snow apocalypse and now they're calling it snow he didn't and snowflake. >> our special coverage will continue at wusa9.com. my colleague bruce johnson will be here for the next two hours. welcome to special coverage of the special storm to hit the region. it is wednesday february 10th. we begin with the latest closings. the weather has forced most schools closed. you can see those listed at the bottom of your screen. and several counties have made the decision to cancel school

for the rest of the week. those are loudoun, anne arundel, frederick, montgomery and faulker. and howard bernstein is here to join us. and i thought we had dodged the bullet this morning. >> we had sleet and freezing rain and drizzle and the snow did have a lull. and we're now back to the snow. and snowing moderately in many areas. and even though kristin fisher wasn't that much, but there is more coming. we'll start with the big picture and then the doppler. you see that hole, look at that, bruce, a hole in parts of virginia. look at how it's filled in in the last hour. and that's what we're seeing on live doppler radar hd. and it is locally heavy and the winds are picking up. we just had a gust to 44 miles per hour in the winchester area being reported so that blizzard warning should be going into affect at 10:00. let's take a few tours on the radar here. first south and west, working

back toward the district. from warrenton down 29, not quite to culpeper and west of fredericksberg toward wilderness and lake anna, seeing moderate snow. it's splotchy here but there are pockets of moderate snow into saint maries county. and western charles and prince george is seeing moderate to occasionally heavy snow now. i want to share the areas showing up with purple coming into it from upper marlboro out of dunkirk in calvert county, moderate to heavy snow. everything is moving off to the north, northwest. the sign that the upper low is still west of us. moderate snow across parts of the district, going out here into prince george's county and just to the north and east of bowie. i want to take you up into montgomery county. you've had some 7-inch totals coming out of montgomery county. a little break in the east central part of the county but

southern parts of silver spring and near bethesda working its way north. howard county will go into the weather storm watch, and really coming down there. and i want to show you a couple more spots on the radar because we do have a lot of places seeing a lot of snow. especially up to the north and west. we've had some foot plus totals coming out of hagerstown and a part of west virginia. charleston right now to the west of leesberg, the snow is really coming down. want to go back to the weather commuter and -- computer and talk about the warnings. all of the counties in white are winter storm warnings and then the pink counties, from new york to long island, delaware back to our neck of the woods, blizzard warning going into affect at 10:00. that means winds sustained above 35 mile-per-hour for many hours and visibility a quarter mile or less. again, we just had a gust to 44

mile-per-hour in the winchester area. temperatures 20s and 30s. still expecting 6-12 inches of snow here in washington metro. by the time the storm is done a foot plus in the mountains, northern maryland and to the north and east as well. angie goff stepping in at 7:04 and she has you covered. our eyes on the capital beltway, the snow is coming down it needs to be treated again. dealing with big issues at central and darcy road. that area on the outer loop right now only one lane of traffic getting by to the left because crews are responding to an accident out there. we also know that past that we have a disabled vehicle in the roadway at 212, losing the left lane. the shot into d.c. we take you to m. street and south capitol street, clearing taking place but overall limited lanes and a lot of the side roads still need a good plowing. in virginia, a shot of 395, notice our icicle cam out here. all over, icy conditions. the ramp to duke street and

little river being closed because we have snow trucks in the way. they are there to do their job. letting you know about trains, metro, no above ground service, no buses running. vre and marc is closed and the dash buses have been grounded. a call from mark said he wants to know about pennsylvania avenue at marlboro pike. well pretty much covered, but no incidents to report. back to you bruce. and one of the main concerns isn't so much the snowfall as it is the strong winds. those winds can lead to more power outages. right now pepco is reporting the most outages, a total of 3750. most of them in montgomery county, people without power. let's see how the streets in alexandria look. let's go to jessica doyle on south royal with more. hi. >> reporter: hi, there, bruce. i'm watching the car behind me making sure i don't get hit.

we are in between king street and royal street in alexandria. we've seen one plow come through. that's okay. because that's not the problem. the problem is not the actual roadway with the precipitations that falling today. the problem is with the roadway from the precipitation last weekend. it is frozen up. there is nowhere to put the snow and ice that's out here right now. what kind of ice am i talking about? i don't want to get hit by this gentleman. good morning. i want to show you this kind of ice on the roadway. sir, you're going to want to watch out for this kind of ice in the roadway this morning. we've seen a lot of cars trying to get through this intersection. if you're in four-wheel, you're okay. you're getting over the snow. if you're in rear wheel, which we just saw go by, you are fish tailing and having issues. this morning we're also seeing people come out with pets. dogs need to be walked. we're seeing that. it's in the roadway because there are no sidewalks. we have a gentleman about to

make a turn. right beyond we have caution tape strung up along the walkway because the overhang at the pnc bank has collapsed. and they are warnings of falling ice and snow. it could be treacherous for folks. so we continue to tell you this morning, stay home if you can. if you have to go to work, obviously that's something you're going to have to do. but make way for the plows, for the trucks, for people trying to dig out this morning. we're all doing our best, just keep it inside if you can. with that, back to you guys. >> jessica, thanks a lot. we'll get back to you in a few minutes. there are reports that 25% of the government snowplows are down and in need of serious repair. this is the latest toll on plows. officials are promising they will be fixed as soon as possible. and the d.c. national guard is being called out to help during the snow emergency. >> we have a mission from the city to have humvees located at

each of the police precincts. what they are doing is shuttling any personnel, fire, police, doctors back and forth who are stuck in their homes. >> the district has 200 plows and some are run by city workers and the rest are contracted out to private workers. our coverage continues in prince george's county. arm ando is live at the snow command center. what is going out there. >> reporter: we have a lot of crews out on the roads, bruce. as of yesterday 90% of all of the county roads in prince george county were passible. passible being the operative word, meaning you could get by very slowly and carefully. but of course this snow isn't helping and now as you heard howard report, the wind has picked up quite a bit. and that's why the state of maryland contributed its workers for help out here like on roads 202 and 214.

and we've seen a few trucks come in and out, but the emphasis is not on laying down any salt or sand, it's really plowing the roads and keeping them clear of what is falling now heavily and with a lot of speed. that's what is happening out here in prince george's county, bruce. back to you. metro has responded to the snow similar to the way they did on saturday. its transit agency will have limited underground service for today. officials will work to clear the tracks quickly, they say, in hopes of resuming above ground service as well. metro bus and access will not run at all. again metro bus and metro access will not run today. pass that on to your neighbors. commuter bus service and marc train service has also been canceled. most flights have been canceled at dulles, reagan national and bwi marshall. if you plan to fly this week,

make sure to check with your airline before heading to the airport. a lot of planes have been grounded. we have links to our local websites on our website at wusa9.com. the national kidney foundation has put out a call for more volunteers for four- wheel-drive cars to give patients to dialysis. this is very serious. a week without dialysis can be fatal. if you can help, please go to our website at wusa9.com and click on the stories under headlines. we're back in a minute. stay with us for this special coverage of the storm.

welcome back to 9 news now. this is a live shot of reagan national. all planes have been grounded. we'll keep you posted if that changes and check with your airlines if you have flights scheduled. right now we want to take you out to scoot broom who joins us live by skype from howard county. >> bruce, i'm behind the wheel here on i-70 hanging out by the threat of a cell signal so if i drop off, please excuse me. tough day on the roads as we've reported all over.

