everything related to the school system canceled for today and loudoun county schools are also closed. we've got lots of delays and closings to tell you about. we'll show you what's on the screen here now. it's scrolling on the bottom of your screen as well. we'll start with other delays. d.c. public schools open two hours late today. in virginia, warren, fauquier, page, culpepper, frederick and clark county schools opening two hours late. alexandria and falls church, city schools are on a two-hour delay as well today. in maryland, prince george's, calvert, charles, anne arundel and allegheny and frederick county schools on a two-hour delay. >> now to the closures in spotsylvania, westmoreland, rappahannock and stafford county schools all closed. fairfax county changed to closed. all offices are closed in fairfax as well. st. mary's county schools in maryland are also closed today. montgy county schools are now closed. the federal government is also on a two-hour delay with the option for unscheduled leave or telework. stay with us, though. because we're getting updates on schools that have been delayed and now are closing. we'll continue to bring any changes for you right here. >> get out and assess what's happening on the roads and changed the status. as we learn changes, we'll tell you about it. let's get to the forecast and see what we're dealing with weatherwise. sheena parveen begins our team coverage. >> good morning, guys. we're dealing with snow-covered roads out there because of how cold it is. we'll check in with chuck on the patio in a second. he's back now. here's a look at the radar. storm system centered off the coast. we're seeing all snow falling in the district. we've been seeing it for quite a while now. frederick through much of northern virginia into maryland along the eastern shore where we'll be seeing the higher totals. right now, we at least have a coating through much of northern virginiin but we'll see higher amounts farther east. it will track to the north and east. take a look at the timing. a lot of people wondering when it will end. i would say by 7:00 to 8:00 a lot of the snow across the interstates will come to an end. along the eastern shore and especially in delaware, ocean city, areas like that, snow continues. as far as the winds increasing and the temperatures getting colder, chuck bell is outside with a closer look at that. hey, chuck. >> good morning, sheena. what the heck happened to my florida vacation. came back into a winter reality. it's going to be a hard turn for everybody. what is essentially turning into a winter strength, almost a hurricane off the coastline has really ramped up the winds. the snowflakes on the front lawn of channel 4 are whizzing by in what is a strong north to northwesterly wind. current winds gusting to near 30 miles per hour areawide. that has lowered the windchills. that's what you're looking at there. the feels-like factor is only hovering around10 morning. you need the big umbrella for the snowflakes but hold on tight or you'll mary poppins your way down the road. more coming up in a few minutes. now back to the warm, comfy studio. >> get in here before you blow away. the treated roads are mostly wet. untreated, not so hot. 95 north of prince william parkway in virginia, you can see main lanes, express lanes, everything looking good there right now. brand new crash here in the mcclain area westbound georgetown pike near the difficult run parking lot. good example of a road that would have no problem like georgetown pike, but obviously slippery there. you still have water main breaks they're dealing with all over the area. university boulevard near connecticut. have the work zone blocking the left lane each way. and van dorn, the left lane gets by at the water main b this just into our newsroom. arlington county schools are closed today. again, we're hearing from school systems as they reassess the situation out there. arlington county schools. we're also following the road closures this morning. the conditions out there. as you prepare for that commute to work or school today. >> there are delays and cancellations in some areas. let's go to teams on the ground in d.c., maryland and virginia. we'll start with justin finch, who is spending a snowy day at the beach. he is at ocean city for us this morning. justin, looks like things are getting a little worse there. >> reporter: yeah. hey there, aaron. i'm on a side street between baltimore avenue and at boardwalk. a plow coming through not long ago. the road was mostly clear. i want to show you all the snow the plow was able to move. we're talking about the mountain snow here. quite a bit, quite thick and icy here i want to give you a live look at the boardwalk, an overview here. this is 11th street and the boardwalk, four blocks north of where we are now. the hotel monte carlo oceanfront. the boardwalk, the beach surrounding areas covered in a layer of white snow here. the snow falling at a steady clip out here. ocean city bracing for several inches of snow this morning. the plows out here working as we speak. they brined throughout the day yesterday to get ahead of the storm. they are braced, they say for several inches of snow out here. these blizzard-like conditions, the wind and the snow whipping back and forth where they blow, it seems the snow comes right back on top of it and covers an already plowed area. they're having to work very hard to keep ahead of this fast moving system. justin finch, back to you in the we'll check