fairly hefty. this afternoon, though, we'll get into a break. 53 by 5:00. highs approaching 55 late in the day if not this evening. right now we're sitting at 41. watching the rain out to the west and west virginia just about to get into southwestern virginia between roanoke and up toward harrisonburg. charlottesville may see it in a little while. we'll be seeing it later this morning. with luck we get through the rush hour before the rain moves in. we've got mid-30s to low 40s out there now. we're looking at highs late today. again, this may not be achieved till this evening. about 49 in frederick. 55 for d.c. culpeper, you might even make a run toward 60 sometime this evening. let's go to monika santami. she's got your latest time saver traffic. good morning. it's not too bad with the exception of one spot i've been warning you about. it happened about midnight or just before that. westbound on annapolis road right here at route 1 in

bladensburg. a huge sinkhole formed overnight and crews there are telling us they're going to have to wait till after the morning rush hour before they can really fix that up. in the meantime you're going to have to choose an alternate route. what they're doing is diverting you on to alternate route 1 to upshire and back on to route 450 but i suggest you use bw parkway or route 50 instead. over here on 270 no problems out of frederick down to the point where the lanes divide. we'll take a live look outside at university boulevard and the beltway. no problems through silver spring. let's go 2066 on the inbound side to centreville to the beltway. all lanes are open. northbound on 95 and 395, still looking good to the 14th street bridge. coming up in my next report, another look at the big picture. back to you. campaign 2012 now this morning mitt romney celebrating two primary victories. >> after trailing rick santorum in some polls last week, romney narrowly reclaimed the state where his father was a three- term governor winning with 41% of the vote to santorum's 38%. and in arizona romney scored a

comfortable win of 20% over santorum so the talk focused on that narrow mitch goon win. >> we came into the backyard of one of my opponents in a race that everyone said just ignore. you really have no chance here. >> we didn't win by a lot but won and that's all that counts. >> ron paul came in third in michigan, fourth in arizona but he spent last night campaigning in springfield, virginia. congressman paul and romney are the only two candidates who qualify to be on the ballot in virginia which is one of the super tuesday states voting next week. newt gingrich made a campaign appearance in georgia last night. he's been focusing on the super tuesday states in hopes of regaining the front-runner status he once held. if you checked the calendar this morning, it's not just hump day, wednesday, it's also leap day. >> for the first time since 2008 we have a february 29. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is live in georgetown where this special day is a lot sweeter. happy leap day, delia.

>> reporter: well, happy leap day to you, andre ya. the day is a -- andrea. the day is a lot sweeter because i have the best assignment this morning. i know it was pancake day yesterday but cupcakes do have to top that. we are live in the kitchen where you can see that bakers are already here. they got here about an hour ago to get ready for their big day. they have a special promotion for leap year babies. here to explain that is general manager tara. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: tell us about this promo. >> what we're doing is we actually launched a sprinkles birthday club. what a great opportunity to reward those who have leap year babies. you come in, bring in valid i.d.s showing you have a birthday today and you get a dozen cupcakes on us. >> reporter: a dozen cupcakes any mix you want. >> any mix, any flavors we have available today. >> reporter: you need the irchlts d. >> you need to show i.d. to make sure you are a leap year baby. >> reporter: we'll be here all

morning long. you can get your dessert. celebrate every four years but this year it's not so bad. here's the fun part of leap year. let's talk about the science. so to explain the science of why we have to have a leap year in the first place, i talked with an astronomer yesterday at the university of maryland observatory and here's how is he explains it. >> the earth goes around the sun and takes a certain amount of time to do that. that amount of time is not perfect number of days. it's a number of days and a fraction. and so if we didn't do it, then over a long period of time, all the days would be shifted but over time we would notice that flowers are blooming instead of in march but maybe they're blooming in june. that's because what happens is that the calendar shifts

