well, a couple symptoms here as well, just big -- storms here as well, basically wolfville and east of thurmont. let's go to our graphics and show us what else is happening where temperatures, boy, it's sizzling out there, temperatures well into the upper 90s, heat advisory still in effect until 9:00 this evening for the entire d.c. metro area. it did get up to 99 degrees in downtown, but it does feel like 102 once you factor in the humidity, 110 in leesburg, 105 culpeper. this is a day where you want to take it easy. our severe outlook for the severe weather weather today does include the d.c. metro areas points west and north, the a man threats being damaging wind gusts -- the main threats being damaging wind gusts and some hail. tonight partly cloudy to mostly cloudy conditions, scattered thunderstorms. not everyone will see them. some of the storms could be heavy or severe, lows down into the 70s. i think the timing of the storms will be between 7 p.m.

and 9 p.m., more on that a bit later. back to you. for many people still without power on this independence day it is the 4th of july holiday from hell. >> it feels that way for those folks, but pepco says 90% of its customers who lost power during last friday's storm now have their electricity back. here are the latest outage numbers. at last check pepco was reporting more than 39,000 customers still have no power, 35,000 of those in montgomery county, about 1,700 in prince george's and a little more than 2,300 in the district. bge says it has more than 5,000 customers in the dark in prince george's county, smeco reporting 11,600 outages in charles county and dominion power says nearly 23,500 are still in the dark in northern virginia. meanwhile stories continue to emerge about pepco's han ling of storm-related damage -- handling of storm-related

damage including some potentially dangerous situations. many residents are still very critical of the way pepco has or has not been communicating with customers. we have team coverage beginning with andrea mccarren who is live along old georgetown road in bethesda. >> reporter: well, back drops like this still dot our local landscape, downed trees, downed power lines, but in aspen hill we have a story that has left one local family shaking its head.  >> it caught them at neck level. you can see his scar here. >> reporter: 15-year-old fivo owens neck has horrible scars. the teen was riding his bicycle along the sidewalk yesterday when a dangling power line caught him by the neck and flung him backwards off his bike. >> the scar is one thing, but electrocution would be a complete clint story. >> reporter: remarkably when his father called pepco to alert them to the dangerous situation, they asked him for the account information of the homeowner closest to the downed

wire. >> i didn't know who lived there, what the account information was and they said well, without that we can't take a report, which i was astounded at because they tell us in the newspapers and on tv and the radio don't approach a downed line. call pepco. >> reporter: jeffrey cohen was further outraged to learn the downed wire had been reported to pepco on saturday and the ticket had been closed on on monday without a re-- closed out on monday without a repair. >> they actually told me to go find a lawyer to take it up with this. >> reporter: fivo's back still bears the scars of road burn, his helmet cracked, his bike brake disconnected and the pedal broken. his father is furious. >> extremely upset, very frustrate with their in different response to it and their lackadaisical comment about go see a lawyer. >> reporter: as you saw today, that downed wire is marked with tape as well as an orange barrel. that's because mr. cohen called

the nonemergency number for the montgomery county police. they immediately sent him to the fire department which met him on the scene within 20 minutes of the call to handle that situation. back to you. >> andrea, thanks very much. a 4th of july parade in cannonjohn maryland became a protest march and in other neighborhoods signs are going up in an attempt to get the repair crews' attention. scott broom is live with the story. >> reporter: kind of a new communication strategy by the neighbors because they believe there is a complete communications breakdown. they are trying to get attention. they claim they have been calling and filing reports on the websites and from pepco they get return calls sometimes that seem to indicate the utility thinks the power is back on in neighbors like this one and believe me, it's not. so now residents are resorting to other means to get pepco's

attention. >> at some point public utility has got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. >> reporter: the residents marched with patriotically themed protest signs down macarthur boulevard. give me liberty or give me pepco. >> disgusting. >> reporter: they march past brokenniness laters on the ground and beneath -- broken niness laters on the ground and shattered transformers above, damage they believe pepco is unaware of despite endless phone calls. >> we just got an e-mail saying the power has been restored in cabin john. half of cabin john is still out. doesn't make sense, does it? >> when you caught utility, you can speak with a human beings, you get different answers. >> reporter: residents complain about the website. their residents don't show up on the map or are grossly inaccurate.

