hello, i'm jc hayward. thanks for being us with on 9 news now at noon. we're tracking the weather as snow is moving through the

area. in some areas it started falling this morning and that caused some schools to close and others to delay start time. we have live team coverage this afternoon. our kristin fisher is in manassas. but we'll start with our meteorologist howard who is tracking the storm for us. >> on schedule, mid morning and it is here now and everybody is seeing the snow. and in some cases light to moderately. there are a lot of flakes in most areas. some seeing a few big ones. and looking at the traffic cams, not terrible. this is a very passible highway in most areas. this is i-270 up around route 117 which is up toward clopper. so we're looking at that. so north of town, another picture here, we'll go up to the beltway at connecticut avenue. we have that to show you as wellment on the north side of town where the snow moved in later, we are doing okay. good job for the highway department there. south of town, it's been a different story.

it snowed earlier and it is awfully cold so anything not treated is having a problem. we have route 29 at warrenton road, i believe we can show you that traffic camera, we have all sorts of issues with the highways. especially the back roads. look at the snow. this is a lot of snow. half inch, three quarters of an inch, locally an inch in a few spots but enough to cause problems with slick conditions here and there. and one more shot south of town, to the fairfax parkway and we'll show you we are -- that's the fairfax county parkway, northbound i-95. and let's go to live doppler 9000 hd. and hearing from folks in swan point, flakes getting bigger. so it's snow everywhere and it is a cold day. weather computer, we've been tracking this since last night and early this morning, as it came in from west virginia, southwestern virginia and it's

a mess. down i-81 and places like lexington and roanoke, seeing 2- 3 inches as opposed to here. and in pennsylvania very still going on. and column because, ohio, still snowing. and there are the advisories covering everybody and because this light blue is 3-6, well south of town. we'll break down the specifics. meteorologist anne hong will join me also. and jaycee, back to you. many schools are closing early. we want to give you this important information. right now fairfax and loudoun county schools will close 2 hours early. manassas city and manassas park public schools will close 2 hours early. prince william county schools will close 1 hour early. in maryland, prince george's and frederick county schools will close 2 hours early.

and all after-school and evening activities are canceled. anne arundel county will let students go home an hour early. in west virginia, mineral county schools will let students out two and a half hours early. of course road crews in our area have been prepared for today's snow. they started last night. salt trucks began pre-treating highways and area roads. in manassas is kristin fisher standing by to give us information on what is happening out there. kristin? >> reporter: well it's been snowing here in manassas for over two hours now. and check it out, we've already gotten about i'd say an inch, inch and a half. now this is a main artery into manassas. this is centreville road. you can see the main roadways are still looking good right now. it's the side roads and the parking lots where we are starting to see some trouble. and that's also the reason why we've seen tons of people

heading to the home depot just across the street. >> we're purchasing items to remove and melt the snow. >> reporter: the parking lot at this christmas home depot is packed with people stocking up on supplies for the biggest snowstorms so far this season. prince william county could get up to 3 inches. but everyone here remembers that it could be much worse. >> with last year's snowfall, this is, what, nothing? >> reporter: in alexandria, d- dot trucks stood on stand by -- stood by. >> we pretreated and that should help us out and we have to keep monitoring it and stay on it and try to keep ahead of the storm. >> reporter: now about 700 v- dot trucks are spread out across northern virginia. >> we have like 88 pieces of equipment on the interstate and the rest of them are spread out through the secondary and primary routes.

but i think we're getting ahead of the game this time. >> reporter: as the road crews get to work, others are opting to take a day off. >> i'm getting ready to go home and build a fire and stay home. >> hunker down? >> hunker down. >> are you ready for winter? >> no. too cold, too early. >> reporter: and many places are closing early. manassas city is closing two hours early. and prince william county is one hour early. there you go. so for all of the kids, i can't help myself, for all of the kids getting a little extra time off and not in school today, i just have to do it, to give you guys a good snow ball report. and i'm sorry to say, this stuff is not too sticky. it's pretty fluffy, for a lot of kids getting an extra hour or two off of school, good luck having a snow ball fight. back to you. >> thank you very much, kristin. try and stay warm. well as kristin said, the

