give yourself a few extra minutes on the road. we do have temperatures rather mild once again in the low 60s. average high is 57 for a reminder. 67 by noon. some sunshine returns and then a chance again this afternoon for one of those pop-up showers or thunderstorms as we go back into the low to mid-70s of the overnight we've been watching the moisture in northern maryland coming out of eastern west virginia and western maryland there. it is smoking down across montgomery, howard counties now. this heavier stuff headed toward olney right here. there it is east of urbana. damascus you'll get another round of a downpour. look at this here, just north and east of forestville there. pretty hefty shower there in parts of central prince george's county as well and around beltsville, lanham, college park. just watch out for this here because that will definitely slow you down with some of the hefty downpours with that. fog is another issue we're dealing with this morning. visibilities in southern maryland, many areas down to one-quarter of a mile. look at tap tappahannock and culpeper, winchester half mile.

martinsburg a quarter mile. watch out for that. 5:00 a.m. monika santami good morning. good morning, everybody. i'm happy to say at 5:00 things are looking good close into town. no problems to report in the district, over the potomac and anacostia river crossings. if you're planning to head out of baltimore or near baltimore southbound on i-95, a funeral procession for a maryland military officer has just begun at 5:00. they're coming out of parksville down into towson south on 95. they should reach our beltway by about 6:00 this morning and head west over into virginia. i'll keep you posted on that situation. it will cause some traffic problems later this morning. we'll go over to the south side of town. no problems to report on 95 out of dale city into woodbridge all the way up into spring field. we'll look right there live right now on the northbound side of i-95 where you're going to see things just bunching up as you travel to the beltway on the northbound side of i-95. again no problems to report. just a bit slow right here as

you exit for the beltway. a little further north on our vdot corner here at the 14th street bridge, everything looks good across the potomac river. back over to the maps this time heading to the west side of town. no problems on the dulles toll road or i-66. you can see just a bit of slow traffic right here. again just exiting to the beltway. we'll take a live look outside in the reston area. no problems on the toll road. coming up in my next report, we'll go back into maryland at 5:15. >> thank you, monika. have you ever been told to watch your speeding near the end of the month because the cops have to make their ticket quotas? >> we've all heard that tongue in cheek phrase, right? but there's proof possibly that it could be true in one local police department. the department memo obtained by 9news now suggests is something very similar to a quota system is in place. delia goncalves is live in arlington with more on the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mike, andrea, this is certainly a story that every commuter getting ready to leave their house this morning passing

through arlington has to pay attention to. we obtained and got our hands on an internal memo that indicate there is is indeed a numbers game at stake at the arlington police department. the memo from two captains to patrol officers is entitled "productivity expectations 2012." while it clearly states there is not nor has there ever been a quota system, the memo also outlines specific numbers that officers must meet each and every month. we're talking about three to seven arrests and 16 to 28 traffic tickets. those numbers increase towards the evening and midnight shifts. get this, according to the memo, officers are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to meet those outlined goals [ inaudible ] >> i think there are better things they could be doing with their time than to try to get

people ticketed and meet their quotas. >> there's a difference between making sure you have productive officers and setting quotas that can damage the credibility of law enforcement in an area. when people begin to wonder did i get a ticket because i was a bad driver are a it's the end of the month and that officer hadn't made his or her quota. that's a problem. >> reporter: some critics say there's a problem. we asked the chief to see if there is indeed a problem. we asked to interview the chief and we were denied that request if an interview. but a department spokesperson released a statement and we will have more on what he has to say about this internal memo and what even some critics have to say maybe siding with the police on this issue. we'll have more on that side of the story coming up in my next live report in a half-hour. we'll see you then. back to you. >> delia, thank you for that report. d.c.'s inspector general says the city's water and sewer authority intentionally misled the epa about how it tested for