nearby in the green acres section bethesda resident have taken to posting signs to direct crews into the neighborhood. >> pepco is hiding from us. >> reporter: because they have no confidence the utility even knows about the outage here despite their constant calls. >> we should all go to a hotel and send pepco the bill because they're spoonsible for our misery. >> we've been told multiple times that it actually is back on and that there isn't a problem and there's never been a work crew that's even come to look at it. >> reporter: the signs may have worked. a pepco scout showed up shortly after they went up. >> has anybody here today? >> we've got trees here. >> hallelujah. >> yeah, hallelujah indeed. >> reporter: i've spent a lot of time with pepco on the phone this afternoon. they admit there is a problem in one of their automated scripts with these return phone calls that go back to residents. they say the script says, "the power to your area has been

restored." that's one of the phrases in the script. they admit that that does not mean the power to your residence has been restored. it means to your area has been restored. they say it's clear it has caused confusion. it's a mistake and they're going to try to fix that script as rapidly as possible. on the other side of it, the one thing i came away with talking to pepco today is that it does not hurt to call, call and then call again after that because as they're making repairs, they need to know if they've missed a couple spots and the only way they know is if you call them. so don't be shy about it. get back on the phone if your power is still out. reporting live from cabin john scott broom, 9 news now. >> thank you. northern virginia has more than 21,000 people still in the dark. dominion power crews have been getting into the residential streets, but even some high priority cases are still waiting. as surae chinn reports, a senior high rise be in reston is still waiting for their

lights. >> reporter: as people are waiting to get back online, these big huge trees like this one still need to be cut down and removed. dominion power says they are feverishly working so folks don't face a sixth night without power. crews are laying down new wires that will become the lifeline for the reston senior high rise building of lake ann fellowship house. murray land sits outside and waits for them on a fifth day in the heat. >> i'm getting out of this place for a while. i'm packing my bags. >> reporter: power returned yesterday only to be cut off again today mean nothing elevator. you have to walk back up? >> no. i hope not. i'm going to have somebody out here. >> reporter: murray lives on the seventh floor. he took us there on sunday. >> well, i have asthma. >> reporter: the new property manager is trying to do what she can for the nonprofit hud subsidized complex where many elderly suffer from medical conditions. >> i think we're all frustrated, but for those people that can't get out and see the damage looking at the big scheme of things.

>> reporter: a few miles away in great falls this couple has no electricity and no water. it's been draining for their two horses. >> a big concern was the horses because being on well water we had no water either. >> a lot of sweat comes off and it's just miserable. >> reporter: they've spotted power crews down the street which gives them a flicker of hope they'll get their lights on sometime today. what's complicating the restoration process, for the last remaining people in the dark, crews have to go in some places tucked well into the woods. surae chinn, 9 news now. also in virginia arlington national cemetery says the damage sustained during friday's storm was comparable to the damage suffered during hurricane irene. the damaged area lost a total eight large trees including two white oaks and one red oak tree, all of which are believed to be between 225 and 2040 years old. a small number of -- 240 years old. a small number of headstones

were also damaged. new ones will be ordered soon. despite all the storm damage it's still the 4th of july and half a million people are expected to watch fireworks tonight on the national mall. that's where our kristin fisher joins us live. how are people holding up in this heat? >> reporter: i tell you, what some people have been out here since gates opened at 10 a.m. i can't decide if i'm impressed or if i think they are absolutely insane unless they're like the anderson family from delaware. >> whose birthday is it? >> united states of america. >> that's right. we wanted to celebrate it in style, didn't we? >> reporter: they sure did. john anderson and his family scouted out the perfect spot over the weekend and by 11 a.m. they'd staked out not one, but two spots by the washington monument. >> this is our daytime spot. we're under the tree so we get lots of shade where we can stay cool and play games and relax and this over here is our evening spot when the sun goes down so we have an unobstructed