relative to the actual seasons as such. >> reporter: they're taking the fresh cupcakes and turning them in the oven. we'll be here all morning long. join us again in a half-hour here in the kitchen of sprinkles. back to you. >> what a deal. if today is your day and you can prove it, a dozen free cupcakes. >> and a burger too. >> not bad. what a happy birthday. it's 5:05. >> a lot of people are celebrating leap day. global markets are celebrating. the dow 13,000. there's a lot of things going on in the universe right now, big parties. we're seeing green arrows for european and asian stocks. the dow got the final push yesterday. consumer confidence jumped this month to its highest level in a year. the blue chips are still over a thousand points away if their all-time high all the way back in october 2007 but you know what? i think we'll take those.

checking the numbers the dow starts this morning at 13,005. it added 23 points in trading yesterday. nasdaq better by 20. s&p 500 better by four and a half points. this is a sign of the auto industry's big comeback. general motors is expected to spend more than $500 million on employee bonuses and profit sharing. this of course comes after a record profit for g.m. for all of last year. procrastinators, you have a pretty good excuse for putting off doing your taxes this year. a lot of folks haven't gotten all of the forms they need to do their taxes. our partners at "u.s.a. today" report take several popular online brokerages have asked for a 30-day extension of a february 14 deadline to send out tax forms. part of the problem, new rules for reporting capital gains. they're having a lot of trouble keeping up with some of these changes. as a result people just aren't getting their forms in time. >> an excuse. >> that is an excuse?

a good one? >> we still have till april 17. it's going to be like hurry up and wait and hurry up again. >> what do you have for us in the next half-hour? >> people are making their spring break plans. they're thinking about booking travel. we'll tell you how to spot a fake travel review when you're out there on the websites checking things out good is it legit or just a promo. the pentagon said sheds more light on problems with remains at dover air force base. a bill that would require people seeking abortions to have ultrasounds is heading to the virginia governor's desk. we'll show you the amazing comeback last night. you're watching 9news now.

we have rain on the way a little later this morning so grab something that will keep you warm and dry. looking at the day planner, expect the rain in here before the 9:00 hour if not a little earlier from west to east. midday some of the rain could be moderate to heavy with thunderstorms in the mid-40s. a break this afternoon and more storms this evening. monika, over to you. on the westbound side of annapolis road, a huge sinkhole blocks that road at route 1. you'll have to choose an

alternate route. i'll keep you posted on this situation in bladensburg coming up at 5:17. making news now at 5:10 this morning, two of the five students shot monday at an ohio high school died yesterday to bring the total of young people dead to three now. after first considering bullying as a possible motive, prosecutors have now discarded that theory. suspect t.j. lane made his first appearance in court yesterday and reportedly confessed to police. the military now admits some unidentified 9/11 remains from the pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania were incinerated and dumped in a landfill. the report about the 9/11 remains was a follow-up to an investigation of improper disposal of military remains processed at dover air force base. the virginia state senate has passed a bill that would require a woman to undergo an ultrasound before seeking an abortion. one part requiring an invasive transvaginal ultrasound for those in the earliest stages of

pregnancy has now been dropped. yesterday the bill was amended to exclude victims of rape or insist as well. governor bob -- incest as well. governor bob mcdonnell is expected to sign the bill into law. we'll take an indepth look at the workings of teen courts coming up at 5:29. at 5:52, maryland highway official explains how the state spent so much of its snow removal budget despite so few snow storms. a nice start to march quickly turns wet in howard's seven-day forecast. we'll be right back.

