happy hump day. monika santami will have a little bit on that interchange coming up. we don't have snow in the forecast but we will have wet roads today. >> we'll have big time rains later this morning through midday. a break potentially for the afternoon commute and more showers and storms possible for the evening hours. have two, maybe three rounds of rain between now and midnight. 40 officially at reagan national with the clouds. by 9:00 about 44. some rain moving in. noon we're not moving much early, 45. but by 5:00 about 53. we'll have a late day high of about 55. much of the day will be spent in the 40s with the rain and the showers and storms moving in. you can see them really picking up across west virginia now. seeing a couple of light showers down toward roanoke, maybe up toward i-64 and this morning grab a jacket that's going to keep you warm. we still have 30s and low 40s out there. let's go to monika now. she has a look on the your time saver traffic. a list of incidents is growing. just a little bit. the big story this morning has been a big sinkhole in

bladensburg on the westbound side of route 450. it's blocked off at route 1. repairs will happen after the morning rush hour so you're going to be dwempted through that -- deserted through that area -- diverted through that area or choose bw parkway as your alternate route. that's still moving well into comeferly and northeast -- cheverly and northeast d.c. let's take a look at the beltway on the north side of town. no problems to report as you head on the beltway. on 395 what they were doing was zooming into an accident on the northbound side of 395 at king street. it was sitting on the shoulder. if you saw the flashing lights there and delays begin at seminary road, that's ddot moving the camera around to check out the situation with the delays and that accident. on the north side of town no problems to report. the beltway is looking fine. inbound 66 looking good insides the beltway to the roosevelt bridge moving at or above the speed limb. we'll take another look -- speed limit. we'll take another look around the area at 6:11. the results are in from the republican presidential

primaries and it's two big wins for mitt romney. he easily won the arizona primary. while the results in michigan may have been closer than he had hoped. romney captured 41% of vote in his home state. rick santorum was not far behind with just under 38% and ron paul finished in third. while in arizona it was a much larger margin ever victory for romney. newt gingrich was in third place and after the results came in, governor romney was celebrating while senator santorum vowed to move forward. >> i was confident we could come together today and take a giant step toward a brighter future. tonight their efforts have brought our cause a great victory and we celebrate with people across these states. thank you. >> we're a country -- do you believe in free people and a free economy and building a great america from the bottom

up? what do you say? >> in six days the candidates hope to make giant steps in super tuesday. ten states will hold contests, including virginia. one of the issues in the republican primary, especially in michigan, the simple question: auto bailout. did it work four years ago? mitt romney was opposed to it, even wrote an:ed -- an op ed piece on it. president obama said the bailout was a success. >> maybe the naysayers would finally come around and say that standing by america's workers was the right thing to do. because -- i've got to admit it's been funny as to why some of these folks completely try to rewrite history now that you're back on your feet. >> the president claims that union members profited from the government rescue -- dismisses the claims that the union

members profited from the government rescue that some people say actually happened. did they work? >> g.m., chrysler and ford all still in business, right? and in a big way. three and a half years ago in many cases it looked like maybe that wasn't going to be the case. detroit has made a massive comeback. g.m. had record profits last year. car makers and parts companies added more than 38,000 jobs in 2011. that trend is continuing. who gets the credit for pulling all of this off? michigan radio uses this quote to frame the debate. i love n. row -- love this. success is many fathers but failure is an orphan and there are a lot of folks right now who want to say i'm the father of this success. so we're going to start with the white house because president obama was out talking about this yesterday. the white house is calling this auto industry bailout their major success. the obama administration did create the auto task force that restructured g.m. and chrysler. it also found fiat as a buyer

after its bankruptcy but one caveat of history to remember. that original billion dollars in emergency assistance, that bailout that went to g.m., ford and chrysler that came during the bush administration. we have to remember that. ford also turned down the assistance with its own plan. turning to another viewpoint, turning to mitt romney back in 2000 #, he wrote a "new york times" op-ed called let detroit go bankrupt. that's why a lot of folks in michigan don't plan to vote for romney but some argue his suggestion the automakers go through a managed bankruptcy, that actually happened and it succeeded. caveat here. private financing for those bankruptcies would have been very hard to come by in 2008- 2009 if not impossible. finally, some other views of the bailout. some folks think the u.s. government unfairly chose who would survive and who wouldn't. many auto parts companies at the time got 17 cents on the dollar for what they were owed by the big three automakers,

