it is 70 degrees and humid at the top of this hour, sharon keeping your eye on traffic. marty is over with a lot on his plate. >> let's take a look at how this day is going to square away. what we're going to see is sunshine. what we're going to feel increase in humidity. dew point is up 4 degrees from yesterday. the record is 99. 70 -- it's going to be a really steammy hot day. i think we're going to have plenty to talk about on this 53rd day of temperatures above 90. here is first warning, nothing showing in the area right now, clear scan, but note offshore we can already start to put the track of earl even on first warning a complete update for you. 5:00 observation national hurricane center coming up shortly, don, take it away. >> here is sharon at wjz traffic control. >> nothing too major, just a few minor issues, some downed wires you'll want to watch for those on old new york road possible lane closures road reporter checking out that situation. meantime we're here disabled vehicle on 5:43. here is a look at your drive time and speeds top of the beltway still running at full speed without any issues and a live look at 29 at maryland 32. no problems on the beltway at bell air road there's a look at 95 at 395. remember wjz3 is -- 13 is always on. back over to you. >> thank you, we're all watching this morning all eyes on hurricane earl as the lower east coast is seeing some strong surf, a swimmer along the outer banks from north carolina had to be rescued yesterday sucked under by rip current. tourists are being asked. category 3 storm. here is mike with more with people here what people in maryland are doing to prepare for us. >> rough surf and waves and ocean city are only a preview of what's to come, earl plowing through the caribbean and roaring ahead up the eastern seaboard expected to come close to maryland. >> we're monitoring the situation very closely. we have a heightened awareness, should it be necessary, we'll take protective mitigation efforts. >> this hurricane is very likely on the current track going to affect the beaches of ocean city and probably cause a lot of erosion and fair amount of damage. >> the governor says he's been in close contact with ocean city's mayor and decision should come by tomorrow on whether the town which will swell for quarter million people will be evacuated. >> we have to be on guard these storms can do a lot of damage. >> in 2003 the powerful his bell left $1 billion in damage in its wake. >> it was terrible. >> darrell lived through it. one of the hardest hit areas for more than 200 homes were destroyed. he is also watching for any potential flooding from earl. >> what's going to happen is going to happen, hopefully we're prepared for it. >> preparations are underway to put critical people in supplies in place. >> we encourage folks to be prepared at any time, of course with this storm coming there's no better time than now to check your supplies and do you have emergency plan. >> a slight change in track can make a huge difference in such a powerful storm that could have damaging impact on maryland. >> nobody wants to scare people away without reason, but at the same time in a few hours i think we'll have the information we need so we can advise people with one view and one view only and that is what is best for the public safety. >> the federal government is also helping coordinate the emergency response through fema which is in close contact from the white house. wjz eyewitness news. >> marty will have the latest projections coming up in just a few minutes. we urge you to stay with us for the latest. to track the storm and get constant updates, go to wjz.com. now a drug empire run from here in m m.d. three people under arrest in connection with a heroin distribution ring linked to one of the most outrageous shootings in recent memory. here is more on that. good morning andrea. >> reporter: prosecutors have linked this alleged drug kingpin to $10 million in assets as well as several acts of violence. a heroin ring stretching from maryland to new york all the way to the dominican republic. at the center prosecutors say is this man, 26-year-old steven blackwell of earl ton. >> this is case involved of a task force that resulted in charges in indictment. >> blackwell was indicted along with two others in connection with running that ring. there are 34-year-old carter of -- and 24-year-old joy edison of earl ton. their drug operation stretches back seven years. >> i can't give you all the details of what led to the arrest it was the result of this under cover investigation. >> six different law enforcement agencies were called in to put these arrests together from the united states attorney to the fbi to baltimore city police and prosecutors. one of the first known instances of violence happened in april 2008 when rival dealers abducted blackwell's two young brothers from their home. blackwell apparently paid half million dollars to free them. he's then accused of