in with justin throughout the morning as things change. now it's 5:06. the governors have declared states of emergency. >> they've been pre-treating the roads to prevent icing before the morning commute. >> 200 trucks went out at 1:00 this morning to treat the roads in d.c. we saw a few coming in to work this morning. we had low temperatures for so long, any precipitation really could cause issues on the roads. we continue our team coverage now on route 4 in upper marlboro with megan mcgrath. >> megan, we know you've seen problems on the roads already. what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah. we have seen some problems. route 4 south of upper marlboro, not great conditions. take a live look here. you can see the snow cover that we're seeing on the roadway and we're right behind a plow. so the plows are out there. they are trying to but we are seeing some pretty sloppy conditions out here. again, this is the south side of route 4. we already passed through upper marlboro. we're still here in prince george's county. but not great conditions. kind of hit or miss. depends where you are. take a look at this video here. this is an accident we encountered in southeast washington. this side was traveling on alabama avenue earlier this morning in a car. it's a used car but new to him. a week older. he hit a slick spot, spun out, hit the curb and he might have hit the tree as well there. not a good situation there. we are seeing slick spots around the region as we head east that we're seeing more of the snow and so folks will have to take it easy out there and keep a close eye on the conditions. of course, it remains to be seen about the school closures. my kids are in anne arundel. i'm sure their fingers are crossed right n. >> megan mcgrath. megan, thank you. we also have team coverage now with molette green. >> she's live in woodbridge for us this morning. molette, how is it going there? >> reporter: oh, we have real snow here. this is a snow day for the kids in prince william county, virginia. we stopped off at this rest stop area. many people are still in their cars sleeping. you can see the snow has accumulated on the cars as well. look down here on the ground. we have real snow out here. i don't know if you can make a snowman, but it's pretty. you can play in it. but in terms of driving in these conditions, we know vdot got out hours ago to treat the roads. there's 95 there. moving at a pretty good clip. the roads are passable. of course, you've got the possibility of icy spots when you're dealing with this kind of cold with the snow blowing like it is out here in prince william county. but that's the latest on the road the day off today for them on this snow day. back to you guys inside. >> kids love snow days, right? doesn't matter how miserable it is on the roads. they're happy. >> thank you, molette. this is the so-called misery map we want to show you. flight aware.com talks about flights being delayed or canceled right now. as of last night, more than 3,000 flights were canceled. logan international says 70% of the flights are canceled today. here's a look at what snow is doing to folks to our south. >> this is a live look at the college in charleston. it's caused major power outages. winter weather is expected over south carolina as the school continues up the east coast. we have all the school closings and delays for you, including the changes in status for some school systems. this is all in washington app. download it and get instant updates on the snow day information all day long. lottery fever is growing once again. no one hit the six numbers in last night's powerball drawing. here are the numbers just in case. 2, 18, 37, 39, 42. the powerball was 12. the prize shot up to $460 million. >> there's no jackpot. there was no a jackpot winner. the prize is $550 million. almost $348 million cash payout. >> you always get the cash. isn't that the rule? >> stuff it in my pocket. walk around with it flying out. >> you roll around in it. >> excuse me. there's an image for you, chuck bell. >> sure. if i win the $300 million after taxes, i will pay for dinner, at least once. we have a very windy and cold morning. mid-20s. the wind is blowing over 20 miles per hour in many spots. what do you need to know about the weather? shiver me fingers, is it cold outside. powerful winds with us not just this morning while the snow is coming down but for quite some period of time. heaviest to the east. the polar vortex is coming back. that spells the deep freeze for weekend. all that coming up. thank you, chuck. live pictures now from maryland. just a bit east of upper ma marlbo marlboro. we continue to hear from school systems. stay with us for constant welcome back at 5:15. we're working for you with team coverage on this weather alert day. this is a live look from union station now. flag whipping in the wind. even if it's not snowing where you are right now, there's a good chance the roads are wet or even icy. >> we just learned that fredericksburg city public schools and manassas public schools are closed today. other closures and delays are at the bottom of your screen. melissa mollet has more with traffic, but we want to >> probably not a bad idea to keep the schools closed. but it's going to be an ugly day outside. why have a bus on a slippery road. we're talking about an inch to 2 on the grassy areas. higher snow totals to the south and closer to the beach. hate it when it snows more at the beach than the city. >> you like the beach for