hallowe'en yet but topper has the forecast. give us the latest models. >> they are consistent. still looks like a big snow north and west. a big snow. gives you an idea how dynamic the system is. here is what we are thinking in terms of snowfall around the immediate metro area. south and east of i-95. maybe a trace. to maybe an inch. i think it will end in snow all the way down into st. mary's county before it gets out of here tomorrow night. but essentially in terms of the accumulation east of i-95 not that much. west including the district, gaithersburg, rockville, 1 to 3 inches. out no loudoun county west, up into hagerstown over to cumberland 6 inches. almost a lock at this point. already snowing in oakland, parts of west virginia. a couple of pictures from timberline in west virginia. already snowing there. it is on the way. we are still concerned about this though because of the potential for tree damage and

then power outages. a lot of canopies still on the trees. and it is what happened in denver on monday could happen here. a warning for frederick county, loudoun county. here comes the storm. cold air beginning to funnel down from the northeast. rain has not moved in but it is overhead. i think the rain will roll in before the second half of high school games get played unfortunately. we will come back and break down critical times and talk more about accumulation. maybe our biggest october snow ever. >> because of that topper, we have been working hard all day in our newsroom and want to be sure everything is up and running just in case the snow does get really bad tomorrow. we will be sure to have the closings on the website wusa9.com as well as any other information you need. now our own bruce leshan was out in hagerstown today where the crews are already out there trying to get ahead of the storm and people who live there

say they are worried. >> have to start sometime. >> reporter: at the frederick state highway yard it has been decades since even the old timers can remember a serious snow in october. >> it doesn't matter. it is going to come when it wants to. >> reporter: plow operators are struggling to get ready. >> 8 to 12 inches. >> reporter: all have their own forecast. >> rain. >> no snow. >> no snow. that's the forecast. >> reporter: this is the time of year when we are supposed to be clearing leaves, not snow. >> the snow storm in october is not what it is supposed to be doing so that will probably cause a few issues. >> reporter: this arborist fears heavy, wet snow will collect on the autumn leaves still attached to branches and cause all kinds of trouble. snapping branches, even whole trees, right into power lines. >> where you have the grid that comes down like this, this branch tends to be not very

well attached. >> reporter: pepco and dominion power both saying they are keeping a wary eye out. in a storm this can be a curse. >> that was bruce leshan reporting. now, pepco released word late this afternoon it is bringing in some extra tree cutting crews. they are worried, as bruce mentioned, that that heavy wet snow will cause the trees to come down and we all know from sad experience what that can do to our power lines. crime scenes and forensic experts taking the stand at the brittany norwood trial today but some of the most interesting testimony came late in the day when a coworker and self-described friend of norwood's took the stand. our andrea mccarren has been in the courtroom all day joining us live now with more. >> reporter: anita, she testified that in the hours before the killing she spent time with her friend brittany norwood. lululemon employee and brittany norwood friend testified on the day of the murder she and

norwood went to a class at the gym together, had lunch and then both got manicures and pedicures then norwood went to work. rob testified that norwood phoned her at 9:51 at closing time. she said she left her wallet in the store and needed to get back in. rachel the store manager lived right across the street. did you suggest she contact her? robb yes. but she said jayna was just here and wanted her number. i got a text message back that said thank you. two apple store managers testified that they heard loud noises in the direction of the shared wall with the lululemon store that night. surveillance video shown in court revealed they listened for 9 minutes. the manager said we heard screaming, yelling, something heavy being dragged, some kind of grunting, high pitched squealing. she further testified someone said talk to me.

don't do this. talk to me. and later i heard somebody say stop. stop. oh god. apple store senior manager ricardo rio heard the commotion too and a female voice say "talk to me, what's going on, why won't you tell me? " later you heard a different sound. more like panting trying to catch your breath and talk. apple asked two security guards to check it out but neither left the building. we later learned one security guard was wearing headphones at the time. both were fired the next day. and the jury, by the way, will not get to hear, or consider rather, that last bit of evidence. so why on earth did no one call 911? well our web team colleague ashley jennings and other media folk around here jumped into the elevator with poet those apple store managers. even followed them out onto the street asking why, why didn't

you call 911? neither manager responded. live from rockville, andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> it is the question we would all like answered. andrea, thank you. new at 6 p.m. tonight. montgomery county council parent association is weighing propose bales to institute a curfew for people under age 18. they called the county executive'sproposall unjustifiable. a lot of people are calling events this afternoon in hanover county, virginia. that 8-year-old autistic boy was found about 2 p.m. this afternoon. best news i have had all day. scott broom has the story. >> reporter: robert wood jr. was found lying in a fetal

