort washington are asking officials and prince george's county to send the snowplows back into their neighborhood. the plows went through there once, but this hill at glen rock and corning avenues is still creating big problems. tires spinning, cars getting stuck there. frustrations running high. >> yeah, this is ridiculous, they're going to expect everybody to get up and go to work and do their productive day today? how, you can't even get out of your neighborhood. this is crazy. >> several people have abandoned their cars on the road. that of course makes it even trickier for others to navigate. the frustration is at an all-time high in the county. where many neighborhoods are

still waiting to see a plow come through. tracee wilkins in landover right now, where people are taking matters into their own hands there. tracee? >> they are they actually used a snowblower to get this part of the road clear but if you look back down that way, it has not been touched by a plow. but they can see from here, the promised land. is that there's a primary road already cleared. they just can't get to it. and this beltsville neighborhood. people are tired of waiting on snowplows. so they'redigging out on their own. >> we cleared up the street. no sign of a plow or nothing like that. this is the last place to come, ever. >> joe has a good portion of his street done. but it's all ice before making it to perfectly clear main roads. it's becoming a little frustrating. >> i understand it's an epic situation as they call it. but tax money got to go

somewhere and you know this is a priority. >> meanwhile, just a few miles away in university park, they're sledding and enjoying their roads that have been clear since sunday. the town's government did it with eight trucks. with nearly 2300 residents, this town has much less ground to cover than the county. but it still was a challenge. they credit experience. >> we worked hard for several years. we've made a very conscious effort to be able to operate in snow, to clear the snow. >> meanwhile, the county has a little more than half of its residential streets plowed. they say it just isn't that easy. >> if there are cars parked on both sides of the road, some of the bigger trucks are not able to maneuver down those streets so that's one of the issues. the second one is where are we going to put the snow? >> and the county press conference just wrapped up. the county executive said he's expected to have most of the residential streets cleared by 9:00 p.m. tomorrow night. reporting live in landover, i'm

tracee wilkins, news4. thank you, we've been asking you, how well your road has been plowed. take a look at the results of our flash survey. kind of mixed. more than half of you, 53%, say your road has been plowed, but not well. and look at this, another 21% say your street is still untouched. but the good news is, that 21% is down a little bit from a while ago. that's why we've launched operation #snowstuck. we want to see just how bad some of your streets are. and draw attention to it so that maybe you can get some help. send us your pictures and videos with the #snowstuck. and we'll share some of them later in the hour. coming up, an update just in from metro as commuters try to get back to normal after the big storm. we'll tell you what it means for your commute in the morning. ahead at 6:00, the progress when it comes to clearing away mounds of snow from school lots,

and the damage done to at least one school in northern virginia. this is chris gordon along river road which is down to one lane at this point in bethesda. how much more snow removal is necessary for commuters to [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.

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people in the fairlawn neighborhood say they even tried to flag down plow driver, but the person kept going. >> we need help. we need someone to help dig us out of this mess this blizzard. >> have you had anybody come out, any plows, anything? >> we haven't seen anyone. good hope road, yes. but our side streets, no. nothing. >> nothing. >> the snow-packed roads are still causing problems for drivers. a stuck car caused a traffic jam on park road in northwest d.c. >> metro will be running more trains and buses tomorrow. and might even start full rail service for the morning commute. our maegen fitzgerald is at metro headquarters with more. >> jim, metro says they're getting closer to resuming full service but they're not there yet. they tell us as we speak, they have crews working to do what they can to troo to get things back up and running.

let's start with what we know on the bus end. they say metro will start running 160 rounds tomorrow, compared to 79 which were operating today. and as far as rails are concerned, 86 of the 91 rails will open tomorrow. the only issue right now is that silver line, but a decision will be made before 5:00 a.m. on whether or not that rail line will be fully operating. but shuttle service will be available at the the silver line, so riders can get to their destination. dan stes is the spokesperson for metro. he said their biggest issue is clearing and de-icing the third rail. the tracks are above ground and they receive more snow than many other routes. >> our game plan is later this evening, to run test trains and polisher trains, the poll iner trains look like a regular metro rail trains, they will serve the purpose of making sure that the collector shoes are guiding properly on the third rail.