the sand and the snow. >> upper marlboro, megan mcgrath headed that way for us. you can see main roads looking okay. 270, pretty slow from frederick down. we'll talk about that coming up. some folks are waking up without water in kensington, maryland this morning. crews are working to fix a water main break on west university boulevard. the customers impacted can get water from a station set up near waterford condos. no word how long we have team coverage on this weather alert day. >> news 4's chris lawrence is live at union station with a look at conditions there. chris, good morning. what are you seeing? >> reporter: i'm seeing a bit of a change from even 20, 30 minutes ago. it's all based on what chuck was talking about. the wind. let me step out of here. you can see a little bit behind me. you can see the wind whipping up the snow on the ground starting to blow it around. when we were driving down dupont circle, logan circle. that snow is traveling. it's getting whipped up and blown across the cars. you can take a look now. not a lot of traffic out. i think the fact that the federal government is on the two-hour delay is going to help folks get a later start this morning. we're not talking about a t snow. as we've seen the plows get out and get the salt down a little bit more and move the snow out, i think the roads will improve quickly over the next few hours. we're going to be headed into union station to get an idea of the delays going on up and down the east coast with folks getting into or out of d.c. we'll be bringing you that a little later. eun, aaron, back to you. >> chris, you can see the changes. thanks so much. we'll check in with you throughout the newscast here. >> want to head south now to florida. >> what? they won't allow you to escape the cold temperatures down there either. check out this family in pensacola found their pool frozen solid. they have a pool, though. near tampa, manatees have been spotted huddling together to stay warm in the water. >> oh, no. i feel bad for the manatees. there's a state of emergency across f the capital, tallahassee, for the first time in 30 years. floridians don't know what hit them. not used to this. >> you have probably heard this term or seen the term, bottom bomb cyclone. it's a system that intensifies rapidly. if it sounds like a hurricane, you're just about right. the bomb part of the name refers to the pressure inside a storm sell falling quickly that it gives the storm explosive strength. >> nicely done, aaron. >> it's all right there. >> you read it so well. i know exactly what it means. aaron, before we go to the all-important forecast, prince george's county schools are closed. this is a change. this is what's happening. school officials waking up, reassessing the situation, seeing the conditions worsening and closing down as a closings and delays. prince george's county schools closed today. >> the fact that a lot of the roads have snow on them, this can become dangerous when people are driving. they underestimate the power of slick roads. that's what we're seeing across the area. much of northern virginia, in the district, some of the bridges are snow-covered too. the main roads are pretty good right now. i'll show you that in a second. as far as on radar, the edge is right around frederick, which should be seeing snowfall, which didn't have earlier. into warrenton, 66, into the district, that's where we're seeing continued light snow. the better chances of accumulating higher amounts will be east of the district through the day today and closer to the beaches. we even have storm ranger in parts of new jersey. we'll check in, in a bit. otherwise, that big area of low pressure off the coastline. it will intensify as it moves away. as it does, it will take the snow with it through commute hours. here's what we expect. an inch or less. otherwise, as we get into prince george's county, areas like anna run dem county, calvert county, 1 to 2 inches and higher amounts closer to the coastline. it's 25 degrees right now. we're below freezing. going to stay below freezing. the wind is picking up, sustained at 20 miles per hour. making it feel like 11 degrees. temperatures are below freezing, mid to low 20s, which is why the snow is sticking. the treated roads, the main roads are wet. the side roads, the sidewalks, you'll be seeing sticking but the snow is going to be moving out by 7:00, 8:00 this morning. we have a weather alert for tomorrow and saturday because it is going to be bone chilling out there, melissa mollet, winds increasing now. making it tough for commuters. good morning. >> good morning, sheena. a couple of things right now. megan mcgrath as i mentioned, out on the roads for us this morning. in upper marlboro, the front of her vehicle is here. looking so hot this morning. most of the main roads are just wet. people are taking it slow to be careful. beltway at braddock road, it's just wet. that's moving fine. no issues, fingers crossed, on the beltway right now. waldorf, a car into a pole there this morning. if you're thinking about 270 this morning, take a look from frederick all the way through parksburg approaching gaithersburg. between 15 and 40 miles per hour. finally opens up in gaithersburg. have a new problem. fairfax county parkway, northbound at braddock. a crash there. car off the road. aaron? >> melissa, thank you. 5:22. election day was months ago but today will decide a virginia race. doesn't matter this time around. the winner will be selected at random. >> we'll