well, that's where we find the weather channel's mike seidel. ke, tell -- oh, it is snowing up there right now. what's it feeling like? >> well, you have to remember, barbara, this is the snowiest nation in the country. when you consider all cities with more than 100,000 people. they average 10 1/2 feet a year. so far we have had four or five inches. but remember how warm it was in washington and baltimore, the same up here. they didn't have the first measurable snow until three days after christmas so they're running a deficit of three feet. out in north syracuse, it's lightened up. this is a lake-effect snow band. you run into it, run out of it. in fact, you can see the sun up there through the stratosphere overcast and the snowflakes. it can snow with the sun out. go five or six miles down the road it shuts off. but here in the snow belts, they can average over 200 inches a year. lake-effect snow here and also that stretch on i-90 between buffalo and cleveland, well known for being shut down. not shut down this morning, but they're getting lak

and though it's 6:30 p.m., mike seidel from the weather channel, you're still getting sideways snow.prises here, though, with the forecast. we were expecting 18 to 24 inches as early as two days ago. right now, we're waiting for the latest observation from the weather service as of 7:00 p.m. eastern, to see if we've cracked 20 inches. if we crack that, it's the second biggest storm on record. right now, we're at number three or four. but it's still snowing pretty hard. we can see the capital. visibility is up to 3/4 of a mile. very little traffic out here. most of the traffic, foot traffic, because now for the first time, you can legally sled on the grounds of the capital. that was illegal for many years. last year they did it, but nobody wrote tickets. this year, it's legal. what we've heard frr dulles international and reagan, they may not be able to resume operations tomorrow because of the snowfall. dulles has had over two feet of snow, may end up with two and a half feet of snow. and reagan national is going to be up there over a foot and a half of snow, plus the blowing and the

joining us is mike seidel from the weather channel.seen a lot of storms across the country and you are there before the storms are there and i think they just follow you, but how does this compare to -- we were just saying how it was the fourth biggest to others that you've seen. this is one for the record books and it's one of the biggest once i've ever seen. i was out here in 2003 to the second one and the first one in '79 is the third biggest storm on record. the one in 2003 i think ranks fifth or sixth and for snowmageddon on february 5th and 6th and six years ago i was right over there and the mountains were 25 feet high across the street there on d.c. northwest and they're not that high right now because that time around we had a big storm on the fifth and sixth and we had another one two days later and we had 30 inches of snow in two days. so this time around, we come into the storm with nothing on the ground and with that said. a lot of snow out here and dulles international and bwi, 29.2 and those are top numbers and the bigge

weather channel meteorologist mike seidel tells us what's expected there this weekend. >> here in the washington baltimore area, the blizzard kicks in at 3:00 this afternoon, snow should start falling at the capital shortly after lunchtime then it will get heavier and the wind will ramp up later tonight on through saturday, that's the blizzard warning. winds could gust 40 to 45 miles an hour, even higher in the coast. the beaches of maryland, delaware and new jersey will have major issues including beach erosion and moderate to major coastal flooding. federal offices shut down at noon, city employees go home early, most every school in the area is closed today ahead of the blizzard of 2016. the record snowfall in one storm in washington is 28 inches. probably won't get that officially at reagan national airport but we're looking at 18 to 24 inches. as far as flying out, forget about it, between bwi, reagan national and dulles, 75% to 85% of all flights in and out of those three airports have been canceled on saturday. and more impacts in philly and new york, those cities under blizzar

the weather channel's mike seidel was staked out, with full coverage of what he says could be one of the biggest storms on record. sot: "their biggest storm, 28 inches, so we got a long way to go but all systems are 'go' for a lot of wind and a lot of snow thus the blizzard warning in effect through saturday night." track: and mike says, in terms of travel, sot: "thousands of flights have been canceled, in terms of tomorrow, forget about it, just about everything is going to be scrubbed." track: across the road at union station, thousands of travelers trying to get home before their plans get scrubbed. below ground, one of the nations rgest susuay systems, shutting down for the weekend. nat pop=- metro track: and the grocery store, taking a line from mike, don't even think about it. track: the shelves - empty. some people, like - came out just to see it for himself. sot: russ phillips, dc "you know i heard about this, but these shelves are bare." sot: "i'm like a little kid about it, i'd like to see what the storm brings." track: others aren't as pleased. sot: "i don't expect to buy