they went under. others say it wasn't fair that small businesses were allowed to fail when that recession really devastated detroit. so there's some very nuance positions within the whole question of who gets the credit. >> that's the danger? those are some of the complaints of the banks, too. who succeeds and who fails. you end up picking favorites. >> the legacy of the obama administration has been there was this massive bailout that went out across the country. you can say the automakers definitely succeeded on the banking side a lot of people maybe have a lot more complaints. >> a reminder some of these things happened during the bush administration and continued in the obama administration. a new pentagon report is rubbing salt in old wounds for some families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. partial and unidentifiable remains from the pentagon attack were sent to a landfill. 184 people were killed when american airlines flight 77 slammed into the pentagon.

abe scott's wife was one of the last victims identified but only parts of her body were found. the defense department assured scott that any unidentifiable remains would be buried in a mass grave at arlington national cemetery. >> this has definitely opened up some old wounds. >> this new information surfaced after a pollup to an investigation over improperly disposed military remains handled at dover air force base. the d.c. schools chancellor is leading the charge for national guidelines on investigating claims of cheating on standardized tests. chancellor henderson contends districts will continue to second-guess their efforts to investigate cheating if there are no guidelines. a march 2011 "u.s.a. today" report revealed a high number of erase sures in which wrong answers were corrected at more than a hundred schools, including some schools here in the district. at 6:07 we have a commuter alert for you. a new way for metro bus riders to stay on top of things. metro has a new e-mail and text

alert system set up for the buses. the transit agency says it will give you up-to-the-minute information on delays and route changes and you can customize those alerts to your specific commute. up to four buses all at once right to your phone. sign up for the program on metro's website. tonight is the second of six public hearings whether it comes to metro's proposed fare hikes. tonight's meeting mary ellison henderson middle school in falls church. that's just walking distance from the west falls church metro station. there's an open house tonight at 6:00. the forum begins at 7:00. you can get a list of all the fare hike hearings by going to wusa9.com and look under the morning news tab. our time is 6:08. there's a full hour of 9news now still ahead. howard says grab the umbrella. you will need it today. there's a big warm-up ahead too. that's tomorrow. we'll have your weather first just ahead. deal is in georgetown celebrating leap day. >> reporter: it's a sweet leap

day for many folks. we're the first camera crew to be live inside the sprinkles kitchen in georgetown because they're offering a special deal for leap year babies. we'll have details coming up on 9news now.

it's a little cool out there this morning. grab the rain gear. we'll have rain developing. in fact, by midday showers and storms possible. late afternoon break but another round of showers and storms possible this evening as well. highs will eventually climb late in the day toward 55. howard, we're going to take a look at time saver traffic now with a live look from sky 9. overall delays in centreville and route 50 to 123. coming up in my next report, another look around the area at 6:17. the accused gunman in monday's school shooting in ohio will be held in jail for at least two more weeks. he'll likely face murder charges. >> that's one of the stories making news at 6:12. a vigil was held last night for the three students killed in that shooting. the suspected gunman, 17-year- old t.j. lane. prosecutors say lane has mental health issues and chose his victims at random. new financial sanctions against doing business with

iran go into effect today. it will impose penalties on any foreign bank which conducts business with the iran central bank. the goal is to stop iran's nuclear ambitions. tonight the president and first lady will be hosting a dinner to honor those who have served in iraq. they will include men and women from all of the armed sfs and -- services and the white house has been criticized for not doing enough to honor those who served in the nine-year long war. we only get to say this once every four years. today is february 29. >> leap day. delia goncalves is live in georgetown to tell us about something special, one of the deals being offered to leap year babies today. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning, mike of. i'm putting on and squeezing on my gloves. we had to put the mike up on a shelf here because tara who is the general manager at sprinkles on m street in georgetown has been sweet -- pardon the pun -- helping us out all morning long telling us about a deal they have on for

leap year babies. if you come in and show your valid i.d. that you were born on february 29, they'll give you a dozen cupcakes for free. earlier in the show we were showing rosa and victoria who are the pros and we're -- and were making this frosting look like a piece of cake -- pardon the pun again -- i'm so corny this morning. it must be all the sugar. we're going to see if i can do this myself. >> we're going to frost. >> reporter: the biggest problem i normally have is getting frosting on the wrapper. apparently these ladies are pros and never get it. tell me what's unique about the frosting technique. >> you want to get a lot of frosting on your spatula. you apply a large amount on the top of the cupcake. so you want to make sure you're not touching the wrapper with your spatula or your hand. so you kind of sped the frosting around to make sure