good morning. welcome back to 9 news now. 5:14. yesterday howard was telling us you could see the moon and jupiter in the sky and some clouds may obscure what is going on. >> you won't be seeing any of the sky today. although late this afternoon, we have a chance for a little break maybe between 3:00 and 6:00, 3:00 and 7:00. if that works out, the morning commute -- the afternoon commute might get off without the precip and everything falling in between and again this evening. so timing. today may be one of those days where it just works out for us. the bus stop forecast, we've got some showers potentially moving in for some of you. the early bus will be all right but you get toward 8:00, 9:00 and a few showers will be possible by then. 30s and 40s, though. definitely chilly this morning

but with the southerly breeze, i expect temperatures to climb toward the mid-40s by noon. a slow climb today as we head toward the afternoon we have temperatures getting toward the 50s here. if fact, we're looking at high temperatures later which will be up toward maybe 54, 55. better chance to see a break in the action as we get toward the afternoon hours, late afternoon hours before another round of moisture moves in for this evening. maybe a third round tonight. here's a look at things right now. it's quiet. just some ground clutter near us but it's west virginia, ohio, kentucky. look at all the yellows, oranges and red. thundershowers going to be possible at times. we've been seeing some of the lightning. south of charleston that's an area of showers now moving in toward extreme western virginia. well south towards areas like stanton and charlottesville and south. they'll see that in the next hour or two. 41 at reagan national. 37 gaithersburg. 43 in hagerstown. we've got some cool air, nothing horribly cold but with the cloud cover, yeah, i don't

think we'll see a quick warmup. 41 degrees. good visibility on our michael & son weather camera. a light easterly wind this morning. temperatures nationally are cold in maine andle down here in the rockies. -- and also down here in the rockies. ten tornado reports yesterday across kansas into missouri. most of that in missouri. potentially even a fatality around the springfield area. we're looking at a tornado watch this morning with one line of showers here. a second one behind it. we may get a third one and we're going to -- that we're going to have to get through between now and midnight tonight. could be an active weather day at times. everything will be moving here over the next few hours. as i said with luck the morning and afternoon commute might be relatively dry. 55 late today. mid-day temperatures lunch time temperatures only in the mid- 40s. tonight we're only going to drop to about 50 with partial clearing after midnight. upper 60s tomorrow but a windy,

warm day. by friday 60. could be a late shower. looks like showers and storms again on saturday before turning colder sunday and monday. sunday night maybe a little flurries and light snow with a clipper. we'll watch that carefully. over to monika and time saver traffic. things are looking great around town. no problems to report on the beltway roads. still dry. if you're heading out the door right now, i think you should be on time wherever you're going with the exception of one spot in bladensburg westbound route 450 right here is blocked off at route 1 with a huge sinkhole. repairs will be made after the morning rush hour. here's what it looks like on the northbound side of i-95. we're going to take a live look at dale boulevard heading up toward the occoquan river. we'll go to our traffic lamb camera on the northbound side of i-95. no problems here. you can see it's still nice and light heading up to the occoquan river. we'll take a live look at 395 at the 14th street bridge. pretty much the same story. all lanes are open. the main and hov lanes trying to get into downtown this morning. back over to the maps to the west side of town.

no problems on the dulles toll read in from leesburg, 66 out of manassas, the legion bridge as well on the west side of town. a live look at 270 in clarksburg which is still light coming down from urbana and rockville. in my next report another look into virginia at 5:23. 5:18. oh, boy. oh, fantastic finish last night in the caps game at the verizon center. the wizards also stage add comeback but fell just a tad short. highlights coming up in sports. the question of the day. the average american has at least one of these things that they haven't used in a year or longer. is it a, the key on their key chain, b, a gym membership or c, a grill? >> michele wrote on our facebook fan page okay, i'm guilty of b. it's so hard to back into the routine being just not enough time in the day. i understand that. log on to wusa9 facebook fan

page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer during our 6:00 hour.

