good morning, everyone, i'm aaron gilchrest in for joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this friday, january 13. it's january 13, friday the 13th, 2012. >> is that ominous? >> some people think friday the 13th -- >> i don't buy into that. >> i don't either. my birthday's on a 13 so i like 13. the weather is ominous, right, tom? >>> unlucky that way. it was near 60 yesterday afternoon. now temperatures are near freezing in our viewing area. to the north and west, it's snowing. right now in northern montgomery county into frederick and washington counties in maryland, we've got cold rain falling right here in washington. look at the radar, there's a big area of snow that stretches to our north and way to our north and west, all the way up into michigan. here's the closeup view of the radar. we've got rain in the area in green and blue. in the district, southern montgomery county, prince george's county and southern fairfax. and into southern maryland. but where you see the white there, that is snow. northern montgomery county from near montgome

i'm aaron gilchrest in for joe krebs. welcome to "news4 today" on this wednesday, january 11.itt romney seems to be picking up speed in his victory in the new hampshire primary, capturing president% of the vote. texas congressman ron paul finished a distant swekd 23%. former utah governor, jon huntsman, who focused much of his attention on new hampshire, finished in third place. newt gingrich and rick santorum each received 9%. rick perry finished with 1% of the vote. we'll have more plus a look ahead to the upcoming races in a few minutes. >>> first, we're going to look at our fairfax county. meteorologist tom kierein is telling us about rain headed our way. tom, good morning. >> yeah, but what a change. right now it's clear. we've got a pig, bright moon. it's -- a big, bright moon. it's frosty cold on this wednesday morning. temperatures now at reagan national thundunder this clear s hovering near the freezing mark. reagan national airport, 34. we've got a light breeze now beginning to shift out of the east/northeast. temperatures are down into the mid-to-upper 20s throughou

i'm aaron gilchrest in for joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this wednesday, january 11, 2012. we'll take a live look outside. it is 5:30. 38 degrees, a chilly start to our day. >> a school closure we want to make you aware of. yes, ferry farm elementary school in stafford county closed today because there's no heat in the building. we're told no students, no staff should report to school today. all the activity including all the after-school activities scheduled for today are also canceled. >> they don't have heat in the building. and that would be a necessity this morning. >> yeah, what a ride we've had. >> crazy. >> every day we've had different weather. saturday was in the 60s. sunday around 50. monday, we had some snow. tuesday, yesterday, a beautiful afternoon. now today we're talking rain. here we go. and big changes on the way into the weekend, too. this is going to continue. right now at reagan national, under a clear sky. down to 34 there. there's capitol hill. we do have just to our south clouds beginning

. >> and i'm aaron gilchrest. joe krebs is off this morning. >>> take a look outside with us if you will. 6:00 a.m. right now. and we're dealing with falling temperatures and some wind out there. meteorologist tom kierein's been keeping an eye on all this from storm center 4. he joins us with what everybody needs to be prepared for this morning. >> yes, indeed. >> what's that? >> hairstyles by mr. wind. >> that's right. >> this morning. i wouldn't bother spending too much time -- >> i shellac mine. >> as soon as you step out the door, it will get messed up. the wind has been blowing strongly, up to around 40 miles per hour. the cold air is surging in now. all the area in the lavender, down to near 20 degrees. closer to washington, temperatures are in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees, around the metro area. we've had some snow quickly moving through overnight. it's now exiting. and the rain, as well, on the eastern shore now. and we're drying out elsewhere briefly. could get some more snow showers in the mountains

. >> i'm aaron gilchrest in for joe krebs this morning. a quick scloeg we -- school closing we want to make you aware of. ferry farm elementary school closed today. there's no heat apparently. all activities including after-school activities that are scheduled for today are also canceled. >>> let's take a live look outside, 6:00 a.m., 35 degrees. that might be misleading, though, because that's near our building in northwest washington. a cold start to the day and rain headed our way. get the umbrellas ready. >> temperatures in most areas down to the 20s. it's frosty cold. you'll be scraping frost off the windshield. at reagan national, 33. we've got a lot of humidity in the air as a result. there's frost. wind gentle out of the north and east. temperatures in the 20s in prince george's county, fairfax, arlington, and montgomery counties. right near the bay waters, it's a little above freezing. elsewhere from west virginia across virginia, maryland, and the eastern shore, it is below freezing. now looking at the view from space, clouds are

>> i'm aaron gilchrest in for jim handly. we begin with the challenge of finding survivors after the cruise ship capsized off the coast of italy. two americans are unaccounted for. >> the company that owns the ship made a public statement about what it believes caused the deadly accident. michelle kosinski reports from italy. >> reporter: the pictures emerging from the costa concordia speak -- scream for themselves. >> people were getting nervous. people were having chest pains. i was having chest pains. i was having anxiety because i don't know how to swim. >> reporter: panicked passengers, desperate for escape. >> trying to put people on the boats. no one was counting. we were screaming saying how many people are on here. then they released the life boats. people were still trying to get on. they were trying, almost falling. >> reporter: search-and-rescue crews today had a tough job. weather conditions were making the ship shift. its submerged side is a hundred feet under water and there is danger of it sliding farther down

i'm angie goff in for aaron gilchrest. 2012 is less than an hour away. and tonight we have live team coverage of all sorts of new year's eve celebrations. wendy gillette is in times square for the big party. we begin with darcie spencer, live in alexandria, where they're holding a different kind of ball drop tonight, hi, darcie. >> reporter: everyone is having a great time. i decided to get into the act, i got this nbc peacock, i've never had this done before, it was a fun experience and i like it. in new york, they are doing the ball drop. here in alexandria, they're dropping thousands of these ping-pong balls. here's an idea of what it's going to look like. at the ma sonic temple people danced to live music. it's first night alexandria, the family oriented evint that draws thousands every year fp. >> we're having a good time. it's the holiday season, and we're just starting off right here in alexandria. >> reporter: this was the first first night for the martinez family. everyone got their faces painted. >> tell us about the face painting. >> i love it

. >> i'm aaron gilchrest. we begin tonight with the republican presidential contest.m now the candidates will face off in their 18th debate of this campaign. if today's bitter verbal jabs are any indication we could see some serious punches tonight. steve handelsman is at the debate site and joins us live now from the university of south florida in tampa. steve, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. it is shaping up like a fist fight tonight here in tampa. in this big, diverse swing state it's gingrich now

i'm aaron gilchrest. >> i'm wendy rieger. jim and doreen have the night off.ly cruise ship disaster in italy. six people killed when the ship ran aground friday night and the search continues for 16 others still missing. among those an american couple from minnesota. >>> the ship's captain remains in jail on