a super storm is heading

our way. we have a complete list of closings and cancellations right at the bottom of the screen. . hello. welcome to 9 news now at noon. i'm j.c. hayward. it's the storm we have been telling you about all week. it's on our doorstep. our chief meteorologist, topper shutt, and our meteorologist, howard bernstein are keeping a close eye on the severe weather heading our way. so let's begin with howard. >> hello, everybody. this will be a significant major historic storm for us and as topper was saying before the show, tough to believe twice in one season. look at the scope of the warnings. these go from the carolinas to the west and back to almost new york city area and this, along the coast in new jersey and delaware blizzard warnings. we will have more wind with the storm than what we had in the december 19th storm. as far as snow, this may actually eclipse it. we are looking at light snows. temperatures are above freezing. not too many problems but notice the moisture south.

the darker blues here. heavy snow to the south. that will be arriving later this afternoon. for more on what it is doing now and some information that you need to know for the storm let's throw it over to top. >> as we mentioned earlier at the onset, temperatures a the surface are above freezing. we are getting a break as the precipitation gets underway. let's talk about, break it down for you in six-hour increments. some of these numbers will have your eyes pop out of your head. we are looking at snowfall amounts between now an this evening of two to six inches. primarily six inches south and west of town. as we get in to the overnight hours incredible. six to 12-inches from 6:00 p.m. to midnight on saturday and additional six to eight inches midnight in to saturday morning. and then we see it taper off slowly, two to four inches in to saturday in the morning and one to two inches by the evening when it tapers off. let me show you live doppler nine thousand. already behave good bands of

snow. south of leesburg and warrenton and we will see good snow. temperatures are above freezing. it is not sticking yet but as temperatures come down in the next hour or two you will see it sticking toward leesburg, olney an upperville. let's talk about the final amounts. we have changed the amounts and for that here's a new snowfall accumulation map. drum roll, please. >> with were talking about this, and remember we had 18 to 30 here. we said 20 to 30 across the board. we think that north and west of town will have a better chance. if there is any mixing that goes on that will cut down on accumulations. southern maryland we are only thinking for you a significant storm, six to ten. in to charles and northern st. mary's 12 to 20. same with king george. if this doesn't mix the 20 line will go further to the south. more in a few minutes. right now we want to find out what is happening on the roads. here's angie goff with more. >> thanks for joining us at

this noon hour. we want to begin with the capital beltway right now. the inner loop was just shut down at the american legion bridge were leading a motorcade but it has cleared. we are seeing congestion around the dulles toll road. fine once you pass the incident and 355 to which cut is where we find speeds are dropping again. moving over to virginia 95 at the springfield interchange, the snow is coming down but it is not sticking yet. we know the drivers are generally jammed heading southbound from 234 to triangle. over to 66 we go. we head over to our maps and show you the westbound commute. slowing down from 29 to sycamore and the beltway to 123. realtime sensors revealing drivers are going pretty darn slow. we want to show you the 7th and 8th street camera. a great example of that smooth commute through the district right now. the snow is not here just yet. that's the latest. over to you. our 9 news now team of course has fanned out across the region and they will be

able to bring you up-to-the- minute coverage of the storm. jessica doyle has the latest on the mad dash to get last-minute supplies in virginia. but we will start with kristin fisher in rockville. she can take us there and we can find out how maryland is trying to stay ahead of the storm. >> that's right. hello, j.c. as you can see it has started to snow here in rockville. i'm standing outside of montgomery county's salt domes and this place was packed earlier this morning with salt trucks that lined up to get filled up with salt and hit the roads, but right now it is real quiet. the reason why is because they are out on the roads pretreating the roadways before the storm sets in. i spoke to one salt truck driver scene said we will work as hard as we can but when you expect this much snow there is only so much that salt and pretreatment will do. you will see accumulation on the roadways no matter what. salt trucks are on the road. the snowplows, you are not

going to see them until we get three inches of snow on the ground. that's when the county says they will send out the snowplows. the focus will be keeping the main and emergency roads cleared. only once it stops snowing we will stoop seeing crews work smaller streets in neighborhoods. if you live in montgomery county, you are not going to see a snow mile pile on your street until saturday evening. so guys, hunker down and stay off the roads if possible. make sure you have the gas and food because it will get much, muchs were. back to you. >> thank you very much, kristin. well, good luck if you have to go to the grocery store this afternoon, because a last- minute rush has left a lot of shelves empty. our jessica doyle is live. she's in falls church, virginia with a report from there. jessica? >> hi there. the snow is really coming down at this point. and i'll tell you as the storm bears down the shoppers are

storming the stores. >> what are you buying today. >> shovels and sleds or a shovel and a sled but they are not going to have it. i know this. >> reporter: if you haven't gotten snow supplies yet you may be out of luck. >> what are you selling out 0 of? >> ice melt, shovels, gloves anything to do with the snow. >> reporter: how quickly did it sell out. >> ten minutes. >> we got a truck load this morning and ten minutes later it was gone. >> reporter: at brown's hardware in falls church some things are available. >> galoshes otherwise known as snow boots. i needed three pairs for my husband, daughter and myself because i'm tired of getting the snow up to my knees. >> they found some things on the shopping list at giant but not all of the things for their list. >> this is mother nature's way of telling us to take a break. stay in, watch some movies. eat some good food.