>> we're told 32 metro bus routes were school students in d.c. will resume tomorrow. as far as the operation of the silver line, download our nbc washington app. we'll send a push alert to your phone letting you know what decision was made and whether or not full service will be running on the silver line tomorrow. >> the airlines are still struggling to get back on track. right now flights coming into reagan national are being delayed because of heavy volume at the airport. 73 flights at dulles international have been canceled today. 18 at reagan. 13 at bwi marshall. nationally, about 700 flights were canceled today and more than 1,000 were delayed. doug, you said it was going to be rough getting over this one. and boy, is it ever. >> we're still in weather alert mode. we will be most likely through the day tomorrow and probably thursday, too. and the reason is because we had, the snow is sitting here, melting. it's going to refreeze, tonight

the issue is not going to be the refreeze, but the melting is just as much of an issue out there right now. take a look i want to show you what's going on. slick and slushy, lots of puddles, a lot of standing water on the roadways made things very difficult to get in. with all of the very narrow roads that are out there, too. rush hour tomorrow morning is going to be a big deal. make sure to wear the waterproof boots, getting in and out of anywhere will be quite some time. 51 degrees the temperature has gone up two degrees over the last hour. the winds out of the southwest at 8 miles per hour. the rain is starting to fall. the temperatures way too warm for any snow thflt is all rain. 52 manassas, 51 in fredericksburg. any rain that falls will only continue to help with the melting across our region. that means more water out there on the roadways. so maybe even some localized street flooding. here's the rain down i-95. frederick, winchester, hagerstown, you may not see much at all from this system.

most of it from i-95 south and east. we'll zoom into this area. right over towards oxon hill, up toward bowie. that's about it and then in the city of fairfax, let's go towards fairfax. and fairfax county, looking pretty good here. just to the west of fairfax not seeing much. to the east over towards burke, burke center parkway, and annanda annandale, picking up rain. the rain will continue through the evening and off and on it's part of a cold front trying to sweep through. with it, moisture down to the south. we're not going to see a whole lot of rain from this and a whole lot of cold air on the back side. it will get colder and it will produce much different conditions tomorrow night than tonight. tonight is just the showers through the overnight hours. we're looking at the showers activity south and east of d.c. by 7:00 a.m. it's out of here.

we start to clear and see some sunshine. tomorrow afternoon temperatures getting into the 40-degree range. but tonight, notice how most areas stay above freezing. so i don't think we'll is he a refreeze. the only condition will to be the north and west. frederick and martinsburg. could see a refreeze. wednesday morning mainly slushy. i still think we should put this into the yellow. it will be a very tough commute. look at thursday morning, dangerously slick. thursday morning temperatures get down to the low 20s. i'm concerned about the morning rush. it's going to be a mess out there. but really a mess just about any morning this week. 41 on thursday, 39 on friday. i'll show you the numbers in a few minutes. we heard from loudoun county public schools, they're going to be closed through friday. loudoun county, the administrative offices in loudoun county will be open on

friday. coming up, a look at the damage in northern virginia. and how it might have an impact when kids go back to school. >> as the city digs out, the mayor says, this is a no-no. i'm mark segraves and i'll

. parking wars in the district. they are raging. mark segraves set off firestorm on twitter when he posted this

picture reminding residents that it is unlawful to save your parking space after you dig it out. mark joins us now from the northwest d.c. with both sides of this growing debate. you know mark this is not a debate or issue, you spent all the time digging a space out for yourself. nobody better dare touch it or think about it. >> hi, mark. >> are you there? >> yeah you're not alone. in that train of thought. hey, doreen. there are lot of people who feel that way but there are people like the mayor and chief of police who feel much differently about it this is a question i've been asking at political debates of candidates, local candidates for years, it sparked so much passion on both sides. if you spend all day clearing out a parking space, are you allowed to save it? so it will will be there when you get home? >> just try to be considered in and realize that nobody really owns that space. when people try to start saving