we're looking at the clouds right now. 30s and 40s. going to stop the clock at 7:00 a.m. west of town the rain is moving in toward the shenandoah valley. by 9:00 the rains really start to pick up, especially west. could be heavy through midday. we get toward the noon hour. maybe the heaviest stuff south

and east. the mid-40s for lunch time. we'll climb into the upper 40s by 3:00 and potentially the low to mid-50s for the drive home with lesser showers then. the mountaineers come through in a big east tournament. >> kristen berset has the highlights in your morning sports. good morning, everybody. if the playoffs had started yesterday, the caps wouldn't be playing in them but they have a very good chance to pick up some ground during this five- game home stand. they hosted the islanders last night. the caps were down 2-0 but got hot in the final five minutes. time winding down. things tied up. this one goes to overtime. mike green with alex ovechkin. the captain coming through. they win 3-2. they dump

winnipeg and are now eight in the eastern conference. wizards visiting milwaukee last night. in the 2nd, wizards down 18. big three. like the caps the wizards got hot. down one. john wall gets the jump shot to go and take the lead but unfortunately the bucks said this one is ours. wizards lose a heartbreaker 118- 119. kevin jones big three. 22 and 16 on the night. he leads the big east in scoring. then fellow senior daryl bryant for the backdoor reverse layup. he had 28 points. west virginia wins 92-75. that's going to do it for your morning sports. i'm kristen berset. have a great day. a local official is pulled over on the beltway for going more than 100 miles an hour.

we'll have details coming up. plus, we'll take you inside a teen court to show you how a jury of young people would punish their piers for a-- their peers for abusing alcohol. a quick check of traffic now. construction on the outer loop of the beltway for the wilson bridge project begins at 9:0 this morning. right now across the bridge span all lanes are open. a look around the area at

i

good morning. welcome back to 9 news now. it is leap day, wednesday, february 29. i'm andrea roane. happy you're with us. >> help birthday if it's your birth -- happy birthday fits' your birthday. >> you're only 24. >> good morning. i'm mike hydeck. happy leap day. cupcakes and burgers for everybody. we'll let you know what that

means in a minute. monika santami will have traffic momentarily as well. howard has our weather first. >> some rain will move in. some of the rain could be coming down heavily, stormily at times. stormily? it's a word somewhere. >> in your imagination. >> it's an active day. weather wise we've got the clouds this morning. 41 degrees. some areas in the 30s. by 9:00 some lighter rain here in town. maybe picking up out west. by midday 45 at lunch time with maybe a moderate rain. could be rumbles of thunder. late this afternoon we'll see some clearing, 53. maybe a break is a better term. we'll have more rain and thunderstorms possible this evening as well. there's a lot of water out to the west across west virginia, kentucky, ohio. the even part of the state coming into southwestern virginia now we have a little rain. there's the 30s in frederick and leesburg and manassas at 36. bow way was 35.

a-- bowie was 35. la plata we have 39. late this afternoon and this evening, we'll get into the low to mid-50s. this is going to take a while. much of the day we stay in the 40s. let's go to monika santami. thank you so much. overall if you're leaving the house right now, i think you're going to be just fine with the exception of one spot and if this is your route to work, you'll want to know about it. in blazensburg -- bladeensburg, a sinkhole. route 450 is shut down. you'll either be diverted or you can use the bw parkway instead heading into northeast d.c. let's take a look outside right now at the beltway and university boulevard. normal slow stuff forming in silver spring with some volume but no big deals yet as you leave 95 in college park. let's go back to the maps and this time we're going to check out inbound 66 out of centreville. no problems to report. the dulles toll road looking good. a live look on the northbound side of 95 in springfield just

bunching up exiting to the beltway. in my next report, a look into maryland at 5:40. back to you. >> thank you, monika. 9 wants you to know about the consequences montgomery county teenagers face for being caught drinking under age or doing drugs. >> but in an interesting twist, their fate is not being disermd by adults but by -- determined by adults but by fellow teens instead. this isn't a mock trial. this is the real thing. andrea mccarren was granted unprecedented access into the county's teen court to show us the trial and sentencing process for juvenile offenders. >> all rise? the montgomery county maryland teen court is now in session. honorable judge savage presiding. >> all right, ladies and gentlemen, please have a seat. >> reporter: in a rare glimpse behind the scenes of a maryland court proceeding, we meet 17- year-old mccale la, a high school senior. >> this is a possession of alcohol case and also a furnishing alcohol. >> reporter: what began as a small alcohol free gathering of

