whether or not we get the drifght and the zero visibility. for now the interstates are open. we'll see what the storm brings. >> all right, scott broom, we appreciate you tonight, sir. we'll get back with you later on aus begin to turn around and head back toward all part of the world. many time we want to know how auld the roads are hanging out we go to the traffic center. i know there's not a lot of traffic, but maybe you can show us how the snow is starting to pile up. >> definitely it's doing that everywhere as you heard from scott who is going 25 to 35 miles per hour, and that is very smart. i don't think anybody can or wants to go above the speed limit, or at speed limit even at this . in time. we're looking at 395 as you can see, derek, look on the roadways. all the snow coming down is covering up the lanes. what i found in my experience you can't really see where you're going. you don't want to run into other vehicles. you want to run off the roadways, so that's why it's wise to get off the roads as fast as you can, and as you can see, some of the bigger buses going through here, we're seeing plows going through, as

well as trucks. those are the vicks want to steer clear from to stay away as they do their job and clear the roadways for us. let's switch over to route 7 and spring hill road. this is in tysons corner. we're losing the color but that's what we really want to see is black and white, all the snow covering the roadways. this is near the mall. i know the mall is still open as peggy told us, but a lot of workers might be able to get home a little earlier tonight to avoid the mess that's only going to get worse throughout the night. let's go to our real-time maps where we see one accident. right now this is on the outer loop here, and it's colesville, between 95 and bw parkway. that's actually college park, route 1. this is where the accident is blocking some lanes there. but otherwise looking good on the capital belted way, between the two belt ways looking good. derek back to you. >> quick question. as the traffic slows down, does the real-time map shows traffic slowing down because of snow or does it not -- does it -- is it clean and green because there's not many cars? >> that's a great question.

usually the green is because they're going at speed. but right now we're seeing green because there's not a lot of cars out there, but the yellow we still see out there, there might be a lot more cars on some stretches than others, but definitely not the typical rush hour we're seeing out there. >> all right, thanks for that. and we'll be right back in a moment. stay with us.

seen. as we know the situation has changed and the sun has gone down. we have jenny mccord with the virginia department of transportation on the phone. earlier tonight we knew this was going to happen. the roads would be more treacherous. have your trucks gone in to action now? >> we have definitely started to see conditions deteriorate over the last couple of hours. the snow is starting to stick.

and as you mentioned the pavement temperatures have dropped below freezing that means it makes our job harder. we have 1800 trucks on the road out of northern virginia and they are plowing already. we have a couple of inches on the ground. >> that's my next question. we had surae chinn -- i shouldent say surae chinn, actually peggy fox in tysons corner, she was out on one of the main roads, 123 there and said she hasn't seen a plow yet but you say the plows have their blades down and they are moving around and plowing. >> they are moving around and the sign around northern virginia. they will continue throughout the night. they will probably have to hit the roads several times in the same area. they are expecting the snow to fall. we will try to hit the primary and interstates repeatedly. how many drivers do you have and how often are they relieved? >> it is pretty much every

truck and piece of equipment and driver we have available to us. that is v dolt drivers and that's contracted drivers. and those folks are working 12- hour shifts and working around the clock. they will be working through this until monday, tuesday and wednesday when we are done plowing. >> very long work schedule for those men and women. i guess there's also overtime to be paid as well which contributes the fact that you are running through your budget so quickly. >> we have blown the budget for this year. we budgeted the same amount as last year but this year has been just very atypical but we are working on using emergency funds and we will continue to do what we do and plow as much as we can and won't change what we do and just find the money later. >> that's the motto for everybody. we appreciate your time. we know it is a busy evening for you and will stay busy all weekend long. speaking of busy people, they don't get more so than topper shutt in the weather center trying to keep tabs on how much

snow is coming our way it. >> will be our second historic storm this season which is unheard of. i can't imagine it happening. we will talk about the new totals. manassas 3.5 -- under a blizzard warning as of 10:00 tonight and the district and prince georges county, as well. so, it is going to get worse before it gets better but we will get you through it. go to live doppler. one thing i have been sweating back here. i know i'm a nervous nelly but i can tell you that's the mix line of sleet and rain. we will watch it. it is already through fredericksburg. i think what will happen is we will see this bulge like that. that's going to cut down on accumulations down in to southeastern sections of charles county and also calvert county and st. mary's county. we will watch that carefully.

in the meantime, probably need to say this again. this is a new color table. the darker the blue the heavier the snow. wewe will zoom in and show you this purple area and that is even heavier snow. we will zoom in around fairfax, around 123. and we will pinpoint some heavy snow. this is some heavy heavy stuff. when you see this. we will see a lot more of this actually on the, as we go through the night time hours. we will see a lot of this. this is, you know, just, not too far actually from mclean. and 123. we are talking a very, very heavy band of snow. so we are going to keep you posted where the heavy bands set up. but again, this is pretty heavy stuff toward centreville, as well. so again, it is going to get worse before it gets better. we will get through it. heaviest snow is yet to come. again, we will look at near blizzard conditions across the metro area overnight. just starting to pick up.

the storm is about 6700 miles away. we'll be back with more team coverage after this. stay

. welcome back. any number of folks trying to flow their way out of town this morning before the snow got bad. they may not have left there. at least via airplane. flights got cancelled and delayed. let's get out to reagan national where we find lindsey mastis. she's been there all day. p she has seen the airport going from hustle and bus will to deathly quiet tonight. lindsey. >> reporter: that is right, derek. there are no more scheduled flights out of reagan national. not until sunday. really there is only a few people here. a few people have decided to spend the night and wait it out.

for the most part, it's just myself and some employees. and most of them are spending the night outside trying to get the runway ready. earlier today, planes had to be deiced. people from cancelled flights had to make arrangements to stay at hotels until sunday. all flights were cancelled by 4:20 this evening. and the airport had emptied out. some shops closed earlier. the manager of a chocolate store closed at 12:00. he wanted to make sure his employees made it home safely. >> as the weather gets worse, so very, very hard for the employees to go back home. because last time we have weather, i had to walk to arlington. so i was falling up and down. >> reporter: the response is the same for every snowstorm. our snow crews are put on alert. they come in before the snow starts and they work around the clock until the snow stops and the air fields are clear. >> reporter: airport management says this building is going to

be open for the weekend but really with no flights there is hardly a reason to come here. and mini shops say that they're going to be closed as well. for right now, dunkin' donuts is open. and some people that are staying the night say that's what they're going to be eating over the next day, day and a half. live at reagan national, i'm lindsey mastis for 9news now. >> i will resist the temptations of asking to bring me a glazed doughnut. one of the issues that could be a part of the evening, and it's not a good thing, the power could go out. we have this heavy snow, wet snow. let's talk to ken from dominion power. any power issues this evening? and are you concerned? because unlike the dry snow we've had in the past, this is heavy, wet snow that could perhaps snap a power line. >> the bottom line, yes, we are concerned. thanks for having me on. this storm is different. we expect a