view of the fireworks. >> reporter: that's planning. with two families and seven kids they brought gallons of water and coolers full of food for the 12 hours they'll spend on the mall in the middle of a heatwave. >> we had all sorts of games, card games and frisbees and tarps and umbrellas in case it rained. >> reporter: how did you get it all in here? >> strategically planned. everyone carried a back. we rolled in a cooler. >> reporter: some -- a bag. we rolled in a cooler. >> reporter: some people may say you're crazy waiting all day long for the fireworks. >> there's so much to do with the pa rainfall. >> reporter: they had a perfect view of constitution avenue and farther down preparations are underway for the evening concert at the capitol, but make no mistake, the kids only really care about one thing. >> i love fireworks. >> it's like income times square on new year's eve -- being in times square on new year's eve. so we're actually here for the

fireworks on the 4th of july in our nation's capital. >> reporter: fireworks start in about four hours at 9:10. if you're planning on coming out, there's a few things you cannot bring, no grills, no fireworks, no weapons and no alcohol. sorry, guys. one more thing. if you're still planning on coming out here, do not drive. there is no parking anywhere near the mall, tons of street closures. your best bet at this point is to take metro. >> and bring a fan. that's for sure. thank you. coming up the president's republican challenger mitt romney interrupts his family vacation to march in an independence day parade. we'll have the very latest from the campaign trail. >> a hot 4th of july, but now we can watch for the possibility of some scattered thunderstorms, some of which could be strong or severe. also the heat continues. i've got your complete forecast coming up. >> wild weather and wildfires wreak havoc nationwide cutting into 4th of july celebrations.

i'm susan mcguiness in washington, that story coming up.

the department of homeland security is looking at last week surprise storm as a test run for what could lap in the -- happen in the event of a terrorist attack, a test run

that experts say so far has failed. >> it's completely unacceptable to not have these basic needs met for not extended period of time, widespread sustained power outages are among the top concerns of homeland security officials. i know for a fact this type of scenario keeps them wake at night. >> experts say the fact that power companies still struggle to bring residents back online has exposed weaknesses in this country's existing infrastructure. well, from severe summer storms to wildfires this extreme weather is causing hardships for millions of americans this 4th of july. >> that's right. susan mcguiness reports it's changing 4th of july celebrations all across the country. >> reporter: explosions of every color lit up the denver skyline. it was a welcome sight to coloradans who had seen more fire and smoke than fireworks. governor john hickenlooper has banned personal fireworks in the state this year to try to

prevent new wildfires from starting. >> it's always important, but i think this year is exceptional. you can just tell by the wildfires that we've had throughout the state. >> reporter: the danger isn't limited to western state. public fireworks displays have been called off in dozens of states, record high heat a big reason. more than 15,000 record high temperatures have been recorded this year. dried out land is providing fuel for potential fires leaving officials little choice. >> it's a tough call for municipal leaders who are trying to do the right thing. >> reporter: on capitol hill a different weather system caused problems. rehearsals for the capitol hill concert were cut short and the crowd evacuated from the lawn when severe storms moved in. more than a million people are still without power after a strong storm rolled through the mid-atlantic last friday. for them the 4th of july will not be the celebration it would have been. >> just sweat and stay inside and then you try and get ice to keep your food cold and it's a hardship. >> reporter: cities up and

down the east coast have canceled independence day parties to keep all resources focused on getting their power back. susan mcguiness, cbs news, washington. mean while some good news today in colorado. the waldo canyon fire near colorado springs is now 80% contained and no more homes are in danger. still the fire is most destructive in school -- the most destructive in colorado history. several fireworks displays scheduled to take place tonight in montgomery county have been canceled due toen iting clean- up from friday -- tonight due to the continuing clean-up from friday's storm. and then there's the forecast for tonight which could make wherever you go a little interesting. >> yeah. again i don't think all of us need to be warned and be scared and cancel your plans for this evening. we just think those storms will be scattered this evening. some of them could be strong or severe. we kind of want to keech one