lady in the drinking -- lead in the drinking water. it 2001 and 2003 the district saw an increase in levels. the inspector general's report says the wasa actually stopped testing in parts of the city where the high levels were likely in order to meet epa goals. a spokesman for the agency now called d.c. water and says a leadership overall in 2009 has led to improved performance. imagine opening your monthly water bill and finding out it's nearly 100 times higher than your last bill. this happened to a homeowner in bethesda. they expected to see the usual charge of about $60. instead the bill was $5,366. even worse, the bill is automatically deducted from her bank account. ouch. after first telling her it would take up to six weeks for

a refund, it now says the check will be cut today. in annapolis a statehouse committee has reversed actions taken by the state senate last week. committee members approved an income tax plan for single people maying more than $100,000 a year or couples making more than $150,000. the house tax hikes are closer to what governor martin o'malley proposed in january. the changes are part of a larger effort to close maryland's $1.1 billion budget gap. let's take a look at how your stock investments fared monday. the dow gained more than 6 points to close at 13,239. the nasdaq jumped 23 points. the s&p 500 climbed more than five points. it's 5:06. time for a special your money segment. >> today is the opening of the national cherry blossom festival. our jessica doyle is live in southwest washington with more on how the d.c. area is going to benefit from all this tourist traffic. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. good morning, everybody. you may be wondering i am' in

front of arena stage in front of the sculpture. this is part of a public works project that is generating lots of interest about the hundredth anniversary of the national cherry blossom festival. it's a hundred years since tokyo gifted the district of columbia 3,000 of the beautiful cherry trees we enjoy every year. for the anniversary interest is way up. i want to show you some statistics. these were given to me from downtown d.c., merchandise sales, for example, $19,000 worth by last month, that's four times the level of february last year. hotel bookings are way, way up. 499 as of february. sale price over $87,000. big increase over last year. i caught up with the new general manager of the ritz carlton in georgetown who told me they are rolling out the cherry red carpet for visitors this year. and they've seen a lot of new interest because the cherry blossoms are blooming so early

this year. >> cherry blossom bookings are good. things have been a bit warmer so we've been getting a lot of increase about are they blossoming. we have two wonderful packages in the hotel, one that includes the upgraded suite as well as dinner for two with cherry infused cocktails as well as cherry themed dishes. hudson valley foie gras and it includes a bike tour so you can bike down the tidal basin and see the blossoms in their full bloom at this point. >> reporter: they are spectacular. organizers have been pulling out all the stops this year. there are over a hundred cherry- pick restaurants participating in the region, up from 83 last year. back here live at arena stage, i'm going to tell you more about this xylophone sculpture being displayed today and all the other 25 sculpt ours that are going -- sculptures that are going to be opening up

throughout the area to coincide with the national cherry blossom festival. back to you in the studio as it starts to rain here. >> sorry about that, jess. >> that's not good for the blossoms. thank you. today his potential rivals are fighting to win the illinois primary. >> but president obama waits to learn his opponent's identity while he's loading up his war chest. more on that story coming up. ahead in sports with just a couple of weeks left in the playoff chase, alexander ovechkin steps up his game. we'll be right back.

good morning. welcome back. time saver traffic on the northbound side of 395. here's what it looks like in shirlington where you can see it's nice and quiet heading up to the 14th street bridge. no problems along 95 as well coming up from dale city to the beltway. in my next report at 5:18, i'll talk about 66. back to you. news now at 5:11, a manhunt is under way for the gunman who opened fire on a jewish school in toulouse, france. three children and a teacher were killed. france's jewish community is europe's largest. it's the worst antisemetic incident in france in nearly 30 years. the soldier accused of killing 16 afghan civilians could be charged as soon as this week. robert bales met with his

lawyer for the first time yesterday. attorney john henry brown says bales doesn't remember the massacre. president obama is making the dough rice for his re-- rise for his reelection campaign. the campaign reports raising $45 million last month. the president's 2008 campaign broke all fund raising records by bringing in nearly $750 million. the national cathedral got some serious damage after the earthquake last august. now for the first time since the quake, people will be able to climb to the top of the bell tower later this week. more details at 5:33. at 5:22, the maryland women are still in the middle of march madness. at 5:15, howard has a cooldown of the seven-day forecast. i'll tell you where it is right after this.