you get that even amount of frosting on top of the cupcake. good technique is to wipe off your spatula. keep it clean. you swirl on the top. >> this is unique because most folks do piping you say. >> yes, they do. that is one technique for frosting cupcakes. >> you have been in business -- >> reporter: sprinkles is a huge chain. celebrities love it. >> they do, yes. >> reporter: the chain has been around for how long? >> we've been around for seven years so the original bakery started in beverly hills. >> reporter: sprinkles started the whole phenomenon of having cupcakes. >> we are the original cupcake bakery. >> reporter: let's go to some sound. we're not going -- we're going to skip the sound because we're having so much fun here. so let's talk about sprinkles. >> sure. you have options. usually you can do a sugar

decoration or vanilla traditionally comes with vanilla sprinkles. you roll the cupcake in there, give it agent pat and then lift it up and wala. >> reporter: our photographer is groaning and humming. i think he wants a cupcake. >> that's really good. >> reporter: i have a dome on the top. what do you think? here are the professional cupcakes. and then here's tara's and then there's delia's. >> i think you did very well. >> i think it looks greats. i think it needs much more icing. there definitely is not enough icing on there. >> listen, there's a cupcake here that is a peanut butter and chocolate chip cupcake and it has butter cream chocolate frosting. i mean, that's-- >> just bring the butter cream frosting here. >> wow, it just looks phenomenal, delia. >> reporter: i may never go back to the station. this may be a new calling.

>> very impressed with delia's edges, how even they were. >> got to go. we're drooling. see you in a little bit. she's live in georgetown for leap day. top that, howard. >> i don't think i can. >> maybe sprinkles in your forecast. >> yes, going on the same page. not just sprinkles. there are going to be downpours here today. we could get an inch of rain before it's all said and done. we'll get some breaks. it's not going to be all day. it will be several hours here. several hours there. this morning we start you out with the bus stop forecast and we are looking at possible showers moving in from west to east. already seeing a couple south of harrisonburg coming out of west virginia. chilly, 30s and 40s to start, sunrise at 6:41. then today rain and it's going to pick up this morning quickly. mid-40s by 11:00. could be some thunderstorms here 11:00, 12:00, 1:00 coming through here as we slowly get to the mid-40s by noon. upper 40s at 3:00. we'll eventually get to the 50s but it might take all day to

get there. 5:00 maybe only around 49 or 50 with 50 to 55 for highs this evening. but with some luck, your morning commute and afternoon commute are going to be dry. but the middle of the day certainly won't be. look at all the rain coming in from ohio into west virginia with the lightning showing up now. we have thunderstorms and parts of the shenandoah valley, get south of harrisonburg, west of charlottesville, i-64. fredricksburg, you may be seeing this in the next 90 minutes or so 39 in arlington. great falls is 38. 39 in leesburg. off to the east mid-30s. upper 30s. crofton 37. kind of an neat color to the sky. check this red glow out. red in the morning means a warning as the sailors say. 40 degrees with the clouds at reagan national and a southeast wind at 6. windchills this morning in the mid-30s. the big storm that's going to get us today and again this evening, it's really hitting parts of the mississippi and

ohio valley very hard with tornadoes this morning. tornado watch here. had even a fatality across parts of missouri. all of this is moving east. the morning rain is coming in now. the second line will be afternoon and evening rain. there may be a third line before it's all done toward the midnight hour. as we look at the forecast, active weather today. this 55 may not happen again till 6:00, 7:00, 8:00. so in the 40s much of the day. tonight we drop off to only about 50, 52. then we're in the upper 60s tomorrow. a little breezy at times on thursday. 60 on friday with a late shower possible. a better chance of rain on saturday. maybe this thunder again, highs around 60 before we turn colder sunday and monday. and sunday night if there's enough energy, we may even be able to squeeze out a few snow flakes around here. so lots going on. that's what march is all about. lots of change. monika, over to you. say it ain't so. i thought it was over. i guess we'll have to see. >> did it ever start?

