fast approaching 4:00 a.m. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i eun yang. schools across the region are closing and issuing delays. right now we only havelongs in virginia and west virginia. all maryland and d.c. schools are open right now as weknow. the federal government is also open. >> clarke, fredrick, udn, warren, berkeley, jefferson, and morgan are all closed today. f >> now the delays in virginia. fairfax, manassas city, manassas park city, and grant county schools inia west virgin will all open two hours late. road crews were out in full force yesrday and all night long. roads were salted and cleared all to make way for the possibility ofw sd ice. >> this morning news 4 has live team coverage of the weather and its impact. our team is already out on the roads. melissa mollet is standing by on what this means for the commute.

>> right now let's begin with t storm 4 meteorologist chuck bell. >> the latest is the precipitation is moving in and moving in fast. temperatures are still just above the freezing mark. that's good news for now. m the airs overhead is really, really dry. why is that important? as moisture falls down through the dry air, it cools t atmosphere down. what is likely to start out as sleet or some snow around here eventually will change back to rain for the d.c. metro area later today. our friends and neighbors along the i-81 corridor, this could be a significant amount of freezing rain. that's the main concern. anybody can deal with a little snow, but winter storm warnings along i-81. that's where most of the school closings are. the d.c. metro school area under a winter weather advisory. we'll keep you posted, but just know it's going to be bit of a slippery mess eg.ly this morn you can see it mostly starting out as sleet, a ltle light

rain, then cooling down to be mostly sleet and snow for the rest of the morning. a lot of weather threats for today, lauren >> absolutely, chuck. you're talking about the winter weather advisory, also the winter stormarngs we have. in addition to that, as you were saying, this could end up asso heavy rain. we're talking about a flood watch as well for areas alo i-95 and points to the south and east. again, we could have some major delays not only because of some ice that's possible b moderate and heavy rainfall as well. we've hadhe frozen ground, so we're going to see possibly the rapid run-ofhat's going to create flooding concerns as we continue through the day. not only th a, but weo have winds. watch out for heavy rain, icing, and minor snow accumulation. chuck will have the totals in a little bi but definitely some travel delays out there this morning. of course we want to talk to melissa about any travel delays. good morning. right now looking okay here, but

we a worried about areas like 95 and other spots in virginia that are going to be seeing that snow or whatever is falling from the sky here pretty soon. this is a live look 95 at princi iam parkway, northbound/southbound nice and clear right now. no doubt that will change throughout the morning. you can see on the radar where we have stuff falling right now. 66 is pretty covered. inner loop after pennsylvania avenue, one right lane is blocked by that work zone. as we zoom in just a little bit, southbound gw parkway at bridge, a lane is blocked there. >> melissa, thank you. we want to begin o team coverage in warren county, where we expect to see the moston accumula of snow and ice this morning. >> news 4'susn finch is live in the front royal area right now. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, aaron, right now we're indowntown front royal, just off of main street here. we have seen a state of readiness here for sure. front royal police have been on pas well as the warren

county sheriff's office. we've seen two of those snowplow trucks circling. not yet sees snow, but rain erbegan to fall just about a half hour ago. vdot says it, too, is ready with a more than $200 million win br weatherget. that will go towards preventive measures we've already seen here e. pl for example, on our way in, we did see pretreatment on 66 and other major highways here as ell. they hav 700,000 tons of salt ready for this winter, as well as 2 million gallons of that salt/brine mix you'll see go down on the roads as well. vdot saying if you're going to make your way out this morning to be careful as you're walking and >> when we know it's going to be rush hour and that people are o the roads,nd likely this time of year they're not fully focussed on a winter storm coming, we like to take as mans precautions we can. >> reporter: and the hope is that here in warren coty, we

won't see too much congestion on the roads. as you mentioned, school here is going to be closed for at least today. royal.ive here in front i'm justin finch, news 4. >> justin, thank you. 4:05. let's move into maryland. montgomery county is expected actually, no word on any school cancellations or delays. news 4's megan mcgrath is in gaithersburg with the latest on road conditions. >> reporter: hey, guys. you can see we're at a salt dome here in gaithersburg. a lot of activity early this morning. look at the le of snowplows. it actually wraps around the salt dome. there along the side is where they're loading the trucks up with t o salt andther things they're going to need once this wintry mix hits the area. we'reinot s any precipitation at this point. it's not going to come north to this area for a little while yet, but you can see they are whatever ready for comes our way. we are expecting that wintry mix, of course, during the morning rush hour. so never great timing for that