good morning. welcome back to nine fine now. it is -- to 9news now. it is 5:15. the average high today 57 degrees. we're already up to 63 degrees. >> we have some showers, couple rumbles of thunder and fog. later when the sun comes out it will help warm us to the 70s again. it is spring. spring began at 1:14 this morning. here's a look at your bus stop forecast. temperatures this morning will range in the suburbs, andrea,

we have some lower 50s. sunrise about two hours if now at 7:11 this morning. it sets at about 7:20 this afternoon. day planner, we'll see some sunshine by midday, upper 60s. winds army at 5, maybe 10 miles an hour -- winds easterly at 5, maybe 10 miles an hour. 73 by 5:00. this morning showers and storms extending from around new market down through eastern montgomery, western howard county, going into central prince george's county. just sneaking into the district. jessica doyle said a couple sprinkles there. the heavier stuff is really off to the northeast and east and likely to stay east of 270. look at this from urbana, coming in toward damascus now, maybe clarks burke to olney and laytonsville to beltville. let's go to forestville right down there. you had some showers in central prince george's county as well. there's lightning and thundz we are this stuff here in -- and thunder with this stuff here.

fog also a big, big problem down to the south and east where much of southern maryland socked in with visibilities quarter mile or so for southern maryland. zero at culpeper. martinsburg quarter mile. winchester is up from half to a mile. we're still looking good here in town but we have pockets of the patchy dense fog where it's been raining. temps are generally in the low 60s with a few spots like manassas and haymarket in the 50s along with millersville. here in washington we've got cloudy skies over the capital and our michael & son weather camera. 63 degrees. calm winds. dew point up to 60 so a very muggy day. a frizz alert now. you need hair spray? you'll need extra hair spray today. heavy showers and storms with this storm out west. this storm will eventually get here by the weekend. so between now and then, the morning fog, the chance of the afternoon storms but generally quite warm. 74 today. chance of the afternoon storm which we get rid of the fog and

showers this morning. mid-70s tomorrow with the afternoon storms. thursday and friday upper 70s to near 80. then as we head into the weekend, we're looking at unsettled showers and storms. temperatures in the 60s. it is now 5:18. here's monika santami with the latest time saver traffic. >> thank you so much. good morning, everybody. there is one accident i need to tell you about in manassas on route 28 right near sudly road. be aware -- sudley road. be aware of that. 66 coming out of manassas in centreville is fine. traffic moving well toward fairfax, vienna and the beltway. we'll take a live look near 66 and route 50 through the annandale area on the western side of the beltway. things are fine between 66 and i-95 in springfield. back over to the maps, this time we'll head north. southbound 270 out of frederick no problems or delays to worry about. maybe just bunching up a bit. you're used to this out of frederick toward urbana but really no big deals yet into clarksburg and where the lanes divide. inside the beltway colesville road here at east west highway

as you can see nice and light this morning with some wet road conditions. coming up in my next report, we'll take a look at the east side of town at 5:25. back to you. the maryland lady terps are moving on in the big dance. >> while after weeks of speculation, peyton manning picks his new team. all that and more coming up in sports sphwhrz we want to take a look at our question of the day. the average person will drive past ten of these every day. is it a, cows, b, garbage cans or c, mcdonald's restaurants? >> our friend lisa says c, mcdonald's which is truly frightening. >> log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer during our 6:00 hour. some places i go really aggravate my allergies.