check back in with our team coverage on this weather alert day. live pictures from ocean city, maryland. low visibility. heavy snow and winds there. this is fr complete coverage on this weather alert day right here "news4 tonod nearly two months after election day, we may finally have a winner. today a name will be drawn from a bowl in the 94th house district in newport news. it's between shelly simons and incumbent dave yans i. >> republicans could hold a slim majority. >> drawing a name out of a bowl. >> old school? >> i don't know. next week virginia's new governor will take office>> leading up to the day governor-elect ralph northam is working on an agenda and inaugural address. he sat down with julie carey for a one-on-one interview. right now, it's working out of a he says his win was fueled by anger for president trump. medicaid expansion is one of his top -- >> medicaid expansion is very important and i'll do everything i can to make that happen. >> northam, who is a doctor, says his agenda will include dedicated funding for metro and gun violence prevention. he'll be sworn in on january 13th in richmond. it is a weather alert day with team coverage on the roads. all across the area. >> this is a look at the area in prince george's county, croom. you can see spots that look wet. probably ice. it's still cold out there. 25 degrees here. we'll check in with the crews to ♪ ♪ start the car! start the car! the ikea winter sale. wooooooo! get up to 50% off select items. ikea. small business, internet providers promise you a lot. let's see who delivers more. comcast business offers fast gig-speeds across our network. verizon doesn't. we offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g wireless network backup. verizon, no way. we offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. verizon, not so much. get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call 1-800-501-6000. ♪ ♪ start the car! start the car! the ikea winter sale. wooooooo! get up to 50% off select items. now through january 10th. ikea. . now at 5:30, another storm team 4 weather alert. this morning, it's snow in addition to the cold temperatures and strong winds we've been dealing with for more than a week. take a look. this is a live picture from ocean city, maryland. low visibility and whipping winds. not as bad back here in the d.c. area, but we are seeing snow and a challenging commute because of the very cold temperatures. many of you will have more time to get to where you need to go this morning. >> we're already tracking some delays. all of scrolling at the bottom of your screen and in the nbc washington app. we know d.c. public schools will open two hours late today. in virginia, warren, fauquier, page, frederick and clark county schools are all opening two hours late. alexandria and falls church city schools on a two-hour delay today. in maryland, calvert, charles, allegheny and frederick county schools on a two-hour delay. the closures in virginia. spotsylvania, prince william, rappahannock, westmoreland, stafford, fairfax, loudoun and arlington county schools are all closed. fredericksburg and manassas city schools are also closed. anne arundel, montgomery, prince george's county schools are closed today. the federal government is on a two-hour delay with the option for unscheduled leave or telework. we want to begin with a look at the storm team 4 forecast. with what we can expect. >> it's an incredible winter storm. we have winter weather advisories and storm warnings that go up and down the entire eastern seaboard. so just an enormous amount of impact if you're trying to go on the roads or the rails or the runways today. you need to plan ahead. everything is going to take longer. i suspect a lot of flights may be canceled as well as the school closings. you can track it on nbc washington app as well. my colleague sheena parveen is out on the weather deck. >> don't remind me, chuck. i am outside. in the wind and the snow. it's still snowing in the district. currently, though, it's 24 degrees. feels like 8 degrees. these are nod wind gusts, they're sustained 15 to 20 miles per hour. they'll be gusting closer to 35 going through the morning. temperatures below freezing. this is an issue because the snow is i want to put my umbrella up. we have snow covered ground here. i'm going to guess this is going to be close to an inch. expecting 1 to 2 possibly in the district just because the snow started up again. temperatures below freezing. this is going to be an issue for the commute. i think a reason why a lot of schools are closed. main roads are fine. as you drive around, there's snow, icy spots. be very, very careful. bundle up. after the snow leaves rs we're talking about dangerously cold weather. coldest we've seen yet. we'll talk about that coming up. >> thanks, sheena. storm team 4 radar, you can see up and down the i-95 corridor. not a lot towards the shenandoah valley. snowfall amounts will be lightest west of the blue ridge into the shenandoah. keep that in mind. here's future weather. the high resolution model updates each and every hour. the latest trending. hold on to the light snow just a little bit longer. it might completely be done between 7:00 and 9:00. the latest indications, it may take a little longer than that. most, if not all of it, should be done by lunchtime today with the exceptions of the eastern shore. snow will linger longer and pile up deeper. now time for a check on traffic on a thursday morning. let's go to melissa. >> taking a