morning. let's start with live doppler and we have rain to the south. this is the beginning of the storm. now it is rain. warrenton, south of annapolis, it is pushing off to the north and to the east. it will turn to snow, but it's going to take a while. mixed precipitation showing up west of i-81. let's go to the graphics now. and we'll look at the big picture. satellite picture, radar combined, that's the upper level system. the surface low is developing off the south carolina coast, that's what is giving us our first little bits of rain right now. our winter storm watch is a winter weather advisory through 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. i don't see any problems on the roads. it's so warm right now. anything that falls will simply melt. however, it will be a monster storm. no doubt about it. bulls eye well north and east of the metro area. maybe a trace to 2 inches thursday night into friday morning. strong winds, the signature, right on through saturday. we'll come back and give you a snowfall accumulation map and

look ahead for the rest of the week. >> you say big snow without the big accumulation. all right topper. and with the strong winds, local officials are urging people to prepare for tomorrow's storm. alex joins us live from southwest dc. alex. >> we are at the title basin to show you what a storm can do. this old age tree stretching into the water was uprooted. this is the kind of damage that many people around the washington area are facing on their own property and fearing there's more to come with this next windy winter storm. >> these crews from the tree service are trimming down as many branches and limbs as they can for folks before the storm hits. the goal, to remove this big tree, knocked down from the last beating mother nature handed us. >> it was obviously doing damage to my neighbor. >> the fear, another blackout.

>> that will be a problem. >> sue doesn't want the blame to stem from her yard again. >> their phone and their cable. >> inevitable, more uprooted trees with the likelihood of widespread power outages. the storm is expected to pack a punch carrying heavy winds. the tree trimming experts say we have the ideal conditions to keep them in business for a while. >> with all the saturation and the ground and the winds, there's probably expecting more damage probably in this next storm that's coming through. >> the power company says plan ahead and follow safety tips. >> we always ten folks to be prepared, to have an emergency kit at home and that starts out with batteries. batteries, and nonparishable food. >> pepco says if you use a portable generator, use it outside the house. stay away from downed lines, report them immediately by

calling 1-877-737-2662. we are live in southwest. i'm alex, 9news now. >> thank you for that. now to the tragedy at seaworld. a killer whale in orlando has attacked and killed a trainer. eyewitnesses say it happened in front of a live audience. sea world officials say the trainer slipped and fell into a giant tank and was grabbed by the killer whale and drowned. a witness says that killer whale suddenly came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around her waist. sea world describes the victim as one of its most experienced trainers. toyota's president and ceo publicly apologized to congress today for safety lapses to led to the recall of more than 8 million toyota vehicles. toyoda admitted the auto maker grew too fast to keep up with safety controls. dave joins us with the latest testimony. dave. >> lesli, there were many apologies from the grandson of the founder of the japanese

auto giant. the company found nothing to cause the sudden acceleration. they will never blame customers, as the company did, when they blamed the problems on driver error. >> i am deeply sorry for any accident that toyota drivers have experienced. >> toyoda takes full responsibility for the safety issues that caused deaths, injuries, and a massive recall because of sudden acceleration. he believes the company may have lost its way and understanding its traditional priorities due to rapid growth. >> third, volume. is priority became confused. >> i'm sorry. >> our accelerator is stuck. >> the face of this recall involves the dramatic 911 call with chris on the cell phone and his brother-in-law, mark sai lore behind the wheel of a

rented toyota lexus. they were both killed along with sailor's wife and daughter. >> hold on. breathe. >> i'm here to speak for my four children and for the safety of the consumers throughout the world. >> i would like to extend my condolences to the members of the family for the accident in san diego. i would like to send my prayers again and i will do everything in my power to insure that the tragedy never happen again. >> the family is still testifying, she will not talk about the accident. she only will focus on the lives of her loved ones that she lost. lesli. >> all right dave, thank you for that. metro officials apparently ignored a written warning about the electronic system it uses to keep trains from hitting each other.

this revelation came at the national transportation safety board hearings underway. the warning against using unapproved parts was issued by one manufacture nearly five years before june's red line collision that killed nine people. metro used those parts despite the compatibility concern. families hearing this testimony were stunned. >> the stuff that i heard today, i know i don't want to get on metro anymore. my grandkids cannot get on metro anymore. >> these are people's lives that were lost. >> the hearings continue tomorrow. all right, we are checking the traffic around town. patranya, how are things looking now? >> taking a live look on 395 in virginia. we are seeing those brake lights, the headlights coming on. some separate stretches of slow downs, beyond the mixing bowl, a 30 minute ride between dale city and triangle. let's head out to montgomery