>> i don't think so. the beltway is fine all around town. i've been talking about a huge sinkhole in bladensburg this morning. it's on the westbound side of route 450 right here at route 1. it's been blocked since about midnight and it will be through the morning rush hour until crews can get to the sinkhole. in the meantime they are diverting you through the area. i subject you go ahead and use the bw parkway route 50 as your alternate routes through cheverly and into northeast d.c. again westbound route 450 blocked at route 1 in bladensburg. we'll take a look at college park area near route 1. no problems to report on the outer loop here until you get to 95. then it slows down heading into silver spring on the west side of the beltway. back over to the map this time on the northbound side of 95 in virginia. initial delays in dale city up to the occoquan river, newington into springfield and a problem on 395. we'll go there live right now. the accident at washington boulevard sits on the shoulder. delays begin down here at glebe road. coming up in my next report,

another look at virginia at 6:25. back to you, guys gldz it's 6:21. we want to get another check of today's question of the morning. the average american has at least one of these they haven't used in a year or longer. is it a, a key on cherokee chain, b, a gym membership or c, a grill? >> erratic is a pretty start -- eric is a pretty smart guy. he says a, a key. >> keep the guesses coming. we'll reveal the answer at 6:48.

grab the rain gear and something that will keep you warm. temperatures in the 40s. it's going to be raw. the rain with us at least through early afternoon. so the day planner temperatures slowly climbing toward the mid- 40s by noon. upper 40s at 3:00 with a evening high low to mid-50s. if the nhl season inned today and it's -- ended today and it's not, the caps would

make the playoffs. they hold the eight seed. 90 seconds into ot it was the great number eight. >> ovechkin one on one down the wind. he fires and scores. >> alexander ovechkin with the unassisted game winner. capitals top the islanders 3-2, three wins in a row for d.c. caps hosting the jersey devils friday. the wizards began their second half last night visiting the milwaukee bucks. d.c. led by one only two seconds left. brandon jennings misses his shot shot. wizards lose 119-118. hope they'll get the magic back tonight. they host the magic. >> the coach is not happy. >> not happy at all. 6:25 our time. ahead which local lawmaker was pulled over going 100 miles an

hour and only got a warning. the average price for gas climbed another penny while you slept. that's 22 days in a row it's gone up. in ten minutes what's pushing them up so high. monika has a quick check on our traffic. commuters are dealing with this delay on the northbound side of 395 trying to get to washington boulevard all because of an accident on the shoulder. i'll have more on this and other area roadways coming up in my next report. you're watching 9news now. we'll be back in a couple of minutes.

we are following breaking news at 6:30 out of missouri. at least one person is dead this morning after a tornado hit a trailer park in buffalo, missouri, which is near the resort town of branson. 13 other people were hurt. the tornado also went through downtown branson damaging some of the music theaters there. cbs this morning will have an update coming up at the top of the hour. thank you for starting your day with us. good morning. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. meteorologist howard bernstein live on the weather terrace this morning. has a jacket on. it's a different story this morning. >> the rain will be the real story. a slow climb out of the 30s and 40s. chilly with the dampness returning and a little bit of a breeze. you're feeling that the cold. that's why i broke down and put the ear muffs o. the wet weather will be here the next couple of hours. that will be the bigger problem. some of the rain in the middle of the day could be on the heavy side with a few

thunderstorms mixed in. 49 at 5:00. i have high 50 to 55. that may not happen till this evening. you can see all the rain coming at us from ohio and west virginia. i'll switch it over to live doppler 9hd. approaching rutgersville some moderate showers there. we'll -- it will be in culpeper, orange in the next 30 to 45 minutes. we're starting in the 30s and 40s. a slow climb out today. 50s later on. monika santami, still dry for the moment. just the delays you're dealing with. here's a live look from sky 9. the headlights are the inner loop leaving the mixing bowl on 495 heading up toward annandale. if you're leaving springfield from 95, this is what you may have to deal with. heading on northbound 395 it's going to be very heavy up to washington boulevard with an accident there on the right showedder. let's go over to -- shoulder. let's go over to our maps. the beltway generally speaking has been final. we'll look at 270 where you see all the red on the southbound side. you're going about 44 miles an hour right now leaving route 80