position in a gully. he was alert and responsive. he was found in a gully by a civilian searcher. he was only about three quarters of a mile from where he first went missing sunday afternoon from the nearby park. >> robert wood jr. has been found and reunited with his family. >> reporter: an emotional sheriff david hine said this afternoon investigators do not know how the boy got there. >> we is searched that area before. it has been a challenge dealing with a child with special needs who is lost. i think you have all been made aware of those challenges. i can't tell you that he was there. i don't think we walked past him. we are just thankful that he was located. >> reporter: at least 6000 people have flocked to the search area near kings dominion in the last five days to volunteer which left the sheriff deeply touched.

>> the search is over. the investigation continues. and there are a lot of people to thank. >> reporter: that little boy robert wood jr. is autistic, so getting information about what exactly happened and putting it all together will be a very big challenge but everybody is really happy tonight with this good news. scott broom, 9news now. >> indeed we are happy. scott, thank you so much for that. coming up at 7 p.m. tonight on 9news now. a high school rivalry playing out on twitter. that doesn't sound that unusual but when does a hash tag take things a little too far? that's coming up. 9news now at 7 p.m. still to come in this half hour. is there a backup plan? with the threat of bad weather ahead, we have the answer tonight for the tens of thousands running in this weekend's marine corps marathon. up next, a popular program for all prescription drugs is back to business. the details when we come back.

heading into this weekend tomorrow is drug take back day in virginia. that means you can drop off unwanted or expired prescription medications across the commonwealth. sheriff's departments and local state police offices. almost five tons of drugs were turned in at a similar event in april. it is a great way to keep them off the streets. a new study by the food and drug administration finds some newer forms of birth control may actually raise a woman's risk of blood clots more than the older birth control pills. more than 800,000 women took part in the study between january '01 and december '07. now, all of this type of contraception has clotting

risks. the nuvo ring with the most clotting. a hallowe'en haunted house. how a family is using their house to an advantage this hallowe'en.

if you found you had a little too much fun with adult beverages this weekend, you can get a free cab ride home through the washington regional alcohol program sober road. just call 1-800-200 taxi between 10 p.m. saturday and 6 a.m. sunday. the service will cover the cost of a cab fare up to $30 to help make sure people don't drink and drive. one local family is trying to turn its unfortunate circumstance into a boon for little ghosts and goblins. it all happened in august. >> reporter: i'm inside a home that was almost entire destroyed by hurricane irene. but now the family is trying to

make the best of it by turning this into the ultimate haunted house just in time for hallowe'en. >> i just happened to mention to my wife wouldn't it be fun if we did some kind of haunted house. >> yes. yes. i want to do this. yes. >> and she just went crazy with it. >> reporter: today their two kids are getting their first look. >> amazing. i don't think i could have done any better myself. >> i think it is awesome. terrifying. it might maybe cause some people to wet their pants. >> i hope we have a long line. it is the only time i hope. getting the perfect weather for a marathon can be the luck of the draw and runners planning to line their way sunday for 36th annual marine

corps marathon. lindsey mastis talked about contingency plans. >> reporter: last year the weather was perfect for the marathon. this year there might be snow on the ground. but it is not expected to keep run, away. >> marines do not cancel. >> reporter: if it snows -- >> might be out there at 2 a.m. in the morning with our shovels and brooms sweeping the course. >> reporter: and they will only postpone the race. >> if i thought for one second we were putting somebody in harm's way we would delay. >> reporter: the youngest runner will be celebrating her 14th birthday that day. she wants it to snow. >> just to do it in the snow. that will make it even more special because i'm sure it doesn't happen in the snow often. >> reporter: the oldest runner at age 91. weather is the least of his concern. >> we will be dressed warmly

for it. >> reporter: drew cary will be running. >> i got warmer clothes. >> reporter: a lot of people say runners are crazy volunteering to run over 20 miles. crazy, maybe. determined absolutely. >> do i have a chaplin who will be praying for good weather. >> reporter: i'm lindsey mastis, 9news now. >> lindsey will be out there with them. the marine corps marathon will be her first 26.2. you can follow her journey on twitter and all that information is on wusa9.com. what about the whether? >> it will be sunny and 49 during the rest of the day. it may be in the 30s and 40s when you start but it is going to be clear. >> okay. >> that's the good news. bad news. sunday looking okay. start with how much snow we think will fall. this is really a tough call because there are so many factors we are figuring in. warm ground. temperatures above freezing

