for some, it is the first real taste of winter. now on news 4 today, we are tracking problem spots to avoid and weather preparations on the roads are paying off. we have live team coverage this morning as storm team 4 gets ahead and when you can expect more flakes to start flying. take a look at this video. it's a first look at the snow falling around our region and what many of you are waking up to now. one of our producers shot this in his home in the weeden area. we will we checking on all the delays and any potential openings for the snow. good

>> we want to find out what the storm is doing right now and if the storm has moved out. chuck bell and sheena parveen are here with more on our forecast. about morning. >> cloudy skies. there's still light snow flurries and showers out there. that's all coming to a quick end. this afternoon, staying cold. maybe a break or two of sunshine. may have another chance for snow coming our way tomorrow. there you can see, snow showers rapidly coming to an end. really not expecting much. temperatures right now are generally speaking below the freezing mark in most areas and we will stay today with afternoon highs only in the low to mid 30s. sheena is tracking any additional problems for the weekend. >> yeah. that's right, chuck. and there you go again. he is -- he loves snow, what can we say. s

the forecast. this is something we'll be watching very closely. take a look at our next storm. we're looking down in the gulf of mexico because this is where our next storm is coming from.. a lot of moisture coming with it and take a look at what happens tomorrow morning. we have the northern edge of this storm right across the d.c. area. now, we will be watching this very closely as we go into your saturday. here is a closer look at it as we go into the weekend -- hey, melissa! >> hi. i'm doing weather today. >> this is not easy to do back here, i'm telling you. >> good thing for traffic, the snow is not coming on a weekday during the commute. we'll talk more about the totals and more on the timing. but let's get a check of the traffic now with melissa molett. >> thank you, sheena. we have a break in traffic. this is southbound before 175 on 95. we have the left lane getting by this crash. this is involving two large trucks, one of them a tractor

well. this will take a couple of hours to get completely cleared up and out of the way. the left lane getting by the crash, that is now cleared out of the way. the rest of the beltway looking good. my picture for you, 270 at old hundred, you can see that accumulation here in the median this morning. along 66, prince william parkway, no problems. see new a few. >> thank you, melissa. you just heard from storm team 4. now we're tags you out on to the road. megan mcfwrath is driving through the clarksburg area right now. she drives us along the long. good morning. >> good morning. i've got to tell you, things are looking pretty good. we saw light snow overnight. there's a light dusting of snow, but the roads are in great shape. let's take a live look here. we are cruising live along 270. we passed through the clarksburg area. we're headed

area. our destination, we're just entering frederick county here looking for some of the larger snow totals in the area. really, we are not going to see anything major here. this was a light dusting of snow. but it's enough to create some slick spots out there and we are seeing some accidents. take a look at some video that we shot earlier this morning. this is at sam i and great seneca highway. an accident that we saw. they were toeing this car out of the wooded area. it went off the roadway and into the woods inside that intersection. they pulled it out, towed it out a little while ago. just something to keep in mind. slick spots with a possibility. it is 28 degrees where i am right now. the good news here, though, is that they did an excellent job of pretreating all the roads in the area in the previous 28 24 hours. so those chemicals are paying off at this point. we are just seeing wet pavement. back to you guys in the studio. >> megan, thank

team is deployed right now. major roads have been pretreated since wednesday night.. the snow command center is up and running and 220 snowplow drivers are ready in case they're needed. >> we'll be prepared, really, working throughout the night to make sure that the a.m. commute is a smooth commute for residents and for those who are traveling into the city. >> if you see a road or ramp you think needs more attention, call 311. and while today's snowfall did not accumulate much in d.c., remember to be preparedport next round of winter weather. property owners are responsible for removing snow from their sidewalks with an eight-hours of daylight after the snow stops falling. many of you are facing just sort of wet roads this morning. aaa warns that minor storms early in the winter can be trouble. >> shows that the first snowstorm of the season is the most dangerous one because people still venture out. and the lighter the

tend to drive. if you have heavy snow, people stay home. but most people assume they can handle an inch of snow and that's a recipe for disaster. >> some tips to keep in mind today and through the season, get your emergency kit ready and keep it in the car. you'll be glad to have an ice scraper, a shovel, flashlight and portable phone charger when you need it. don't stop, especially whenning driving on hills. and you've heard it a million times, but drive slowly, leave yourself extra time and be careful. >> right now, 80 million americans are under a winter weather advisory. many of them are in the great lakes region where heavy snow is barreling through. look at the footage here from upstate new york. people there are being told to stay home due to the hazardous road conditions. south of buffalo, school buses became stranded last night while trying to take students home. some of those students will return to the school where they spent the night.

