9 news now at 6:00 starts right now. we are in the middle of a super snowstorm. and we have only begun to feel its wrath. >> this is 9 news now. this is a special hour long 9 news now at 6:00. good evening. thanks for joining us. our live coverage keeps going. first here's topper with the latest snow totals. top? >> we are seeing impressive snow totals especially out in to west virginia, the panhandle of west virginia up to six to nine inches around mineral county and kaiser and even now out in north potomac, four inches and three inches measured downtown. go to the computer and talk about how much it will fall and then show you totals. we are talking 20 to 30 inches. i can't believe it is coming out of my mouth but it is. 12 to 20 to the south. if this pans out, this is going to be, this is going to be your third 12-inch plus snowstorm, which is pretty darn incredible. we have almost two inches now

in bethesda. and we have almost three inches down in mechanicsville in st. mary's county. so their snowfall totals are coming in. go to our website at wusa9.com and fill them out. six to 12 in extreme southern maryland to the delmarva because i'm telling you it will mix with sleet and rain before it is said and done. clarksburg three inches. -- going. this is sort of what we call presnow, bonus snow before the main act develops tonight. it is still a dangerous super storm. we are not trying to scare you but to tell you it is a serious snowstorm. conditions are as bad as they will get during wenter in the mid-atlantic. another two inch evers before it is said and done. and then we get going. 6:00 p.m. to midnight, six to 12 inches. probably hear thunder and see lightning and that's common

with a storm of this magnitude and a storm that is this intense. and then midnight to 6:00 a.m., an additional six to eight inches. remember, 12 to 20 inches. only average downtown 18 inches for the entire season. it will wind down on saturday, two to four inches in the morning. probably one to two in the afternoon. but again near blizzard conditions tonight. and that is something we are really trying to hammer home. look at the satellite picture radar combined. look at this moisture. when you get storms out of the gulf of mexico and go to the atlantic ocean it pretty much has an unlimbed amount of moisture and almost winter hurricanes quite frankly. so this has got, in terms of moisture, we talked about this last night, no pun intended the sky is the limit in terms of moisture. the cold air is a little lacking. we will watch this transition right here, here in southern maryland. as we go through the next several hours. it will be very close. could get as far as i-95. we will keep you posted on

that. keep us posted. go to wusa9.com and fill out a storm report. and we need snowfall amounts, road conditions and e-mail us pictures. that's the latest for you. see you in a couple of minutes. back to you. thank you for that. dc fire chief, dennis rubin is joining us live outside and i want to talk to you about safety in these conditions. a lot of people will be hunkering down the next few days. what kind of precautions do we all need to take indoors? >> first of all, we are hoping that folks will stay prepared, have enough food, have enough warmth with blankets in their home if the power goes out for example and certainly enough water and then we'd ask them to stay informed, and watch great news coverage like tv 9 to know what's going on in the community and the last stage is stay at home if you can. the roads are getting really slippery. we have had a lot of responses this evening. i have been out in the snowstorm since it has begun and it is really getting treacherous out here, just as

topper said a couple of times. >> what about alternative heat sources. people utilize their fireplace and different things. a few reminders just about how quickly a fire can start. >> it starts really quickly and moves rapidly. first of all, please make sure that everyone sleeping under a smoke detector. when you hear this newscast, i hope everybody checks their smoke detector as well as their carbon monoxide detector to make sure they are protected. if you use any heating device that is a space heater. keep it away from combustible material. often we respond to couches or curtains or other items that are combustible and placed way too close to any type of heating device. remember, in our community, that the kerosene heater is illegal. it provides carbon monoxide problems. it's something that we hope folks avoid, so have extra blankets as you do the preparation step in the first segment of being prepared.

>> chief, thank you for joining us. and a reminder to people using those kerosene heaters is against the law in the district. so you shouldn't have those in your home any way. >> important safety reminders really. we will continue our team coverage. peggy fox is live in tysons corner. bruce leshan is in gaithersburg and lindsey mastis standing by via sky at reagan national. >> how's it going, peggy? >> it is wet and cold and pretty darn uncomfortable here. the snow is coming down at an angle. it'd rather stand like this because it feels better. if you are driving it is down rite right dangerous. across the street from tysons corner one we have several seen several cars flip as the roads keep getting worse. you have heard it before and now watch it here. a mercedes getting stuck in the snow, even before much had fallen. if you have a rear-wheel drive car, do not think of venturing