friends at michaela's house quickly exploded via facebook, twitter and text. >> i got a text message from a friend that said hey, can i come over. i said sure. he walked in with six other guys, five minutes after that there were about ten more people that showed up. >> did you put it on facebook yourself? >> no. >> reporter: michaela is the first teenager of the evening to face a jury of her peers. >> the biggest thing for me is to see them react and how sad it is to see some kids who really don't care. >> if anything like this happened with me, i probably would have to grab my shovel and start digging my own grave. >> reporter: 90-- >> 90% of 9 people who -- of the people who came were in the invited. >> you invite six, ten friends and then the whole world comes. did you not think that was a possibility? >> reporter: with no adults in the house, michaela was helpless. only later did she wish she called police. >> it grew out of control. i tried to tell people to leave

but of course they're not going to listen. within ten minutes after that, there were cop cars in my neighborhood. 30 seconds after that, everyone just disbursing and i'm left alone in my house with the remains of a party. >> reporter: the jury asked michaela why she drinks at all. >> because everyone does it. >> reporter: she appears to be garnering the symphony of the jury. she's a good student, does volunteer work and holds down a job but then she admits her behavior during a college visit the week before. >> i was staying with a friend who took me to a frat party and just to blend in, i just had one drink. >> reporter: a juror asks how she'd feel if any of the colleges to which she's already been accepted rescind her admission. >> i would be devastated. >> reporter: the no nonsense judge is baffled by her response. >> you would be devastated if anybody found out, if any of the colleges that accepted you and then you went down to one of the colleges that accepted

you and went to a frat party and drank. >> reporter: the jury goes off to deliberate. the jury returns with an unusual sentence. 55 hours of community service, an evening of jury duty, and a 500-word eulogy for a hypothetical scenario in which a friend leaves michal la's house and -- michaela's house and dies in a drunk driving crash. >> there has to be some severity of the punishment that will help them realize what they're doing is wrong and will have to stop. >> handing out the punishment make it is very hard to do the act yourself. you're seeing what these kids have to do directly. you're seeing how these punishments aren't fun. >> everybody just does it. they think they're supposed to. they think they have to. and so here we are. drinking, drinking, drinking. this is the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: in closing the judge describes an underage drinking party in which a young man died of alcohol poisoning. as he lay on the floor,

everyone continued to party around his lifeless body. >> most of the time nothing terrible happens at many of these parties. when it turns bad, it is really awful. so don't ever assume that you're going to be on the good side of that line. >> reporter: andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> interestingly, andrea says police and court employees say a lot of teenagers consider getting an alcohol citation a badge of honor and they falsely believe a juvenile record is not going to haunt them later in life. for more information on teen court, including how to become a volunteer juror, go to our website wusa9.com and click on special coverage heading at the top of our home page. a judge has delayed the start of two trials resulting from deadly -- from that deadly metro red line crash in 2009. both wrongful death cases were scheduled to go to trial next month but the judge delayed one

trial till october and the other till november. metro and several other companies involved in crash lawsuits have settled with families of seven of the nine people killed. a police source tells 9news now a member of the prince george's county council was clocked going 105 miles per hour a week ago today. an officer pulled over karen toles on the beltway near branch avenue. she was cited for unsafe lane change and given a $90 fine and just a warning for the excessive speed. council member released a statement saying i was leaving a meeting and was late for my next appointment. i consider them serious matters and regret the incident. i intend to pay the appropriate fine to these traffic violations. toles was cited twice in 2010. one for an unsafe lane change and one for driving off the roadway while passing another vehicle. former prince george's county council member leslie johnson is expected to report to prison a week from friday. but first prosecutors hope she'll have to pay a $15,000