[ inaudible ] >> okay, we lost scott broom by skype. we'll try to get him back later. let's go to howard bernstein right now. and we were talking at the top of 7:00 and i thought we had dodged a bullet because the accumulation was down. >> you said i figured i was wrong. >> no, i was just pulling your leg. and you got the crunchy sound when you stepped on it and that puts at cumulation down. >> we had a lull and freezing rain and freezing drizzle. now we are back to snow. moderate and heavy snow in spots and the winds are kicking up. places like winchester. it is not on the blizzard warning. there was a gust of 44 reports. >> that's not a blizzard?

>> that is applies ard. so maybe they don't think it will get freezing. and this is from martinsberg, west virginia. it looks like a pickup truck is under that, just above the safety center logo ott the bottom right of the screen. that's his car. there are thousands of pounds of weight on top of his -- on top of his garage and gave way. especially for people that have flat roofs. but the pitch ones have weight too. and the snow has crusted over. and even though the wind is blowing around, it's not the old stuff, but it's the new stuff. and we're getting plenty of that. let's talk about this. this is a dangerous storm. we're expecting winds to be gusting 40-45 or more. so prepare to lose electricity and hope you don't. we have problems already and

we'll have more trees and branches coming down. winds are still light in spots, they're quickly increasing, 50- 25 here in the metro this morning but we've seen gusts up to 35 and 40 plus. by this afternoon, 20-40. and gusty. so it will be like a weak tropical storm with the winds. heavy snow, 3-6 additional inches this morning and becoming windy, 25-30. and this afternoon, light amounts south and west of washington, very windy though. temperatures holding 25-30 with northwesterly winds, 20-45 miles per hour. there could be higher accumulation northeast and east of town, closer to the low pressure area where the snow will be flying. and it could be falling for a while, even after dark. so we'll call for early snow east. otherwise mostly cloudy, windy and cold. and it could be howard county and annapolis and east where

you get another inch or two after dark. here is satellite radar and near ocean city is where the low pressure seems to be and then there is another piece of energy coming in helping to really enhance the snow we've seen. look at this last couple of hours, things have blossoms darker. and we'll go over to live doppler, and turning back toward some snow, we've had basically rain, sleet and freezing rain during the overnightment moderate snow across annapolis and baltimore. over out toward loudoun county. we'll stop to the east. but central prince george's southern anne arundel county seeing moderate heavy snow to upper marlboro and even up toward parts of the district on the southeast side, andrews air force base. and this is rotating into southeast and northeast

washington over the next few minutes. shadyside is about to get into a heavy band of snow. up to the north here, howard county under the blizzard warning with anne arundel starting this morning. and you have so muchy areas of the purple, toward montgomery county, but that won't last another 15-30 minutes and out to the west, loudoun county, down to fairfax county, heavy snow, hillsboro to percentville and chantilly and even in the winchester area we're seeing heavy snow and some of the totals have been quite impressive. i want to talk about how much has fallen and the warnings we're under. and i'm tossing it out to meteorologist devon lucie. >> still a steady snow going on. light, fluffy and dry snow. this isn't the packing snow. the repeat of what we had over the weekend as we had the sleet

and freezing rain to mix in. even a little bit past into the western suburbs. w usa, a post coming from barbara in warrenton, said that steadily snowing and the wind has started out there. can't tell the wind speed but the trees are definitely starting to sway. thank you for that report. dan in spotsylvania in southwest d.c. and around fredericksberg, around 2.5 inches of rain and a mixture of sleet and rain earlier. three-tenths of an inch. and in martinsberg, 12 inches of snow, this sent in from earnest out there in martinsberg. you saw other totals there. you can log on and send me your storm reports and let me know how the snow is stacking up.

also want to talk about those. the winds are starting to pick up. the first report from barbara, well we have some blizzard warnings also in effect. officially at 10:00 a.m., two more in the appalachians in west virginia. and then north of here to frederick county maryland and then also to anne arundel county. and this kicks in at 10:00 a.m. this morning. and even around here, our winds picking up closer to 9:00 and 10:00 this morning. so not bad right now, gusts around 10 mile-per-hour and above but we expect these to pick up in the next few hours. >> we're seeing gusts of 44 in the winchester area this past hour. 23 up there with the winds, 29 at dulles, it's 30 here. 32 easton and everybody will be all snow here within the hour or so.

even fredericksberg reporting moderate snow. the latest winds, gusts up to 35. this afternoon things are going downhill. gusting into the 20s and our windchill at 21. big storm here. and the coast is going to take over and this will pound philly and new york, even boston or nantucket. they're talking wind gusts at nantucket island of 50-60 miles per hour tonight. and the storm total when it's all said and done, 6-inches to a foot for the metro. near pennsylvania, a foot, a foot plus in maryland and west virginia. and if the blizzard warnings get expanded, that wouldn't surprise me. seven-day. snow and wind today, windy tomorrow. we stay cold so slow melting and a clipper system on monday, i don't want to tell you, could bring us more snow. here is angie. i'm back. i know. i'm saying it over and over again. don't get out there if you don't have to. big problems on the major highways and the interstates. on the outer loop around central avenue, that's where we

have this accident taking away three right lanes for drivers squeezing by on the left. notice we have delays in the area. everything is stacking up quickly. it only takes one, folks, one accident and one disabled vehicle with our limited lanes you can clog the roadways for the snow crews and that's bad news because they have a job to get done. and a disabled vehicle on the outer loop at 212. and southbound the wind working our camera. snow coming down hard. northbound at wooten parkway, taken away the left lane. and snow covered roads and parts still seeing that precipitation on the roadway making for slick conditions. in virginia, 95 between fredericksberg and the mixing bowl. treacherous conditions out here reports because of the sleet and the ice. and then 66 headed westbound, we have crews, we're hearing they are doing the snow removal process but they have the work cut out for them as more snow

comes down they'll have to retreat, and when changing lanes, please try to limit that because we have snow and ice pack in the middle and that will pile up as the snow continues to fall. bruce, that's the latest. now over to you. >> angie, thanks a lot. and we'll continue our coverage in a few minutes. we'll take you out to this live shot of mass pass avenue. we're back in a minute. stay with us.

good morning. it's 7:25. welcome back to 9 news now special coverage. you're looking at reagan national airport where all incoming and outgoing flights have been canceled. check before you head there to take off. right now we'll take to you 9 news now reporter scott broom. and according to howard bernstein you're going to get a

blizzard later on. >> reporter: i was listening to howard as i was driving on i-70 and we're not getting any of the heavy winds. we have moderate snow falling and all of the problems on the roads are going on here. i have a dashboard camera up and you can look outside. and if it's not up on our website, wusa9.com, it will be shortly. as we move along here, the number one observation i'm having this morning is that just about everywhere i've been there was a period of sleet and freezing rain overnight. and it really has made a layer on the roadways here that is extremely slick. and that's a problem. the other observation that i'm concerned about on the road and off the road, is that as i was shoveling this morning there is a huge amount of water weight in a small volume of snow. 5-6 inches hi to shovel this

morning, very, very heavy. that's really bad news. when you add that weight on top of the weight on the trees and branches and you forecast the wind later today, this is just a really bad scenario. so i'm moving out through northern howard county here, out into frederick county to check conditions to see what is going on. the interstates are snow- packed, completely covered. i-70 here, if you can see on the dashboard camera is just a two-track down this relatively wide roadway. the plows have been out. they are going to make an effort at staying ahead of this. that's been the key. the problem with the blizzard conditions and we haven't seen this on local interstates, 95, 70, 66, et cetera, we haven't had exactly the blizzard conditions yet. and if we do get those, that's