look at 270 here, if you're headed out of frederick, it is a little bit slow especially if you hit old hundred road. thankfully, no problems right now on 270. you can see the main part of the roadway is pretty clear this morning. then on the grassy edges, areas that have not been treated definitely more snow there. northbound fairfax county, near braddock road, car off of the roadway. we have the right side blocked there. beltway, as you saw, looking okay right now. in waldorf, eastbound berry near bunker hill, a car into a pole there. georgetown pike, a car melissa, thank you. we know that conditions are changing depending where you live. we've seen it from the crews across the area. weep want to make sure you know what's hang with the snow where you live. >> right now, let's get to our teams on the ground for us in d.c., maryland and virginia. we'll start with news 4's justin fin. -- finch. he's in ocean city. >> trying to find a good ainge tol protect yourself from the wind. it's blowing in every direction. i want to shoaf you the boardwalk. near 7th and the boardwalk. i've been up and down this stretch throughout the morning. as you can see, my tracks are essentially covered after the this point as pure as the driven snow, so to speak. i'll kick around and show you how much snow we're seeing here. easily -- that's down to the boardwalk underneath. this area, ocean city, now in snow. perhaps 8 inches. perhaps more than that. try to be ready for the conditions as well. we have seen the plows come around here. trying to keep the streets clear for those who need to be on them. of course, right now, we know we're in a blizzard watch conditions out here. that's why we're seeing visibility be what it is right now, which is next to nothing. i want to give you a wider look here of the boardwalk. this from 11th and the boardwalk rkt , a few blocks north of us. we're awash in wind and white out here. it's blowing in every direction. when i look down, it gets hard to separate the sky from the ground below. as you can see out here, we've got heavy wind conditions, lots of snow falling. at least, guys, not as cold as it has been for several days. justin finch, news 4. back to you in the studio. all right. justin, see the conditions brandy wine, maryland with megan mcgrath. >> megan, what are you seeing out there? >> reporter: we're seeing sloppy conditions here. take a look at the live camera here. you can see that we have snow cover on the roads. actually, at times it gets difficult to see the lines in the roads. i can show you different vantage points coming up from the intersection. this is brandy wine road. intersection with brandy wine road. sloppy conditions. no way around it. clouds out and about. they have their plows down as well as using their salt spreaders. but still here and there, we're seeing snow-covered roads and treacherous conditions. we've seen folks out this morning and we've seen issues with power lines down in one location on the border with prince george's county. but if you are headed out this sloppy conditions. back to you. >> megan mcgrath live for us in prince george's county. this just in, alexandria city schools are now closed. they are on a delay but now alexandria city schools are closed. we continue to get updates on the school systems. the only way to stay connected is to make sure you have the nbc washington app. download it to get instant updates on closings and delays. more coverag iand i like these award-winning cheddar puffs. first place. both events? booyah! we're an awards family. you'll like them both but love our price. award-winning organic cheddar puffs from aldi. simply smarter shopping. tone of the most pristine and beautiful parts -- of the world. but barbara comstock just voted to put it up for sale. why? to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. comstock supported donald trump's tax scheme for the wealthy, adding $1.5 trillion to the debt and leaving us with the bill. tell barbara comstock we won't stand for selling our wild lands to give billionaires a tax cut. welcome back at 5:41. we continue our team coverage with molette green. >> she's been live in the woodbridge,dale city all morning long. molette, how are things looking now? >> reporter: it's miserable. we've got snow and we've got the wind kicking up and making things even worse for folks. the major roads in pretty good shape, drivers tell me. if you look down, the side roads, the neighborhood streets, this is what you're dealing with. a coating of snow. we stopped off at this rest stop off 95 south, many people still sleeping in their cars, we found one pennsylvania family, they just woke up to find all of this. >> woke up to this hail. mother nature, she doesn't like us too much. >> this is what they're dealing with out here. take a look. the major roads, 95, drivers moving at a pretty good clip. they're slowing at the typical spots. the major roads in good shape. it's the neighborhood side streets. it's a snow day for the kids. that's the latest from prince william county, back to you guys. >> thank you, molette. we're tracking the snow all over our area. this is a live picture from ocean city, maryland. conditions have been deteriorating through the now to the weather alert. these are pictures from the brandy wine area off crane highway. across, d.c., maryland and virginia. we're working for you in the storm team weather center. we check back in with them to let you know about all the conditions you're facing when you head out