now at 11:00, spring comes early. weather extremes we're not used to seeing. why we're staying warm and dry and dodging all the storms. vandalism on the national mall. the marks left behind on thr

weekend. and bao bao's final hours in washington. how you can watch the giant panda's farewell tomorrow. >> announcer: news4 at 11:00 starts now. good evening, everybody. we begin tonight with what everybody's talking about -- the weather. normally in february that means we're getting you ready for snow or extreme cold. >> normally that would be the case. but tonight we're talking about a winter that's approaching record territory for warmth. today's high, 20 degrees above average, keeping us on track for our third or fourth warmest winter ever. this would also be our third lowest snowfall total. get this, we've had less than an inch and a half all season. and as the snow and rain keep missing us, we are settling into drought conditions. dry enough today for a brush fire in prince george's county. >> our team coverage starts tonight with news4's sham

>> reporter: good evening. i'm usually wearing a winter coat and hat in february but not today. we saw people kayaking on the potomac river. one man even had his shirt off. people are asking me how long will this stick around. it's not what you typically see on february 20th in george opportunity. people dining outside restaurant. and you don't usually see this, volleyball near the kennedy center. tyler wears shorts, no shirt. >> it's great. it feels really weird, actually, being out here in february. it feels like a nice summer day. >> reporter: did he say summer? we haven't even started spring yet. today the temps were in the upper 60s to low 70s. we asked our doug camekammerer what's going on. >> normally we get cold air from canada this time of year. it's not not happening, it's locked in canada, a t

are extremely warm, records being set on a daily basis. >> reporter: firefighters are watching the weather closely. in prince georges county, a brush fire. dryness, low humidity, and wind contributed to it. >> it's kind of crazy, because it's february. i should be wearing a jacket. but it's not. i'm not complaining. >> i'm just hoping for a warm season, that's all we can ask for. last winter was pretty rough. hopefully we get a nice warm season this year. >> reporter: that is wishful thinking. as you see, most people are not complaining about this weather. however there are some who have concerns. those who suffer from the springtime allergies have already started take their medicine. live at the waterfront, shomari stone, news4. it's president's day, but doug, it sure doesn't feel like winter at all. >> it really doesn't, guys. again, what we saw today, 68 deges

april. we've seen a couple of days in the 70s. there's more in the forecast. if you want winter weather, and who doesn't, right, meaning the cold and the snow, this is the kind of jetstream pattern you immediate. a very big ridge in the west and a deep trough in the east. that allows the cold air in canada to come right down into our region. we've had that over the past couple of years, including some extremely cold outbreaks. but this year, a little bit different. that jetstream not coming down into our area. it's coming straight into portions of the west coast. california, washington, oregon, all seeing records as far as rainfall and snowfall go. then warm air towards the east including dc, towards chicago. look where we were across the region today, high of 70 in chicago, the warmest ever for this early in the season. 72 in roanoke. i do not see this pattern breaking down anytime soon. everyone is asking, is there still a chance for snow?

there's still a chance but not a good one. the entire ten-day forecast, above average. i'll show you just how warm we get. i'll see you back in ten minutes. >> thank you, doug. new tonight, reports of vandalism in not one but three of our national monuments this holiday weekend. the lincoln memorial, national monument, and world war ii memorial. news4's jackie bensen is live with what park officials have found. >> reporter: doreen, the words were written in sharpie or some other type of permanent marker. the graffiti was discovered over the weekend. there were more crowds than usual due to the unseasonably warm weather and the presidents day holiday. >> somebody appears to have, with sharpie or magic marker, tagged similar messages at the lincoln memorial, washington monument, and world war ii monument. >> reporter: he says it appears the same person is responsible. >> similarity of what's written and the hanti

described as not overtly political or hate filled and covering a fairly small space. defacing the national monuments is rare but not unheard of. the most significant in recent memory was the bizarre throwing of green paint on the lincoln memorial in 2012. the woman arrested for that was also charged with defacing the washington national cathedral in northwest. the national park service staff are skilled in the tricky process of removing it. >> something like marble, which is more porous than granite, may have a different way to take it off. sometimes it takes multiple cleansings to get it out. of course what we want to do in the course of getting it off, we don't want to do any further damage to the stone. >> reporter: u.s. park police are investigating. we're told they are reviewing surveillance camera footage from all three of the locations. live on the national mall, jackie bensen, news4.