what closes roads. blizzard conditions blowing huge amounts of snowdrift wide much faster than plows can handle it. tractor-trailers can't see, the flashers are on and they get turned sideways and you have a serious problem. and so despite the snow we've had through december and the most recent storm last weekend, the major interstates were able to stay open. you add in this blizzard condition later today, you'll have some serious problems on the interstates as well. i'm going to stay in touch with you, bruce, throughout the morning and i'm using skype and cell phone technology to get this done so as i see things happening i'll get back to you. and for the moment, why don't i sign off and get it back to you. from howard county going out to frederick, scott broom now. and the ice underneath the snow, and many people in four- wheel-drives think they're invincible. and right now we go to john leopold who is with us on the

phone. what does it look like? >> well we have several inches of snow on the ground. we are waiting for the blizzard conditions and the strong winds at 35 mile-per-hour and more. but some ray of sunshine, we have been low on salt and we will get delivery soon of 11,000 tons of salt which will bring us up to capacity, which will be good. we have 52 people without power. i know bg & e is working hard to restore power there. we also have a situation where we have some down trees, about two dozen roads have been closed because of the down trees. one such road is route 424 at newman way in crofton. and we're helping utility employees stuck in hanover. and yesterday i visited several homes personally to hand out citations to individual citizens going over and above

the call of duty to help neighbors. obviously we're doing everything we can in government to get the roads cleared, but we're also very appreciative that citizens are taking it upon themselves to help one another. and i call them snow angels and i think we're going to be awarding citations to very few people who are reaching out to help neighbors. >> thanks a lot. by my count we're in day six, round two of the snowstorm. what do you say to the residents of san arundel county who have -- of anne arundel county who have cabin fever. >> just think how hot it's going to be in july and you'll say i wish it were cooler. but the fact is one inconvenienced resident is one too many. we'll get to all of the streets and it will take us several days to do that and we'll all

come out it in the end. >> anne arundel county executive john leopold. we'll check back with you again. and 9 news now special snow coverage continues in a moment. in times like these, we need to give businesses all the tools they need to succeed. it's the only way to grow our economy. broadband investment and innovation provide companies new ways to start, grow and create new jobs. even in these tough times, broadband companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to connect businesses with each other and their customers. so as washington crafts a national broadband plan,

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looking at a live shot out there. the roads, mostly sleet and now snow on top of sleet. dangerous situation all the way around f. you don't have to go out, don't find the excuse.

we have howard bernstein bringing us up to date. and we were talking about this earlier, i saw some videotape and 16th street looked quite clear and quite impressive. >> and wisconsin was nice at about 2:30 in the morning. >> wisconsin and nebraska avenue. we're talking at about 5:30 it looked good. you were almost fooled into thinking we dodged a bullet. we're okay. >> well it's 7:34 outside and it's snowing and the winds are picking up. we've hearing from the weather watcher and a lady in reston who lives across the street from the town center and she can't see it. winds are picking up in manassas and winchester. is that reagan national in the distance? >> i can't see it. >> i think that's the reagan national shot with the control tower. barely visible. and now it's snowing and picking up. >> and one of the good things is everything is shut down. you don't have people out on the street in danger. you don't have vehicles,

emergency response people for the most part out there risking their own safety. so the good thing is that everything is shut down. >> and a friend of mine works at arlington 911 call center, please keep the calls -- and for everybody -- just emergency calls. if you have nonemergency calls, it ties things up. and the storm system had a lull overnight. let's get to it. and the lull has filled in. southwestern parts of virginia not seeing that much at all. roanoke up to charlottesville, quiet. but around here it is snowing to beat the band. and you can see the snow intensity from the doppler 9000 hd. and occasionally we're seeing heavy burst. from fredericksburg down to warrenton. and in culpeper, you're in the lighter area so things are a lot less for you and will likely be less for you as i think you'll miss out on some

of the heavier snowfall. closer into the metro here. we'll see some moderate to heavy snow from leesberg, taking that trip down the dulles toll road and the greenway from leesberg into dulles and into fairfax county, very heavy snow there. we have more heavy snow coming across parts of anne arundel county where there is a lot of snow on the ground. they have 34 inches in crofton over the weekend and bay bridge, wind warnings up there with heavy snow pockets coming up into the northwest, from chester back across the bay and this is also going into northern maryland where some areas have had upwards of a foot of snow. blizzard warnings going up. at 10:00, everybody else in white is in a winter storm warning. already seeing gusts this winchester over 40 miles per hour. it will get worse over the next couple of hours. angie. well with the snow, the ice and the blizzard conditions on the way, all signs point to

stay home. we begin with 66. eastbound, this incident approaching the beltway, the accident causing drivers to lose the left lane. check out the roads. the snow is coming down hard. terrible conditions and we're literally watching the lanes disappear before our eyes. on the beltway, the outer loop wreck at van dorn and the mixing bowl are going to force you to stay left to get by. moving into maryland, an outer loop accident at darcy road. you're still losing three right lanes because of it. 270 seeing a few drivers out this way. and here is inbound new york avenue, giving us an idea of how major thoroughfares are looking. a lot of side roads are still covered in snow with ice. and snow coverage looks across the potomac. our jessica doyle is in alexandria. what do you see out there? >> reporter: well i'll tell you the snow is still coming down but it's sort of an icy, rainy, snowy mix. it's very cold and miserable out here on foot, which a lot of people are. this is the building behind us.

this is the hotel monaco. this is where a lot of national guardsmen are saying to help out. and we caught up with a crew of folks in from out of town that are helpingment and i caught up with a lady named jeanette who is in town and this is what she had to say. >> where are you from? >> we're from the department of forestry and we have 7 of us from an incident management team yesterday that help with the eoc. >> reporter: and what sort of jobs have you been assigned. >> we're broken out into several different locations just filling in where they need help. it's a lot of snow to take care of. >> reporter: now you were telling me that you guys are working on finding hydrants. what are you doing? >> they have a group specifically tasked with locating the hydrants. they have maps of where they are and they are trying to find them and make sure they are uncovered and accessible. >> reporter: and you get the map out and dig out the hide rand. >> yeah. >> reporter: and that's got to be a problem when they can't

find a hydrant. >> yes. and some they find on the map and aren't able to locate it so they're trying to stake it and come back later and find them. >> reporter: and what else are you doing? >> we have several folks working in the eoc to help coordinate the efforts, filling in where they need it. >> reporter: and how long are you staying for? >> until they say they're finished with us. we're here to help as long as they need us. >> reporter: fantastic. thank you very much. and we want to tell you one more security hazard. we are seeing sleets of ice coming off the roofs. they are made of steel and continue and it's cascading down. so be very careful. back to you. and we want to join greg and see what he sees out there. >> reporter: a lot of snow. moderate is what they would

call it. and we are in annandale virginia at fairfax county fire station number 8. one of the heritage stations and one of the fire stations where there was fear of an imminent roof collapse. theres with a roof collapse about three miles east of here at company 10, baileys cross roads which we've reported over the past couple of days. and that is forced fairfax fire and rescue to alter help substantially. we are standing in the middle of the fire operations or the apparatus and you can see the winds picking up, not a pleasant situation at all. inside the bingo hall here at company 8 in annandale, you look like you're walking into a mash unit. there are tents to house the male and female firefighters and they sleep at the station because their cycle is 12 -- >> 24 hours.