fine. mrs. johnson received a one- year sentence after admitting she obstructed a corruption investigation targeting her husband former county executive jack johnson. prosecutors made a similar request before mr. johnson went to prison earlier this month but it was denied. it is 5:36. it's time for a special your money report now. >> jessica doyle is back with a consumer warning as you make your vacation plans for spring break. a lot of folks might be thinking right now this is a pretty good time to book a spring break trip. a couple of weeks. not a bad idea. but websites that compile user generator reviews a great place to vette out your -- vet out your stay. here's the way to stop a fake review. >> websites sound off about the good and bad of their stay can be a helpful resource, especially if you're unfamiliar with the locale but the user generator reviews can also have their share of pitfalls good some of the hotels actually

post reviews that are positive of their property and in some cases they've been caught posting negative reviews of their competitors. how do you sort them? >> reporter: if reviews look stellar but there are only a handful of them, that should be a red flag. mark murphy says to read all reviews carefully and look for certain clues in quality and quantity. a hotel should have a longer list of feedback both good and bad. >> some people have a bad experience and will just go on and complain about it, even though the property overall might be very good. some people go on and rave about it and then you get to that mean. >> reporter: look for guest reviews by travelers with your interests in your age group and from similar geographic regions. that can help ensure a better match. >> review sites take fake reviews very seriously. for example, trip advisor as developed an algorithm to

detect bogus reviews. organizations like the better business bureau warn consumers to watch their own back when they're doing their research on these sites so you should look for dead giveaways like long winded reviews with phrases like "life changing." oftentimes hotels aren't all that life changing. >> no. >> i also think consumers are pretty savvy to marketing terms nowadays so if you just sort of say hey, beware of these phrases, it will jump out at you. >> what's so clever about some of these places, they're actually hiring normal people to write the reviews so they sound really real. so it's hard to be careful. you just have to read through all of them to get the general gist. >> maybe just go with your friends and see where they've gone, go with they went. >> exactly. >> thank you. jess will be back after the break with some of today's daily deals. mitt romney can breathe a quick sigh of relief heading into the super you tuesday --

super tuesday republican presidential primaries.

almost 5:41. we are kind of chilly this morning and cloudy but rain on the way over the next few hours. could be heavy at times through midday and early afternoon. temperatures will slowly climb to the mid-40s by noon to about 55 this evening. we'll have more rain and showers and possible storms again tonight. let's go to monika santami. she's got a look at time saver traffic. >> we're beginning to see slow traffic in virginia on the northbound side of 95 in springfield here on 395 in landmark and then just across the 14th street bridge with the lanes open. coming up in my next report, another look at virginia at 5:51. daily deals time. we have a leap year theme today. here's some of our favorite deals we found available for purchase today. you get 29% off if you book today for a stay at any of the three hotels in alexandria for

krimpton. frontier airlines has a leap- year sale. $120 round trip but some restrictions apply. finally the folks at guilty city has given me a preview of a deal deal. save 50% and pay $40 on a royal shave and haircut. what is a royal shave? it is a 45-minute process using essential oils and offering two shaves. if you have an offer you've seen or if you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. >> thank you. well, it's no ordinary wednesday. it is of course our first leap day since 2008. >> and for people who are actually born on this day, there's an even sweeter side celebrating your birthday every four years. we're going to tell but it right now. delia goncalves is live in

georgetown. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning, mike, andrea. i talked to tara this morning when we walked in. i said tara who is the g.m. here, gosh, it must be hard not to indulge each and every day because it smells so sweet and wonderful in here. tell me about the promo you have today for leap year babies. >> if you come in today and show your valid i.d. stating you have your birthday today on leap year, you get a dozen cupcakes. >> reporter: we have rosa and victoria who are making it look so easy. they are frosting. tell me about the unique way of frosting here. >> at sprinkles we do hand frosting with a spatula so we don't do any piping. we want to make sure we get the great frosting to cake ratio and some cupcakes are adorned with decorations or with sprinkles and it's just a great way to get that great bite of frosting and cake. >> reporter: one of these, actually a dozen of these can be yours if the price is right. if you were born on leap day.