have a fire going. read some books you have been wanting to read. play board games with the kids and take time off. >> reporter: if you need to come to the store, there are things available. you will find windshield washer fluid. if you come to this giant, they have milk and bread but i want to warn you there are long lines so you want to bring your patience. j.c., back to you. >> okay, jessica. try to stay warm. a snow emergency declaration took affect in washington, d.c. at 9:30 this morning. city officials have 270 pieces of snow equipment on stand by. most of the plows will be dc truck and roughly 5 -- 50 are private contractors. mayor fenty explains the city's plan of attack. >> essentially we will be approaching this storm as we did the storm in late december, right before the holidays. we will get our first full shift out at 8 a.m.

tomorrow morning. those shifts will work 12 hours and then be replaced by another shift, the exact same size. we will probably have that going up until at least sunday, maybe in to monday. the mayor also said that residential streets will receive the same amount of attention as the city's main roads. we have a program reminder for you. because we're going to have updates throughout the afternoon every 90 minutes, and then at 2:00 p.m. we are going to go on the air and stay on the air until 8 p.m. you will also want to stay with 9 news now throughout the weekend because we will have special storm coverage. we will be on the air tomorrow morning beginning at 6:00 a.m. by the way, if you can't watch us on television, we will have updated closings and delays and road conditions and even live web casts throughout the day.

go to our website at wusa9.com. howard and topper will be back with the forecast and we will look at the areas already being hit by the storm. residents in roanoke, virginia as you can see have gotten snow there already. stay with us. we'll be right back. your walgreens pharmacist also dispenses wisdom... to help you stay well. so if you're on medicare part d, schedule a free one-on-one plan review session... with your walgreens pharmacist. they'll review all your medications... no matter where they're from... and help you get the most from your plan. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. walgreens. there's a way to stay well.

welcome back to 9 news now at noon. as you prepare for this weekend's weather, metro says be prepared for above-ground rail service to be halted for a few days. the same thing happened during the storm that we had in december. and it happened with just an hour or so of warning.

so metro trains will run only in the underground parts of the system. metro bus service could be halted completely. but of course we will bring you announcements from metro as soon as we get them. if you wanted to travel by train this weekend, you are probably out of luck because amtrak is cancelled most of its service today from washington to points south. a few other routes have been shortened. and it may be crowded more crowded than normal at the local airports as people are trying to fly out. they thought ahead of the storm. things were running smoothly last night, however, at reagan national airport. but, united airlines has cancelled all transatlantic flights out of dulles airport after this morning's 8 a.m. flight to london and southwest has cancelled all flights after 2:00 p.m. from dulles, bwi and philadelphia. again, when you can not be with

us, you can check on your airport and your road conditions anytime by going to wusa9.com. and click the traffic heading on our home page topper and howard are coming up next. full details on the forecast. plus, of course, we will check the road conditions in virginia.

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our severe weather coverage continues with a looked at packed home depot parking lot on georgia avenue in silver spring. shoppers rushed the shelves to pickup last-minute supplies like salt, shovels and snow blowers. and apparently weather is not an issue for some swimmers. taking a few laps in an outdoor swimming pool in silver spring. can you believe that? >> die hards. >> my goodness. this is not swimming weather, but it is a heated pool and they decided to take the plunge. >> we have a few pools in the area that are open year round, outdoor ones. >> i wouldn't be in it.

i don't care how much heat the water had, i wouldn't be able to get in it. let's look at what you have to say. this is nothing to laugh about. >> serious storm. we will have a lot of difficulty traveling anywhere for the rest of today. picking up by mid afternoon. the next few hours you can get around but watch out. but by tonight, overnight, tomorrow, very difficult to go just about anywhere. get the forecast first here. we will show you the snow. heavy at times tonight. during the overnight and talking the snow rates two to three inches an hour. thunder snow we are expecting, as well. temperatures topping off in the mid-30s today. tomorrow lucky to get to 30 and the winds will be a factor. blizzard warnings are up along the coast and may extend to us, as well. sunday a lot better in the lower 30s. the snow increases two to six by dark. a northeast wind at 10 to 15. heavy snow tonight, windy. six to maybe a foot and a half more. lows near 30. northeast winds 15 to 25.