home. in the snow, subzero temperatures are a problem. this footage from kansas. most of the state has at least 2 inches of snow. more is expected to fall over the weekend along with sustained subzero temperatures and winds up to 10 miles per hour. and in the western part of the country, they are seeing snow and rain. in sacramento, california, an inch of rain fell midweek and even more is expected this weekend. in colorado, they are seeing a lot of snow. colorado state university students trudged through the snow to get to classes. not that. i think that's mountain snow. totals range from 3 to 22 inches in the higher elevations you see there. that creates picturesque views in the mountains, but potentially dangerous driving conditions. and, of course, stay with storm team 4 for the latest updates on this blanket of wintry weather. before you head out the door this morning, take a few minutes to download the nbc washington app. transportation work in northern virginia, man,

but what is the actual benefit that you are seeing right now? i'm adam and i'll tell but an explanation that we got today coming up. and you might have to brush off your car for the first time this morning. all morning long, come poe storm team is tracking where another storm is coming on. >>

coming up on 4:11, if you kids in jifrson county, rf rf, let them sleep in. >> there are going to be some disappointed kids throughout the rest of our viewing area, as well, chuck bell. >> this is going to be a less not more kind of event. wrp never really thinking we were going to have the potential for delay. so really no worries. light flurries this morning. it will be cold and dry this arch. for tomorrow, there can be some problems tomorrow with snow becoming more .more likely. sheena will be detailing exactly how much snow you might get in st. mary's county tomorrow. as we get into sunday, inconveniently cold. temperatures staying in the 20

windchills down near 10 degrees on sunday. we'll give you the full five-day forecast coming up. for now, melissa is tracking troubles on 95. >> 95 southbound, they still have this problem. left lane getting by the crash because of that fuel on cell. it's a battle right now. this is at least one tractor-trailer on its side. 66 and 95, you can see no problems on 66 and 95 this morning. northwest, another problem, they're diverted southbound because of a snow plow. unfortunately for that guy this morning. you can see a little bit of that snowfall on the grassy areas. >> so justin, tell us where you are and how the roads are

looking. >> as you can see, the blacktop out here is pretty clear. the roads coming in here was pretty good. the only snow on that roy rogers roof. not much snow at all on the ground. i can tell you that the roads were thoroughly salted coming in from d.c. out here to loudon county. we did encounter some rainey spots coming in here. some rain along route 7 near cascades parkway. and also in the area of drainsville road. the temperature, again, 29 degrees so there are concerns that could turn into ice. >> justin, thank you. storm team 4 is working for you. you can check the latest forecast on the nbc washington app. follow us on twitter. they are there to appears any weather related concerns for you this morning. in northern virginia,

tax money is being spent on the roads. >> extra taxes approved self-years ago now paying for various transportation projects which are meant to speed up your commutes. >> no doubt about it, here in northern virginia, we see a ton of transportation work. drive down the dulles toll road, you can't help but notice the work happening on the second phase of the silver line. that will go to dulles airport and beyond. but there is so much more happening in northern virginia. from vre to road expansions. a ton of stuff is happening out here. a lot of it you are paying for with your tax dollars. today, leaders are giving us a tour of these projects and letting us know where you are seeing the benefit of these projects.

>> the express lanes on 95 which now carry more people per day in the regular lane of 95. in northern virginia, adam tusk, news 4. >> it's 4:15 auto this weather alert day. we're talking about a dusting of snow depending on whether you live. >> chuck bell is here with the 411. >> light snow coming down especially south of the city at this point if time. that will be the case or the next couple of hours. but it's quickly coming to an end. all the advisories in our area have been dropped for the evening. we have a winter storm warning for tomorrow. sheena will be talking about that in a second. for now, light snow. calvert and st. mary's county, that's coming to an end. might see a peak or two of sunshine before clouds thicken up early

highs today, generally speaking, a few degrees above the freezing mark. with your weekend impact, here is miss sheena parveen. >> chuck, as we go into the next several days, temperatures will be, in fact, in just about the 20s below freezing. we have saturday snow chances and as we go into sunday, we're looking at a dry day. it is going to stay cold for the start, but let's talk about those saturday snow chances here. we go through the rest of the today. here is saturday. these are some of the conditions you can expect. we could be on the leading edge of some snow across the area. saturday afternoon, we start to see that taper off and we go into sunday and we are looking nice examine dry for your sunday. as far as the totals are concerned, around the district, about less than an inch. we're on the northern edge of this snow.

