around d.c. and down 95, that's where we're seeing an icy mix. so if we zoom in here on radar, that purple color, that shows you we're seeing more of the freezing rain and sleet mix with some still near bethesda as well but then you get into more of this pink shading, that's a rain/snow mix so we're seeing this intertwined here near gaithersburg across 270. laurel seeing more in the way of snow but the snow is still continuing north and west. that's where we find those higher snowfall totals as we go through the rest of the morning. south of the district, some heavy rain there, but coming up in just a bit we'll take a closer look. there you see our storm team 4 weather center and we will be tracking that as we go through the rest of the morning. let's look at the roads. how are the roads shaping up? >> a lot of issues across the area. first problem here, a brand new one, outer loop there before connecticut avenue here this morning. this is a new crash. we cannot see it on this camera. we don't have another good

in between, but we'll let you know what happens there. sounds like we have two lanes blocked here this morning. again, outer loop before connecticut avenue. inner loop at route 1, college park, dump truck crash blocking a lane there. eastbound 66 near 123, still have that left lane, the only thing getting by the crash there and 95 north after center port parkway, left side blocked by the crash. snow in the white and ice in the pink here this morning. stay home if you possibly can. >> all right. thank you. now we want to head northwest of the district into leesburg, virginia. >> justin finch has been there through the night. what's it looking like right now? >> reporter: good morning. we're seeing really a steady and consistent sleet conditions out here. the wind whipping this stuff everywhere. as you can see, it's sticking to the ground and of course the roads out here too. we have seen plows circling out here for many hours here. i want to take you to video of that. they're making

to stay ahead of the conditions out here. so far it appears we have seen an inch to maybe two inches of sleetfall out here sticking to the ground out here and we are told that conditions like this are trickier for operators and take a listen as to why. >> snow is softer so you just plow it on the side. this as you see, even with plowing it's still ice on the ground. >> it takes extra work, huh? >> yeah. so hopefully it gets warmer. >> and so as you heard there the snow is actually easier to move around. this sleet just collects on the ground. it gets packed up. the cars go over it, it becomes harder to move. on average these trucks will have to refill their salt and other brine to get back to work every hour. so they'll be busy out here on the roads here in leesburg. back in to you. >> thank you for that. i think we can almost round out our school closing list. we're just learniow

virginia arlington and alexandria public schools will be closed today. >> and in maryland prince george's county schools just letting us know that they'll be closed today. >> and we continue our team coverage of this winter storm with our transportation reporter. >> he is traveling the road to check on the conditions in our storm team 4 x 4. how's it looking where you are? >> reporter: good morning. it is sloppy out here. we're basically just riding the whole beltway this morning to try to get the conditions for you guys and give you a look. this is what we're seeing just around the gw parkway just north of the dulles toll road. we've seen a lot of kind of snow out here and we've got the snowplows out here doing their thing. we are right with the snowplow train and they're coming here and you can see they're able to push some of this out of the way, but no doubt a lot of this is a sloppy wet mix that we're seeing out here this morning. it is not just pure snow, so these plows are out here doing as much as they can to push all this

people going. it is definitely slow going. take a look at this amazing passenger side camera that we set up on the storm team 4 x 4 today. you can see what the conditions are and the tracks that are in the ground. if you don't have a car that can deal with this kind of stuff you're in trouble when you get out on certain parts of the beltway and everything changes from area to area. we were in prince george's county earlier around national harbor and now you come up here north of tyson's corner going across the american legion bridge and you're dealing with sloppy snowy conditions. chuck and everybody else has been talking about how the conditions will change fast depending on where you are and really in our area we are seeing changeable conditions all over the place. so we'll be out here all day doing the whole beltway and probably getting into some neighborhoods a little bit later on but for right now, take it easy. don't come out here if you don't have to. these guys have a lot of work to do. the tractor trailers are out here and it's not an easy ride