heading southbound toward 121 and then just a bit slow again in rockville. so 270 really hasn't been too bad this morning. taking a look at the beltway on the north side oftown outer loop heavy and slow near new hampshire avenue. let's take a live look. on the utter loop it looks like this head -- outer look it looks like this heading over to georgia avenue. more coming up in bladensburg in my next report. back to you guys. >> thank you, monika. 6:31. mitt romney is celebrating a pair of wins in the g.o.p. presidential primaries. that includes a close victory in his native state of michigan. >> in this room are the people who knocked on the doors and made the calls and went to the polls. we didn't win by a lot but win by enough and that's all that counts. >> romney captured 41% of vote in his home state. rick santorum was not far behind, just under 38%. ron paul finished in third. while in arizona it was a much larger margin of victory for romney. he beat santorum double digits.

newt gingrich was third there. so are these big wins for romney? joining us is the political editor with "the washington post." you heard the governor say it was close but good enough. but is it good enough? your home state and you want to be the front-runner. >> right. well, i mean, look, a win is a win in politics and in sports and many other things. certainly he can say i won two states last night. but look, he only won a plurality of the vote. everyone else won a majority. it was in the state where he grew up and his father was governor. it raises questions among republicans who says he won, he's advancing, still has the most delegates but look at the weaknesses. he can't attract enough support and close a deal in a state you would need conceivably come november. it's a midwestern swing state. yes, it's gone democratic in the last few presidential elections but clearly what it's

saying there's probably no pickup. >> what about rick santorum? has he lost momentum. >> he has. he's trying to recast himself yet again. he spend as few days before a primary day talking about social issues and then spends primary night giving a speech about economics again, about the need to help the little guy and build the country up from the bottom up. well, if he can actually stick to that message going into super tuesday maybe it would work but it could also be too late. he spent a lot of time talking about women and miz mother and his -- his mother and his wife. >> we're running out of time. what about newt gingrich? every primary, every debate we seem to have a new front- runner. he was that person for a long time. does the south where super tuesday is going to be concentrated, does it spell victory for him? >> that's what he's hoping. he spent no time in michigan

virtually and is focused on tennessee and a few other states. his theory is if i can collect a good collection of delegates, that keeps me in the game. his super pack will help and will help rick santorum and ron paul but mitt romney is still the guy to beat. >> they won't have close to the 1100 needed. >> mitt romney will have to start cutting deals. it remains to be seen. >> does this go to tampa? >> it could but also could be settled a few weeks before. >> it's more interesting for the media. thanks for being with us. >> nice to be with you. much more on the primary results coming up at the top of the hour on cbs this morning. they'll be joined by andrew card, the former chief of staff to president george w. bush coming up at 7:00 on cbs this morning. it 16:35 now. the -- it is 6:35 now. the virginia house of delegates will take up an abortion bill. the senate approved a bill

requiring an ultrasound for women seeking an abortion. it would not be the invasive kind and would not be required in the cases of rape or incest. this version of the bill has the support of governor bob mcdonnell. he spoke yesterday on wtop radio. >> before the woman makes one of the most important decisions in her life and people with pro- life agree it's very important, let's give the women all the information that she might need or want to have and there's also a medical purpose and that is to be able to establish the gestational age which is already required in medical practice and under the law that an ultrasound will actually allow you to pinpoint that. >> the governor sign add bill repealing the law limiting virginians to purchases just one handgun per month. that law had been in effect since 1993. well, if you got pulled over for going 105 miles an hour on the beltway, i bet you wouldn't get the same punishment as this woman. prince george's county council

woman karen toles just got a warning for the speed. she was pulled over on the beltway last wednesday near branch avenue just after noontime. she did get a $90 fine for an unsafe lane change. county police say the warning is consistent with its force's rules. by the way the speed limit there 55 miles an hour. 6:37. jessica doyle is watching your money. >> we are watching the dow climb to a high it hasn't seen in a while. >> a lot of investors waking up this morning happy but saying will we go even further today? we are looking higher in terms of futures trading. the blue chips did close above that psychological mark yesterday for the first time since may 2008. the dow crossed the mark a couple sessions back but a close above 13k has been pretty illusive. stocks did get their final push from a jump in consumer confidence and oil prices pulled back a touch in trading yesterday. still the average is over a thousand points away from its all-time high. that was hit back in october of

2007. gas prices have now climbed for 21 straight days. nationwide the average for regular is $3.72 a gallon so you may be asking yourself why? analysts are blaming a number of factors. trouble with iran, a recovering global economy that's upping demand, u.s. oil refinery closures and oil speculators are now actually courting oil nowadays. apple is expected to unveil the ipad three a week from today. that makes this a pretty good time to pick up an ipad two at a discount. best buy rolled back prices by 50 bucks over the weekend. our partners at "u.s.a. today" is a more and more ipad two owners are selling their old ones online. what are you thinking? >> i'm sticking with the old stuff. >> i can't offer you like a hundred bucks for that and maybe we'll do a deal?