retaliating with a fatal shooting in east bolt more then a year later gunmen opened fire at backyard barbecue nearby. authorities now want to seize $10 million in assets from the trio which include $740,000 home he owns on the river. >> the goal here is to make sure they don't profit at all. >> reporter: all three defendants could face up to life in prison on just the drug charge alone. the defendants are linked to two real estate companies that own 5 properties in this city. calls for change at the university of maryland park after the maryland game, 28 students were arrested and four prince georgias county police officers were suspended after video like this surfaced. now as everyone returns to class they will be welcomed by the city with community wide celebration, including the police department. >> i think the difference will be that there won't be criminal misconduct, there won't be a clash with the police and the students and we'll be able to celebrate safely. >> preparations for this year duke game including hosing down dumpsters in advance to prevent fires and also trying to prevent local bars and convenient stores from selling glass containers. the majority of the charges have been dropped in recent months. and over all he's raised more than 2 and a half million. however that doesn't come close to the governor's total of 6.7 million. he says he's attracted more individual donors. turning to sports, the orioles end the month of august on the high note. they beat down on the boston red sox last night scoring two runs. the orioles starter brian will have his third straight impressive outings allowing two runs on the night. orioles win 5-2 and have the best august record in the american league. is ravens have picked up a new player who knows this area pretty well. the team acquired josh wilson from the seattle seahawks in exchange for conditional draft pick in 2011. wilson started 12 games for seattle last season was expected to be their starting corner back this year. ironically wilson played with the ravens dominic fox worth who's preseason injury has cleared up space for wilson. ravens for regular season game is now weekend half away. you can watch the rains and jets live right here. that special coverage kicks off monday september 13th at 6:30. again, live right here wjz13. of course we've got the ravens playing the st. louis rams thursday night final preseason game. my only hope is we got out of it any injury i couldn't care less, they could lose that game 2,000-3. i couldn't care less. when i tell you when we're in crunch time in december we've got play offs looming, i guarantee you, the fact that we played the rams will rank no higher than no. 23 on my who cares list. so, you know,. >> preseason. he'll be out for a couple of weeks. you know, ultimately who wins is who is healthy. you can charge this back for years. >> we always talk about it. >> you can give them the oh, yeah you're three deep next man up. i know the guy who is like sitting on the bench was probably the greatest player on his team, maybe the best in his conference. this level nfl works at. having said that, if somebody better than him on that field. you follow what i'm saying? >> sure. >> it's whoever is the healthiest. okay. i'll calm myself by. take a look at the forecast for today. i want to get by thursday, i want to get by friday. i want to get by earl. i want to get by foana. i want to get by busting the record of days over 90. it is going to be hot and noticeably more humid than yesterday. the record is 99. i've got to tell you, i think a lot of us will get to 99, all that counts is what is the temperature vwi marshall. that's where the record is kept. i'm telling you yesterday afternoon about 4:00 i was down on key highway. my car thermometer which is darn accurate said 102. >> black top is a wonderful thing. >> my armpits said 118. let's go to mike. >> it's gorgeous morning, slightly more humid than the past couple of mornings. we're on a dock next to the constellation, what's going on. >> there's constellation, look over here. fancy guys with the, you know, back braid on their top. guys dressed and ladies end cap, thank you. the war of 1812 and they are going to show you how you would fire a gun that could launch a project tile a mile away. that's pretty cool, huh? >> yeah. >> you want to see it happen. i think you're going to have to wait then, right? so we'll be back when eyewitness news continues. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, as we click over 6, marty is in the weather center. >> approaching the record for days over 90, second is going to be the tropical activity offshore, both will play into this. right off the bat it's almost 70 degrees downtown, we've got 96 today. it's going to feel a lot stuffier than the past two days. 87% humidity. now let's talk about the barometer this plays into hurricane earl tropical storm fiona. yesterday the barometer was at 30/20. now it has fallen to 3007 high pressure giving us the sunshine the heat is starting to break down. that's going to allow a front to come in from the west which is going to attempt to help steer earl away from our shores. we'll see how successful that's going to be in a second. hagerstown and downtown. 