abreast of the situation. it can impact -- keep everyone abreast of the situation. it can impact some fireworks this evening. let's go to our radar where we've got some pop-up storms now just right around to the west of us out south of winchester and also charlottesville. we also have some lightning associated with those. hagerstown is seeing a little cell go through, but none are severe. generally storms are heading due east. we do now look like we have a severe thunderstorm warning that just popped up here. let me rub over to the computer and take a look at -- run over to the computer and take a look. this is for fauquier and prince william county in, virginia where we have a severe thunderstorm warning in effect until 6:00 this evening. let me zoom in to show you these storms and see what other areas could be impacted. it looks like right now you can see -- yeah, i see some magenta. that means we are seeing hail, also. this is heading southeast. so if you're in the manassas

area, you may be impacted by this severe thunderstorm. so broken hill, bucklin, greenwich, you all will see this storm come through within the next 30 minutes or so. that is our woman warning in effect until -- severe thunderstorm warning in effect until 6:00 again for fauquier and prince william county, virginia. so let's go ahead to our next graphic. i want to show you the risk for severe weather. this is for today. the main threat is damaging wind gusts and hail. this is the areas highlighted in yellow. this does include the d.c. metro area, points north and also points west of it for this evening. this is why we had declared today as severe weather alert day. the heat advisory is still in effect for our area until 9:00 because boy, it's month the out there, feels like 102 -- hot out there, feels like 102, 110 leesburg, frederick 107, 100 winchester, culpeper 105.

hopefully you've got your air conditioning going or in a place where there's air conditioning, the heat really encompassing much of the mid- atlantic go. out to ocean city and cool off where it's 85 degrees. so for tonight scattered thunderstorms, very warm and muggy, scattered storms i think generally between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. that. could also impact some of the fireworks shows and some of the storms will be heavy or severe. i'm going to time this out for you. again this evening we'll see them. not everyone will see them. they will be scattered in nature through 8:00 and 9:00 and by 10:00 and 11:00 a lot of it should be dying down and it will be much quieter. here's a look at the next three days. i coded them yellow because tomorrow heat, maybe a thunderstorm, high 100 degrees, friday still hot, same deal saturday, 102. check out your next seven days. a heatwave continues through much of your weekend. sunday 95 degrees, a chance of showers and thunderstorms, but that's a cold front going through, so on monday we'll finally break from the heat with temperatures in the mid- 80s. so we'll keep you posted on any

more severe thunderstorm warnings. we'll update that on the bottom of your screen on our crawl and also through our website. >> i hope you don't take this personally, but i do hope you're wrong about these thunderstorms tonight, a lot of fireworks watchers. coming up why there may be some leftover fireworks for sale, lots of them, after the 4th of july. stay with us. >> but up next a warning for women tonight after a jogger is raped on the four mile run trail. we'll be back.

right now police are searching for a rapist in arlington. a woman was attacked while jogging on the four mile run bike trail near the lynn carlin park in arlington last night. she told police a man armed with a knife dragged her off the trail and sexually assaulted her around 8:00. she ran home and drove herself to the hospital. the suspect is described as hispanic, about 140 pounds and between 5' 5 and 6 feet tall. the victim also said he had short black hair, brown eyes, a high pitched voice and spoke limited english. a d.c. woman was killed this morning when a fire broke out in her southeast washington apartment around 1 a.m.

this morning. firefighters responding to the apartment in the 1,600 block of 17th street found 71-year-old mildred harrison's body on the floor. flames were confined to the one apartment, though the whole floor was evacuated no, word what caused the fire. speed cameras are coming to charles county active starting july 9th at nine school zones. for the first 30 days if you exceed the speed limit by 12 miles per hour or more, you will get a warning, but of that warning period expect a $40 ticket sent to you in the mail. when it comes to cookouts, it doesn't get bigger than the 4th of july, but just how much bigger are your costs? we'll break it down coming up. >> reporter: i'm tara mergenner at the white house. it's the 4th of july but presidential hopefuls are not taking the day off from politics. >> but up next picketing for

power, a montgomery county man is in the streets to get pepco's attention. stay with us.