>> yes. >> reporter: and if you have a value laid i.d. that says february 29. come on down to sprinkles in georgetown. if indeed your birthday is today. happy birthday. back to you. we'll be back in the kitchen and i'll try some of this frosting myself at 6:00 a.m. back you to. >> thanks, delia. >> reporter involvement. she's forcing herself to do it. one of the moderates in the u.s. senate decides she's had enough of the extreme partisanship. that story coming up. we'll take a closer look at why maryland has spent so much of this year's snow removal budget. 5:44. here's who's celebrating a birthday today. if it is your birthday, happy birthday. we'll be right back.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. our time is 5:48. 41 degrees. mild today but wet today. >> the mild air is probably not going to be coming in till later this evening. a chilly start and a slow climb. when you see 55 for today's high, might not get there till 6:00 or 7:00 this evening. midday temps will still be only about 45 or so. the bus stop forecast this morning, it is chilly. 30s and 40s. still some 30s out there with showers moving in from west to southeast. with luck you'll be dry through the rush hour and also at the bus stop but be prepared for some of those showers to be moving n. you already see them approaching interstate 81 over next 30 minutes or so our day planner calls for the cloudy skies. 42 degrees in washington at 8:00 a.m. shortly after that, though, i think we'll be raining. by noon rain and even some thunderstorms possible. only 45. by 5:00, though, 4:00 p.m., excuse me, lower 50s then.

with some luck we'll just have mostly cloudy skies. i think the bulk of the morning batch of rain will be east of us. temperatures slowly rising with those southerly winds. we may be in the upper 50s by about 10:00 or 11:00 tonight. the rain is hefty out to the west. look at all the thunder now showing up in western west virginia. the lightning detectors are popping big time there over toward charleston, up toward parkersburg, headed toward beckly. eventually this is going to be crossing west virginia. a couple of showers. light stuff getting toward areas south and west of charlottesville down toward roanoke. win chester, luray, you may be seeing some of that rain here in the next hour or so, especially down toward luray. winchester may take a little bit longer. you're 39 right now. 41 in fredericksburg. easton is only 36. as we look outside on our michael & son weather camera,

good visibility. we've got the clouds in washington. a light easterly wind at the moment so feels like 39. the dew points have risen back into the lower 30s. big storm on the west coast but it's a storm in the middle of the country producing the snow. the blizzard conditions in parts of the dakotas and then the rain, the showers, the thunderstorms. the heavy tornadic thunderstorms. had ten tornadoes yesterday. even this morning we've got active tornado watches across parts of kentucky, back through missouri, back through arkansas and tennessee and that weather is moving toward us. we're not going to see anything tornadic but there's so much upper level energy with this that the threat of thunderstorms, even with temps in the 40s and 50s is with us. we'll see that by 9:00 here comes the rain. by noon heaviest stuff will be east of us. still some rain around. then this afternoon there's that potential break for the middle and latter part of the afternoon. maybe the two rush hours morning an afternoon go off go off without too much rainfall. 55 today. showers and storms. that's a late high, though. we'll be in the mid-40s at lunch time. about 50 tonight.

we'll be in the upper 60s tomorrow. it will be windy and warm. partly to mostly sunny. late showers friday, around 60. saturday looks wet. more showers and storms. maybe some light snow or flurries sunday night into monday morning. monika? overall it has not been a bad start to the rush hour. at 5:51 if you're just heading out the door, i think generally speaking you should be final. we had one spot that i wanted you to watch out for in bladensburg on the westbound side of route 450 at route 1 with a huge sinkhole there. you'll be diverted through that area. over here in virginia, 66 out of manassas, centreville and into fairfax, i think you should be fine. no problems to report. just the normal slow stuff as you head into centreville. let's take a live look outside on the inbound side of 66. that slow stretch begins at route 29 and it will take you toward route 7100. back over to the maps and this time we're going to head all the way north to 270 and i-70 out of frederick. it's slowing down just a bit here out of urbana into clurksburg. no -- clarksburg.