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5:22. some showers and storms from around damascus toward olney through beltsville and through forrestville and upper marlboro heading to parts of anne arundel and northern calvert. a few showers and storms. watch out for the patchy dense fog. we'll get rid of that oafort next couple of hours -- rid of that over the next couple of hours. mid- to upper 60s by noon. in the 70s by this afternoon with a chance of isolated afternoon storm. so should be better later on but could slow you down a little this morning. alexander ovechkin steps up to help the capitals get a much

needed win. >> the pressure is on the local ladies to keep dancing in the ncaa tournament. here's kristen berset with your morning sports. good morning, everybody. after this weekend there are no local men's teams left in the ncaa tournament so it's up to the ladies to bring home a championship. the georgetown hoyas face georgia tech today. maryland in action last night taking on louisville. but they had to do most of it without their star elisa thomas. she was in foul trouble early on and maryland was tested. a defensive breakdown here helped the cardinals go up 7 in the first but the star of the night lauren mensi with a finger role. a game high 24 points. tiana hawkins solid as well on both ends of the ball. lady terps hold on to beat louisville and advance to the sweet 16. >> just a tremendous game. it's a shame obviously that any team had to lose that game.

>> last year when we were up here i was so distraught. it feels much better to be moving on. our team has pushed hard this year to get better. >> alex ovechkin with a big game last night. on the power play, he fires to put the caps on the board first. mike knube packs on another to go up 2-0. then ovechkin again. caps 3-0 in the 1st and hold on to win 5-3. peyton manning, the four- time mvp decided to take his talents to denver. he said no to san francisco and tennessee. his deal is expected to be worth $90 million to $95 million over five years. the signing pretty much means the end of tebow mania as we know it out there. basically going if one media storm to another media storm. peyton manning and the broncos expected to have a press conference today. if they do, we will have that for you in the evening newscast at 5:00 and 6:00. that's going to do it for your

morning sports. have a great day. one of the republican presidential candidates is clear identifying a controversial comment he made about unemployment rates. that story is coming up next. we'll reveal some of the special cherry blossom sculptures that are new to this year's festival. 5:25. here's monika. this out of this camera shot on the east side of town outer loop at central avenue. an accident right now blocks the two left lanes with police on the scene. stay to the right to get around that on the northbound side of the beltway. coming up in my next report, we'll update you on that accident at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. stay with us.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. i'm andrea roane. today's tuesday i think. i'm on track. i'm mike hydeck. good morning. i have just enough coffee. ready to go. here's monika santami with

traffic momentarily. >> better not break. >> oh, my. >> howard is here with our weather first. a few rain showers. >> some thunderstorms too rumbling across eastern montgomery county down into prince george's county as well. we have dense fog as well. a dense fog advisory for southern maryland maryland. so a lot to talk about. here's a look at the day planner. once again the sun will return toward the midday and afternoon. upper 60s by then. we aren't going to be moving much the next few hours. by 5:00 we'll come down to 73 after being 74, 57 with an isolate -- 75 with an isolated shower or storm. we've been watching a little disturbance over the area mainly north. it's been diving southeast through parts ever frederick, howard counties. it goes into prince george's county. want to zoom in and show you a couple of spots on live doppler 9000 hd. down through laytonsville, olney, there are lightning

strikes, thundz are. most of this east of 270 so at least 270 appears to be rain free although the road is certainly wet. toward college park seeing some of this as well. as we take you down toward upper marlboro and forestville, this is taking off to the south and east and trying to rain a little bit in the district and also down across, maybe toward andrews as well. tefers in the upper -- temps in the upper 50s and low 60s. we do have a couple of accidents with wet road conditions, you've got to keep your speed limit down. one of these accidents, looks like it may be serious in nature in manassas where route 28 is blocked in both directions between sudley road and manassas drive. so be aware of that on route 28. on 66 south coming out of manassas to centreville, it's just beginning to bunch up a bit. on the inbound side of 66 closer to the beltway at route 123, you can see you have the volumes increasing heading for 495. back over to the maps, this time to the east side of town where there's another accident. this one is on the outer loop