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tonight pepco says it has restored power 90% of its customers following last friday's epic storm that. beats their original estimate of 11 approximately friday, july 6th, by two days. since the peak of the storm pepco says it has restored power to nearly 400,000 customers. the estimated restoration time for the majority of those still

without electricity is still late friday evening and we're told all customers will have their power back on by no later than sunday evening. in silver spring one resident staged a protest this morning to try to get pepco to fix what he calls a dangerous and life threatening situation. delia goncalves takes us there. >> reporter: ken's sit-in started overnight, but this massive tree has been blocking pembroke drive since friday's violent storm which also snapped a utility pole leaving 500 feet of wire scattered on the ground. >> this is a major thorough fire getting to a major hospital. >> it's aggravating. this is year after year time after time. i know they're up against a lot. they have been on the street trimming trees and stuff, but it's been we're talking friday night at 10:30. >> tuesday night trying to get home and a lot of the -- there were no street lights, so i

couldn't really see. it was very dark everywhere. >> reporter: tamba boki was riding his bike home assuming the tree had been removed by then while he was clotheslined by the yellow tape. >> i just hope i don't touch one of the electricity cords or anything or run into a pole. >> if it was day one or two, it would be different. >> reporter: ken says crews stalled on tree removal because no one could figure out who was responsible. >> it's maryland park and planning property and it fell on county property. so they don't know who to have cut it. >> reporter: with patience growing thin and the days getting steamy, residents hope someone will come to their rescue soon. in silver spring delia goncalves, 9 news now. we have some good news to report. we have learned pepco and tree crews arrived on the scene and are removing the tree and the wires from the neighborhood. in other news tonight both president obama and mitt romney

are mixing a little politics with tradition this 4th of july. the president was pushing for immigration reform at a nationalization ceremony while romney was talking healthcare at a small town parade. tara mergener has the latest from the white house. >> reporter: 25 members of the u.s. military from 17 different countries spent the 4th of july taking the oath of citizenship in the white house. the newest americans came from as close as mexico and as far away as russia. president obama told them their sacrifice is an example of why immigration makes the u stronger. >> it's why we -- makes the u.s. stronger. >> it's why we still need a dream act to have the talented young people who want to serve our country. it's why america's success demands comprehensive immigration reform. >> reporter: last month president obama instituted a new policy that stops deportation of illegal immigrants, especially those

who came here as children, those seeking college degreeses and members of the military. the -- degrees and members of the military. the latest poll shows the president with a four-point lead over republican challenger mitt romney with just four months to go until election day. mitt romney also had a traditional 4th of july. the republican white house hopeful was with his family marching in a parade in new hampshire. he took time out to sit down with cbs news and talk about the recent supreme court decision on the president's affordable care act. >> not only did he raise the $500 billion that was already in the bill, it's now clear that his mandate as described by the supreme court is a tax. >> reporter: president obama will hit the campaign trail thursday with a bus tour in the battleground states of ohio and pennsylvania. tara mergener for cbs news, the white house. as a lot of people know by now, as governor of massachusetts, romney enacted a healthcare law that also requires residents to buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

there will be fewer rockets bursting in the air this independence day. that is because droughts and wildfires have helped to dim the sales of fireworks for the 4th. states across the country in cash strapped suburban cities have called off their celebrations. last year the fireworks industry made almost $1 billion in sales. fireworks celebrations may be down, but the number of hotdogs on the menu this holiday is up. according to one industry group, it's expected that americans will eat more than 150 million of them just this week. it is a small portion of the 7 billion hotdogs that people will chow down this summer. for cookouts today is pretty much the biggest day of the year. somebody has to pay for all those burgers and dogs and buns and ketchup. so how much will an afternoon fun cost you? we take a look. >> reporter: summertime and the grilling is easy.