>> reporter: 24 hours cycle. and i'm here with battalion chief. >> correct. chris shawl. >> reporter: what are you doing? >> we're running the operations for station 8 out of the bingo hall. we have a tent set up so operationally it's kind of like living in a mash unit. and we have support with our computers and two functional stations running out of the back of the hall today. >> reporter: functional but difficult. how do you keep the apparatus and the fire trucks, the medic and basic units and ambulances, how do you keep them clear? it makes it tough? >> it does. working with things that aren't the norm. we have crews keeping them clean as best they can. the battalion 4 is busy and so they are not accumulating snow. if they are running its hard to accumulate snow on them. >> reporter: and the irony here is that the fairfax county fire urban search and rescue team

was deployed to haiti that bruce johnson and i covered a couple of weeks ago down in port-au-prince and now here they are in their own jurisdiction facing the collapse, albeit from snow, of one of their fire station and danger at company 8, but it should be heartening for the residents of fairfax county to know that firefighters get it done, don't they. >> we're here. that's what we get paid to do. and we protect them. and when they need us, we're here. >> reporter: and cleaning their apparatus and ready to serve. back to you. >> greg, quick question. we've covered how difficult it has been to get around in this kind of weather, have they had any runs in the past 24 hours and how are they getting here. >> reporter: bruce johnson is asking if you've had any runs in the past 24 hours and how difficult is it to respond? >> the back streets are difficult and we do have the national guard helping us to get back on the streets, we have four-wheel-drive vehicles and some streets we're having to pick up the patients out and bring them out it get them to

units to get them to the hospital. and it's not norm but we haven't missed any patients yet. >> reporter: it's getting done. >> and we should mention, if you don't have a dire emergency, please don't call 911 because these men and women are very limited in terms of where they can go and how to get there. so let's respect that. and right now we want to take a quick look in gaithersburg. kristin fisher is there live. what does it look like? >> reporter: we're tarting to see the snow come down steadily now. we've been looking like this all morning. and i think we can all agree we're sick of all of this snowfall. but it's affecting everybody in all different ways. some people don't have power and others can't get out of their neighborhoods. but we ran into three different people from three different countries. one from katmandou and another from el salvador.

and hear how it's affecting one man from line earia. >> in africa, we haven't seen snow at all. we have a mountain area, but right now i'm missing the heat and the sun and everything. >> reporter: in talking with your friends and family, how are you holding up in all of the snow? >> well we tell them to live with it. you can't do anything. it's mother nature. so i called my friends and family last home and called them the condition and they said can i send you money? everything is closed. >> reporter: so the banks are closed. that's something i hadn't thought of yet in terms of all of the people here from foreign countries. they're having a tough time sending money back to their families. so in addition to schools being closed and government offices, that's just another side affect of the massive storm.

bruce back to you. so people here calling back home. that's a twist, telling them about conditions here. we'll be back in a minute. ñyy

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7:46. thanks for joining us for this special edition of 9 news now. howard bernstein joins us with the latest. >> got a call from frank up in percentelville, and 48 mile-per- hour wind gusts. he had he had four inches of snow before the wind and he has no idea how he will measure accurately now. 7 inches from aaron up in germantown. and you see how it's starting to blowout side. we're seeing the wind start to crank up. blizzard warnings go into effect at 10:00. i have a feeling the weather service might expand the counties under the warnings j. because of the reports -- just because of the reports coming in. >> and we're talking about

perhaps more people losing power. people who lost power and got it back fear losing it again. >> dead on. with the dangerous coastal storm number two, it looks like the folks in the left lane aren't moving at all on deke street. weather headlines, prepare to lose power. we talked about this yesterday. topper talked about this yesterday and i agree. we've seen gusts up to 50 mile- per-hour this morning and it's only going to get worse. and this is a strong storm and deepening up in ocean city. and the winds are picking up. sustained winds 50-30 and then 20-40 with sustained winds this afternoon. and i expect gusts over 50 miles per hour this afternoon and that will cause problems. if you have a gas fireplace, make sure you know how to switch it on without the power. and we're looking at heavy snow, 3-6 inches, becoming winding i'm wondering if i need

to up this 3-6. it's really coming down. temperatures 25-30. and if you're watching from culpeper, you'll see a lot less snow. the moisture isn't there. winds north, northwest at 15- 30. and the winds go from northwest -- northeast to the northwest, excuse me. 20-40 miles per hour. an additional 1-4 there. and the snow will continue after dark east of the bay probably. maybe even annapolis and parts of howard county, stay in the snow this evening before it finally pulls out. mostly cloudy and windy and cold. lows in the 20s. radar, boy this is fascinating to watch this morning, we have the deep storm in ocean city, the upper low here. watch this piece of energy coming across. boom -- richmond just

exploding there. and going over to live doppler 9,000 hd. and it's starting to come down. and really think our reporters in the field are going to notice it. let's take a picture. here is one of the shots outside. wisconsin avenue, you can start to see the wind blowing around there and what was a pretty clean road just a few hours ago is now snow-covered. and now back to the doppler live 9,000 hd. and back to snow and freezing rain. it's moving north, northwest and some of the heaviest snow, two areas, one out in the bay, coming toward anne arundel county and then here in fairfax and to loudoun counties right now, it is snowing to beat the band. probably 2 inches an hour from vienna toward reston and ashburn f. we see lightning and thunder develop that wouldn't surprise me. and even into howard county, showing you this heavy, heavy snow around clarksville.

across 29, moving to the west, northwest and even out of sandy spring. and let's go out to devon lucie who has been tracking the storm with me. >> reporter: the winds have started to pick up. i wouldn't say it's extremely windy, but it is gusty. we have a roof over in front of me here. you can hear the wind blowing in my microphone. and so a lot of the snow you might see is blowing off of the roof and blowing around. and that's what we'll have to deal with here and for you in the entire region. snow just being blown around even if it's just a couple, 3, 4, 5 inches, it will start to accumulate to more. and we've had the winds pick up in fredericktown, and thanks to janet. and we're updating or reports at wusa9.com. and we'll have the latest with the snow totals and everything else with the complete weather. >> and we're also watching the blizzard and winter storm warnings.

let's show you what is happening. winter storm warnings in affect until 7:00. all of the pink areas from the mountains of west virginia and they've expanded the blizzard warning. this is new information. this does include the entire metro area, northern virginia, you can see the pink counties, blizzard warnings going into affect. we'll have more coming up. you're watching 9 news now special coverage of winter storm number two. ok, you got your card, your roses and her favorite -- hershey's kisses.

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good morning. it's 7:54. you're looking at a live shot of 395 at duke street. 9 news now special extended coverage continues. let's go to wisconsin avenue with lou turner. >> reporter: good morning right now. take a look behind me. the visibility that we've talking about has been limited.

a quarter mile or less at times with the wind blowing. and we've had gusts at 25-30 miles per hour easy out here this morning. and that's just adding a little bit of extra punch in the gut with all of the snow. a young lady here has been walking to work. how is the commute going for you so far? >> well the commute is going pretty well. i'm trekking through the road instead of the street. the streets aren't really well plowed. so i'm taking it on the road, hoping that no one will hit me. >> reporter: well that's the interesting thing here on wisconsin avenue. i've seen more foot traffic than car traffic and that's probably a good thing. if you don't absolutely have to drive and get out this morning, the best bet is just to stay in. and do you usually walk to work or are you typically driving? >> i typically take the h 4 bus. and every bus system is shut down, so i'm trekking it.