their space, we start to see little tensions flair up between neighbors. so nobody does have the legal right to save their own space along public streets. >> that was chief lanier's warning three days ago. since then residents have been digging out. >> do you feel like this is your spot. >> yeah. very possessive of it. if anyone takes it you better watch out. >> she feels like it's her space, she's not going to mark her territory like others have. >> it's more of a tacit agreement between me and the other drivers that we dug this spot out so i'm not going to place chairs or cones or anything. >> most people we spoke with were counting on karma to protect their car space. >> i guess it's going to be a free for all. i know we need to help each other if someone else takes it hopefully there will be other spots that i can take. >> others wanted to protect their hard work themselves. >> i think anybody who sees something here will know that i spent time and energy digging myself out. even those who try to save their

spaces know once they leave, it's pretty much up for grabs. >> if i'm here i might do something about it if i'm not, what am i going going to do? >> district officials remind residents. >> nobody owns the space, people need 0 do get their cars out, they need to dig them out. but you don't own your space. >> so again, this is a debate that's going to rage on as long as there are cars and snow. but again, d.c. law is clear. no savesies, if you want to weigh in and let vance now how you feel about it. there are lots of people with opinions there. jim and doreen? >> i saw some of those opinions on facebook and twitter. people -- take this very seriously. >> they do and that's a lot of work for somebody to go through. they can do like you do and just sit there all day. camp out in your chair. nobody is going to run over you.

way to go man, thank you. >> i got to tell you you saw the guy who built the knowman to protect his space. >> there you go. thank you, mark. coming up tonight, growing frustration over streets that have not been touched by a plow. >> the challenges drivers could face on their way in to work even as the local counties pledge to clear every neighborhood by tomorrow morning. the snow stick challenge winners, now you know who they are coming up, yo

the federal government was closed today. but other workers trudged through the snow and the slush to get it their jobs. tonight, we're learning more about the economic impact of the storm. experts say the blizzard cost businesses along the east coast somewhere between $2 billion and $16 billion. >> as crews work around the clock to get roads cleared, there's rain in the forecast and that will help melt some of the snow. our team coverage starts with doug in storm center 4. we have to be careful that it doesn't melt too fast, right? >> we could be seeing some flooding issues, i don't think we'll see anything like what we saw back in '96. we saw so much warming after the blizzard of '96. very similar snow amounts so that's something we're going to be watching out for today. temperatures got into 50s. take a look at the rain across

the area. it will melt the snow and compact it. the snow, it will absorb most of the rain that comes down but it will produce a little more snow pack. annapolis, washington down towards fredericksburg, seeing the rain, more rain overnight in parts of the yeah. we're talking about the other big issue, the refreeze, which day i think could be the worst. we've been asking you to let us know about trouble spots still full of snow in your area. northern virginia burg reporter david culver checked out some of the spots and the damage done to one school. and joins us live from glebe elementary in arlington. >> we're starting to see a little bit of the rain that doug mentioned, helping to melt some of the snow and we've been across northern virginia, fairfax and here into arlington. we've checked in on some of the school lots cleared, glebe elementary and side streets and highways. speaking of the highways. this was what some of you had to

deal with. this is what happens when you add a little bit of snow removal process to the springfield mixing bowl this is 395 north around midday. you can see traffic was blocked as crews were working to pick up some of the snow and carry it away. >> progress spotted at glebe elementary school. arlington county pushing away the remnants of blizzard 2016. what can't be pushed aside is carried off to melting zones. this is one of three in the county. the snow is dropped on to this mountain. it's scooped up and dropped on to the melter. to be spit out as water. we found troubled neighborhood streets in chantilly, in this part of fairfax county this suv ended up turning around. stopped by a mound of snow. milder temperatures led to melting. but not quickly enough for some. the heavy snow blamed for this roof collapse at st. timothy's catholic school. it damaged the music classroom.