of the beltway right here at central avenue. the two left lanes are blocked so as you head northbound on the beltway, you're going to need to stay to the right to get by. no problems on route 50 or the bw parkway out of laurel into cheverly and the northeast corridor. we'll end with a live look at the beltway north side of town heading over to river road in bethesda. you're going to be okay. coming up in my next report, we'll take a peak at 270 at 5:39. back to you. in campaign 2012 voters in illinois go to the polls today. >> rick santorum is hoping a remark he made doesn't damage his chances of winning that state's primary. at one event the former pennsylvania senator said in part in quote, i don't care what unemployment rate is going to be. mitt romney tried to capitalize on that flub. >> the people also running for the republican nomination said today he doesn't care about the unemployment rate. it doesn't bother him. i do care about the unemployment rate. it does bother me. i want to get people back to work. >> of course i care about the unemployment rate.

i want it to go down but i'm saying my candidacy doesn't hinge on whether the unemployment rate goes up or down. my candidacy is about freedom. >> polls show mitt romney has a 14-point lead. rick santorum is also add a disadvantage because his campaign didn't file the necessary paperwork in some of the districts. cbs news estimates mitt romney is approaching 500 delegates. a memo obtained by 9news now appears to show a quota system for arlington county police officers. it refers to expectations for the amount of tickets issued. delia goncalves is live in arlington with more on this story you'll see only on 9. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning, andrea. you know, drivers, if you ever had a hunch that police were ticketing ow purpose maybe to meet a monthly quota, well, you may be on to something. let's take a look, at least here in arlington. even though this internal memo clearly states there is no quota system in the arlington

police department, the letter by patrol captains outlines specific numbers of arrests and tickets that must be made each and every month. it also says failure to do so will result in disciplinary action. now, even though the chief refused to meet with us when we first broke the story, a department spokesperson says there is no quota system. the memo simply outlines guidelines for officers. even critics who remain scept call, though, can -- skeptical though, can see where police are coming from on this issue. >> i think we have to take police management here in arlington at face value. if they say no, no, these are some productivity standards and not quotas and that they understand the problems with quotas, i think we have to give them some latitude to manage the police and make sure their police officers are productive. >> reporter: however, he goes

on to say he does find major concern with the fact that officers could be disciplined if they don't meet the specific numbers. quotas were made illegal in maryland in 2006. they are not illegal in virginia, just frowrned upon. -- just frowned upon. >> delia goncalves with that live update. today the d.c. city council will consider emergency legislation addressing campaign corruption allegations. most of the council has received subpoenas following the raid on businessman jeff thompson's home and offices earlier this month. one of thompson's companies has a multimillion dollar contract with the city and he made campaign contributions to nearly every council member as well as mayor vincent gray. >> these investigations overhanging everything has put everybody on edge. i think until they get resolved one way or the other, they're going to affect our ability to get things done. >> mayor gray tells 9news now he's been advised by his attorney not to make any more

public comments about the investigation. thompson is believed to have raised more than $100,000 for gray's mayoral campaign. today's emergency legislation would place the same limit on money order contributions as on cash campaign donations. that's $25. 5:35. for the first time since the august earthquake, members of the public will be allowed to climb the bell tower at the national cathedral. there are 333 steps to the top. that's a lot. participants will be treated to the spectacular view from the highest point, highest geographic point in the city. the cathedral climb will take place starting saturday morning. 80 people are allowed up at a time. tickets are on sale now at $18 a piece. how would you like a road or bridge named after you? you've got the money, the commonwealth of virginia can make it happen. a new law allows the state to sell naming rights for roads and bridges. the transportation department is now working out the details. but be prepared to antee up