>> reporter: where do you work? >> i work at the national rehabilitation hospital. >> reporter: and what was your end time this morning? >> it was supposed to be 7:00. i'm coming, guys. >> reporter: if your boss is watching. there you go. southern leg. have to get used to that. good to meet you. a lot of folks walking along wisconsin avenue. certainly not normal conditions. what scares me is watching the cars come by, we have the stoplight at the intersection and when you watch them brake you see the wheels -- good morning -- the wheels stop turning but they're still moving. and here comes another wind gust right now. and that's pretty tough. again, 25 and even 30 mile-per- hour gusts. and i'm protected by a building and the old mcdonald's so it's pretty tough conditions out here right now, bruce. >> lou, thanks a lot.

and a short time ago we saw a guy drive by on a bicycle. so get into the mcdonald's and get a cup of coffee. we'll be back in a minute.

you're looking at a live shot just outside here in northwest washington. you can see by the flag moving back and forth we're getting winds but nothing like the blizzard-like conditions elsewhere outside of the city. i should point out that most of local government, schools and government offices shut down. federal and local workers staying at home. right now let's go to alexandria. jessica doyle has been monitoring the situation there. jessica, what do you have? >> reporter: i'll tell you the gusting is picking up. it is incredibly cold out here when the wind blows. we've been seeing a lot of wind kicking up the snow already accumulated on the ground. the snow goes ho -- horrize on

theal. and this is where emergency crews are staying from out of town and they're coming in from other cities to help out the washington area because of the sheer amount of snow that we've received. we also want to let you know, this one location, this is king street and royal street, we've seen one plow come down back and forth since we've been here, since about 3:30 this morning. a lot of accumulation s -- since then. and also directing your attention to this walkway behind me, we have seen ice flying off of the building. this is the pnc bank building. we've seen the collapse of an overhang. and be careful walking around. people are out taking their dogs for a walk, so be very, very careful from the flying ice coming off of the trees. so urge folks, if you have to go out and walk the dog, we understand that. be careful. so we're seeing people walk down the center of the road. that obviously has its safety issues as well.

in the meantime, back to you. >> jessica, thanks a lot. you know what jumps out at me is your practically the only person out there. you don't see anybody behind you. one person occasionally. everybody has stayed away. formally it's 8:01 and that area would be jam packed with people and vehicles. >> reporter: absolutely. and the mayor came out last night and said stay home, we want the emergency crews out on the roads, not the pedestrians. we have seen a couple of cars driving around. we'll see the luxury rear wheel drive vehicle, that's not the car you want in this kind of weather because people are spinning their wheels and getting stuck and plus there is the security issue of the collapses, the ice flying off of the building. so the only pedestrians we're seeing are people who have to go to work, they have no other choice and people walking their dog and it is cold to be out walking the dog this morning, i'll tell you. >> jessica doyle reporting from alexandria. jessica, warm up.

we'll get back to you now. you're watching special coverage of 9 news now. we'll be back in a minute. this is your captain speaking. we are 14th in line for takeoff.

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okay. we're back with 9 news now. it's 8:04. special coverage of the second round of the snowstorm. and howard bernstein joins us. you have news on the blizzard. >> blizzard warning has been expended.

with the exception of shannon dona county. and blizzard warnings until 7:00 p.m. the winds have been starting to gust big time. >> this is still a southern town. i can recall when we didn't have snowplow equipment to tackle something like this. when does it mean when you say blizzard. >> here is the definition. you're going to get visibility a quarter mile or less due to blowing snow and wind gusts over 35 miles per hour or sustained for a period of three hours. and we're already getting gusts over 45. so we'll have the gusty winds for the rest of the day and this afternoon and even this evening. >> and it will be tough to see but with the snow blowing and strong winds, we're talking power lines down and -- >> definitely. trees and branches, the ones still weighed down by the weight from the snow from saturday. they're going over. a lot of these will just succomb from the wind. and we're watching this piece of energy coming out the west

virginia. it's lining up across -- well northwest to southeast, coming across areas in southwestern pennsylvania right through northern virginia and through richmond there, boom, moving east. and that's where we're seeing the in tense snow right now. and we're going to take you over to live doppler 9000 hd. and a lot of area is dealing with snow an inch or greater. but in fairfax county, the radar in the last 15 minutes has exploded with this purple color here. down along 66 and along montgomery county, seeing the heavy snow as well. but as we zoom in here, including inside the beltway, 66, annandale, fairfax back toward reston and this area is making its way into arlington. going over to reagan national shortly. not that far from lorton area either. so we're watching a heavy band

of snow down 395 to 495 and we're talking two inches an hour or more. incredible. and outside watching the know and we've been taking your totals through the web and over the phone, my colleague devon lucie. >> reporter: i wanted to show you firsthand what the winds are starting to do. this is unrepresentative of what is going on in most of washington right now. because where you are looking from, we're pointed south. so that means the building is sheltering me from the north and northwest wind but that's blowing snow from the roof down on top of me here. you can hear from my microphone winds blowing around. so even when i'm sheltered a little bit, still getting gusty winds and we'll start seeing the dry, fluffy, powdery snow starting to blow around and what will be a big problem the rest of today, even though we're not seeing a huge total over a foot, it will still build up and drift in many

places so even 4, 5, 8 inches of snow in places. which i think that will be possible. and that will build up and cause travel problems. so it's good we are taking off the day. we are off. canceled schools. the wind is whipping things up and it's getting really nasty. and if you're a pedestrian and thinking of going outside or taking a jog or walk, getting this in your face is not fun. a big time windchill, not feeling good out here. >> devon, get inside. we're not going to keep you out there all day. blizzard warning just expanded in the last 15 minutes, and it covers the entire -- almost the entire state of maryland except for extreme areas, back over to ocean city and garret county not in the blizzard warning but the rest of the county is. from winchester, leesberg, faulker, stafford, king

george's county and southern maryland, blizzard warning until 7:00. past culpeper, still windy and slightly less snow, but you're under a winter storm warning. and we know even in winchester we've had some wind reports of over 40 miles per hour. dulles gusted to 44. we have gusted to 46 in fredericksberg and frequent gusts expected to over 30 mile- per-hour so that's why we have the blizzard warnings in affect for the rest of the day. and visibility, i want to show you this before we go, down to an 8th of a mile at leesberg and a quarter mile at national. and we have ourselves a blizzard. here is angie. with a report like that, you can only imagine that we have seriously, terrible bad driving conditions pretty much everywhere. our focus is on virginia. our icicle cam of 395 and we

have a driver going too fast and they've spun out. taking away the left lane. accelerate lowly if you're hitting the road for whatever reason. trying to maintain control of your vehicle, even if it's a four-wheel-drive, it will be a challenge because it's no match for the ice underneath the snow. moving to the beltway, more problems at van dorn to another road. my traffic producer is saying every time i switch it, it's looking worse out there. he's right. low visibility here. eastbound on 66 approaching the beltway, not only do we have an accident but another disabled vehicle. if you plan on making the risky travel this morning there's a good chance you could end up stuck in the roadway. back to bruce. and federal government, all local government, local schools all closed. our special snow coverage continues in prince george's county. armando troule is standing by.

what do you see? >> reporter: we have activity at the snow and salt dome. we've seen trucks from all of the agencies in prince george's county. they have public works, school board, every particular heavy piece of equipment and truck that can carry salt is out here and they are now hitting the road. they have been hitting the roads for the past 24 hours. we also have an opportunity to speak to the communications director for the county and he gave us an update on what is happening. let's listen. >> they had to pull off all of the heavy equipment, put it back on the major roadways to maintain that they are passible. there is still a smaller piece of equipment working in the neighborhood to where we could get all of the neighborhood roads open and make them passible to where vehicles can get in and out and get our emergency vehicles in. >> reporter: but of course that still has to wait because the priority right now is primary and secondary roads that are

being covered by this heavy snow that is also being made worse by the wind. it's just as windy out here and a lot of the people we have spoken to, a lot of the workers are very fatigued but out there trying to make things safe and again asking folks to stay off the roads unless they absolutely have to and unless they are essential personnel because they are just hindering the work of the crews trying to make the roads passible. in prince george's county, armando trouble, 9 news now. >> and they pulled everybody off the secondary streets to get them on the main roads. we're going to take a break. be back in a minute. stay with us.

good morning, it's 8:14.