sort of thing. we've s seene school systems in the area delaying. hasn't happened in montgomery county, but things could change he morning progresses. we'll keep you updated on that. as you make your way to work this morning, keep in mind this will start to kick in as the morning wears on. it could get slippery out there. also something to remember, because we haven't been in this mode for a while, if you encounter a snowplow, they're d out thereng their thing, give them some room to get the salt actually down on the road. if you're too close, it's going to bounce off the hood of your car, go to the side of the road. give them a little bit of space so they can get that stuff down there on the road surface where it's needed. so far, so good. if you're leaving early, you shouldn'ms have any prob. but of course, things are going to change. >> all right. megan mcgrath live rg gaithersbu

our coverage of today's wintry weather will continue throughout the morning. you can also get updates on the nbc washington app. now to the other big story this morning. chris lawrence is at the live desk with the latest on the deadly wildfir >> it's been exactly one week since they've started. those fires have kled at lea 58 people across the state. this morning crews in california are facing another d who arching for 130 people are still missing. many of them thought to be elderly. you're looking at part of the camp fire n inthern california, which at this point contained. the camp fire is the deadlier of the two. it's killed at least 56 people. the woolsey fire is burning near los angeles. it's killed two people. crews have more than half of that blaze contained. ngas if t couldn't get any worse, officials say there's been amore tnorovirus outbreak evacuatier evacuation she >> chris, thank you. developing this morning in

the district, there's a shooting investigation happening near the howard university hospital. someone posted this to twitter. police say the shooting happened near the corner of 8th and v streets in northwest. when we talked to police a few minutes ago, they would not release too many details, but they did say theictim is still alive. we'll have updates as we learn more. and new this morning, a prince george's county police officer has been suspended with pay. he's accused of exchanging money for a sexct of some kind. he was off duty but allegedly in cruiseked the incident allegedly happened in the district. prince george's county investigating the allegation. it's 4:08. his morning, the lawyer representing the adult film actress in her court fightt with presiderump is now dealing with his o legal troubles. michael a micha michael avenatti was arrested on a domestic violence charge in las vegas. no word on the relationship between the woman and avenatti

or the alleged incident. avenatti told reporters he's never hit a woman and is confident he'll be fully exonerated. he was released on bail last night. avenatti has been an oupoken critic of the president and has flirted with a 2020 presidential and brace yourself if you use the dulles toll roads. pretty significant increases are coming at the start of 2019. you'll pay an extra 75 cents at the main toll plaza, and there's a0 cent hike at the off-ramps. that's an additional $1.25 per day forome drivers. the money will help increase the silver line extension to dulles airport, which is s to open in 2020. so if the weather prevents you from going outside today, be sure to catch "ellen." good excuse to stay inside. >> she's welcoming a former first lady. >>ll right. >>oh, look. it's the first time i've seen my book in a store. >> it's here. you're going to sign books.

>> we have michelle obama here. [ cheers and applause ] michelle obama. >> former first lady michelle obama and ellen crash a costco to givehoers a surprise. then they're talking about her new memoir. you can catch "ellen" here at 3:00 followed by news 4 at 4:00. >> ellen loves to use that bull lle to embarrass mic obam remember when they were in the cvs? >> i didn't see that, but she tries to embarrass people, toever it is. still aheas morning, continuing coverage of today's winter weather. the storm has already hit and the damage it's left behind. plus, we continue our series of reports o getting youhe best night's sleep possible. this morning, from spas to dental visits, we're looking at insomnia treatments that don't involve medication. how about our weather chuck? >> good morning, everybody. we're tracking the weather and tweeting the updates on the forecast. @chuckbell4. also find usn facebook and the

nbc washington app. the highest impact from this particular weather event will be along i-81 and inrt parts of nohern maryland, where significant amounts of freezing rain are possible. extended forecast coming right .