they followed fairfax county schools but aren't quite sure when they'll open back up. contractors assessing the aftermath today. >> they dumped most of the snow on our sidewalk we had already clear off. >> off olly lane jeff greenspan frustrated to see the sidewalk with snow piled high. it could pose another problem for fairfax county students who have to walk. >> obviously we had cleared it off so people could use it. it's much safer for kids to walk along here to stay on the sidewalk than in the street. >> and in alexandria, sheryl tweeting us photos of fire trucks and police suvs getting stuck on pinecrest vista. today she tweeted, hallelujah, plowed. but still slushy stuff left behind. >> arlington county tweeting out that 91% of primary, secondary and school roads have been cleared. they still have about half of the neighborhood roads left to go vance? >> thanks, david. >> you might have a snowblower

in your garage. but i'll bet you don't have one like this one. that is the big momma of them all. snowblower working through the day to clear the through lanes, on i-270. chopper 4 was over the scene in rockville late this morning and caught this. crews were using that massive blower to move the snow that built up along the jersey walls. packed snow was blocking part of the right lane. some smaller plows were on hand to clear the snow that was being blown onto the local lanes. now that is a snowblower. >> main roads are mostly clear, but there are still some commuter routes in montgomery county that could pose some major problemes if everybody goes back to work tomorrow. our chris gordon on river road now, where there is still plenty of work to be done. chris? >> montgomery county executive ike leggett tells me that 70% of the calls with people complaining about snow

conditions are referring to state roads like this one, river road in bethesda. where only one lane is cushed southbound into the district. have not cleared curb to curb. we rode on river road and we want to share with you what we saw. >> as we drove down river road from the beltway toward d.c., we hit a snow pile blocking the right lane. this is a main commuter route which is the responsibility of maryland state plows to clear. but parts of river road are reduced to one lane. >> i know the state is challenged, i can tell you the state probably has not done the kind of job that montgomery county has done on its roads. they have a very large, large segment of the entire state to deal with leggett climbed into a snowplow to underscore his pledge that every county neighborhood will have at least one path plowed by 7:00 tomorrow. the plow with leggett on board cleared goya drive in potomac.

>> we have a hands on elected official who is actually in the truck. i think that's really great. >> we found denton road untouched as bob cats began digging out elm street. >> we're finally free. >> it's enough already. you know? >> this has been since friday, saturday, sunday, monday. >> montgomery county has 200 of its plows in more than 600 contractors moving snow. >> we're not minnesota where we're used to this type of thing and nobody -- we were prepared, i mean we have all kinds of equipment out there. it's just even a truck like cannot get into some places until a loader goes through first. >> there are those who complain. but there has been a tremendous amount of kudos and tanks and so forth. >> you are now looking live at a lady waiting for a bus. she is standing on snow, right in the middle of river road, cars are just passing within

feet of her. so what appears to be needed is state plows and loaders, to clear and widen river road and other main commuter routes like connecticut, georgia, new hampshire, in order to be ready when federal employees are ordered to return to work. the latest live in bethesda, doreen, back to you. >> people need to allow lots of extra time if they're trying to get to work tomorrow. thank you, chris. up next, the countdown to iowa and the race still too close to call. >> also, panic after reports of a shooting at a navy facility out w

six more days until iowa holds the first nominating contest of the 2016 presidential race. polls show this race is too close to call. in both parties. and in a race this close, small things can make a big difference. today donald trump says he's won

of the endorsement of an influential christian conservative. steve handelsman reports. >> in a state where many republicans mix prayer with politics. >> god bless the great state of iowa. >> it's a blow to ted cruz who is campaigning as a christian conservative. donald trump endorsed by evangelical heavyweight. cruz had declared his kpdcy last march at falwell's liberty university. now he's warning evangelicals that trump has been to be beaten in iowa. >> if he went on to win in new hampshire, there's a good chance he could be unstoppable and be our nominee. >> trump talks to cruz on morning joe. >> he's wacky. >> unlike cruz, trump says he would cut deals with democrats. >> it's wonderful to be a rebel. but you got to get some people on your side a little bit. >> in today's quinnipiac poll, trump leads by two in iowa.