>> no. >> i love your cover. >> that's the most important thing. time is 6:39. in about nine minutes people born 40 years ago are just turning ten today. >> you may be carded. that's because it's february 29, leap day. learn special deals out there for leap day babies. howard says you're going to be leaping across some puddles today. heavy rain on and off, highs in the 50s. ahead find out if march is coming in like a lamb or a lion. dr. charles drew saved thousands of lives. his research in blood plasma sparked the creation of blood banks during a critical period in world war ii. after becoming the first black man to earn a medical degree from columbia university, he discovered a way to separate blood plasma and safely transport it overseas. this discovery saved many allied soldiers' lives and established the american red

cross blood bank. he was also the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the american board of surgery. to see all of our moments in black history, log on to wusa9.com. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

welcome back. 644. 40 degrees -- 6:44. 40 degrees. here's what it looks like from sky 9 at route 7100. the slow traffic continues toward springfield and then again on 395. i'll get to that in just a moment. the good news is 95 has been incident free coming up from dale city this morning. let's take a look at the maps. overall the beltway is doing final. you have your normal slow spots on the outer loop north of town through silver spring. in bladensburg, i've been telling you about an incident since overnight. it's a urge sinkhole on the westbound -- huge sinkhole on the westbound side of 450. crews are helping you get around the scene but if you want to avaid that all together and -- avoid that all together and the bottleneck, use the bw parkway. it's still green which means

things are looking good through cheverly and northeast. if you're planning to head over interest virginia on the inbound -- into virginia on the inbound side of 66, slow traffic in centreville as you head through this area and again route 50 to 123 closer to the beltway. let's go back over to the northbound side of 3935 where you have -- 395 where you have the slow traffic trying to get to washington boulevard and that's because of an earlier accident. back you to. 6:45. hopefully looking at the glass half full of rain. will the rain we're getting today wash out some of the pollen in the air? >> yesterday in the month of february, notice all these crocus all over the place that are coming up. the grass pollen was in the low category. it's february. we have grass already. tree pollen was high and the mold spores are low. it should clear things out at least for a couple of days. an early start to the allergy season. here we go. your bus stop forecast. showers are possible. in fact, they're probable west of town. we're seeing them move in

already. temperatures are in the 30s and 40s. got a nice shot of the sunrise here. came up just a few minutes ago. really a cool sky this morning with the cloud deck just coming in now. so there's your sunrise. that may be the extent of the sunshine we see today. maybe a break late but we have a lot of rain on the way. the day planner talking about temperatures which will be climbing slow through the 40s to the 50s. we may not get to the 50s till this evening. winds out of the southeast and southerly. 4:00 48. notice a break or two, a lull perhaps for the afternoon commute but more showers and storms possible tonight. by 8:00 we could be up to 55 degrees as temperatures look like they'll be fairly steady overnight. look at all the showers and storms now in west virginia. a lot of lightning popping here. so this is what's coming in the in exfew hours into -- the next few hours into southwestern virginia. rutgersville, this stuff is picking up in intensity. even the shenandoah valley, head up toward winchester and martinsburg, you have some rain

around your neighborhood too it's only going to be increasing over the next few hours. a chilly start with 30s and low 40s. hagerstown is 42. it's 45 in southern maryland and also down toward harrisonburg and here in town on our michael & son weather camera, you see some of the clouds. still a peek or two of sun earlier. cloudy skies reported at reagan national and a windchill of 36. so the big storm system in the middle of the country. tornado watch is in effect across the highway highway valley. this is moving in our direction. this is the morning batch. you'll notice a second, even a third line out there. so we're going to have stuff again in the evening. maybe a lull for the afternoon commute if we're lucky. looking ahead toward the forecast then, today we'll slowly get to 55 but much of the daytime between now and 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 maybe we stay in the 40s. tonight we only drop to about 50, 52. tomorrow a breezy day. partly to mostly sunny and warm. 68. 60 on friday with increasing clouds and a late shower possible. and the weekend looks mixed.