today. >> melissa, look busy there. [ laughter ] >> she saw chuck and sheena. >> i'm trying to look serious. >> i know you're very busy. we'll check in with you in a second. first we'll turn to politics. the snowstorm is affecting votes on capitol hill. mitch mcconnell says there will be no more votes this week because of the snowstorm. this won't postpone anything critically important here. lawmakers are still trying to address a laundry list of items by the january 19th deadline, they say. >> the president has decided to end his voter fraud commission citing a lack of cooperation from the state. he claimed millions of fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 election and that's why he lost the popular vote he says. hillary clinton received about million more votes nationwide. a loss by nearly 80 votes in the electoral college. president trump is firing back at his former chief strategist, steve bannon. >> bannon is quoted in a book, ripping into a number of trump family members. tracie potts is live on capitol hill. tracie, late last night lawyers for the president sent a cease and desist letter to bannon. what happens next? >> next we see if there's any legal action. in the statement that accompanies the letter, they said that legal action is imminent against bannon. that he's violated his own nondisclosure agreement after he left the white house as chief strategist. in this book, he's quoted as saying that donald trump jr. is going to crack like an egg in the russia investigation and that his meeting with russians back in 2016 was treasonness. the white house responds, that's ridiculous and shouldn't be family members. but we've also heard from steve bannon on the radio since then saying the president is a great man and still supports him. big difference. different message than in the book. those are excerpts that have been released. quite a few from the book that's coming out. we'll see what happens after that. tracie potts on the hill this morning. thank you. a scary situation unfolded on bill acted hillary clinton's building. this red building used by the secret service started a fire. officials say the fire started on the second floor of the building and spread to the attic. the building is not connected to the clintons' home and they weren't home at the time. no injuries were reported. if you're getting ready to leave your house, expect snow making your way into the city. take a look at this scene. this is a little while ago in silver spring, maryland. yan and the clear -- crews are standing by around the region to clear the streets as people head out to work or school, if you have school. we've been hearing a lot about closings as well. now we'll check in with news 4's chris lawrence. >> he's outside of union station to look at conditions there. amtrak has changed a lot of service moving into virginia and the north as well. what's the latest from where you are? >> reporter: we just popped in there. the northeast regional down to newport news has been canceled. a lot of the stuff heading north. when you head out the door this morning, what kinds of snow will you see? it's this. it's really flaky. it's not that thick, wet stuff that really accumulates and gets slushy. but what effect that's having is because we're seeing that wind whip up, the wind that chuck has been talking about all morning, the wind is expected to blow a t that hard, that wind is picking up a lot of snow on the ground making it a bit worse than you would normally expect with so little snow. we have seen patchy spots throughout the district. dupont circle, logan circle, it's all clear and then you'll come to several blocks in which you've got a lot of snow on the ground and it's a little bit slick. we started to see more of the workers in the metro. maryland telling us they thought about driving today. decided to take the train in as well. the two-hour delay with the federal workers will help get some of the plows out working. get the roads better in a couple of hours. aaron, eun, back to you. >> chris lawrence live at union station. chris, thank you. >> we'll continue our team coverage on this storm quickly moving up the east coast. let's turn to one of our colleagues in philadelphia. >> steve sosna is steve, what are you seeing where you are? >> reporter: good morning, guys. if you want a break from the snow, you don't want to come to the suburbs of philadelphia. we are just getting battered here. to give you perspective, about an hour ago there wasn't a lot going on. if you look at the camera light here, we're being battered. in fact, that camera light got knocked over about 15 minutes ago. we had to stand it upright again. we're out here with storm ranger. storm ranger is our mobile radar. we take this out to big storms like the one on the east coast and what we're panning up to is an actual radar. believe it or not, there are six radars, the national weather service uses them. we have mobile radars also. this storm is designed so that we can see down to street level. so, you know how a lot of guys have a man here. it has all the latest in technology. you can see as i get in the truck here, i can flip different cameras and sources and routes, different things in here. i can also control the actual radar. this kind of radar is very good for zooming down to specific neighborhoods. you can see where there's real heavy snow bands. i got news for you guys, that heavy snow band is right on top of us now. you can see this dark green. we've been seeing gusts to 40 miles