joining us is mike seidel from the weather channel. orting we were really focusing there on the mid-atlantic, and at the end of the day it still was a good chunk of snow. >> reporter: yeah. record-setting snowfalls. biggest storm on record at dulles airport. 29.3 inches. bwi had 29.2. you mentioned the 17.8 here at reagan national. that is going to be looked at because it snowed more than that. they reported at one point 18 on the ground plus settling and it snowed after they reported 18 on the ground. the weather service is going to go back and take a look at that number. meanwhile, behind me is union station. the northeast express and the amtrak on a limited service today, modified service. they'll get word out soon on the website about foam and no service south towards richmond and down to the southeast. in the d.c. area, metro bus service tomorrow extremely limited. metro rail is going to come up, but a lot of stations won't be open. for instance, if you're taking -- going to union station and taking the redline to bethesda, you're

the weather channel's mike seidel live in syracuse, new york, now under a lake-effect snow warning, where they, too, are making up for lost time. they haven't had much snow and now getting ready for a lot. what do you have for us? >> >> yeah, ryan, that's right. we're under a lake-effect snow warning until tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. this is the snowiest city in america when you consider cities with more than 100,000 people. 30 year average, 10.5 feet. only had a couple of feet, so they're down aboutut three feet this year because they got a late start as you mentioned, ryan, didn't snow here until december 28th. we're in the lake effect band, the bands off lake ontario here. it's lightened up. you can see on the south side here, start to see blue sky over here as far as t t band. if you look down the road here, notice there's blue ies. this is much like a summertime shower or thunderstorm down there in south florida. the sun will come out and snow with the sun out. we've lightened up here. we've had four to five inches, looking for a snow total of one to two more feet in this part of central n

our team coverage continues and let's go with mike seidel who is in front of the capital. hey, mike. >>> good afternoon, veronica. we're in town to cover the big storm here in the washington, baltimore area and we're expecting, as you know, upward of 20 inches of snow in the district. i was here for the blizzard of 2010. we had two big snowstorms, and i was here for the second one and on the 10th of february, 2010, i was standing over there on d street northwest and that whole area was where they piled the snow from both storms and the pile was 25 feet high and you couldn't even see the capitol from the snow and blowing snow from where we are here. you can see the scaffolding around the rotunda and the dome. late afternoon for the rush hour and d.c. schools are closed and everybody will head home early and hopefully not have the debacle we had last night with an inch of snow here in the d.c. metro area. we'll be out here covering it for you live throughout the storm on the weather channel and we'll have continuous coverage starting tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. and right on

the weather channel's mike seidel in the nation's capital there. night. how much are we talking for d.c. this time around? do you get the sense that the city's ready? >> reporter: well, the mayor apologized for that today. also the suburbs, of maryland and virginia also had issues. they didn't pretreat roads we had an inch of snow and it froze, especially on ramps, bridges and overpasses freeze up first, and some of these commute times normally a half hour were three, four, five hours. people getting home 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. reagan national, .7. we've got the yardstick, close to 20 inches of snow here in the district, some may get more. kicks in later tomorrow afternoon, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, runs through saturday night. throw in wind, we have blizzard warnings kicking in at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. this is the first time we've had a blizzard warning and a blizzard predicted since 2010. i was right out here across the street, we had 25, 30-foot snowplows. d.c. canceled school tomorrow, employees go home early. the snow emergency plan kicks in 9:

let's go to minneapolis where mike seidel -- who have you got around there? some people who like football? >> yeah, that's right. the diehard vikings fans out here. and it is cold. we started off at 10 below. right now 6 below zero. notice the difference? >> no. >> windchill 25 below zero. here's the thing. kickoff is in about an hour. and if it's 3 below or colder it will be the coldest vikings home game on record. they played for over 30 years in the dome and go into the new dome next year. it will be one of the top five or six coldest nfl games on record. every nfl game you think about the freezer bowl in cincinnati, the coldest game on record, the ice bowl in green bay. right now 6 below zero. the sun is out. how many of you are on the north side of the stadium. that's where the sun is going to be hitting. north side? >> i can tell you, richard, i don't feel any warmth from the sun. very low sun angle. only goes up 23 degrees above the horizon. it's a matter of layering up. is it a guy or a gal? i can't tell. do you know how many layers you have on? >> si