county on the capital beltway. bethesda into silver spring, no accidents, just a lot of volume on this wednesday night. an earlier accident that has been cleared. all lanes are going by. and checking out the worst drive times we are seeing right now on 270. this is the worst one. 495 to the spur. about 12 minutes and below speed on 66 and 495. 17 minutes, but the arrow going down means the trend is easing. we are hoping to see that as the hour goes on. two men are under arrest accused of raping an 11-year- old girl. police say the men grabbed the sixth grader last night as she was playing at a park near her home. the men drug her to their apartment and raped her. >> you know, why? why would you do it to anyone? >> police say the child was able to show them where the

suspects took her. officers then arrested the suspect, melquicide sorto, and marcos torres. >> debra sterling worked as a cashier. she has been charged for four counts of embezzlement and one count of forging a public record. the investigation is on going and sterling may be hit with more charges. handles about $200 million in revenue each year. a judge has set bail at $1 million for a man accused of wounding two students during a shooting rampage outside a colorado middle school. it happened yesterday in the town of littleton, which suffered the columbine school shooting. police say 32-year-old bruce opened fire and injured two students. a math teacher tackled him before anyone else could be hurt. >> i grabbed him by the front,

like this. and then we were dancing around for a while. >> eastwood faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder. no word yet on what spurred this. a superintendent of one struggling school district decides the answer to the problems is fire all the teachers. we'll tell you about that ahead. first, details on a huge rate increase for blue cross, blue shield customers in one state. stay with us.

one of the country's largest insurers has a hike. it has outraged customers and california lawmakers launched an investigation. >> have you no shame? >> the question is, one that

is -- >> i mean that sincerely. >> it is disappointing to me. >> how much profit is enough? >> well points, the parent company of anthem blue cross posted record profits for 2009. profits were in excess of $3 billion. next at 6:00, or new at 6:00, general motors plans to sell its hummer brand, just hit a road bump. their deal fell through with a chinese equipment maker and that company pulled out. gm says it is shutting down, but it will continue to honor existing warranties. coming up, find out how one local school district plans to make up all those missed school days due to the snow, of course. we'll be back in less than 3 minutes. m÷ g÷g÷uññ

it's a revolution in pain relief. [ male announcer ] icy hot medicated roll for wherever you hurt, icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. icy hot medicated roll. with the roll, pain's under control. the arlington county school board approved a plan to make up for all those snow days. for starters, some school conferences and teacher's work days are being scrapped. if there's a lot more snow, students may be in the

classroom while others are at the beach. audrey barnes joins us now live from garrett elementary school in arlington to explain. audrey. >> reporter: worse case scenario, spring break would be canceled if they can't make up those snow days in other ways. > schools that have early release wednesdays will give those up for march 3 through june 9. school conferences and a teacher work day in march will also be regular instruction days. parents have been bracing for this as the snow piles grew. >> it's a love, hate relationship. i mean, my friend, we always have fun at home in the snow. it was really fun. but we are going to pay for it now. >> what the kids seem to hate is the possibility of saturday school. >> that's only the thing i'm worried about. >> you don't want to give up those saturdays? >> nope. >> you aren't worried about all that work you missed? >> no, not really. >> why not? >> because i'll do it anyways. >> school officials didn't apply for a waiver like

maryland schools. they want to exhaust every other option first so kids get their full 180 days of instruction. >> and if the weather cooperates, the last day for school in arlington county will be june 25. fingers crossed. >> let's see what topper can do to help them out. thanks, audrey. we have a list of other area schools and their plans for makeup days on our website. go to wusa9.com and click on 9news extras. >> if you live in fairfax county, be prepared to pay extra. layoffs, and school cuts to close at $257 million budget short fall and today, county executives, anthony griffin proposed reinstating an annual registration fee. a saga playing out at central falls rhode island has national significance. every single teacher at central falls high school has been

fired. central falls has long been one of rhode island's most troubled school districts. one in five students lives in poverty. it has a large immigrant community and many struggle with english. after talks fell through with the teacher's union on how to connect with the students, the superintendent decided to start over. >> how about this and how about that? that will get you close to an agreement. we made those moves. did not see the moves on the other side. if we are going to change the culture, it had to happen. >> it's the students that make their own choices and decide whether they want to learn or not. >> the american federation of teachers sent a representative to central falls. the teacher haves their full support. on the other side, the u.s. education secretary, arnie duncan weighed n saying he applauded the superintendent for showing the courage to do the right thing for those kids. >> parts of the country have been in a record cold snap and profits at tomato and strawberry farms may be at a

hard freeze. 50% reduction in what they normally ship. in florida, the state department of agriculture reports that growers lost half their strawberries and a third of their tomato crop. that forced tomato prices to jump $1 a pound. wholesale prices are twice as high as normal. yeah, we talked about that. it was tough to find the produce here and then when you could find it, you were paying more for it. >> we are looking at a big storm. we are not in the bulls eye. we are going to see some wind and some snow. we don't have the bread-o-meter just yet. i don't see any accumulation on thursday. temperatures above freezing in the mid to upper 30s. with the winds, it will feel like it's in the 20s. better chance of accumulating snow thursday night and into friday morning. 35 for a high on friday. and then 40 on saturday. flurries are still possible and

