doug kammerer is there. it's going to be a little reversed. instead of waiting for the ig tree first, i understand. >> reporter: yeah, that's true. normally we wait until after some of the festivities here, but tonight they are going to light it pretty quickly. the lights are supposed to go on in about ten minutes. we're running a little behind here. the air force national band continuing to play. they were just seating some of the president's family a little earlier. but one thing we're watching is we're starleting to see the a little antsy and moving around a little bit. i think we're going to start in a couple minutes. i would expect that tree lighting to go off in about the next 10 to 20 minutes. so many great things going on here. this is my u sixth year doing this. this is the pest weather we have had. it's a little chilly with the wind here, but other than that, we haven't seen a lot of cold air. the colder air making its way in overnight. once again, that tree in minutes. we'll be live throughout the hour for the latest from the nation

our doug kammerer is down there and when that switch is flip ued, he will bring it to you live. good afternoon, i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm jim handly. first at 4:00, a child walks out of a day care facility and no one notices. >> it happened earlier this month at the kid day academy in gainsville, virginia. new charges that the director is facing. >> reporter: that 3-year-old was out alone at night walking around this parking lot. now we know 3-year-olds can walk, but not that well. she could have easily been hit by a consider or snatched. i want to show you kid day academy right over here over my shoulder the papa john's she walked to over there across the parking lot. saw what exactly happened. the child walked out of the front door of kiddy academy alone, 8:30 on a saturday night. she turned around to try to get back in, but the doors had locked behind her. so then the 3-year-old starting walking. she had to cross the parking lot to get to papa john's. she walked right in there. a manager, we're told, was up front. he tried to figure out where her parents were. then he c

. >> doug kammerer was standing action. he's still there now. with more from the festives and on our forecast. >> a little on the cool side. it's a little cool. it's definitely warmer than it's been over the past few years. normally we are frigid for the tree lighting. i want to show you 45 minutes ago when the president got up and pressed the button. take a look at how that went a little now once again, the tree sitting there waiting to go off. it went off at about 5:20. that was just beautiful. there it goes. you see what's happening now. not just the tree, but when i love about this picture here is you also have the trees behind it lit up and the white house lit up. the first time i have seen the pillars lit up as well. just a beautiful scene. we got done with kelly clarkson and now we're moving on to james taylor was just up as well. the first lady going to be reading a book coming up to a couple youngsters. let's show you the temperatures right now. as we move on through the rest of the night how things are going to be going, 50 degrees cur

doug kammerer, thank you, doug. >>> team coverage continues with a look at how everybody is startingget set and prepared for this blast of winter weather. some hardware stores as you can imagine are starting to see some winter-minded customers. prince george's county bureau chief tracee wilkins is live for us at the lowe's in upper ma

thank you, doug kammerer. >> coming up in sports, sunday's game is a must-win for the redskins if they want to make the playoffs. will jay gruden have one of his biggest offensive weapons available against new york? >> that's a question. but first, here's peter alexander with a look at what's ahead on nbc nightly news. >> ahead, praising putin. president-elect donald trump's glowing words for the russian leader after he makes a surprising move. >> also, will a kennedy cousin be sent back to prison for a four decade old murder. >> and uber rescue, what a driver overheard that launched him into action to save a >>> oh, the playoffs so close you can taste it. but -- but the redskins have to beat the giants. >> yeah, got to get over the hurdle. chris joins us from the csn studios with more on the big matchup this weekend. >> that's right, for all te already begun for the redskins. the season finale this sunday against the giants is real simple for the burgundy and gold. win and get in. jordan reed might be able to provide more assistance, and that quest this week. the talented tight end ha

doug kammerer and amelia draper standing by in the storm center. hey, guys. >> tell us about this winter weather advisory and how it's going to complicate the weekend. >> first of the season for most of us. you nail it when you said 12 about 12 hours from now we'll start to see this move in. >> we're looking at mainly freezing rain. that's the biggest concern. if you're hearing snow, sleet, that's the case. it's really all about ice. >> first off, temperatures 27 degrees now in washington. 22 in hagerstown. 18 in pittsburgh. it's cold all across the mid-atlantic. you know it's going to be a cold start and temperatures are well below freezing now. anything that falls will be in a frozen form. as we move on through the rest of the night, look at what's happening. you can't see where the storm is. it's coming together back to our south and west. snow back here, most of this is not going to hit the grown. but we do have that winter weather advisory in effect in the purple and a freezing rain advisory in the pink. we'll talk much more about what this me