we'll report to you in a bit. >> all right. i want to shift a little bit to maryland. >> derrick ward live in german town with conditions there. what's going on, derrick? >> reporter: well, the wind is picking up. that's one thing i can tell you. we've seen this steady freezing rain coming down, but that wind is making it a bit more challenging out here. what we're not seeing is a lot of traffic and that's a good thing. take a look at the video that was shot earlier. plow trains have been a regular fix your here along germantown road at the intersection of crystal rock. of course this is leading you on to i-270, so i want to make sure that these ramps and these feeder roads are clear. not only on the main roads but in the parking lots as well. and we caught up with a guy who came down to work on some of those parking lots and he actually is a little bit in favor of these conditions. take a listen. >> yeah, i see a lot of ice and i'm hoping it's going to be ice and no s

that way we can get it done and over with. not so bad this year. last year was a lot worse. i come from boons burrow not so bad up that way. >> reporter: in any case f you don't have to be out, don't come out and that will give these people who are plowing a chance to do their job safely. we're live in germantown, news4. >> thank you. metro may be the way to go if you absolutely have to get out today. >> the system will open at 5:00 this morning with service above and below ground. however, trains will be running on a saturday schedule. that means arriving every 12 minutes. safe track single tracking on the yellow and blue lines will continue but there will be no shuttle buses between franconia, springfield and pentagon. also metro bus service will operate only on selected routes.

cancelled for the day. we're tracking hundreds of cancellations at our airports this morning. according to flight aware.com, reagan national reporting 207 cancellations and one delay. bwi marshall has 258 cancellations and one delay. bwi marshall advising traveller to arrive two hours early because of long tsa lines. dulles reporting 156 cancellations. if you have a flight today, you're lucky but you still want to make sure you check with your airline before you head to the airport. we'll continue our storm team 4 coverage with chuck bell. >> good morning, everybody. temperatures at or below freezing across most of the area this morning. 33 at national airport, but 33 lorton, 32 fredericksburg. 28 now out toward blue ridge. all snow across i-81 in northern maryland. mostly sleet now in and around the city of washington and all rain down across

we'll give you future weather and some updated snow forecast totals. that's coming up in a few more minutes when we join you once again. >> right now a live look at what it looks like for folks waking up in northern virginia. this is the scene in leesburg right now, one of the hardest hit areas. they could see 10 inches of snow when this is all said and done there. you can hear the sleet coming down too. we want to give you a look at the beltway because those of you who have to work today are going to see some conditions like these on the roads. lots of big trucks out there. it's going to be a rough drive for you. be caful. yourre t

4:41 now and you are looking live at storm team 4 radar as well as a live picture of the roads as the snow and the rain continue to come down in our area. >> depending on where you are driving you could see snow, rain, ice, per happen as combination so be careful out there. melissa is looking at the latest information about the roadways near you and we'll bring you an update. traveling on the roads might be treacherous this morning as we've been mentioning. >> adam has been checking out conditions around the area in the storm team 4 x 4 this morning. bring us up to speed. what are you seeing? >> reporter: it's sloppy out

our truck. take a look back at the beltway. we just passed the river road exit. we're coming up to it right now up in montgomery county as we just continue to travel the beltway this morning and man, it's gotten real messy out here. take a look at this awesome camera we have from the side of the 4 x 4. it shows you the slop that we're dealing with and it's wet and messy, not fun and if you don't have a car that can deal with these kind of conditions in this situation out here, you're going to have to deal with tractor trailers, all types of trucks. just a slop py ride and it's jut stuff that you can't push out of the way. we'll continue to update you on the conditions. back to you. >> thank you. snow is covering the roads right now. there is a way to check if it's okay to drive outside. v dot has a snowplow tracker on its website. everything in green here is an active plow truck moving through the

so a lot of action right now. there are at least 50 on the map. >> now, the snow has been falling since late last night in some places. it's going to keep going for a few more hours. >> absolutely right. just updated our winter weather advisories and warnings map. the warning continues, northern maryland but now all the mediate metro is under a wintry weather advisory. sheena will update snow totals next. >> and another live look outside in montgomery county where one of our crew is out there this morning. looks like freezing rain falling and the winter picking up there too. we'll be back with live updates throughout our region. >> falls charge city schools are