76 in the district, 68 earl ton. 69 west minister and columbia. so here is this big dome of high pressure. look behind me. now we're starting to see some movement. this is good size front that's sitting out over the upper plane states. it is going to be moving our way. by friday it's going to be north of the region. when you look at big geographic area, i think globally. it's close enough to start exerting influence on earl. let's talk specifically about earl in a second. this day we go to 96 degrees. clear skies, 64. tomorrow we tie the record. record of days above 90 in this city well it goes back to 1988. tomorrow will be the 54th day temperatures above 90. now let's look at the five day. once we get to friday, there is a potential right now that in baltimore can be partly sunny and 92 that will be the new record. there's still a lot of question marks friday's forecast because of earl. one thing is for sure, once he passes it's going to get sunny it's going to get cooler. temperatures are going to go with low 80s. we're close to labor day weekend. 81, 80 and 82 degrees. now let's specifically talk about hurricane earl. first off we've got bad air quality because of the heat in the region this day. take a look down to the south. state of virginia is now put hurricane watch in effect for their border all the way up to the border of maryland. earl at 5:00 was downgraded to cat 3 storm. winds from 145 to 127 but the computer is positive it's going back to cat 4 as it hits the warm gulf stream. we'll see winds increase again to 140 miles per hour at the 11:00 update. remember everything i'm telling you is from 5:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. we're starting, though, to move the cone of the projected cone of travel a bit offshore. let's take a closer look at this. the grays, the glancing blow is going to be the north carolina the outer banks, if you will. yesterday that yellow wall, i think that red wall, if you will, but kind over the dome. what i'm getting ready to show you is called the spaghetti model. this is really cool. here is earl. what you're saying, we'll go back to that in just a second. what you're seeing right here is all the computer models on one display you can see if they're trending in the same direction. the trend is a bit offshore only two bring earl inland. their safety in numbers. numbers say it's going to be slightly offshore. now we deal with fiona that's going to danielle staying out in the center of the ocean. by the end of the weekend you're going to have both storms up here. imagine the swells from virginia beach frankly all the way up through long island. so once the storm passes, now we have another set of issues because of tropical weather just southeast of the mid atlantic at this time. wow, it's busy. don, take it away. >> here drive here with sharon. >> fortunately not so busy on the road. we have a few minor problems. we have confirmed we do have some downed wires and they are blocking old york road. we also have that disabled vehicle on 543 at route 22. there is a look at your drive times and speed starting to see some very minor delays down to 53 miles per hour with 12 minute drive time there. there's aloof like at 95. traffic still light. everything running smoothly on the topside. same goes for 29 at maryland 32. traffic support brought to you. toyota buy right the first time toyota moving forward. back over to you, don. >> back out to mike. good morning, pal, how are you. >> nice. >> hey good. it's not often we get rear admiral here. i'd like to shake the humidity off my hand and say welcome scott thank you for coming here. part of navy week. navy week is an opportunity for us to engage the public and give them a sense of what their need is doing on day-to-day basis. >> pretty cool. port city we're one of 20 we're going to have navy weeks this year. >> baltimore is one of them and very successful. the city has been nothing but hospitalble to us and we really appreciate. >> we're going to get back to you in a second. now we're going to go over executive officer from uss constitution, a boat very similar to our constellation, good morning mr. savage. >> good morning. >> reporter: what sort of demonstration have you brought with us today? >> we have brought with us 24- pound long gun we'll be conducting a gun drill in real time. >> reporter: in real time? >> this is what they would have done if they needed a fire and they're going to begin narrate. >> first thing they i do keep the gun deck entirely silent so 200 sailors can hear what's going on. once they do that, they run a sponge down the gun to extinguish any burning ambers. then they'll start by put health care in a cartridge. they