peggy fox joins us now. what was it like driving in this morning? >> reporter: i stayed at the marriott. and it was fine there. >> okay. >> reporter: i do have to pull this out. i'm hearing myself again. if you guys can fix that. so we're here at the shell station just off route 7. take a look at the roof. you can see how fast the snow is blowing. let me take this out. sorry, guys, i can't concentrate very well. but any way, the wind is just unbelievable. this is -- this has changed so dramatically just in the past half an hour. i drove around a little bit ago and people were not having that much difficulty and there weren't that many cars on the road, but this is just so amazing how fast it changed, the wind now horizontal. the wind just lifted me off my feet a few moments ago it's blowing that hard. the shell station was supposed to be open at 5:00 a.m. but the guy had so much trouble getting here and he just got

here now and now he's debating about whether anybody will come for service today. but we're right here at mervis drive just west of the beltway. i can't even see the beltway. i don't know if the photographer can zoom around and say you can't even hardly see route 7. but visibility is so bad and the wind is so strong that you need to be bundled up. i'm glad i have my heavy duty channel 9 parka on here because it is very cold and extremely windy. we'll try to bring you everything we can out here, just beside the beltway on route 7, bruce. >> thank you, peggy. and we have a good idea what it's like out there. we appreciate that. let's go do howard bernstein with an update. >> dramatically different in the last hour as the wind kicked in. a piece of energy is is coming. the snow has increased, visibility has dropped. in the last 60 minutes all hell

is breaking lose weather wise. outside visibility is stopped. and angie will tell you, the roads are covered and don't go anywhere. and let's go to the blizzard warnings. doppler 9000. all of the areas in dark blue that you see, moderate to heavy snow, south of warrenton, culpeper toward charlottesville, less snow. you don't have the moisture there. but we are seeing heavy snow and we've had some reports of thunder snow off in the germantown area. we want to show you the heavy bands in fairfax and montgomery county. this is where it's snowing more than likely perhaps 2 inches an hour or more. much of fairfax county, you have really from the river down through 395 or almost to the wolfson bridge or the american legion bridge, we are seeing the snow to beat the van. this is the stuff that will

come down. it will be really tough to measure. 2 inches an hour or more for annandale, springfield, alexandria and toward reagan national, mclean, fairfax, falls church, vienna, toward reston and great falls. and then into montgomery county, seeing some of the very heavy snow as well through seneca, up river road through potomac and it is extending now into the upper part of the county as well. we're seeing some brighter colors from gaithersburg to germantown, clarksburg, west of bladensville on brink road it's coming down really strongly across by ridge road up to damascus. we have a lot of heavy snow and that's just half of the equation. we want to go to the weather computer. we'll talk about the blizzard warnings that have been issued. they are in affect until 7:00 covering just about everybody. as you go south from the northern neck, to blizzard warning for you. you won't get the snow with the

visibility down there. you'll have plenty of wind. not cambridge but east and north, blizzard warning. culpeper south and west and south of fredericksberg, winter storm warning in white and the rest of us dealing with blizzard conditions throughout the day and afternoon. we'll show you the winds. they've been gusting now at 46 at dulles. saw a gust at leesberg of 38. 36 over at martinsberg. washington national, 32. 26 though down in southern maryland. and when you look at the visibility, we're meeting those criteria. a quarter mile or less, frequent gusts over 35 and we have it. leesberg at zero visibility and an eighth of a mile at dulles and reagan national. and even in southern maryland, you're down a half mile, a half mile in quantico. martinsberg 5 miles. winchester snows that let up so visibility is up to 5. and same in culpeper. and frederick, visibility down to one quarter of a mile.

and temperatures 20 to 30. and dulles, look at the temperatures. last hour we were in the mid- 20s, now low 20, dulles, winchester, cumberland. so the know is a light fluffy snow and easier to blow than the wet stuff and that's why we have whiteout conditions. and you folks east, the wind is coming to you. i spoke to somebody down if calvert county and they said where is the wind? it's coming. give it 30-45 minutes. northwest winds at 18 and windchills in the upper 18s. pressure dropping off in ocean city, pieces of energy here right across there through richmond, that's why things have exploded here in the last hour. and you see really heavy stuff not just from richmond but back into west central and central pennsylvania. so we're looking at a lot of snow still. when the storm is done, it's going to be tough to measure for the rest of the day but we're talking 6-12 inches for

us. 12-20 across northern maryland, northeastern maryland and the mountains of west virginia. and less snow down south in southern maryland. 30 with the wind today. wind tomorrow but we'll still see sunshine and blowing around of the snow as well. friday, saturday, sunday better. monday there is a clipper system and we'll worry about that later. that could drop more snow. and 6-12 dropping in the west. angie. a driver that doesn't have to drive, it shouldn't be a question. the problems are popping up. you can barely see through our cameras now. 370 headed westbound at ramp to access 370 shut down because of an accident. moving into the district, in bound new york avenue appears to be okay. but we are watching that snow blow. it's coming down. these roads will have to be treated again. once again they are not going to be passible in the sense of safety. so unless you have to go out, don't go out. 395 northbound, a spinout,

watching a crew responding. only emergency personnel and snowplows should be out on the roads right now. still taking away the left side, drivers getting by on the right. we saw peggy fox earlier, that horizontal wind blowing the snow, almost knocked her out. pretty much eating away at visibility on our cameras. we'll show you the beltway in virginia, live from little river, looking like a complete whiteout here. we have a huge blanket of snow and a dangerous one at that and still looking at crews responding to an accident on the outer loop at van dorn. back to bruce. 9 news now special snow coverage continues right after these messages. i love winter.

with my subaru forester and its all-wheel drive...

... handling even the toughest conditions... is just another day at the beach. good morning. it's 8:24. welcome to this special edition of 9 news now. the major round hitting our area. and right now let's go to greg

wise. i could aim this in any direction and you would see the same thing, all snow. you may have lost signal. it is a totally whiteout weather. it is blowing snow at the rate of an inch to an inch and a half an hour. only cars from one side of the highway to another and a set of flashing lights in the distance where somebody has a four-way flasher on, driving very slowly. little river turnpike reasonably well plowed but the side streets leave a lot to be desired. even highways such as john mar which is a business street here in annandale. in fact it passes the front of the post office, intersecting with tom davis drive, the former congressman. just a couple of ruts and driving is difficult. >> and can we assume no accidents? , i haven't seen any collisions yet, bruce. people are probably -- there

are so few vehicles on the road, i would think the bulk of the collisions are somebody running into a snow bank and hopefully that would be as bad as it gets. and the firefighters we saw in company 8 and baileys cross roads responded to a call of a natural gas leak. and it was interesting see them run from tents inside the bingo hall to the fire trucks which were covered with snow and trying to get out in the middle of a blizzard. fairly interesting video and we'll get a chance to show that later in the day. >> greg, thanks a lot. and now upper northwest washington, we have lou turner on wisconsin avenue. >> good morning, bruce. i hope you're doing well. i'll tell you right off hand, i can't take any questions because i couldn't hear with the earpiece. definitely whiteout conditions. we're at the intersection of wisconsin and upton. you can barely see the green

light. that's the only reason you know the intersection is there because of the light post. and as angie goff mentioned the obvious advice is if you don't have to go out, don't do it. and even if you have to go out, double check and make sure you have to go out. otherwise just stay home because you'll have real trouble here on northwest wisconsin. bruce, i wrote you a note in the snow earlier, but i can't find it. all of the wind coming through has been blowing everything around. right now it's actually quite comfortable compared to some of the gusts we've been getting out here. i know we mentioned the possibility of 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts later on today. i don't foe if that hadn't already happened through this breezeway. quite cold when you get the breeze going. we have a traveler here. where are you heading? he has the muffs on. i don't blame it. don't stop and talk to the crazy reporter, because it's getting big. there you go. i don't know if you can see me. this is the gift of it. this is what is happening right now out here on northwest

wisconsin, getting that breeze going. and i'm kind of vulnerable under this tree. every once in a while we get that shaking and the snow will come off and hit me in the face. bruce, back to you. >> maybe you can send us a text message rather than write in the snow. he can't hear us. he took his earpiece out. we'll be back in a minute.