we are bk on right now with a storm team 4 weather alert day. is is our first blast of winter weather ts season and some people may see snowflakes out there. others could see ice. most of us, all of us will probably see rain. stor team s chuck bell is keeping an eye on the forecast and will join us in a few minutes. today's weather will impact everyone differently, but even if your neighborhood doesn't see

snow and ice,re is no doubt you will at least at some point over theext few months. that's whahappens in winter. >> if you haven't prepared your car, now is the time. we first reported these tip, last we but here's a reminder. technicians say the first toeng that gs as the temperature drops is theny battery. garages offer free battery checks. maintenance is a must, like other your oil and fluids checked. if you have a spare tire in your car, make sure it has air in it. have that roadside emergency kit ady. a blanket, jumper cables, and road flares can help out tremendously. this powerful stoysm has already turned deadly. two people were killed and dozens wereurt after a tour bus overturned on an icy highway in mississippi. this happened yesterday atternoon just south of memphis. highway prol blames slick roads for that crash. and snow fel as far south as louisiana. about an inch of snow fell across the northeastern part of that state yesterday. that may not seem like bmuch,ut this is a record-breaking

snowfall for that area. it hasn't snowed like this in more than 60 years. wow. all right. let's turn to our forecast now. chuck, aed m bag, a variety of things coming our way. >> everything you can have in the weather department is coming at you today. you say record snow, it wasn't even an inch. that's louisiana, everybody. that was in louisiana in november. very, very unusual. that an indication of exactly how crazy cold this air mass is compared to average. four things to know about the weather. the most serious thing we need to watch out for today is icing, freezing rain, especially along i-81 and through the shenandoah valley. in the d.c. metro ea, this is mostly going to be some combination of sleet and snow, changing over to heavy rain this afternoon. there's a chance for some flooding as well. the highest flood threat is for southern maryland. one to two inches of rain is a real possibility. good news for now, most

everybody is still above f eezing. winchester onee lone spots down to the freezing mark, but as thee moistarts to rain down into this atmosphere, it will cool things down.l temperatures wover near the freezing mark much of the day. if this were just going to be rain, it would be a solid 1 to 2 inches of rain across the area. the opportunity to have s icing is what we're most concerned of. you can see the moisture coming on up. it may sta out as a little snow. again, nothing is reaching the ground oraround here. the old saying from tsa, if you see something, say something. send us a tweet. when you see a weather report, please pass it along to us. winter storm wning along i-81. my colleague lauryn ricketts is tracking the trouble zone by zone. zboorgood morning, chuck. absolutely. i believe some areas will have it worse than oths.

we're talking about southern maryland. you may not get a lot of that snow, but i believe you're going to get a lot of rain. let's start in our western zones. winchester, front royal, coming down the i-81 corridor we'll have that wintry mix this errning. this aon you're going to take a while to change over to al rain. is is going to be a prolonged event for you. 3 to 5 inches with some more ice accumulation on top of that. so definitely some cancellations likely. then our western zones, fredrick county, maryland, through leesburg and warrenton, for these areas, wintry mix until 1:00 or 3:00. rain eventually in the midafternoon. just a trace of ice possible for those areas. now wome around the d.c. area. montgomery county, bethesda, gaithersburg, washington, d.c., fairfax. what we'rereas, thinking is snow, sleet, freezing rain. oh, yeah, we get it all.

then this afternoon, heavy rain possible and windy. we're not talking about snow accumulation on the roadways, especially traveled roadways, but we are talking about wet roads and eventfully flooded roads later on. that's going to be the same case for our friends in southern maryland, including stafford and out towards t peninsula, where we'll have rain with a chance of mix. up to 2s incf rain possible in this area. that's also the area we find the floo that'll be something we're watching. we're also watching for some sunshine, chuck. hopefully we have that on that ten-day forecast. >> we certainly do. there's your latest. you can always have t latest information from our nbc washington app. there's my social media pes. send me a weather report if at all possible. i wouldre aate it. all this mess coming to an end late tonight or prednours of friday morning. back to sunshine tomorrow with a gusty northwest win that sets the stage, thankfully, for a dry weekend. saturday and sunday chillyut nothing falling from the sky to