follow that up with wadding, a 24-pound shot, more wadding they tamp that down to make sure it doesn't role out. >> reporter: those guys will be hanging over the edge of window firing window there even though the boat will be going up and down? >> that's correct. they'll be hanging out the gun port. now they will heed the gun out in preparation for actual firing, a gun could be elevated and trained for more precise firing. >> reporter: they're going to elevate it? >> they're going to elevate it and put an apron on top of it to avoid accidental discharge and then fire. >> reporter: wow. pretty neat, huh? can you see the sign. so i was asking earlier, how far can this gun go, they said a mile. to my nature i don't know how far a mile is i looked over and said, can it go through the dominoes sugar sign? it absolute laical. you can put a hole right through the sign if the ball was flying right. >> that ball can go through 2 feet of oak. >> reporter: you guys are going to be down here all day doing this? >> we're going to be here for a couple times in the afternoon. >> reporter: so 2:00 and 4:00? >> yes. >> reporter: thank you all. we appreciate it. protocol says you've got to go over and say good-bye. thanks much for bringing everybody down. have a good week this week. please come out and see what we have navy has to offer, engage our sailors, they're great young men and women serving our country today. >> reporter: you may see the would be island it is a large deck ship. it's sailing out today. if you see a large gray ship leaving, that's it. , right? >> they love to stay for the weekend, they're going to put to sea. >> reporter: reporting live downtown back to you on tv hill. >> all right. thank you. thanks for the big boom. you know what's real interesting, it's safer to have a ship and anchor or out in the ocean than it is to be at a dock or tied up to a port. >> makes sense when you think about of it. it is counter intuitive. that's how it works that's our live shot location. you think we woke anybody up? >> yep. >> do you think they woke anybody up? >> thank you. we'll be right back. ,,,,,,,,,,, as we click over 6:28 yet to come. >> a web of drugs and violence standing overseas how prosecutors say three marylanders are behind it all. that story is just ahead. u.s. forces officially kick off operation new dawn today in iraq. details coming up. speeds are starting to slow on the beltway coming up we'll tell you where your congestion is and how long it will take you to get through it. that's in just a few. clear skies hot today, 96 is a high. we continue to track what is double lead, besides the heat we're dealing with earl. quite the hurricane right now. i'll close come to your neighborhood i'll have those details craig morgan joins us. how you can hang with them. you stay tuned we'll explain it all as morning edition continues right after this. ,,,, hello again. wjz traffic control has sharon, marty has earl and fiona to talk about. >> we'll get to earl and fiona shortly. what we have to talk about 53rd day of taking a look at temperatures for 93 degrees. 92 at lunch. 94 degrees and steamy this day. 94 don, take it away. >> some minor problems out. sharon at wjz traffic control. >> some minor delays and few other minor issues one of which downed wires that are blocking lanes blocked between stockton road and glen bury court. we also still have that disabled vehicle in bell air on 543 at root 22. there's a look at your drive times and speeds on the beltway west side starting to slope to 47 miles an hour on the outer loop between 795 and 95 with 13 minute drive time. there's a live look at 95. traffic is building on the west side as we mentioned we do have delays we're starting to see brake lights. everything is still at full speed at 95 on 395. this traffic report is brought to you by toyota dealer. toyota buy right the first time. toyota moving forward, back over to you. at the top of the news multimillion dollars drug ring spanning nearly a decade has been busted according to police and three people are behind bars. good morning once again andrea. >> reporter: prosecutors say this drug ring was profitable it was also violent including ran some payments a murder and even a shooting at backyard barbecue. a heroin ring stretching from maryland to new york all the way to the dominican republic. at the center prosecutors say is this man 26-year-old steven blackwell of elk ton. >> this was a case involving a lengthy covert investigation. >> reporter: blackwell was indicted along with two others in connection with running that ring. 34-year-old carter of and 24- year-old joy eddie son. their drug operation stretches back seven years. >> i can't give you all the details of what led to the arrest it was result of under cover investigation. >> reporter: six agencies were called in to put the arrest together. one of the first known instances of violence happened in april 2008 when prosecutors say rival dealers abducted black