metropolitan region is now under a blanket of snow. some parts do have several inches. scott broom is on the phone and in prince george's county and he can tell us about that area. >> reporter: i'm in marlton elementary school where school has just let out. a lot of kids coming out on slick sidewalks and parents trying to navigate through a hilly suburban neighborhood completely snow-covered streets that haven't been treated as all as they are trying to get kids home and it is very, very slippery on the back streets in this neighborhood in prince george's county. prince george's county made the call to let out schools two hours early so that process is beginning right now. let me show you some video, some pictures i took on u.s. 301 in this area around kroom station road this morning. the u.s. highway 301 did have

salt on it that had been treated and you can see it's lightly snowing, but all of the parking lots and side streets are now completely covered in southern prince george's county. so as schools let out and parents and buses try to navigate, they are in for significant problems, particularly on the back streets as kids try to get home. snow is still falling here in southern prince george's county and expected to continue throughout the day. reporting live at the marlton elementary school, 9 news now. >> thank you very much, scott. well metro said that it is doing it's part to keep the evening commute safe for riders. the transit agency says they have employees on stand-by to remove snow from station entrances and platforms. metrorail and bus say they plan to operate a normal schedule this afternoon and this evening. they caution riders, however, to be careful entering and exiting trains and buses. when the winter weather

strikes, wusa is the place to go. our weather team is on top of everything. they have the latest forecast and the latest information and all you have to do is go to our website, wusa9.com, to get update information. well the house could vote on the tax cut bill as early as today. but first, democrats are expected to push for changes and including a vote to raise the estate tax. the bill, which overwhelmingly passed in the senate yesterday, would save americans a tax hike in january. it would also reduce social security taxes and extend jobless benefits. >> to sweeten the tax deal today by demanding american taxpayers fork over $26 billion for an estate tax break that will go to about 6600 families. >> president obama is urging congress to pass the bill quickly, calling it a win for middle class families and for

our economy. we have more to come when 9 news now at noon continues. coming up next, 8,000 photos and videotape founded in the possession of a suspected serial killer. and why police are releasing some of them to the public. and going to grandma's house this year got more expensive. the new fee airlines are adding to our tickets.

well today the los angeles police department will release 160 photos found in the possession of the suspected serial killer known as the grim sleeper. detectives found almost 1,000 photos and hundreds of home videos when they search lonnie franklin, jr.,'s home. he has pled not guilty to the sexual assault and murder of ten women during a 22 year span. at least -- we're learning more information about the man who held a florida school board at gunpoint. clay duke, according to authorities, was a virtual unknown to them at the time of the shooting. but evidence of his anti- government beliefs was found at his home. duke's wife said he was pushed over the edge by the economy. and he was frustrated over her losing her teaching job. he was also bipolar and could

no longer afford his medication. his wife said that he purposely missed all of his targets before killing himself. just in time for the rush of holiday travelers. several airlines are now hiking the cost of a round trip ticket. american airlines boosted prices on flights that are more than 500 miles by $10. the same fare increases were made by united, continental, delta, southwest and u.s. airways. carriers are trying to raise revenue with a range of fees, including paying for checking bags and changing reservations. rising oil and fuel prices will likely cause another price increase next year. what if your blood was so rare and pure that it could help the smallest of all humans. >> this just adds a whole new dimension to my life. >> coming up on 9 news now at noon, we'll introduce you to a

special group of people called baby blood donors when we come back. i'm meteorologist howard bernstein on the weather terrace. with light windsond -- and agentsle snowfall could cause problems for your commute. anne hong joins me when 9 news now returns.

they are called baby blood donors, a small number of people who have blood that is pure enough for the veins of infants and premies they not only have o-type blood, considered the universal donor, they are also negative for citeo megalo virus which is an infection that most adults carry. one vietnam veteran learned he could be a donor after a trip to the blood bank. >> this just adds a whole new dimension to my life right now. because it's like i've never -- never thought of myself as special in any way and to be

able to give this gift allows me to feel special about myself for the first time in my life. [ crying ] >> elses bury said that donating the special gift of life to infants is the most incredible feeling he has ever had. i'm not o, but i am c-b negative. but only 5% of the population donates blood. so let's get moving, people. >> let's get to the forecast. we have a lot of snow in spots. it's not horrible, but the first big snow event this year and we're looking at accumulated snow. and anything not treated right now is getting those accumulations. starting off with a look at the day planner. and we'll get to doppler in a moment. we are looking at snow this afternoon and into this evening. temperatures will stay maybe mid-20s in spots and thankfully the winds are very, very light. we've got to be glad that we don't have the winds out there