saturday a chance of showers and storms. then cooler sunday. sunday night we could even see a few flurries or snow showers. mike and andrea, back to you. today is february 29, leap day. >> and there are deals out there for everyone celebrating that special birthday today. delia goncalves has that story from georgetown. >> reporter: we are in the sprinkles kitchen here in georgetown on m street to talk about a promotion they're having for leap year babies. if you come in and show a valid i.d., you can get a free dozen cupcakes. this is the sweet side of leap year. let's talk about the science of leap year. to explain that is an astronomer from the university of maryland. >> as the earth goes around the sun, it takes a certain amount of time to do that. and that amount of time is not perfect number of days. it's a number of days and a fraction. >> there's another deal if you're a leap year baby. go to z burger and get a free burger. go there and then come here for

and get your dessert. here's a little more history on leap day. it started with julius caesar in 46b.c. he adopted the idea from the egyptians after figuring out the take day could make a more precise calendar. >> the chance of being born on february 29, one in 1,461 and about five million people worldwide have february 29 as their birthday. it is 6:49. it's time to reveal the answer to our question of the morning. >> here's the question one more time. the average mental has at least one -- american as at least one of these things they haven't used in a year or longer. is it a, a key on their key chain, b, a gym membership or c, the grill? >> no one picked a grill because we know we're out there in the snow grilling. the answer is a, that extra key. >> i have to say i have one. >> i've got some, too. let's go to jessica with the daily deals. >> we also have a leap year theme going on today so here some of our favorite deals we found for you available for

purchase today on this leap year. krimpton has a leap year dale, 29% off, get it? 29% if you book today for a stay at any of their three hotels in alexandria. frontier airlines also has a leap year sale. it's offering discounted flights starting at $120 round trip for some routes and of course restrictions apply here. finally the folks over at gilt city have given me a preview of a deal that goes live at noon today. this is for gentlemen. pay $40, save 50% off on a royal shave and a haircut at the art of shaving. so what is a royal shave? a 45-minute process that uses essential oils and gives you 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. check on the news before you go. that is up next.

it's a chilly start out there with temperatures in the 30s and low 40s. we've got some rain already west of town. that will be here toward the 8:00 hour in d.c. earlier west. later east. we stay in the 40s today but get some evening temperatures to rise into the low to mid- 50s. today is wednesday, february 29. leap day. here's a check of the news before you go this morning. a bladensburg firefighter is home this morning. he suffered respiratory burns fighting a fire last week in riverdale. is second firefighter is still in the hospital with serious burns. authorities plan to announce what started the fire at some point later today. protesters at freedom plaza in northwest washington can stay through april 29. the national park service

extended the group's permit. this is video from earlier this month when police came to ensure no one was sleeping in the plaza. never too late for a win. the capitals scored twice in the last four minutes last night to get it into overtime. in overtime alexander ovechkin won it with the 26th goal of the season. caps top the islanders 3-2. cbs this morning is next and bob schieffer gives us his take on the g.o.p. primary. before that one more check of traffic and weather right here on 9news now so don't go away.

welcome back. we're looking at live doppler 9hd. the rain west of town up toward culpeper. it will be into loudoun county and fauquier county in the next few minutes. i think it will be in d.c. by about 8:00 or so. we'll have periods of rain today with some embedded thunderstorms. temperatures in the 30s and 40s

and as we look at the seven-day forecast, it will all be done by around midnight tomorrow. windy and warmer, upper 60s. we're going to take a live look from sky 9 on the northbound side of i-95 at route 7100. delays in newington as you head through springfield and slow and heavy on 395 trying to get into shirlington. there was an earlier accident that caused that delay. we'll go to 270 on the southbound side. delays from father hurley boulevard to here at falls road. dow 13,000, can we stay there? as for right now looks like we're headed for a higher open on wall street. cbs this morning is coming up next. they're talking about a new show called "house of lives." we'll be back with an update on weather and traffic. get updates by visiting wusa9.com. have a great day. we'll see you tomorrow morning starting at 4:25.