let's go to storm team 4 chief meteorologist doug kammerer in the storm ce >> that was a great shot. i don't know if we can show that again. that was a great shot baz that shot really depicts what's happening today. you have the sun and then the snow showers that come through. you could see a snow shower there off in the distance. sunshine and snow showers. at one point, i had both, sun and snow coming down. really quite amazing. snow showers continuing right now. storm team 4 radar tracking the snow through part of the area, and really, it's all snow, where it's depicted as rain, it's mostly snow across the region. look at the latest snow coming on in here, in toward louden county. i'm going to zoom in here, around the radar site. snowing pretty good snow shower around just south of leesburg, around ashburn, coming down towards the airport. you're going to see this, centreville, chantilly, you'll see it as well. this is all courtesy of the great lakes. yes, this is great the area, and we're going to continue to watch it and you and you can watch it yourself. download the nbc 4 app.

let's go to storm team 4 chief meteorologist doug kammerer who hey, doug. >> reporter: oh, if i'm at the zoo, you know it's zoo lights or boo at the zoo. obviously boo at the zoo is over so it's got to be zoo lights, what we're going on through the evening hours tonight, 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 we'll be live throughout the event. we have a few people out right now, came down to take a look at the storm team 4 x 4. sun going down at 4:46. you have a half hour before the lights already. we have the storm came 4 x 4. 50 degrees right now. temperatures will be falling, though, through the 40s so if you're coming, bundle up. it's going to ba little bit on the cool side. not all that bad. i picked a beautiful day for zoo lights because boy does it get cold in the forecast. i'm not talking a little cold. guys, we'll talk about that coming up in 15 minutes. >> thank you, doug. >>> christmas trees are supposed to bring festivity and little brightness to your home but they can also bring danger. >>> this brings airline baggage fees to a whole new level. why some out you won't get to obot help with

let's head over to doug kammerer in the weather center. you're thinking maybe lose the winter coat. >> yes, today you need it. even though temperatures were in the 40s across the so far 46 degrees. that's above average. where with the clouds and dreary conditions, it feels cooler. we had drizzle earlier today. you see the clouds are there. another storm system is a cold front way back to the west around cincinnati and cleveland. this cold front will move our way. ahead of it we're going to move up nicely tomorrow. take a look at the numbers. we're in the 40s. but 60 in west virginia. 68 in morgan town. 71 in charleston, west virginia. that warmer air is moving in as we make our way through the night tonight. tomorrow morning, you're going to feel that it as we'll see rising temperatures. then windy tomorrow and it's overnight that we see the wind. a few shower chances tomorrow and then tracking your new year's forecast. 2017 starts in just a couple days. we'll have that forecast for >>> today marks and it celebrates a different principle e

doug kammerer will have a little more on that weather alert coming up just after 6:00. but the weekend looks fantastic. as i said, doug talking more about the cold friday coming at us. >> thank you. verdict in the police officer accuse of shooting a man in the back. >> what is next in this case. >>> then all new at 6:00, catching casino chooeters. the team takes a closer loi-ok heart... and restoring a father's faith. stronger is being a typical kid... despite a rare disorder. stronger is seeking answers and not giving up until you find them. because we don't just want kids to grow up. we want them to grow up stronger. with your support, we can find more answers faster. >>> a judge declares a mistrial after a jury cannot reach a verdict in the case of a white unampled black man as he was running away. >> the shooting gained national attention when it was caught on video. sara ro czar owe is in south carolina with new developments. >> reporter: after four days after deliberations, the jury in the trial of former cop announced they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

doug kammerer, thank you, doug. >>> team coverage continues with a look at how everybody is starting to get set and prepared for this blast of winter weather. some hardware stores as you can imagine are starting to see some winter-minded customers. prince george's county bureau chief tracee wilkins is live for us at the lowe's in upper ma hi, tracee. >> reporter: i'm definitely starting to think about it, myself, thinking about the gloves and probably a warmer scarf and definitely a hat for tomorrow. the folks who are coming into lowe's are thinking about making sure they're going to be warm in their homes. an arctic blast is headed our way. folks are preparing and buying those space heaters. >> i have a guest coming and they're going to be in a room and i guess because of the cold, i do -- i wanted to make sure that they'll be warm. they're coming up to florida. >> reporter: definitely going it be cold to them tomorrow. >> exactly, they're not going to be able to really tolerate it. >> reporter: storm team 4 is predicting temperatures to take a major dive with a windchill that may f