>> i actually love veggies on the grill like zucchinis, peppers, things like that. >> i'm a burger guy, leesburger is fine with me. -- cheeseburger is fine with me. >> i'm a crab fanatic. >> every 4th of july we do the brisket on the smoker for 10, 12 hours. >> reporter: the overall cost of that cookout will be a little easier on the wallet this 4th of july. according to a big inside survey americans will pay $59.14 for a grocery cartful of burgers and beer and fixings, down $2 from last year, but there's been an uptick in the priciest food item in most baskets, those burgers and steaks. beef prices are up over 5% from last year. the american farm bureau federation says drought conditions last summer are still impacting supply now. >> a lot of ranchers had to reduce their herd sizes. a lot of cattle went to market earlier than they otherwise would have and those kind of disruptions really take months

and in some cases even years to work their way completely through the market. >> reporter: keeping most grocery costs in check is the recent dip in fuel costs cutting the price of packaging and transportation and food inflation has eased slightly, good news for consumers and perhaps a reason for more cookouts between now and labor day. coming up a rare lobster is now on display here in the nation's capital. >> also severe thunderstorm warnings continue just southwest of us for fauquier and prince william county until 6:00. we'll have more on these storms and what we can expect tonight coming up later. >> up next a slow news day in chicago leads to the rescue of a dog that was dodging traffic on a busy highway. >> don't forget we're always on at www.wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be right back.

caught on tape, a dog caught in traffic. a tv chopper spotted a stray dog running along the shoulder of a chicago highway and followed the dog as it made its way into a nearby neighborhood. police and others were seen trying to rescue the pooch. one person had been watching the chase live on television. >> i wasn't scared at all to grab him and he just was barking at me and he rolled to his belly and i just grabbed

him. he was pretty much like oh, i got caught. >> well done, jose. the dog's microchip shows he's registered to a puppy mill in iowa. aside from a little dehydration and exhaustion, the dog is in excellent health and will soon be looking for a good home. >> did you say they were watching that live? >> yes. don't they have better things to do on a holiday? more news now from the animal world, a rare lobster caught off the coast of ocean city is settling into his new home here in washington. >> after a couple weeks of observation and a good bill of health, toby, the rare blue american lobster was lowered into a tank yesterday at national aquarium in northwest d.c. ors are already clawing for a chance -- visitors are already clawing for a chance to camp a glimpse at the 1 in 2 million -- catch a glimpse at the 1 in 2 million catch.

>> we're anxious for folks to be able to come down and be able to see him. >> toby has to share the tank with several black sea bass and a tatag. toby's blue pigment is the result of genetic mutation. a group. lobstermen donated him to the national aquarium after they hauled him up in a pot off the ocean city coast last month. the guinness book of world records has declared a 1 ton crocodile the largest crocodile in captivity. the monster croc nicknamed lolong was captured last september in the philippines measuring, get this, 20 feet and weighing 2,259 pounds. lolong eat up to 22-pound of meat a week. -- 22 pounds of meat a week. >> you don't want to meet him outside the park. and it was a sea of black and white this morning in london's trafalter square.

108 dancers dressed in giant costumes performed to mark the first ever panda awareness week. that is one dancer for every panda now living at the panda breeding center in shangdu, china. less than 1,000 since hundred live in the wild today. -- less than 1,600 live in the while today. nationals take the field before noon to help avoid fans and the crowd on the mall. we'll have the highlights. >> reporter: competitive competing eating from brooklyn, new york for the nation's hotdog eating contest.

here's a 4th of july tradition on the streets of atlanta. despite the hot and humid weather 60,000 runners took part in the peach tree road race this morning in atlanta. it is the world's largest 10k

race. peter kuruli won in a time of 27 minutes and 306 seconds and danica daska finished in 32 minutes and 21 seconds. another 4th of july tradition took place today on cone island. >> some of the world's biggest competitive eaters gathered together today. a new world record was set. it's the super bowl of competitive eating and two of the biggest stars were crowned champions of nathan's hotdog eating contest. on the men's side joey chestnut showed why his nickname is jaws. he blew away the competition inhaling 68 hotdogs, about 8 pounds worth in just 10 minutes. it's chestnut's sixth consecutive nathan's title tying him for the most win evers. on the women's side 102-pound