thousands of americans marked presidents day with protests against the president. people here in dc, new york, chicago, l.a., atlanta, philly, and more than two dozen other cities staged "not my presidents day" rallies. hundreds of protesters marched from dupont circle to the white house, chanting "stand up, fight back." they held signs that said, "dump trump or impeach him." he's not the president's first choice but republicans and some democrats say he's still a good choice. army lieutenant general h.r. c mcmaster will replace mike flynn as national security adviser. president trump offered the job to vice admiral robert harward last week but he turned it down. mcmaster

wars and afghanistan. three people who set off the metal detector at jfk airport are in california tonight after they were able to board their flights without ever being screened. right now the tsa is investigating why agents left an area unsupervised and allowed 11 passengers to stroll through a security lane. it happened around 6:00 this morning in the jetblue terminal right before the checkpoint was go to open. there was no one there to operate the machines or do patdowns. a senior law enforcement official tells nbc news there is surveillance video of three travelers setting off alarms. instead of immediately calling port authority police, tsa agents fanned out in the terminal to try to find the passengers themselves. the passengers who set off the alarms were screened once they arrived in san francisco and l.a. the other eight passengers were not

i'm chris lawrence at the live desk. tonight, we've learned you'll be able to watch parts of bao bao's final morning in dc on facebook live. it will be your only option, since the national zoo itself will be closed until noon tomorrow so the keepers can get the giant panda safely on her way to china. bao bao will fly out of dulles with her keeper and a handler. her flight will be about 16 hours nonstop. keepers say they'll have a lot of good snacks for that long trip. today panda lovers swarmed the zoo hoping for one last look. >> we came here from jersey last night to come see bao bao. >> i like seeing her on tv, and commercials about them, and when they play around. >> the hope for bao bao is that she'll become a mother in a couple of years. the national zoo also hopes her parents will conceive another cub here as soon as this summer. washington's obseio

pandas dates all the way back to the '70s, which china gave the american people a pair of giant pandas as a gift. they arrived stateside in 1972 but they never had a cub that survived more than a few days. nearly three decades passed before bao bao's parents came to the u.s. they're really the ones who grew dc's panda population. in 2005, their first surviving cub went to china to participant in their breeding program. in 2013, bao bao was born. bei bei was born two years later. bei bei will stay at the national zoo for a few years before he heads back to china. a quiz before the end of the show. one of the bills passed

have allowed people to carry concealed switch blades. the other would have lowered the age for concealed handguns. the third bill rejected for the second year in a row is the so-called tebow bill which would have allowed home schooled students to play high school sports. critics say that creates an uneven playing field. none of the bills could override the governor's veto. one of the commonwealth's most powerful republicans will retire. house speaker bill howard of stafford got a standing ovation in richmond today. he's 73 years old. he became speaker 14 years ago. he says he wants to spend more time with his family. it's one of the hottest tickets in town. and now we know why it's so tough to get inside the museum of african-american history and culture. it's had more than a million visitors since it opened in

the average visitor stays six hours on weekends. two hours is common in most museums. sweet home cafe, the restaurant inside the museum, was just nominated for a james beard award in the category of best new restaurants. next at 11:00, the mistake experts say most parents are making when it comes to storing prescription painkillers in their home. plus first responders and a dive team called to central park tonight. and the trifrgs figure who now won't be attending the

he's been called a

misogynist and white supremacist. but until today he was on the list of speakers for this week's conservative political action conference at national harbor here. milo yiannopoulos was uninvited this afternoon. the american conservative union says that decision came after seeing a video where it looks like yiannopoulos condones pedophilia. yiannopoulos is a tech editor for breitbart news. he says someone edited the clip to make him look bad. expect extra security around national harbor for the conference this week. it runs wednesday through saturday. this isn't the first time national harbor has hosted cpac but it's the first time it's done so with a republican in the white house. president trump plans to speak at the conference on friday. national harbor officials say they're ready for all of it. >> the good part about some of the speakers, okay, some of the big speakers are early in the morning. so we don't have our normal traffic parents that we have at dinner time or

evening. >> restaurants and nearby shops are hoping for a boost in business this week. we're coming off a particularly strong weekend. the warm, sunny weather brought out some record breaking crowds. in news4 your health tonight, some advice that may surprise you. the way you store your medicine, especially powerful painkillers, could be dangerously wrong. researchers at johns hopkins university say if there are children age 6 or younger in your home, you need to lock up prescription opiate medications. in homes with older kids, the rules are even tougher. >> up to age 17, we describe storage as basically under lock and key. a combination lock or a keyed lock. >> researchers are working on using existing thumbprint technology similar to what's used on smartphones so that only you will be able to get to your medicine. after a close call in a recent fire, one dog's owner says she had a mission. first, to say thanks to the crew who saved her

help you keep your pet safe if it's ever in a house fire. erika davis walked into the falls church fire department today with lunch for the crew. this was her first time meeting them because she wasn't home when the fire started in her condo. sadie was home alone. >> they had wrapped her in a blanket. she had a fire hose around her neck as a leash. they were sitting with her. i was so appreciative. >> she donated those window stickers to let first responders know there is a pet in your house. firefighters can hand them out when they do smoke detector inspections. new tonight, six teenagers arrested in new york's central park after falling through the ice on a pond that was supposed to be offlimits. new york city police and fire and rescue teams including divers responded. they pulled the teens out of the 32-degree water. at its deepest, the pond is about 18 feet. everyone is expected