worry about. all right, melissa. let's hear something fro the traffic department. >> good morning. looking at 66 at 29 in gainesville. everything rolling along nicely this morning. what we're seeing on the radar, as lauryn was just telling me, not actually hitting the ground right now. look t messin it is at this moment in time. just expect things to chang quite a bit later on. in northwest, florida avenue between 9thav and georgia lanes blocked there. police activity. sounds like a shooting there from overnight. and thet inner loop pennsylvania avenue, one right lane blocked by the work zone. rest of the beltway looks nic and clear. inner loop and outer loop, everything is rolling along just fine this morning. eu >> melissa, thank you. still ahead, we're working for you, making sure you're getting the best night sleep possible. >> from therapy to a trip to th, dentow to kick insomnia without medication.

welcome back at 4:23. all week we've been working for you, trying to help you find ys to sleep more soundly. >> research says the sleep industry is a $28 b business, and it's growing. news 4's angie goff continues her sge for shut eye with a look at a few sleep trends that are on the rise. >> reporter: chilly pads, weighted blankets, sleep headphones. we're looking at a national shut eye pblem so badome colleges require students to take sleep. >> i think the's a huge cost to society in efficiency. >> reporter: something many around here can'tfford to lose. >> nobody sleeps. everybody is go, go, go. oo reporter: at her spa, her flotation therapy have become a popular place to pass

out. >> we have oneoe client who suffer from insomnia. she says she felt great and was able to sleep for the next four to five days. >> reporter: in a pool bigor enoughwo people, 1200 pounds of epsom salt i mixed with 11 inches of water. >> an hour of sleep here in this amount of salt is equivalent to four hours' of sleep. >> reporter: giving the float a try, finally let go and fall into a weightless sleep. i felt like i could have stayed in there for another hour. from taking a dip to a trip to the dentist, to fix a problem millions of americans have at night, sleep apnea. this dentist makes these mouth guards. it's a smaller, more comfoteable ative to the standard known as c-pap, and it's often covered by insurance. >> in most cases they do because

vents a lot of problems >> reporter: angie goff, news 4. >> now, she says the zbards, i -- guards are best for mild to moderate cases. >> as for the flotation therapy, we found places offerin sessions that range from $45 to $100 an hour. sleep is such a premium. people are willing to go the extra mile, spend the money, because it affects the rest of their lives in such a big way. >> every little thing, from external to internal. you don't realize how important sleep it. i don't know if i'd try the flotation stuff. >> i'd drown. >> i'd be too tense to sleep. all right. it's 4:25w. right >> good morning, everybody. storm team 4 weather alert. our first chatee for w weather in this early part of the winter season. most significant impacts today will be in the schehenandoah valley. even around the city, we could easily pick up a couple hours of sleet. we're tracking it all on radar. we'll give you o the timingf hen it moves in and when it moves out in the next half hour. stay with us. and still ahead, from an

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right now on news 4 today, a storm team 4eather alert as our area gets ready for the first taste of winter weather. you n see right here frohe radar, a mix of snow, ice, and rain are heading north and expected to hit right as the morning rush begins. >> if you're heading out right now, you may not see much, but n you willd to keep the umbrella and winter coat handy, be,use it will be here so folks. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. and i'm eun yang. many school districts are taking precautions ahead of the storm. in west rginia, berkeley, jefferson, and morgan county

schools are closed. >> now to the delays. in virginia, fairfax, manassas city, manassas park city, and grant county schools in west virginia will hll open twors late today. all maryland and d.c. schools are open today, as best we ca tell. the federal government is also open with the option of ea unscheduled lve or telework for federal employees. >> roads across virginia, maryland, and the district have all been preed for the storm. we have team coverage spread out as you start your thursday. >> our teamor of rrs working for you, showing you the conditions near your homes.e melissa mollet is here to get you around any tuble spots >> but we begin with cck bell and lauryn ricketts with a closer look at what we can expect today >> it's going to be an ugly day to be outside today, no matter where you live or travel. it's going to be slow going. for many, especially near i-81, slippery goi. it's not a reaching thero