-- wins ever. on the woman's side 102-pound thomas broke her record this. may be america's most famous competitive eating contest, but it's about a lot more than the number of hotdogs ingested. it's also about the money. the winners walk away with $10,000. that kind of cash attracts all kinds of characters and a big crowd. many spectators are glad they're watching and not participating. do you want to be in this contest? >> no. >> reporter: okay. why not? >> they eat too much hotdogs. >> reporter: some may question whether this is actually a sport, but fans point out most competitors do train. chestnut works out four days a week. and it seems to be working. randall pinkston, cbs news, brooklyn, new york. >> ugh. the women's winner sonia thomas

is from alexandria, virginia. the second place woman juliette lee is from jermantown, maryland. boy, they must be very expensive dateds. >> they are. we're not going to poo poo their accomplishments because that's a pretty amazing feat. none of us could eat that much food that quickly and still be smiling. >> i don't think you could eat it in 10 minutes seriously. >> i don't even eat hotdogs. >> okay. veggie dogs. >> i have no idea. maybe 10 on a really good idea. >> really? >> i can sometimes put it away. >> you go, anny. >> let's look at doppler where we did have a couple severe thunderstorm warnings. now it's quiet for the immediate d.c. metro area. north to pennsylvania the area in yellow we have a warning up there. the storms are having a harder time really kind of sticking and the storm system is just falling apart. we had a good system go through

earlier here and in prince william county, but it's all now fallen apart. if you zoom in closer, you can see frederick and westminster, you've got some cells and warrenton saw a pretty good storm go through as well. right now it's much quieter. here's a look at your fireworks forecast. it's not going to be a picture perfect night unfortunately. temperatures in the mother 90s this evening, scattered storms -- lower 90s this evening, scattered storms, some severe. hope it doesn't impact too many plans this evening, got to have a backup plan just in case. scattered storms are on the way tonight, very warm and muggy. the storms 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in general and those storms could be sticking around for some of those fireworks shows this evening. we'll have to keep our eye to the i could again. here's a look -- eye to the sky again. here's a look to the futurecast. around 8:00 they'll be scattered maybe around

leesburg, winchester, culpeper and just south of us to fredericksburg, andrews air force base, annapolis may see scattered storms as well. once we get to 11:00 most of it really is out of here and then maybe some places just south of town toward southern maryland may see some storms as well. but again they will be kind of more pop-up here and there. tonight partly cloudy to mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms, some heavy or severe, lows in the 70s. we had i do claired today -- we had declared today a severe weather alert today because so many of you will be outside to not. tomorrow morning looks really nice, mostly sunny, warm, muggy, air quality code orange which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. for the afternoon very hot, maybe a stray storm, highs around 100 degrees. in downtown we'll get up to 100. so i would not be surprised if we have another heat advisory in effect for tomorrow. 99 in reston and fairfax, upper 90s in gaithersburg.

so the next three days look like this. tomorrow, friday and saturday all code yellow alert days. tomorrow 100 with a stray storm, friday 97, saturday the heat still on, 102. that is our best chance to maybe break a record. we'll challenge the record of 102 saturday. sunday still hot, mid-90s, but we have a cold front coming through for a sunday which means i think we'll be a little cooler on monday and tuesday. we'll break from the heat a little bit by the beginning of next week. so tonight i don't think you need to cancel your plans, just kind of have a backup plan in mind if you hear thunder, see lightening as you're outdoors. take cover because some of those storms could be very active, strong or severe. >> good advice, thanks. now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. >> the washington nationals had an advantage over their opponent today even before the game began. because of the local date second game of this stars and stripes series began at 11:00

this morning. for their west coast opponents that meant an 8 a.m. start their time. edwin jackson on the monday for the nats had a rough 1st inning. he allowed three runs but did eventually settle down. after that the nats offense was able to make up the deficit thanks to a square testimony long balls. jonathan solano with a solo shot. ryan zimmerman followed that up with a twoen run blast. mike morse and -- two-run blast, mike morse and rick ankiel hammering the giants once again, 9-4 the final. joining me now in steweddee, sky kerst -- in the studio, sky kerstien. >> it was weird having breakfast at the park and