it's hard to believe, doug, they even have ice, even thin ice on a pond in central park. >> i'm looking at that right now. they've been below freezing for the last couple of nights. >> you would think it would have melted. >> you would think. kids go out on that sheet of ice and think, oh, this is going to hold me. not going to happen, especially when we're this warm this time of year, ice will not hold. we haven't seen ice much at all in our area. the high temperatures today well above average. again, our average high is 48. we hit 68 today. 20 degrees above average. warrenton coming in at 70 degrees. luray at 70. 74 charlottesville. 69 at fredericksburg. 64 towards baltimore. cooler along the bay, 59 degrees in annapolis. that will be the case as we move into the day tomorrow too. out there right now, still on the mild side. again, our average high is 48. at 11:t

and it's 50 degrees. wind at 8 miles per hour out of the east. take a look, 36 in frederick, 44 in huntingtown, 46 in fredericksburg. well above average tonight. it will be above average tomorrow morning but still on the chilly side. tomorrow will be a much cooler day. nothing on the radar. as we look towards the satellite and radar, i want to show you what's happening. we've got a system back to the west. same system that helped chicago get to 70 today. they set a record four days in a row. two 70s, two 69s around the chicago area. we won't see any of this rain, but we are looking at the cloud cover coming in. this is a storm out to the east that brought halifax, nova scotia, some snow. a backdoor cold front. philadelphia was at ,

were at 68. that cooler air will move in across the region. the rest of the area, 77 national, near 80 today in st. louis. we're going to get cool tomorrow, but the warm air then moves right back in for the rest of the week. we'll get to that in just a second. tomorrow, 55 degrees, cloudy and cool. still we will above average, even though we'll be significantly cooler than we were today. next couple of days, again, tomorrow it will be a cool start at the bus stop. 50 at noon, 55 by 4:00. a lot of clouds. kids will need the coats when you step out the door tomorrow morning. but they won't need them the rest of the week. 72 on thursday. 74 degrees on friday. now, thursday we could set a record at dulles, record high is 70. we could get there. on friday, the record high at dulles is 79, i don't think we'll have a chance at that one, but we'll be close in some areas. 67 on saturday, with chance of shower activity most likely earlier in the day. cooler weather during the day on sunday with a high of 50 degrees. we'll go all t

guys. >> brrr! >> which again is still above average. >> wow. >> crazy. >> it is. >> it really is. and i don't see this changing anytime soon. >> winter might be over. >> it might be. coming up, news on the redskins contract talks with qb kirk cousins .

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all right, an update on kirk cousins. >> the redskins have until

but any hope of striked a long term deal before that date might be gone according to a report. pro football talk reporting kirk cousins will not sign a long term deal before being franchise tagged. a smart move for cousins since this year the tag will pay him $24 million for the 2017 season after being paid over $19 million last season. not all hope lost for the redskins. once they use their franchise tag on cousins they have until july 15th to sign him to a long term deal. we'll keep you updated on any new developments. the nationals continue to get back in baseball shape a couple of days into spring training. practice is picking up. the nats were one of the best national league teams at the plate this season. what better practice for the pitching staff to shake off the rust than with some big hitters? steven

against him. bryce harper did come away with a hit in the session, got to kiss your bat after that. also some hair problems for daniel murphy, it'll sticker stuck. buddy tray turner there to help him out. that's what friends are for. one of the nats' newest friends, adam eaton comes over from the white sox looking to lock down center field for the nationals. excited by the amount of star power on this ball club. >> any where you turn it seems like there's somebody of that stature. for me it's going to be great for my career, selfishly, you have to take something away from each game. like i said, i would love to be here as long as i can. but if not, i can take away from these great, great baseball players and great human beings. i am so blessed to share the cage, the outclub, and the clubhouse with. >> maryland women visiting 12th

final seconds of the third quarter, terps down 4, this one to go. 29 points, maryland down too. kelsey mitchell too much for the terps tonight. in the fourth, mitchell with the ninth drive of her own here with the finish. she has 31 points, a game high ohio state beats maryland 98-87, the third conference loss for maryland since joining the big ten. all those losses to the buckeyes. 18th ranked virginia hosting miami. former cavaliers star malcolm brogden having his jersey retired. four seconds, tied game. gavin reed loses the ball, gets it back. puts the shop up and in, can you believe that? miami wins it, they're running off, but wait, look at this, reed did not get the ball off in time. so we're headed to overtime. final seconds,

one-point lead. bruce brown, plenty of time, sinking it, 14 points for him. miami hands virginia their fourth straight loss, 54-48. one more basketball note for you, maryland junior center michael chacoski with a fractured ankle. >> we're getting close to march ♪

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well, our national zoo may be losing a panda, but maryland zoo in baltimore just gained a baby giraffe. this week you can help give her a name. the baby was born two weeks ago

so cute! she's already 6'1" and 125 pounds. the staff at the zoo's giraffe house are considering imara, safara, willow, rudy, opal, and

[ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- first lady michelle obama, stevie wonder,