it will gust 30, 35. might be higher than that. drifting a real problem. the snow and wind taper off in the afternoon. storm totals a foot in extreme southern maryland to 30 inches locally. dc, north and west of dc, kind of a tough call but a lot of moisture is available. and we are seeing all of this coming in from the south and west. here's some bands now. this is ahead of everything. we have a couple of lulls here. to the south. you see the dark blues, you see that's where the moisture is rich. in fredericksburg it is reporting a little light rain at the moment. temperatures need to get a little colder from where they are. you will see temperatures mid- 30s. some spots like manassas freezing and same with martinsburg. but for the most part we are mild. 34 and a south wind. when the storm starts to crank, things will go to the northeast. with more on the storm and things you should know, here's meteorologist topper shutt. >> we always seem to sweat the big ones and everything is not perfect. for example the rain in

fredericksburg we will watch that carefully. for example the flip side of the storm is in georgia. it has moisture as far as pennsylvania. look at doppler 9000. we have heavier bands to the west. just got a picture in from loudoun county and already has a couple of inches in loudoun county. this is by far and away the heaviest we can find. it is also, temperatures are just about freezing in much of upper loudoun county and not really sticking. so anywhere around upperville and middleburg and aldie and purcellville you are getting some good snows at this hour and going to get heavier awe we go through the afternoon and of course through the night. i want to emphasize again the real heavy activity will be tonight, overnight friday. we will go to the computer and talk about the things you can do around the house. this is like ground hog day. we said the same thing on

december 19th but you need to do it. mark your down spouts where your gutters drain. it will have to melt at some point in time and you will have to dig them out. and mark the storm drains and keep your heat pump free of snow during the storm as well as you might have to furnace exhaust. keep the snow out of that, as well. go to our website at wusa9.com. and fill out a storm report. send us a picture and we will put it on the way. we need spotters. the only way to measure snow is with spotters so go ahead and do that. >> this is an amazingly large storm. we talked about it. it is snowing in north dakota. it is snowing in minneapolis. it is snowing in chicago. and then severe thunderstorms along the gulf coast with copious moisture feeding in to it. the atlantic ocean is available and throw this atlantic moisture and this will gang up, oh, and one more thing. see this upper piece of energy

that's coming east, too. it will all gang up to be a tremendously deep storm off the virginia coast here and the beaches are going to get pounded with the wind and waves and blizzard warnings. even atlantic city to rehoboth we could be talking one to two feet of wind-driven snow. again the totals we are talking about 20. i 20 to 30 inches most likely areas north and west. you will be all snow for sure and maybe a little fluff factor there. an amazing storm. get to the seven-day forecast. we get a lot of snow. it will be a long duration event tonight and tomorrow especially very heavy. tomorrow afternoon things taper off late, 29. sunday 32. monday 34 and then next week a little system tuesday in to wednesday that could give us snow showers and then thursday it is cold but the snow will be around in the upper 30s. 9 news now will return in just a moment.

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so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. we're so excited to have a special guest with us today. dr. drew happens to be in down visiting his daughter. >> it is senior parents week at georgetown and i couldn't miss it. >> so happy you stopped by. my question, where can i rent cross country skis. >> you are out of luck. >> isn't this something. >> it is like aspen today. >> topper and howard said we could expect 30 inches of snow. you have to go back to l.a. >> i will get out on sunday. >> keeping our fingers crossed. you had an incredible special.

you just returned from haiti. you coin prepare yourself for what you saw. >> we went for a team last week. we went for five days and i wish we could have stayed longer and it was a moving experience and i have to say you don't feel for what's really going on there, what you see on tv and in the media. being there on the ground, hearing it, feeling it, sensing it. but i must say the haitian people are tough and resilient, and in in spite of the injuries and losing their homes you can still get a smile out of them. so my skill sets were need in haiti and i put them to good use. i did some burn bereavement. i did some reconstruction on a 8-year-old delightful kid that lost his family but the work is not done and i definitely will go back as far as the reconstructive surgery. there is more to do. >> before you leave, we have 15

seconds. some medical advice because of the snow. >> the time is spent because of all the snow. what should we know? >> number one. you are not used to shoveling snow. so be careful with that. if we get two feet of snow, you are not used to shoveling snow it can cause heart attacks, hurt your back, that kind of thing. be careful with the ice. if you are outside, stay warm and hydrate. >> dr. drew from the doctors. you can watch it every day except today. monday i will be back on at 4:00 on channel 9. >> we have some bands of snow now. the heavy stuff will not move in until later on. if you have to go out, you probably have two or three hours before things get difficult and by this evening very difficult and i would not recommend travel between 5:00 p.m. today and 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. we will have to wait and see how things go. hunker down and take it easy. we survived the december storm. we'll survive this one. the seven-day forecast, but this storm will drop a lot of

snow. 20 to 30 inches of snow. it is cold following this. the snow will be around for a while and maybe some snow showers next week. >> thank you. come back and visit us at 2:00. that's when we start our special coverage of the storm from 2:00 to 8:00 tonight and try to stay warm and dry. bye-bye. have a great day.