out. >> they are a little slippery. even though i have a four-by four i was slipping around a bit. >> they are telling everyone not to venture out but off four- wheel drive so you thought it was okay. >> yeah. we are going home soon. >> you can see the conditions change within minutes. this video was taken along the gw parkway at 3:30. 20 minutes later along the dulles toll road in vienna, visibilities started to derate quickly and it looked like a winter wonderland with an inch of new fallen snow. the beginning of what will be a memorable storm. >> it will be one of the biggest snowfalls ever in virginia. i have the record book. it is 32 inches. and i bet it is going to be fun. >> reporter: fearing impassable roads people have been packing in to grocery stores stocking up. >> i was very surprised. the last time they ran out of milk i had to wait two days so this time i have milk and bread, i'm set. >> reporter: not all of the stores have been able to keep

up with demand. >> the stores are empty this week, just empty shelves. we have been to the market three times this week. >> reporter: you are looking live at tysons corner as cars exit. could be employees leaving for the night. we are told there could be some stores that have closed as their employees need to get home ahead of the storm. and the mall, however, will stay open until 9:30. but i don't know how many stores will be open. on virginia roadways around the whole state we have had 500 -- 560 traffic crashes in the whole state of virginia. and that includes two fatalities. it will be very dangerous tonight. please stay home if you can. i'm peggy fox, reporting live at tysons corner, back to you. >> hope people heed that advice. >> absolutely. look live outside. northwest washington again has gotten dark now. we are talking about the snow picking up and it is blowing in almost sideways in some areas and topper has been talking about the potential for

blizzard-like conditions as the evening progresses through the night hours. let's go to bruce leshan in gaithersburg for a snapshot of the situation there. bruce? >> chief rubin was talking about the smoke detectors encouraging people to check them out. we have one. press the button here and you should get a beep [ beeping ] there you hear it. that's what you want and you can open it up, take it off the ceiling or something like that. there's the battery and just make sure that's replaced if you don't get that good tell- tale beep. we are standing in front of this gas pump -- looks like we lost bruce leshan's shot. is he there. >> can we get you back, bruce. >> i'm here. >> one of the issues we have had time and again during blizzards is lack of gas. a lot of people have been coming in and filling up and they haven't had a delivery since last night. so they are down to 1,000- gallons left. >> okay. looks like we are having trouble with that shot but

bruce was telling us -- think it maybe the weather. >> may have something to do with this. >> but bruce was saying it is a good thing to top off the gas tanks. hopefully you have already done it because there was a runoff on the gas during the december storm and people would pull up for gas and there wasn't any there. lindsey mastis live via skype. kind of a ghosttown, huh? >> it is absolutely a ghosttown. all flights have been cancelled since 4:20 in the evening and no more flights going out and also no more flights going out tomorrow. most of the people here are employees and a lot of them will be out there working to clear the runway. i will come behind the camera and show you a few things. like i said before, the flights have been cancelled at 4:20. that is for passenger flights. it really started to empty out before that and now, of course, only a few people are here. i'm going to zoom in.

this is where the security line is. it is really been december late like that the past few hours, probably since 2:00. i have not seen a line since i got here. most passengers came in the morning. they were able to transfer their flight and get out early to make sure they could beat the storm. some of the shops are even closing up early. this is godiva chocolates. the manager tells me at ten to 5:00 he will shut down because last time we had such a big storm they were stuck. so he had too get a hotel room for his employees and he said he tried to walk all the way home to arlington. so, really, there's pretty much no one here. but management tells me that this building will be open. so let's hear a little bit from the manager of godiva. >> as the weather gets worse it is hard for employees to go

home. last time i had to walk to arlington. so i was going up and down. >> our response is the same for every snowstorm. our crews are put on alert. they come in before the snow start and work around the clock until the snow stops and the airfields are clear. >> reporter: now the building is going to remain open through the weekend, but without any flights there's really no point to come through here. and a lot of shopkeepers told me they will shut down tomorrow, as well. with in flights there's no point in them staying open. live at reagan national airport, lindsey mastis for 9 news now. >> thank you. patranya bhoolsuwan, you are keeping your eyes on the roadways. any really bad spots out there? >> we have several to report, but as lindsey was saying air traffic is coming to a halt but not so for land traffic. it is coming down, downward trend. crews want to see that as they clear the roadways. right now nice and light traffic on 395 to washington

boulevard and the mixing bowl. no crashes reported. nothing blocking the travel lanes. on 66 westbound. same thing as we stay closer to the district and take a live shot. the snow accumulates more the farther west you go on 66. as you can see here, you can see the snow coming down and blocking these lanes and that will make it harder for people to see and drive. the advice is to stay home if you can. a lot of people have done that. they went out and did what they have to do. but we have an accident south of 66. this is fairfax station. a crash is blocking all lanes at wolf run shalls road. all lanes are blocked but a lot of traffic in the area. that is good news. on the capital beltway, no traffic reported in virginia or la