good morning. it's 8:30. welcome back to 9 news now. somewhere in there is a shot of the u.s. capitol. most of the federal government is shut down. all of the local governments are closed along with schools and most businesses and in the area public and private. let's go to scoot broom right now. >> reporter: hi, bruce. i've been working up and down the i-70 corridor watching conditions because here in northern and western howard county, we are expecting this

blizzard warning to kick in. and that's a big deal on the interstates, and that's because most have been able to stay open through the snow crisis this season for the crews. and the blizzard warning is a big deal because that is what can close the interstates. if the plows will not keep up with the drifting and may not be able to function because of visibility, that could end up with. and that could put the delivery systems a day or two days behind. and the big anxiety is when the plows can keep up with the heavy snow conditions so far. it's a big problem. you can look outside of my

vehicle on the dashboard cam. we have that posted on wusa9.com. and hopefully my colleagues back at station can punch that up on the air for you. oni 70, we've got the -- the road has been plowed this morning. so that's good news. we have two lanes plowed here on interstate 70 and that's a credit to the guys working 12 and 16 hour shifts. they are still out here and still attempting to keep the major roadways open. another big issue is just the iciness and the water content in the snow. we had freezing rain and sleet overnight. it resulted in some places of 4- 5 inches of snow and it doesn't seem that much until you try to shovel it. and that's bad news for drivers because it's created an ice

condition on the road. it's a huge situation and as we've reported repeatedly today with the weight of the additional snow bringing down limbs and add the wind with that and you have serious problems not only with trees but with damage to buildings as jessica doyle has reported snow cascading down off rooftops and as we've reported throughout all of the snow that we've had, different roofs collapsing and being compromised. so it's a very serious situation today. and right now we have moderate to heavy snow and wind conditions have not developed yet and we'll continue to keep tabs on them. scoot broom, w usa 9, and we should remind people if you're thinking about getting out and shoveling the sidewalks and drive, you might want to put that off. this is probably not the best time to do that. let's go to jessica doyle in alexandria. jess. >> reporter: hey, there, bruce. the city of alexandria just

released a blizzard warning for this area. and as you can see behind me, there is good reason. we have wind gusts and snow blowing around. and the national guard is here. emergency personnel from other necks of the woods are here. you can see some of their equipment, they're staying over at the hotel monaco here. we have a massive national guard vehicle and they're being used to get into residential vehicles where other trucks can't go if there is a health emergency, a fire emergency. that's going to help get the emergency crews to those locations. we also have fire and ems trucks here. and i want to tell you too, the city of alexandria is telling residents, if they haven't gotten to your residential street yet it could be several days before they get there because of the new snowfall. they're asking folks, and you just mentioned this bruce, maybe this isn't the best time, but they are asking residents to help out by trying to find the hydrants. there is one behind me that has been cleared. it's hard to find them with the

snow mounds and to clean out your sidewalks. this blizzard warning will be in affect until 7:00 p.m. near zero visibility and a state of emergency is out. city of alexandria is saying don't drive, don't walk, it's not a good idea in these kind of conditions and i wanted to mention one other thing. when we have the wind gusts and temperatures in the 20s, i went to school in chicago, i got to tell you, you have to be weary of frost bite. if you're out here for long, exposed periods of time, the wind gusts of upwards of 40 and maybe even 50 mile-per-hour that cools the skin very, very quickly. it takes you to subzero temperatures. you have to be very careful if you are out working out here today, clearing snow, getting around. keep your face covered if at all possible. keep the head covered and the hands. 40% of the heat leaves through your head, bruce. back to you. >> jessica doyle, doing a great job. and howard bernstein joins us on the set. between scott and jessica and peggy, they've said it a. dangerous situation out there. don't get out and drive. don't get out and tend to the

sidewalk and driveway at this point. there is a lot of stuff flying around. >> we have the snow indivisibility -- snow and visibility down. and for some areas our heaviest snow of the day is happening now. it's been responsible for the heavy snow and wind gusts as we get the lens cleaned off. topper is trying to make it here. he stayed in bethesda last night. you can hear me. >> i can hear you. visibility is well under a quarter mile, i'll tell you that. you drive with your hazards on. power went out briefly in bethesda. it's been restored. i would not recommend travel. it's pretty bad. >> now, top, you will make it to the station. any other cars out there, are you the only one out there? >> no. i'm not the only one. i'm crossing two cars and i have a truck in front of me at brandywine. they have some hazards out. there's a few folks out and

some walking. >> let me throw this out to both of you. you talk about the accumulation and you say 6-12. >> 6-12 today. >> and with the blizzard-like conditions, that's misleading. i could walk out and be hit by two feet of snow. >> you don't know how much. it's tough to measure. you'll get the blowing and drifting. the old snow has custed over and we've had several inches overnight and again this morning. that's what is blowing around and that is what is hitting you. jessica was out there and you can see the big flakes too, she was the only one out. there was nobody out. and peggy fox. >> those guys, i hope they are hunkering down because the next couple of hours and there is somebody walking right now, amazingly to me. but the next couple of hours, the visibility will be bad. but the winds, the winds will be bad all day. that's going to cause problems. let's talk about the problems over on the weather computer. some of our cameras getting caked in with ice and snow. this is a dangerous storm, folks. another coastal. a coastal last week. we're not getting the snow from

this as much but we are certainly getting more wind. topper said this yesterday and i'll repeat it. prepare to lose electricity. we have wind gusts from 45-50 miles per hour. if we didn't have snow weighing down trees and branches, we would still lose electricity in spots. so it will get worse. the winds have been picking up the last hour. sustained winds this morning 15- 30. this afternoon, 20-40 with gusts again 40 maybe 50 miles per hour. heavy snow this morning. 3-6 inches, becoming windy. may see more up north. 25-30. and temperatures have gotten colder than that. temperatures dropping low to mid 30s and another 1-4 inches this afternoon and tonight can't rule out a little additional snow east. maybe annapolis toward baltimore and possibly into howard county. you could look at still another inch or two after dark tonight. winds staying up at 20-30 miles per hour. blizzard warning in affect for

everybody now until 7:00. cambridge south not in the blizzard warning, fauquier is, cul pupper is not. and shenandoah and frederick county is not in the blizzard warning but the east and west virginia panhandle is along with allegany, washington county, frederick east to the delaware line. on the blizzard warnings, it's not just us. delaware is under a blizzard warning, most of new jersey and parts of southeast pennsylvania and long island all under blizzard warnings. they'll likely extend up to southeastern massachusetts later on tonight. the storm itself, really deepening here. right here almost over ocean city. and then there is another piece of energy coming in right here and you can see it stretched out there. if this passes, we'll see the snow let down. let's show you new york city right now because we're not the only ones dealing with the snow. not as snowy up in the big apple yet but their turn is comingm looking for a foot or