some big dough. putting your name on the interstates could cost 200 grand or more. >> wow. the flowers may already be in bloom but the national cherry blossom festival officially kicks off this morning. >> the festival has nearly doubled in length. it will run five weeks to mark the 100th anniversary of tokyo's gift of trees to washington. 9news now reporter jessica doyle is in southwest to tell us more. good morning, jess. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. good morning, everybody. that's right, the national cherry blossom festival is opening today. lots of excitement, lots of things to see, including this beautiful sculpture that i am standing with. it's a xylophone. very participatory. i'll give you more on that in a second but because of everything going on, there's a lot of interest in the cherry blossom festival. let me show you website statistic. between february and march we saw 352,000 new visitors --

checking out statistics about the national cherry blossom festival, almost double last year. let me bring in my new friends this morning if you can take a step closer to me. that's perfect. we have the creator of cherry blossom cloud charles and curator laura joining us this morning. thank you so much. we're going to start with laura. tell us a little bit about the beautiful sculptures that will be opening up throughout the washington area in time for the cherry blossom festival. >> sure. this is part of the project called five-five-five which was sponsored by the d.c. commission of the arts and humanities. it stands for five curators, international curators who each have five projects spread throughout d.c. i'm based here in washington and all of my artists are local except for charles who is here from puerto rico. >> charles, tell us a little bit about this sculpture you've created, cherry blossom cloud. it's gorgeous and it's

participatory. tell us a little bit about it. >> i decided to do a sculpture that used the cherry wood to produce sound. i wanted to do something that was participatory and that really organized form and people around sound. so it's a piece that has about nine wooden drums and has two xylophones. >> can you demonstrate for us the sounds we could hear? that's fantastic. this section here is also a xylophone. people will be able to come in with drumsticks and be able to use that, correct? >> yes, that's correct. the two xylophones are argued around the sequences of a japanese sequence of notes. so it's very specific to the cherry blows n festival -- blossom festival celebrating

the trees and gift of friendship. >> it is gorgeous. last question for you. how long is this public arts project going to be available for visitors in the washington area to come out and see? >> charles' work will be up till the end of april but some of the broke jects will be -- projects will be going on all summer long. from the duration is like one day to four months. >> reporter: thank you so much for coming out this morning. lots to talk about with cherry blossom festival starting today. in the next half-hour, we're going to talk about all the visitors coming to washington and the last-minute rush since the cherry blossoms of course opened up a little early. i'll send it back you to in the studio. >> jess may be out live but we'll still have today's daily deals for you in just a few minutes. plus, if you would like to see what life was like just over 70 years ago, you can. the government is about to release a ton of documents from 1940.

5:41. we are looking at some showers and storms across parts of montgomery county extending into prince george's county. a couple of heavy downpours. otherwise just patchy dense fog as well in southern maryland. we'll get sunshine later on. highs today low to mid-70s with a threat of a shower or storm a little later. seven-day forecast in a few. right now monika with time saver traffic. we're going to take a look at the beltway near central avenue where an accident on the outer loop was just moved to the shoulder. left a bit of slow traffic but all lanes are reopened on the northbound side of 95. we'll go into virginia at 5:50. back to you. well, it is daily deal time. we've been combing through the daily deal sites, e-mails and retailer websites to find you great deep discounts. here are some of the favorites this morning. spring is the beginning of the outdoor season for many so how about a full day outdoor rock climbing adventure. google offers has a deal from go-adventure sports climbing in mclean, virginia. 94 bucks will get you a six-

hour experience in great falls park. all the equipment is included. that's a 24% discount. wire fly.com is offering a droid 4 by motorola. the verizon wireless phone selling for 50 bucks which is a 50% discount. the phone comes with a two-year verizon contract and shipping is free. >> and we all could use some help relaxing. dr. maxwellness and weight loss center offering two 30-minute massages of your choosing for 189 bucks. that's a 92% discount. normally goes for 250. this offer can also be found on google offers. later this morning, a house subcommittee holds a hearing on the proposed dwight d. eisenhower memorial. it will sit on the four-acre plot with the air and space museum and department of education. but eisenhower family members reject to the design which focuses more of our 34th

president's childhood in kansas and not enough on his career and presidency. it's hoped memorial will be completed in 2015. the u.s. government is releasing the 1940 census online for the first time. it will be available online april 2 after 72 years of privacy protection lapses. anyone can view them but you'll not be able to search by name. an estimated 21 million of the 132 million people surveyed in that census are still alive and living in the united states. the supreme court hear as case about whether or not young teenagers should be punished like adults when they commit even the worst crimes. that story is coming up. with severe weather hitting the country's midsection in recent days, we'll talk to one of the northern virginia another naturors for the -- virginia coordinators for the statewide drill. let's see who is celebrating a birthday today.