when it snows. how fast will it snow? how much per hour? we are talking a lot of variables here. so kind of uncharted water quite frankly since it is only late october. >> we are thinking east and south of i-95 a trace to an inch. now that said i do think you folks even in southern maryland will see a brief period of snow. from i-935 north and west out the beltway, bethesda, gaithersburg, 1 to 3 inches. 3 to 6 inches north of gaithersburg loudoun county. prince william county. then this bull's eye band in blue. 6 inches plus. hagerstown, cumberland, oakland. snowing in timberline already. our main concern not so much roads with this storm but tree damage. it has the potential to be a mess in terps -- in terms of power outages.

will be windy as well. our earliest rainfall. october 10th, 1979. there was as much as 10 inches in upper montgomery county. so these amounts are kind of a hill deceiving in terms of what happens in the burbs. we can be in the ballpark. it could be our biggest october snow. critical time saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. if you have to run errands it will be rain. power outages likely with leaves on the trees. lowering visibility. simply will snow faster than it can melt. had a couple of e-mails about. that that's kind of why. look at the radar. kind of donut effect. it will fill in all night. temps in the 40s. mixed precipitation. satellite picture, radar combined. there is the snow in west virginia up into maryland. west of the divide we talked about this on monday. going to be pretty much all snow for them. so here is the deal.

yes, snow in october. good rain the second half for high school football game. just a cold rain overnight. rain to snow west of i-95 tomorrow and the rain will end in snow south and east of town before say tomorrow evening. cloudy, breezy and cold tonight. rain well below midnight. 35 to 40. winds northeast 10 to 15. windy and cold tomorrow morning. rain but rain to snow d.c. north and west late morning. 34-40. then by afternoon snow could be heavy at times. d.c. north and west. rain to snow south and east late 33 to 40. temps keep going down. thunder snow is possible. next seven days. so many a severe weather alert day for potential of snow. very nice on sunday. sunshine and 49. little brisk, yes, but dry. nice on hallowe'en. partly cloudy. temperatures in the mid-50s. a few clouds come in late but it will be dry for the trick-or- treaters then a little milder tuesday and nice on wednesday around thursday.

more showers on friday. >> so you're talking thunder snow and you're talking more bad news at redskins park. i don't want to be here right now. >> like groundhog day. same every day. every day. the story the same. not the way with you want to head into the schedule for the skins. john beck's back side going to feel a little bare on sunday in football. maybe football is sinking. west virginia wants off the ship. i don't know how texas and st. louis will do tomorrow night but they had try tonight. sports is coming up.

welcome back, everybody. there is an old saying that you can fix anything with this. maybe mike shanahan could take this and wrap it around his whole team because it is broken. week 7 was a nightmare and now it is getting worse. trent williams out of sunday's game. the big left tackle still laboring from a high ankle strain. a weird weight room accident hurting his back. some good news and we need it. london fletcher's hamstring is doing okay barring a setback. coach saying backup, step up in regard to the injuries. >> everybody is a backup sometime. all these guys on our team. they get their chance to show people what they can do.

some guys really take advantage of it. that's what you look for. guys taking advantage of an opportunity. >> it is official, west virginia is heading to the big 12 ending a relationship with the big east that began way back in 1995. still some league haggling. 27-month notification period recovered however the mountaineers can begin participation. who is going to play in our dc highschoolsports.net game of the week. 19,000 of you voted so you can't be wrong. st. mary's. leading our coverage tonight. 11:30. most of you went to bed on it. texas and st. louis playing 4 fours and 36 minutes. some calling it one of the best games in world series history.

twice. i emphasize twice. an attempt lance berkman did the same thing. then in the 11th can't hold him. proved it last night. on to game 7 here we go. >> they don't want to settle for an exciting six-game win. we want to try to bring it out today and see if we are good enough to win and see if they can beat us. >> it is a seven-game series. we knew that when we came into it. and two pretty good teams assembling a way to go about their business. we will come out tonight. we will get after it again. and see what happens. >> i can't wait for that. should be good. >> absolutely. >> thank you, dave. >> that's all for 9news now at 6 p.m. stay with wusa9. the "cbc evening news" is next and then derek will be back here with more on the snow that is on our way. i'm anita brikman. good night, everybody. captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com