or else this stuff will be blowing around worse. so you see by 9:00, snow is coming down. and this morning, martinsberg, you weren't in the winter weather advisory and now you are. same with cumberland and now until 9:00 p.m. tonight. richmond and charlottesville, winter storm warnings down there. the snow is moving in. you can see the light blue. that is the light snow. and then the darker blue colors, this is where it's picking up the more accumulating snow, if you will. and some of this is locally on the moderate side. this is light to moderate. this isn't heavy snow but light to occasionally moderate. live doppler 9000 hd, we'll take you outside and you can see the darker blue bands with the light he snow in frederick and carroll county, down into southern maryland and virginia. the northern neck having some snow. and we'll check in anne in a

moment, but light snow here and there. and one band north and south at this time. this darker blue shade, and we may be looking at half an inch an hour, not a tremendous snow, but this will cause problems in the rural areas from columbia over to damascus, especially if it's treated. sidewalks, driveways will be slippery because everything is sticking. now north of 71, up as much as south of 70, and then another heavier band south of washington. you could see it here coming from manassas to woodbridge. even over to waldorf and brandywine. so the snow may get more intense for a little while and then we'll likely go from the light to occasionally moderate snow throughout the afternoon. we've been picking up the snow for the last 3 or 4 hours accumulating. our newest member of the weather team, annie hong is on the weather terrace. >> i've been getting the totals in from the weather watches around the area. people picking up an inch or

so. let's take a look at the snowfall totals. right now in parts of annandale, we have a report of already an inch of snow. not a whole lot but an inch. winchester, virginia, new land, virginia reporting three quarters of an inch so far. swan point in maryland, about an inch. hearing that we have some bigger flakes coming down at this hour. also ashburn, virginia, reporting an inch of snow. let's look at some of the roads. we do have a traffic camera along route 2915 at warrenton bypass. you can see the cars are going through. it's passible but there are still slick spots with the snow piling up. but again it's a pretty light snow and if you look at the snow here, it's very small flakes out here. and kind of dry snow as well. so also the good thing here for the folks getting ready to head out of the door or maybe later tonight as you head back home from work, the winds are really not picking up at all. so that will help with what we're already seeing, some low visibility out there.

howard. >> thank you very much. annie will be in for me tomorrow morning. 19 degrees in gaithersburg. and this is why the snow is so fine and powdery. when we get the weather snow temperatures up around 30, 32, 33. right now we have 23 degrees. feels like 18. want to show you quickly, got to show the snow totals that we are projecting for today. snow is coming through. it will be with us for the rest of the afternoon and the evening. so don't worry about that. there is -- it is only so quick i can get through. here is the future cast. by 4:00, maybe 2-inches in spots. down south looking at three plus. and by 6:00, fredericksberg 3.5. still 2-2.5 here. and we have 25 today and 38 tomorrow and saturday. by sunday, a slight chance of delmarva gets snow. and another chance of snow on tuesday. we're going into the kitchen at 12:22. you're watching 9 news now.

>> happy holidays. this is colonel dave hall from kabul, afghanistan. i would like to wish happy holidays to everyone in haymarket, virginia. especially my lovely wife beth april and my darling daughter hartley. happy holidays. looking forward to coming home real soon. [ female announcer ] dry, cracked hands?

gold bond ultimate concentrated cream heals and protects like lotion can't. gold bond concentrated therapy. real medicine, ultimate healing. one of the items on my bucket list is to take cooking lessons and there's a great

cooking school in vienna, virginia. it's called culinaria. and i have the chef with me, chef sands. and what are you preparing today. >> a fresh hazel tort with crushed raspberries. just raw ingredients, roasted hazelnuts, flour, cinnamon salt and baking powder. one egg, red raspberry jam and it's very simple. you start with the roasted hazelnuts, put them in the food processor with a quarter cup of flower and add the rest of the flower in the cinnamon ingredients, process it so it's nice and finally ground. then we have butter and brown sugar in here and you add the egg and blend it together and you bake it. and this is the crust that comes out with the jam in it after its been bakes. >> now i need to tell my listeners that we have the recipe on our website, wusa9.com. and i keep saying go to the website. when you go to the website, go to the top, right corner and

you'll see recipes and then you can find it. okay. >> correct. >> and so this is -- this is the crust with the raspberry jam and it has already been baked. 375 for about 20-25 minutes. >> and that's how it looks when it comes out. >> and when it comes out, this is the raspberries you put in. >> hi. >> we're going to cut it because we've run out of time. put a little sugar on. >> come back and visit us at 5:00.