no big deals to report. the southbound side of 270 at route 118, father hurley boulevard is still looking good down to the point where the lanes divide. coming up in my next report, i'll explain that situation in bladensburg at 6:00. making news now at 5:52, mitt romney won tuesday's primaries in arizona and michigan, the state where he grew up. romney turned back the recent charge by rick santorum. the to had been neck and neck in the polls last week. ron paul and newt gingrich are focusing their efforts now on super tuesday next week. maine senator olympia snowe announces she will not be seeking reelection this fall. snowe is a republican who's consider -- who is considered a moderate. she does not see the partisan in the senate changing over the short term. she turned 65 last week and olympia snowe won reelection in 2006 with 74% of the vote. as we approach the one-year anniversary of the japan earthquake and tsunami, debris from that catastrophe is moving towards the u.s. of the estimated eight million tons of

wreckage, oashing on geographers believe one to two million tons of it is still floating. the main debris field is expected to reach hawaii next year and the west coast in 2014. 5:53. it's the last day of february and most of us have barely seen any snow this year, especially compared to the last two years where we could not stop shoveling. despite the mild winter, maryland has spent more than 80% of its snow removal budget. the total budget is $36 million. charlie gissler joins us on the phone to explain why and where the money went. >> good morning. >> how do you pep for -- prepare for snow buckets to begin with? how do -- budgets to begin with? how do you decide how much money is going to be in the kitty so to speak. >> this year our snow budget is $36 million. last year it was $31 million. what's happening, what we do is

average the snow budget out and then $5 million is added to it until we get to about the average we spent over like the last ten years. so that's how it's established. it's set rather modestly. in the last ten years we -- all except for maybe one year, we always went over that budget a little bit because it's set so modestly. that's how it's established. >> when you dispatch crews, one of the reports i read was that you have to dispatch crews to be ready regardless of whether or not the snowstorm comes. is that true? >> yes. we -- this starts days before the storm with pretreatment of the interstates which is a highly effective way of keeping the initial bond of snow and ice from happening. when we start getting a forecast like everybody else does, we have to react accordingly to provide safe highways for everybody and passible highways. so we would begin the process

with pretreatment of the interstates like you see the salt brian we put down. -- brine we put down. as we get the forecast and hone in, we have conference calls and when the national weather service and our forecasting folks all come together to an agreement and they say hey, we might get one, two inches of snow, then we have to then start pulling troops and get a plan together that all adds up over time. >> with other states close by, virginia has ath more percentage of their snow budget, did they allocate their crews more effectively? there are cases like massachusetts, they got much more snow than our area did, 10 to 12 inches over the full year, they have a $40 million surplus which is going to the mbta. is there a more effective way to dispatch crews that costs less when there's less snow? >> we are effective with this because we have to be ready in case there is precipitation out there. we would be having a completely different conversation if we

didn't plan accordingly and it did snow and i-270 froze up and was shut down subsequently because we then had to go in after the 8 ball. so we did plan effectively. unfortunately some of these forecasts didn't come to fruition and as soon as we got the forecast that was updated, we then planned accordingly again and sent people home. you've got to remember that we're dealing with far western maryland. i'm talking about the mountainous regions of allegany and garrett county that got about 7 feet of snow so far in the very high elevations. there are state highways that we have to maintain. something else that's worth considering-- >> charlie, we're running out of time. i appreciate your time. i would love to have you come in and sit us with and run over it at a later date. thank so you much for getting up early with us this morning. >> that is a problem we heard before. it's not just montgomery county but the whole state. d.c. schools chancellor wants new standards when it comes to student cheating.

that story is coming up. plus, how will you enjoy your leap day? we'll take a look at some of the specials who people who only get a birthday technically every four years. we'll be right back.

good morning. we begin 9news now at 6:00 a.m. with this live look at the springfield interchange. it is 41 degrees. today february 29, 2012. happy leap day you to. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. we're glad you're