saying good morningto everybody, but it was a fun time and now everybody gets to go enjoy their july 4th holiday. >> we thought this would be a great series, two no. 1 teams, giants, the nats, but the nats have just beat up on the giants the last two games. what's going on? >> hitting, hitting and hitting. you look at ryan zimmerman. >> nats hitting? >> that's what we said, they had the pitching. it's the hitting now that's coming through. look at ryan zimmerman. he took a cortisone shot 10 days ago. he's been on fire, hit one off the wall and a home run today. michael morse used the last couple weeks as a spring training and now he's on fire. ian desmond, their all-star, bases loaded, two outs, hit it up the mid, had a two r.b.i. single today -- middle, had a two r.b.i. single today. so they're hitting now. to go along with this pitching, that's scary. and they're still missing jayson werth. >> he wasn't doing much

earlier. maybe he just should stay out. no. we hope he gets better, but against one of the better pitching rotations in the league, great to see the nats' bats get a little bit hot there. while i've got you we're just a few days from the all- star break, the my season break. who is your mid-season vp for the nationals? >> you can say stephen strasburg because you know you'll get a win every five days. gio gonzalez. >> that's who i would have said. >> and bryce harper. i'm going to say tyler clippard, 1.83 e.r.a., 13 saves, 16 holds and with the closure spot being pretty much a debacle, look what the happened now, no drew storen, brad lidge debacle, men rei rodriguez, debacle. tyler -- henry rod, debacle. tyler clip -- rodriguez, debacle. tyler clippard has really done a lot for them this year.

>> thank you very much. we have breaking news. there's been a shooting at the urban barbecue on sandy spring old in olney. >> we don't know if it was inside orous of the restaurant -- or outside of the restaurant. one person was taken to the hospital with cardiac restaurant. we've got a crew headed to the scene and will bring you more information as soon as it becomes available. coming up on 9 news now, this is a july 4th tradition dating back to 1966. we'll check in on today's palisades parade and picnic in upper northwest washington. >> plus brain injuries and the military, it's a growing problem and we're going to show you how the government is helping the men and women who served our country. we'll be back. ♪

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hundreds of thousands of u.s. military service members have suffered traumatic brain injuries in the past decade most are considered mild, but the injury can still have a big effect on a person's life. susan mcguiness introduces us to one army specialist injured in afghanistan who is undergoing treatment. >> reporter: army specialistdown jarvis cleared roadside bombs in iraq and afghanistan. he was on patrol in february when a bomb explode under his vehicle. >> causing the vehicle to roll onto the driver's side which is

my side. i sustained a right knee injury at that time. >> reporter: but what he didn't know until about a month later, he had also suffered a mild traumatic brain injury or tbi. >> when i got to germany, i started noticing the memory problems and everything else. >> reporter: symptoms can include headaches, sleep disturbances and problems with balance, concentration and attention. nearly 245,000 men and women who have served in u.s. forces have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries since 2000. the majority of those cases were mild. >> stipes it's difficult to diagnose unless -- sometimes it's difficult to diagnose unless you see a specialist, but once it's diagnosed properly, you can recover 100%. >> reporter: specialist jarvis still struggles with headaches, light sensitivity and has available sleeping, but thanks to his treatment at fort belvoir community hospital in virginia, his memory is getting better. >> as far as speech therapy

goes, i'm working with different techniques to improve any memory like associations and things of that nature. >> reporter: he hopes his intensive treatment will make it easier to adjust to life when he returns home to massachusetts in a few months. >> experts say they are seeing more traumatic brain injuries in service members because of the type of war fare the u.s. has been engaged in, but also because doctors are better detecting these injuries now than in the past. this is 9 news now. >> states of independence, the nation's celebrates uncle sam's 236th birthday while the powerless are still seeking relief from the heat in our area. a severe weather alert tops our news this evening in. addition to manmade fireworks, anny hong said we could be in for some weather-related fireworks as well. >> we're just on that borderline criteria for severe weather alert day.