winds will still be a small problem on saturday. all right, here's our storm potential map, and this is posted on our website, wusa9.com. a trace to 2- inches. this is through friday at 8:00 p.m. you go up toward northeast maryland, 4 to 6 inches. and 6 to 12 in southeast pa, and southern sections of new jersey and get up right around the philadelphia area and northward, you are going to get anywhere from 12 to 24 inches. almost like a winter hurricane. tonight, braze si and cold. rain and snow goes to light snow. less than an inch. low temperatures 28 to 33 and winds northeasterly. let me show you live doppler. you can access this on our website at wusa9.com. we are seeing some rain get closer to town. it has been raining for 3, 4 hours and it's just about to cross over 66. alexandria, you may be able to get home before the rain rolls in and it's just right rain.

stafford, and down into fredericksburg. let's go back to the computer. temperatures are great right now. reel above freezing. 40 in brookville, 40 in bell haven. you have to go far west and north to get 30s. 39 in remmington, even only 38 in edenburg. tomorrow, breezy and cold. primarily flurries. by afternoon, windy and cold with flurries. now more snow showers developing tomorrow night. 36 to 40 for highs. as the storm does a loop, this will do a loop much like a hurricane. our best chance for accumulating snow will be early on friday. satellite picture, radar combined, we have one little storm in the midwest and this is kicking this storm out and forcing this storm to develop further out to sea. good news for us, it will pass far to our east, it gets up to new york city, it does a loop and comes back around. that's what will generate our

snow tomorrow night and on friday. no matter which way it goes, we talk about winds coming tomorrow afternoon. next seven days, 30s tomorrow. 35 on friday. flurries on saturday. 40, and low 40s on sunday. march 1, first day of spring, 44. not bad. 44 also on tuesday. a bit cooler next wednesday, but still dry. temperatures in the low 40s. >> thank you, topper. we can all, you know, dream about that spring weather, but the nats are enjoying all kinds of good stuff. >> i think cautious optimism is a position to take on the nationals. i don't think they are going to the playoffs, but i think they are going to be better. and due respect to mr. straesburg, but this man is the national's fof, face of we'lhea plus a close shave for u.s. hockey. the latest from vancouver. 9sports coming up.

it's time for 9sports with brett haber. the best sports in town. >> all right, steven straesburg may be turning heads with that fastabll. the kid is all about potential. one man remains the fof, face of franchise for the nationals and that is ryan zimmerman. nats third baseman reported to spring training today. zimmerman coming off his best year as a pro by far. 106 ribs. a gold glove, a silver slugger and an all-star appearance. as he enters his fifth year, he likes what the front office has put around him. >> i think, you know, we obviously need to continue to work and get better. we have a good lineup. and stan and mike and those guys have done a great job of making our team better. now it's up to us to improve on what we did last year. >> first man ever to throw a pitch for the nationals is back

with the team. signed a free agent deal. beginning his third tour with the nats. he had an era over 5 last year. he is the winningest pitcher in nationals history. >> maryland got into the tournament last year with 18 regular season wins. this year, they have 19, including 9-3 in the acc, and yet somehow, they still aren't ranked. sara walsh is in college park. >> sure, vasquez may be the star here at maryland, but this comcast center building has played a significant role in the terps success this season. at home, maryland is 13-1 and a perfect 6-0 in the acc. >> any time you protect your home court is good. it intimidates other teams a little bit. >> maryland lost to clemson three weeks ago, in a game the terps shot just 35% from the

field with vasquez scoring just 10. >> a good defense, but had no offense that day, and they got u us. >> it might mote be reflected, the terps are on a role. having won three straight and five of their last six. gary williams will be a test to see how much this team has improved. at the comcast center, 9sports now. by the way. vasquez named for the award for the nation's top college player. now the the latest from the winter games in vancouver. plug your ears now. 30 years after the u.s. hockey team beat russia. a lot of people forget that was only the semifinals in 1980, probably wouldn't have gotten curt russell for that movie. it was three days after their emotional win over canada, the americans took on switzerland in the quarter finals and

nearly lost. it was 0-0 into the third period until the devil tallied on the power play. 2-0 final. tonight, canada, russia. that is ovechkin, crosby. meanwhile, no medal for lindsey vonn. the american crashed. she has one event left on friday. back here at home, those capitals not at the olympics convene for their first practice in a week. while the 13 canadians will be glued to the tv tonight, the guys are psyched to get back to work and resume their run toward a cup. >> it's going to be a grind. you know, on top of everyone backing practice and get our field back here for the last stretch going into the playoffs is important for us. >> i think we have to root for russia tonight against canada. ovechkin and normally, americans, we root for canada, right? >> we have to root for russia. >> yeah. got anything else to say? >> we'll