per hour out here. it's a painful wind. they say misery loves company. we're pretty miserable outside in the cold. you're in good company down there in d.c. >> all right. steve, thanks for showing us your weather cave. that looks like a lot of fun equipment for you weather folks. steve sosna. >> be safe out there. for god sake, don't break it. >> keep it where it is. we're really on heavy snow problems today. the storm ranger staying out in north central parts of new jersey. they will be hit a lot harder than we will. here's live pictures near booed bridg woodbridge, virginia. it's a slower go than normal and always best to shave about 5 to 10 miles an hour off your speeds as you travel around today. look at that winter storm warnings up into parts of new york and new england. we're not alone as mr. sosna was mentioning. snow for know, wind already an issue now. will stay a problem the rest of the day. brutal cold for tomorrow. saturday, cold and windy. just frigid through the end of the week yechbltd right now, it's 24 degrees with a windchill of 8. light snow falling. the center of the storm is way offshore. had this been another 100 miles further to the west, we would be measuring the snow in feet around here. for 2, maybe 3 inches of snow on eastern side of the d.c. metro. there's the heaviest of the snow now. extending from the west side of baltimore through prince george's and charles county. really light snow back to the west. it has up to an inch or so. i'll give you retweet love. otherwise, snow coming to an end around here. but probably not until mid to late march in the morning. there's 9:00 a.m. most of the snow east of i-95 by then. the bulk of it tapering off around lunchtime or so today. it's not going to have a lot of success accumulating because of all the wind out there. nonetheless, a solid inch to two or so around the d.c. metro area. higher amounts too. 3, 4 inches or more in southern maryland. the big winners will be the coastal areas. ocean city to rehoboth. man, is through the weekend. early next week, temperatures moderate a bit. might have an icy mix on monday morning as well. we'll talk about that closer towards the weekend. it's shiver me timbers out there. >> it is going to make you feel cold as well. this is really cool to show you what's going on. she says it's slushy. only 10 miles per hour in brandy wine on 5 at this point this morning. no doubt the road was treated. still, things continue to fall and it builds up. 66 at fairfax county parkway. for some reason, that camera did not switch. that's at 109. that is slow through this area here. headed into hyatts town, no problem on 270, but still slow. westbound 70, left lane getting by a crash there. northbound, before the beltway, car into a ditch. that's slowing things inbound on 5 for you this morning. lt southbound 123, car off of the roadway there. again, no major problems on the beltway as far as your travel times. you're okay in maryland on 270 and the beltway. 66 looks okay. 95 north slow. quantico to the beltway. listen to wtop 103.5 fm in your car. thank you, melissa. 5:56. deciding which diet you might try in the new year? >> no. >> is there a krispy kreme diet? for the 8th year in a row, the dash diet is the best overall diet. this one was developed by the national institutes of health. we trust nih. designed to lower blood pressure by only eating vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy. the mediterranean diet tied for first place with olive oil, fish, yogurt, that sort of thing. very healthy. >> pork chops. >> no pork chops. >> steak. >> no. >> now you're making me french fries, chocolate cake. keep it coming. weight watchers and the mind's diet. >> see everything that's on your mind. >> love that. >> winter olympics in pyeongchang, south korea, just a little over a month to go. we're getting a better idea of who will represent the u.s. on the ice. u.s. figure skating championships are under way in california now. last night alexandria native ashley wagner placed fifth in the women's short program. she says she'll be able to redeem in the long program tomorrow night. the championship lasts through sunday. next at 6:00, we're learning about an amtrak derailment. the weather impacting service. find out what that means for riders now. >> plus, problems on the roads. the new overnight accidents popping up all over town. find out if this could impact your ride to work. a ferocious winter storm. snow barreling through the south and continuing to trek north. ocean city blizzard. it is no day at the beach. take a look at these live pictures. the wind just blowing sideways there. we're on the getting battered by a brutal nor'easter. a warning for drivers, crashes are multiplying as we speak and the number of school closings just went up. it's 6:00 a.m. taking you back live to the boardwalk in ocean city, maryland. we've been monitoring the conditions since 4:00 a.m. when we went on the air. you can see the conditions are rapidly deteriorating and the snow is building up too. >> closer to home, the wind is whipping outside the studios here. a lot of districts that were delayed are now closing this morning. it is 6:00 a.m. we want to start with what so many of you were up early to hear about. finding out if school or work was delayed. >> all of the information on the bottom of the screen and on the nbc washington app. let's start in d.c. the public schools will open two hours late. in virginia, warren, fauquier, page, culpepper, frederick and clark county