>> happy birthday if this is your day, too.

welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:48. yes, it's already 63 degrees at that time. going to get a little warmer and it's wet right now. >> you may need a rain jacket. the dog got up early. the dog did not like the thunder overnight. you folks up north in frederick, carroll, howard, montgomery counties, you were hearing the lightning and thunder for quite a while. we're still dealing with some of that this morning. some of that is in prince george's county. here's a look at the bus stop

forecast. got a few showers and storms. we've got patchy dense fog, especially south of d.c. where we're seeing the problems this morning. otherwise you're dealing with clouds. temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the low 60s. our sunrise at 7:11. but after the morning showers and fog, i do think by the middle of the day we're going to get into sunshine. upper 60s as we approach lunch time. toward the middle of the afternoon 73. there's a chance for a shower or storm then. we'll have highs today 74, 75. kind of like yesterday with the isolated afternoon storms. still in the upper 60s at 8:00 p.m. tonight. here's a look at the doppler over the last couple of showers. you can see the motion from northwest to southeast with the lightning popping here in spots, especially in montgomery county. but this is drifting now down into toward prince george's county. live doppler 9000 hd, we're watching just about all the rain here east of 270 in montgomery county. some of it also now east of 301 and south of looks like route 4 in the prince george's county. we'll go up north first.

gaithersburg you're getting hit pretty hard coming down from germantown south of olney there. you head on toward colesville, silver spring you're dealing with some of those heavy showers. looks like howard county the worst is mainly south of you. as we go into college park and beltsville and laurel, you're still dealing with some of that. 95, 295, route 1 dealing with some of that rain extending to 50. look at this from the beltway and route 5, not far from andrews and even between brandywine and upper marlboro we have some showers. some of these rains are on the hefty side. the other problem we talked about was the fog. visibilities down south a quarter mile or less. culpeper, orange, down toward richmond. fredricksburg is at three- quarters. southern maryland to king george county, dense fog advisory till 10:00 a.m. a lot of the visibilities down here a quarter mile or less. it's gotten a little bit better in cambridge at a mile and a quarter. in washington we're at 63.

a little bit of fog in the martinsburg area. culpeper 54. 57 in reedville. as i said here in d.c. 63. looking outside on our michael & son weather camera, cloudy skies out there. not too low, though so we're doing already in town with calm winds and a dew point of 60. while we'll have the isolated showers and storms later this afternoon, you see this area of rain in texas which gave over five inches of rain to dallas yesterday? this storm system is going to slowly move toward us and by the time we get to saturday or sunday, our weather is going to turn unsettled and cooler. today 74. got a little action this morning. could see a couple of storms this afternoon. back in the 50s tonight with the isolated showers, patchy fog late. tomorrow like today 75 with the isolated afternoon storm. then thursday and friday looks warmer, upper 70s, even around 80 before we have the unsettled weekend ahead with temps in the 60s. with all the warm weather we get a little bit of rain, a lot of the things that have been waiting, the flowers are going to pop all over the place.