more there. want to switch it over to live doppler 9000 hd. heavy snow right over washington. and you'll notice in loudoun county, the snow has let up as the little piece of energy has let up and passed those areas. but through parts of prince george's washington, fairfax and montgomery county it is snowing to beat the band. in fact this is some of the highest what we call reflectiveity echoes what we've seen all morning. maybe 2-3 inches an hour. if we saw lightning and thunder across the district and montgomery county coming into prince george's and forestville and andrews air force base. not out of the question. watch out national airportch and you see the yellow, it is really coming down over to fedex field, here on central avenue 214 coming in, pennsylvania avenue and watch out. and this is all slowly moving off toward the east. [ stay tuned for change in captioner ]

this snow has blown on and we can't tell where the path begins and ends. it is a like a u-shaped valley on the terrace here. we will have to clear the path in a bit. it is a combination of heavy and blowing snow and blizzard conditions. we talked about the storm over the weekend those were blizzards. technically they were not. we didn't make real blizzard conditions. i'm going to say it right now. on official record, this is going to make it the worst winter ever, at least since official records are being kept here in washington, howard. >> yeah, devon. we are talking the wind and

blizzard conditions. 46-mile an hour gusts at washington and national and when you add the visibilities we have 1/8 at dull len and national. we have a quarter mile in frederick. half mile fredericksburg and half a mile across southern maryland and the temperatures are dropping. 21 dulles. winchester, shenandoah valley out to cumberland. seven-day forecast is showing the snow will be with us today with the winds. windy tomorrow and we are dry after that. as we get to monday there's a clipper system. take you to break with a look at the visibilities outside which are near zero and we will be back. there's scott broom driving in howard county temperature we will be back with more after this.

it is 8:44. good morning. thanks for joining us for this special edition of 9 news now. we are covering the second blow of the major storm that hit the area in past week or so. here's the latest on power outages in the washington area. dominion virginia power reports 2300 customers have no electricity. most are in fairfax air. pepco reports 5200 customers without power. most of them in montgomery county and 1700 bge customers have no electricity this morning. right now let's go to michael wooten at dupont circle. hi, michael. >> good morning. the snow is coming down at a good clip here at dupont circumstance. the big story appears to be the wind. at times it is so strong it is blowing the snow hitting you in the face. this is dupont circle and it means people are coming and going here. not a lot of vehicles. i have been doing an informal

survey of folks. most of them are forced to be out in this. they are on their way to meetings or in to work. they are braving it the best they can. one gentleman a moment ago came up and asked if i had seen taxis and i told him in the hour we had been there we had not seen any taxis, then one pulled up and took care of him. but the roads are not in very good shape. we want to get to a bit of good news for folks who are going through here. the starbucks and cvs is open. so you see smiles when people come out but then they railize they are stuck walking in this. as everyone snows there was a huge snowball fight at dupont circle. an incredible sight. they have decided to go at it again at 2:00 today. hundreds of thousands are going to show up and take part in the second historic snowball fight of the winter.

>> thank you. let's go over to angie goff with the latest on traffic. >> i hope going to that snowball fight they are extra careful. there is no reason you should be in the roadway or walking or driving anywhere. look at the da cameras, they speak for themselves. the progress that the snow and sand trucks made earlier, looks like they are getting hit with round two again and more work is cut out for them. we are finding problems a colesville road accident. an accident to the left shoulder. 270 from 370, you can't because the ramp is closed because of another accident. finding these conditions all over. the ramps and bridges are extra slick. in pennsylvania we saw it in peggy's live shot earlier. we have blowing horizontal winds. visibility is low. we are watching the lanes evaporate before our eyes. this sour main road, 66. on 395, crews spent the last hour and a half or so trying to remove a disabled vehicle. once you are stuck it could

take a few hours to get you out of the roadway. ready or not. we are getting hit with round two and 9 news now has the cover covered from all angles. we'll be right back are with these messages. ñyy

good morning. welcome back to 9 news now. a special edition of this newscast, coping with the big storm that hit the area. a live shot of the u.s. capitol somewhere in there. go to lou turner out there live on wisconsin avenue. i'm betting if you hang out there another five minutes you will disappear in that blizzard. >> good morning, bruce. that's a good point and i can't tell you if i'm talking or not, i don't know if my lips are even moving. i'm so numb. we are here on the sidewalk and where are you heading this morning. you are headed to fannie mae. >> you are out in this because of the work. >> yeah. >> how are you handling it. >> the best you can and keep

moving. it could be worse. >> well, i doubt it. i don't know if it could be much worse. >> tell me your first name. >> arnold. >> arnold and you are going to fannie mae. >> how far of a walk is that for you. >> a half block now. >> but you have your coffee. had to do that. >> had to do that. >> necessary. >> absolutely necessary. >> how long have you lived in the area. >> baltimore. my job had to give me a hotel on connecticut so i left my rental car in the thing and walked up the street. seems like a common story. a lot of folks are staying close to work. employers having to spend that dime. >> i'm one of those folks. >> get back to work. be careful out there. >> you get warm, too. >> i will go get in the newsroom eventually. thank you very much. at least we got the mcdonald's. >> hey, guys. welcome to the blizzard. how are you feeling? >> doing well. trying to get some food. >> where are you heading.

>> fannie mae. >> they are out in it because it is a work-related issue and you have to make the paycheck whether there is a blizzard or not. i'm going to trudge back over. with the winds like they are, i have to form myself a nice little anchor in the snow. bruce? >> i want to know what those guys at fannie mae do and once they get there is anyone else will be there. hey, guys, what do you do? they are leaving me alone. >> let's go over the greg guise. >> in fairfax county, bar kroft plaza, going to make a turn off of little river turnpike which there's a plow train ahead of us and it is passible. if you are first ponder and you have to go out. you have a child that has to go to a doctor's appointment or something an emergency you can

get through. but let me show you this bobcat. here's one of these four-wheel snow lifters who's shoveling out -- the gentleman in there is shoveling out an access to a starbucks. yes, you got it right. they are shoveling out snow so someone can get to starbucks, but what i don't understand is how someone could get from their house to the area he is shoveling out. that would be the more difficult of things to do. i guess he's happy to wait there just a bit. but it is a heavy snow falling. wind whipped and bruce, driving conditions were pure whiteout a moment ago. >> greg guise reporting. thanks a lot. from fairfax county to downtown washington to anne arundel county, howard, prince georges county, you have heard it from everybody. if those snowplows have not gotten to your secondary streets it will be days before

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ñstore management team started as hourly associates? brendon: because at walmart we're about more than just jobs, we're about careers. brendon: and that makes life more fruitful for everyone. save money. live better. walmart. good morning. you are watching 9 news now. this is going to be a record blizzard, cents it? let's go to peggy. >> we're at the shell station just beside the beltway here. this is clarence who's been driving employees to the hospital southwest. you have been out and about since 5:00 a.m. what do you think about how the conditions have changed? >> it's pretty bad. i believe virginia has done very well clearing the roads. they are passable. if you have a four-wheel drive

vehicle. >> reporter: right. but as far as the wind and the visibility it is really bad, right? >> it is really bad but if you take your time and just follow the rules of the road you should be all right. >> reporter: not too many drivers out there so it is not too bad as far as getting around. >> not many drivers out there. >> reporter: you are doing a great service and we appreciate what you are doing. i will let you go. i know you are cold. it is really incredible. i don't know if our photographer can zoom around here. i want to show you we are on mevvis drive here. very close to route 7 before we head out. i want to show you the visibility and how much it has changed. i think everybody should stay home if they can. back to you. >> is that drifting snow that has you almost disappearing out here. >> this is partially a snow bank but it is piling up as well and really creating drifts depending which way the snow is

blowing. >> thank you. my colleague, andrea roane is joining us. you are taking over the next hour. >> peggy looks like she's in eastern europe, not northern virginia. we will continue our snow coverage after this. stay with us.