this map is getting more red by the hour. everything in red as you see here is closed. falls church city schools the last one to call in and close that school if you're just joining us. we found out about prince george's county as well. arlington, alexandria schools all closed. d.c. public schools, west more land schools and about st. mary's calvert and mineral county schools in west virginia, they haven't made the call yet. now f you did not hear your school district name just now it's very likely closed. all the closings on the nbc washington app and at the bottom of your screen. it's now 4:46. president trump is keep ago close eye on the storm especially its impact on washington. >> yesterday the president met with d.c. mayor and metro

the district's plans for the storm. tracie potts is live on capitol hill. what came out of that meeting? >> it looks like he wanted to get an updated and provide assistance from the federal government. we saw him tweet out that photo where he brought in the d.c. officials to get some sense of where they were in preparing for the storm but also how the federal government can help. the big part of that typically comes from fema, the federal emergency management agency. earlier when the president met with his cabinet he said he talked to homeland security about fema being able to jump in and help if this storm was a lot worse than predicted. they deal with emergency needs, health needs, medical needs and things like that. they send in disaster teams as necessary. hopefully we won't get to that point, but this was president trump in his first local big weather emergency bringing in the local officials to try to make sure they were all on

later mayor bowser said she was invited back to talk about how they operate and what happens when washington and the federal government and d.c. team up in emergencies like these, how do they make decisions that affect the entire region. so bottom line, they seem to be on the same page, the president thinks we're prepared for what may happen today and of course the aftermath. >> we shall see as the day wears on. tracie potts live on capitol hill for us. thank you. if there is enough snow today, many of you could be headed to capitol hill to get in on some sledding there. this year it is completely legal. a reminder about that yesterday. >> that's good. congress removed the ban from last year and it's always a beautiful site. to think that you can sled at the capitol building? >> yeah. although, how much snow do you need for sledding? >> not that much. and you know what? i think people are so ready for sledding and snowman making that at

going to daytona. >> iceman. >> yeah. >> major wisnter storm is barrelling down on the east coast as you know. high winds, blizzard conditions are battering areas from new york through maine. here's a live look from times square. it's deserted there right now. >> jay gray is in new york city right now looking at the conditions there and i see you're prepared, jay. >> reporter: yeah. you know, you got to bundle the best you can when you're out in this. good to talk to you this morning. the storm moved in overnight. the snow continues to fall. only expected to intensify as we move through the morning into the evening here in new york. this is an arctic blast that as you guys have been talking about is going to affect millions. what we're going to see is this heavy snow picking up along with the strong winds gusting to 50, maybe 60 miles an hour forecasters say and snow at four inches an hour for several hours at the height of this storm

morning. we're under a state of emergency. a blizzard warning is in effect here. 1,600 snowplows are out and trying to stay ahead of things. that's going to be a difficult task with so much snow falling throughout the day. a lot of employers have told people, if you don't have to get out in this, don't. stay home for today. maybe tomorrow as this thing moves through. it is going to be quite a mess, and it's really going to cripple it appears a lot of the city. new yorkers are hardy. they like to get out and keep moving and i'm sure we'll see some of that, but today is going to definitely be a snow day in the city. back to you. >> jay gray, live in new york for you. thank you. i wonder if jay will see some people. new yorkers are hardy. they might straggle out. >> sheena is here with us this morning. we still have several hours of something ahead of us. >> we do and it depends where you live. if you're closer to the valley

still have hours of snowfall left and if you are around the district or points south, you still have quite a while of just a mess. i mean, it's a mess. you guys saw it coming in. we have rain, freezing rain, sleet, everything on the radar. you see all these different colors on the radar. to the south where the bright orange is, yellows and greens are, that is heavy rain moving in. closer to the district we'll zoom in here. we have an icy mix shown by the purple. so the radar breaks up here what we see as an icy mix. so it's all kind of surrounding the district. fluctuating to the north and to the south, but near bethesda, fairfax, all seeing kind of an icy mix. we've gotten a lot of reports of sleet and freezing rain. so that's causing very treacherous travel. near gaithersburg across 270, that's an icy mix there, but then we have pretty much snow for the most part over near 81. winchester, seeing that snow falling and some sagging limbs and power lines.