it's 5:51. good morning, everybody. everything is looking fine on the beltway right now. we had an accident on the east side near central avenue on the outer loop. that was cleared up. let's go over to virginia where accident cleanup continues here in manassas on route 28 near sudley road at liberia avenue. so watch out for police direction right there if you're heading for 66 using route 28. no problems out of manassas into centreville. let's take a live look outside. here's what it looks like on the dulles toll road at route 7. all of those corridors coming out of leesburg, route 7, route 123 in tysons, all of those are incident free this morning. we'll go back over to the maps, this time northbound on i-95 where you've got that slow traffic forming from the prince william parkway as you head up to the occoquan river and newington into springfield, let's go there live right now where you're going to see that traffic is slowing down trying to get over to the beltway on our camera on the northbound side of i-95 and again all lanes are copy main and hov lanes, just slow with wet road

conditions. further north now on 395 and here's what it looks like at duke street. lanes are open as you head for the 14th street bridge. in my next report we'll take a look at 270 at 6:00. >> thanks, monika. here's what's making news at 5:53. the justice department says it is now investigating the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in florida by a neighborhood watch captain. 28-year-old george zimmerman claims he shot 17-yard trayvon martin in self-defense last month during a confrontation. zimmerman's family denies the accusations that race was a factor. today the u.s. supreme court is hearing arguments about whether juveniles can be sentenced to life in prison without parole. this stems from an alabama case where a 14-year-old was tried and convicted on murder charges. those reporting the teen's case say adolescent brains aren't fully developed to make decisions like an adult. authorities in nebraska are amazed that only four people got hurt when the tornadoes hit late sunday night there.

residents got a better look at the damage as the cleanup got under way monday. the twisters destroyed several homes and clipped a semi truck like it was a match boxcar. today you're going to hear tornado sirens in virginia but not because there's bad weather but it's time to practice for severe storms. so they're doing their statewide tornado drill at 9:45 this morning. dave joins us, coordinating fairfax county's part if today's statewide tornado testing. dave, welcome. >> good morning. >> today at 9:45 the state is doing their tornado drill. this involves schools and nonschools. why don't you tell me about that first. >> at 9:45 the commonwealth is presenting their tornado drill. and fairfax county is participating. so all -- we're asking all our employees to seek shelter in the buildings they're working in just like you should do if you have a tornado warning or a tornado is imminent. >> this is in virginia by gubernatorial proclamation. maryland, d.c., that's a little scattered how they do it with

the schools. virginia has been doing this for years. i've been an advocate for maryland and d.c. to get on board. congratulations to the commonwealth for that. but in fairfax county you're doing a three-day drill, not just the 9:45 drill this morning. >> right. in conjunction with the state drill, we decided to exercise our emergency operation center. so currently we're operating as if a tornado has touched down in the centreville area, pass through chantilly towards reston. we're simulating. again, this is all exercise so don't get too excited out there. simulating about 400 injuries, about 50 deaths, severe damage to buildings, schools. so it's an exercise both functional. we're exercising in the emergency operation center and outside so hazmat teams are actually engaged in doing some drilling also. >> coming up on the tenth anniversary of the tornado that hit la plata, april 28, 2002, but in fairfax county, i

remember ivan we had quite a few smaller tornadoes. how often does fairfax have to deal with tornadic activity? >> almost every year. unfortunately we are witness to several tornadoes. luckily they haven't been very powerful and when they have hit, they have not hit areas where it's caused building damage. it's mostly been woods and trees. we've been fortunate but we've got to be prepared. >> that's the reason for the three-day drill. would afternoon fairfax citizen even be affected by the three day drill? >> they probably don't even know a drill is going on. it's going on all around them. we do have players out in the field simulating body recoveries. we're doing hazmat incidents but they probably don't see that. >> you talk about 50 deaths and injuries, it sounds serious. >> it's a big deal, a big drill. we do this to prepare our county for such an event.

we just hope it never happens. >> be prepared for the inevitability that you never want to see. dave, thanks for coming in. good morning to you. >> thank you. good morning to you. >> 9:45 tornado drill in virginia. we'll be right back with 9news now this morning.

good morning. welcome back to nine fine now at 6:00 a.m. happy tuesday. i'm andrea roane. spring is here. i'm mike hydeck. do you feel it? i