center of this storm is. if it gets closer to the coastline, we could see these snow totals shift further north. but what we are looking at is mainly less than an inch around the district. farther south than that, the totals get higher, especially if you are right along the coast there. so a closer look. and farther south, we will be seeing those higher totals. this is only for part of your saturday. not your entire weekend. thursday, 30s. but then on thursday, back into the pifts. >> southbound 95 is still our biggest problem here. before 95, t

left lane getting by that crash. it's going to take a couple of hours to get through. beltway, looking quite good right now. you can see on the radar here, we're not seeing any falling at this point. 66 and 95, everything is rolling just fine. we just checked in with justin out in the leesburg aa on route 7. also looking pretty good there. they try and get this disabled snowplow out of the way this morning and a live look here at the beltway. everything nice and smooth.. aaron. >> thank you. seconds from

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you're watching news 4 today. >> welcome back at 4:21. imagine walking up to your apparently building and seeing this giant icicle. did you see it? this was in northwest china. firefighters say the icicle was about 65 feet long. >> it was hanging from the fifth floor to the first floor. as you can imagine, it was a big security risk so the fire department came in. they had to remove this. it too many took them about four hours to get the job done. >> at that point, it looks like an iceberg. two skiers ask two german shepherds are recovering this morning. >> they t

avalanche in nevada. res crew crews say the man ask the woman were skiing in the back country when the avalanche was triggered. they managed to hike to a highway and did not suffer any major injuries. both of them were wearing beacons and properúg]%ar avalan equipment. snow is here in our area and some of us will have to break out some of the snow scrapers for the first time. chuck and sheen ma are tracking what you can expect in the week ahead. >> and right now, a live look at the gas station in

now at 4:26, snow is here and so are the first problems spots on the roads. where plows are laying down salt and what you can expect when you head out to work today. and it's a different story across the country. the challenges drivers are facing from coast to coast. salt trucks are out treating the roads right now. crews are out in force to make sure you don't have a problem get to go work or school today. this is video from kensington, maryland. one of our producers shot it into work this morning. double duty. one major closure to tell you about right now. jefferson county schools in west virginia are closed today. >> and we also just heard f

on time. >> good morning, everybody. we also want to check our forecast this morning. good morning. >> good morning to on both of you. the only limited issues. frederick maryland, one of our coworkers came in and said 2 inches on the ground near south mountain. otherwise, paltry snowfall amounts. there's another chance for snow coming our way for tomorrow. best snow chances tomorrow will be south and east of the washington area. but we may be dealing with snowflakes around here, as well. current temperatures now, it's cold. generally at or below froozing across most of the area. with temperatures at 32, 33 degrees around town, the road chemicals are very effective this morning. temperatures today will be staying in the

thirds. lots of clouds around. we are tracking another system as we go into your saturday. we've been watching this one all week and the models have been fluctuating putting it farther south, maybe edging to the north. one of our sxurt models showing this area of low pressure and this would be part of that weathermaker for tomorrow. it would be providing snow through part of the area. the center of it will be offshore. it depends how close to the coast it gets or if it moved farther back to sea, it could change our forecast a bit. but what it looks like right now, most of the snow down to our south and east and you see the edge of the snow through the d.c. area. that is not going to be much know. we'll talk more about totals and the coal temperatures coming pup. let's check on the roadways with melissa mollet in traffic. 95, 175 south have that one lane getting

chopper 4 will be over this for us in a little while to show us what's going on. big, extensive cleanup because of an our spill and one of these tractor trailers on its side this morning. we had a disabled snow plow on constitution that is out of the way. that's good. live picture there at river road is looking quite good. back here in ten minutes. aaron. now we want to give you a live look at some areas in northern virginia. vdot's snow team deployed yesterday to make sure those roads were well treated. coming up, a live report on how that preparation paid off. >> major roads have been pretreated since wednesday night. the snow command center is up and running and dozens of drivers are on the road in case they're needed. >> we will be prepared

throughout the night to make sure the commute is a good commute for residentes and those traveling into the city. >> if you see a road or ramp you think needs more attention, be sure to call 311. 11. and while today's snowfall did not accumulate much in d.c., we should be prepared for the next round of winter weather. property owners are responsible for removing snow from their sidewalks within eight hours of daylight after the snow stops falling. >> aaa warns minor storms early in the winter can be trouble. >> research shows nat first snowstorm of the season is the most dangerous one because people still venture out. and the lighter the snow, people tend to drive. if you have heavy snow, most people stay home. people assume they can handle an inch of snow ask that's a recipe for disaster. get your emergency kit ready and keep it

you'll be glad you have an ice scraper, portable phone charger when you need that. and you've heard it a million times, but you want to drive slowly. leave yourself extra time and always be careful. it is 4:on 30 now. some parts of the northeast are getting slammed with winter weather. >> molette, what are you seeing? >> it's coming down in the northeast. check out this video. school buses going nowhere in western new york. stuck in that snow there. a band of lake-effect snow expected to drop 3 to 5 feet of wet stuff throughout the weekend. 29 inches fell so far causing white outconditions. that horse ask buggy struggling there. >> thank you,