on the democratic side, despite bernie sanders admitting his health care plan is costly. sanders and hillary clinton are virtually tied. he told iowa steel workers to boost the middle class they have to get more democrats to caucus. >> if those people comet out to vote we'll win and we'll win big. >> clinton is running an ad she says shows a lifetime of fighting for families. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. if you've been by the white house, since ronald reagan took office, chances are, you have seen concepcion pichoto. her friends called her connie she devoted decades to fighting against war and nuclear proliferation. she joined the protests outside the white house in 1981. and kept an almost constant vigil there. she died yesterday. at the n street village.

that's a facility that offers support to low-income women. the executive director of n street village told us today that it took some persuading but they were able to get her to move into one of their apartments in november she continued to work outside the white house and was there last week. pichoto is believed to have been about 80 years old. >> hundreds of viewers used our app to watch coverage as the story unfolded and -- a visit from our own

you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security.

americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates, answer the call already.

some of you, a lot of you are worried about tomorrow morning's commute. but others just wondering whether you'll be able to leave home. many of you have been letting us know that your street has been untouched so far. so we launched #snowstuck to draw attention to the issue and here's chris lawrence with more. chris? >> we've been flooded with pictures of pristine, snowy landscapes where busy streets are supposed to be. but we just got one video that

pretty much sums it up pretty well. >> snowplow snowplow please get to my nanna's house. snowplow, please get g to my nanna's house. >> way to stick up for nanna. that's from a little girl who lives on percussion way in vienna. she may have the cutest reaction to being stuck. people have told us all kinds of stuff. holding up help signs, asking us to ask mayor bowser why georgia avenue still looks like that we'll take all your posts, please send them to us with that hash tag. the snow stick challenge for the blizzard of 2016 is in the books and tonight we have the winner to announce. the challenge, the best cure for cabin fever. >> the winner had a full house and a bunch of kids to keep occupied. what a challenge that can be. we called this one the cat burglar in training.

probably seeing something like this in the movies. a pat collins went out to warrenton, virginia to see how it worked in person. >> in this house in warrenton, virginia, a cat burglary training course this is how they beat the boredom of the blizzard. >> did it work? >> it worked. everyone's happy. >> is everybody happy? >> yes. >> this somehow they won the official pat collins snowstick and this is how they weaved their way through this maze of red lines. trying ever so carefully not to touch anything. >> does it keep the kids occupied? >> yes. it does. >> and it seechs them some skills? >> yes, our family business. >> which is going to blossom any day now. >> burglary business. >> two families share this house. there are seven kids.

four adults, and more than two feet of snow outside and so, they thought this would keep everybody from going bonkers during the blizzard. >> is this a fun thing to do? >> yes. >> is it hard to do? >> most of time. do you like it? >> yes. >> it keeps you out of mom's hair? >> yes. >> is there a competition between all of kids? >> not necessarily, but i timed myself and i dentally got the fastest time. >> how long? >> 45 seconds. >> once again, congratulations to the perry family and the wheeler family. winners of the pat collins snow stick. and the snow stick challenge of blizzard 2016. thanks again to everyone who entered the snow stick challenge. there was a lot of creativity, a lot of imagination and a lot of fun. can't wait until the next one. i'm pat collins, news4. >> what did he just say?

>> he said he can't wait for the next one is what he said. >> while we were sitting here in the warmth. >> i'm impressed with the creative families, that was a very clever idea with very limited materials. >> exactly right. >> when is the next one, by the way? >> yeah, doug? >> mid february. let's talk about what's going to happen. outside right now. let's look outside. this is what we have right here. no, guys, i'm sorry, i don't think we're done with snowstorms just yet we mentioned there could be at least one, if not two big storms this season. we might see another one out there it's not in the forecast now. let's not even talk about it let's just -- throw it down the road. kick the can a little longer. >> it is warm, very mild after a