doug kammerer is there with zoo light. >> reporter: yep. that's right. they flipped the switch on 500,000 lights. that's half a million lights and they're all powered by pepco. i love this area here, the base of the nice little toboggan trail and can take a snow tube all the way down. don't even need snow. all the way down 150 feet. a lot of people waiting for that. we have the storm team x lot of people down here at the zoo. this is the tenth annual zoo lights at the national zoo. i want to show you what it's going to be like tonight. tonight's weather probably the best for zoo lights you'll have for the next couple weeks. temperatures have been in the 50s today. now dropping into the 40s. by 11:00 tonight, dropping down to 41 degrees. so, again, a nice cool night tonight. next couple of days, well, it doesn't just get cool, it gets downright cold. coming up in just a few minutes, we'll talk about how cold things get and how long that cold air >> all right. >>> a hidden danger blamed for this local house fire and tonight a woman is sharing her story of

let's get to the storm center where doug kammerer is going to give us bad news. >> temperatures falling in the next couple days. we're moving into a colder pattern as we make our way into the weekend and early next week. especially late next week. out there today, temperatures above average once again. at least east of the blue ridge, and really just amazing. you can see where the bruridge are, right here, the green, to the west, much cooler. 33 in elkins, west virginia. 38 in morgantown. drier air making its way in, warming the temperatures. we call that down slope winds that we had out there today, keeping us in the 50s. tonight, a chilly night. a colder pattern setting in. tracking our next storm, going to mention that, and winter really moves in at the end of the ten-day forecast. i'll shoshow you that, and you can down low our app at any time, download it on your phone, if you're next couple hours, you can find it on the nbc washington app. >> thanks. >>> a local catholic school teacher and coach is out of a job following sex abuse allegations. archbishop carol high in northwest d.

let's begin with doug kammerer. >> it really is quite nasty out there as far as the windchill is concerned. temperatures all day today have been in the 30s. windchills have been in the 30s. now that the sun is going down, it's going to feel a lot colder tonight, if you're heading out on this friday evening, be ready for it. temperature wise, in the 30s, look at the windchill. currently 28, the windchill in d.c. 28, gaithersburg. the teens back to the west. that's what many of us will see of the season, it's also opened the doors for lake effect snow all across the region. that means cold air coming across the great lakes from canada, right down intowards our area. we're not expecting snow here. for us, it's just on the cold side. so what do we do? we sent lauryn outside on the weather deck. a very cold night tonight, if you're heading out, make sure you bundle up. >> i just walked out here. it's chilly. and now that the sun's going down, as you said, those temperatures are dropping and dropping rather quickly. now, another thing that's going down that i noticed, the wind is coming down. we

. >> doug kammerer has a look on what's coming up. >> the coldest december temperatures in years across the region, as temperatures will dip into the 20s, single digit business thursday afternoon. right now, not all that bad. as a matter of fact, high temperatures today averaged -- the average, 47. that's exactly where we were in the d.c. area, and no real cold air anywhere in the region. not tomorrow. but on thursday. we're watching rain down to the south, snow to the north. we do have snow in pittsburgh, up towards state college and williamsport, right around fredericksburg, tracking that as well. the cold area, cool now, but here comes the cold, the polar vortex making its way down, the true polar vortex coalest air we've seen in about six years in december. what to expect on saturday. tough forecast, in about 15 minutes. >> thanks, doug. >>> a developing story in rockville, a man charged with two life sentences for killing his neighbors, the new reaction from the family of the victims. >>> plus, a high profile arrest at the opening of the mgm grand casino, prince georges county liqu

chief meteorologist doug kammerer is in the storm center. doug, what's coming our way tonight and what's it like right now? >> well, right now actually pretty nice. you know, a big change from where we were yesterday. 68 degrees right now down to the upper 40s to around the 51 degree mark. that's where we sit right now at the airport. so a lot cooler, but still very nice with all the sunshine. today really has been a very nice afternoon. take a look at the numbers around the region right now. 51 degrees right now currently in d.c. we're at 44 in hagerstown. much colder to the north, though, 34 in state college. 52 down toward the richmond area. now, next couple of days, we got morning rain that's going to make its way in here. that rain will coincide with the morning rush. we'll talk about that. i'll take you hour by hour, talk about that morning rain. turning windy tomorrow night then much colder by tomorrow night. and that lasts right on into the day on friday. a very the day. then, of course, i'm tracking your new year's forecast. i'll tak