just to the south of the district and parts of maryland, this is where we have mostly to heavy rain, but many areas have been also reporting like near clinton, areas of freezing rain so that is a big travel concern this morning. but there you see this entire storm system. the blizzard warnings continue through philadelphia through new england. we however, actually had our winter storm warning trimmed a little bit. so we've kind of changed those totals. we've brought them down and it's all because of that sleet and that icy mix moving in. here's what it looks like right now. if you are in maryland south and west of the district that's where we see mostly sleet, freezing rain, maybe one to three inches of an icy mix around the district. we've now lowered those totals to about 2 to 4 as you get farther off to the west. leesburg right on the edge, maybe 5 to 8 the farther out you go. the farther west you go and of course as you get farther up to the north right along the pennsylvania/maryland border you could be seeing 10 inches a

warnings start over in pennsylvania. current temperatures at or mostly below freezing. the district now up to 33, but those freezing temperatures, that's keeping the ice on the road. so the road conditions will be the most hazardous today. so hazardous travel near i-95. that's where we are seeing again, a lot of ice on the road. snow mostly north and west. south and east mainly rain but we have been getting reports of freezing rain and icy spots. it's all continuing. 8:00 a.m. it's continuing. by noon, trying to lighten up, but we could have a back edge of snow and then we go closer to 6:00 p.m. and we could have a small area of snow trying to move through. otherwise tomorrow morning will be a refreezing event. so regardless of what we have around today, the temperatures tomorrow morning will be in the 20s. expect ice to be around, otherwise we finally start to mild up by the weekend. let's check those roads this morning with some icy conditions and snowy conditions. >> do have that

so right now take a live look out of the storm team 4 x 4. this right now a live look top of the beltway. inner loop here near connecticut avenue. so you can tell that it has been treated. you can tell those plows have come through because it is not completely covered, but it is very icy in spots. so be careful. outer loop before connecticut avenue, still have that crash reported. looks like it's on the right side of the roadway this morning. inner loop at college park, a dump truck crash still blocking the right lane. you can see the radar over the roads so the whitest snow, the pink is ice. it is quite messy. we want to give you another live look at the roads where we're seeing reports of icy conditions in some areas including fairfax. because of that, the fairfax connector is bypassing laughlin

if you take a look at this map, everything you see in red is closed. if it's yellow, there's a delay in place, and there are a few places where there's no color, white or gray maybe, those places we have not heard from yet one way or the other. the latest thou when we come gh

a lot of you already tweeting video and pictures of what's happening where you are. some of you are seeing a good bit of snow where you liff whvee others are seeing a mix. our reporters are showing you what some of the conditions are like where they're moving through. you can keep sending us your pictures though. use the hashtag nbc 4dc. >> and we're learning how this will affect our cherry blossom trees. the iconic cherry blossom peak bloom should start on sunday and last through next wednesday. they also say the trees are in a fragile state right now. >> they're not as protected as they would be. if we get a heavy wet snow that sits on them or again, three days of temperatures, you know, in the teens even, we could be looking at a year where perhaps the majority of the trees don't

>> the national park service says anything below 27 degrees harms the blooms. right now at 5:00, snow, sleet and rain. it's all coming down across our area. >> maryland, virginia and the district, our crews are spread out to show you what it's like near your home. >> and storm team 4 is working for you on the forecast. how much longer this will last. >> good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. some important closures. almost all the major school districts in our area are closed. all the red are closed and calvert county schools are on a two hour delay today. >> we'll change those colors on the map for you in a second. >> you want to jump in and do it now? >> all right. we'll get to the colors a little bit later. we have not heard from d.c. public

schools, none of them have called in yet. all the closings are on the app and at the bottom of your screen. >> and federal government workers you can go back to sleep if you want. there's a three-hour delay for you. they made that call almost exactly an hour ago. you do have the option for unscheduled leave or telework. back to you now. >> all right. thank you. we have a lot more team coverage to go here. our crews are spread out across the area this morning. >> but we begin with our team here in the studio. melissa mollet with your traffic and chuck and sheena with a look at your forecast. good morning. >> good morning. an icy mess this morning. i think that's the main word to describe it. >> the amount of sleet that we've gotten inside the metro area has really cut down on the amounts of something but it has not done anything to lower the threat as far as driving conditions. it's a nasty nasty morning to be