snowstorm. that means we've seen a lot of melting. the showers are out there. and you can see showers through 11:00. and 3:00, 4:00 a.m. and temperatures fall by early tomorrow morning. some areas will make it down to freezing, most of us stay above freezing. 51 in reston. fort belvoir, 50, and annapolis at 48. there's the rain, there's not much of it. just some shower activity around the d.c. metro areas, charles county seeing the rain. two-hour delay in charles county. most of the region is closed, d.c. schools will be in. so the rain is going to help in some of the melting. can you see what's going on across the region. i still think many schools will be closed tomorrow and on thursday, you know the deal. 41 degrees on thursday, thursday morning, big-time issues early thursday morning with big-time refreeze. very warm as we head towards the weekend and early next week, more melting likely for sure. tune in tomorrow morning, 4:00

a.m. that's what time our show is starting to help us get through the early morning hours, coming up next, sports. ♪ know you can keep your financial big picture under control. know you can see how much you have to spend and whether you should transfer funds. know you can easily keep track of what you're putting away. and know you're budgeted for the great escape. thanks to virtual wallet by pnc. ♪

this is the xfinity sports desk, brought to you by xfinity. your home for the most live sports. >> the wizards cannot keep their front team on the court.

>> healthy for a minute. back to life without bradley biehl, he's day to day. the team confirm as broken nose and concussion. suffered last night in a painful moment that could hurt this team for a while. wizards look to come together and then -- this happened. beale, who has been getting a lot of grief for how much he's injured, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. a forearm in the face, left him bloody, left the game. wizards spiralled down in the second half. an ugly loss to the celtics and a lot of questions today. they're going to try to rebound tonight in toronto. crazy story alert. clippers star blake griffin is out. four to six weeks with broken hand after a fight with a member of the team's equipment staff. according to several reports. griffin hit the man inside the restaurant during an argument. then followed him outside and hit him again. the clippers put out a statement thissen afternoon saying they are conducting a full investigation and appropriate action will be taken at its conclusion.

meanwhile, you know it's a big game when both jay-z and drake are in attendance. the golden state warriors, steph curry and company putting on a show against the spurs. this was expected to be a an exciting game between the top two teams in the west. it was a blow-out you guys, they won by 30 points what they're doing this season just incredible. 41 wins and four losses. curry leading a week averaging over 30 points a game and the warriors are going to be in d.c. a week from tomorrow. talk about measuring stick. the last thing, a hot team wants is a big freeze, but the cats aren't sweating their blizzard break. jason pew has more. >> the capitals haven't played a hockey game in over a week. and the guys are an shus to finally get back on the ice tomorrow against the flyers. while most teams will be concerned about losing momentum or being a little rusty. not this squad. >> we've done a good job up until this point. kind of taking different situations. and doing our thing and keeping our game going. >> i think this group is in

pretty good shape. we're pretty focused. obviously there's probably going to be a couple of shifts where we got to get in hopefully we can keep it simple in the first five minutes of the game and get our legs under us. >> the minds will be there, the bodies fresh, it's nice to have a break mid season and heal up a few things. take advantage and come back with a good effort tomorrow and have a nice all-star break. >> tomorrow's caps game they could have john karlsson back in the lineup. he practiced again today for the second time this week. the head coach said he'll be evaluated again tomorrow before the game from arlington, i'm jason pew, news4 sports. a lot of folks here rooting for karlsson. doreen ran into him on the streets of bethesda during the storm. nice guy. >> very nice guy. >> see if he gets back one game they play in two weeks then they go on the all-star break. >> everybody gets a chance to heal up. >> he was even more pleased to meet her. >> he told me -- >> he was happy with his

neighbor who snowplowed him out. >> that's a wise man. >> that's our broadcast for now, nightly news coming up next. >> news4 at 11:00, have a good evening.

tonight, unstoppable. ted cruz's dire warning about donald trump as the front-runner surges and nabs major endorsements just six days until iowa. cliffhanger. evacuations under way with an entire community on edge tumbling into the sea. a state of emergency as el nino unleashes its wrath on the california cst. where's the respse? nbc news has learned amid the toxic water crisis in flint, no pipes are being replaced. we ask the governor why not. warning signs for pregnant women and mothers of newborns. a big announcement from doctors about diagnosing depression. and remembering abe vigoda. sadly, this time it's for real. from "the godfather" to "barney miller," the legendary actor is gone. "nightly news" begin