We look at the day ahead, temperatures across the region are critical just below freezing now. By lynch we are around by lunchtime we are around freezing. We could have snow around the virginia border and as we hover around 32 to 33 it is widespread from rain to the south to snow to the snort north and everything in you have meteorologist Steve Stewart and we will have Team Coverage throughout the morning. Amber we will now check the roads as we anticipate the storm. As i was driving in i saw a lot fof d. O. T. Trucks. It is nice and quiet this morning. Everybody just waiting and it is dry. Telling you a different story later. That is 40 at airport. This is raeford road and hope mills in fayetteville. You see a little precipitation falling there, glistening on the roads. It is early, 4 00 so quiet. That is what don was talking about. Some of this is aloft so we will be watching the roads. A lot of schools canceled so the advice this morning is stay off the roads if you can. This is 40 and 15 501. Beach you covered on this fun friday we have you covered. John winter storm warning in effect. Barbara d. O. T. Gearing up for a big mess. Caitlin knute is live in breaking news one keeping an ion conditions. Caitlin we are in joined raleigh and not much to report, not a lot of traffic. That wouldnt surprise you this time of morning but especially we are at a stoplight and nothing on the roads except the brine. The d. O. T. Is in wait and see mode after they have been busy the past two days putting down brine. Thousands of gallons were put down. They were sent home early yesterday to rest to be ready to come back and clear the roads. They are expected to put in really long hours. We understand they have been midnight. They are expected to work pretty much through saturday. That is how long we expect this storm to last. Obviously you can make their jobs much easier by staying off the roads if you have that luxury to stay home. If you cant avoid that, you have to be out, we understand not everyone is that lucky, make sure that you slow down, give their because their next move assuming it is sand, they will be putting down salt and sand and pushing snow out of the way. We will be on the roads around wake county and keep an eye out and wait for snowflakes to fuelall. Barbara the western part of the triangle also gearing up for a major storm. John Anthony Wilson is tracking Road Conditions in breaking news one. Anthony they have been salting in the downtown area because, as you know, there are a lot of people who live downtown and theres a lot of potential foot traffic if there is nothing going on in some of the businesses. Lets take a look. Main street but the sidewalk. And there are people who are parked here. Obviously they are not aware that there could be a situation where they have to get the cars off the street. But tpif be aware that the streets and sidewalks could be slippery. Lets look at some of the video that shows the salt getting loaded up. There are a lot of miles in durham even though it is a relatively small city compared it the rest of wake county and raleigh. But there are a lot of people on the street on a given day. Thats why they have the salt down at this point. Coming back live here to downtown, lets look in front of us. You are looking at a stoplight and all is quiet at this point. However, things could change dramatically. In fact, we are told that when the weather does arrive, it is our viewing area first. So while we are patrolling Downtown Durham it is possible we could go toward Orange County and as far as alamance if that is where the first major flakes begin to fall. But at this point you cant see it but we can feel signs of some sort of precipitation. It is not rain or sleet and it is not visible. But when it does become visible you will see it here and we will keep you aware and safe. We are live in durham in breaking news one. Anthony wilson, abc 11 eyewitness news. John you can stay connected by downloading our first alert weather app. You can get live Doppler Radar on the go, School Closings and delays and you can upload photos and video. Our live coverage of this winter storm is just getting started. But first weather apbdnd traffic together. We will have a look from our d. O. T. Cameras. Cant see well but this is the durham freeway at alston avenue. You see the bridge welcoming you to the city of medicine. It is 4 07 and 30 degrees. Don as you head out we are seeing the leading edge of this storm working through the region. We will check the first alert Doppler Network and notice the western part of the area lots of that is all mixed went don here are your risks for the storm as it works through. We like green on this. Unfortunately we have a high risk of heavy snow. I think extreme risk of ice and roads will be extremely dangerous the next 24 hours at least. We are seeing a medium risk for that as the system works through. We will show you the radar loop and you see the leading edge working into durham and wake counties and fayetteville. You could have mixed precipitation there. The biggest threat is freezing rain there. Fayetteville is at 34. As rain. But if it falls on frozen surfaces it freezes as ice. Sanford 32, smithfield 32. 30 r. D. U. And chapel hill. Weekend chills dont affect the ice but affects you if you have to head out. Looking at the day ahead mainly clear in some spots. Other spots cloudy and lunchtime 30 that is incorrect. Through the day we will see precipitation throughout the day as well because that system continues to press in. We will talk about that in the complete forecast but now weather and traffic. Roads also still dry for the most part around the viewing area. Seeing a little precip at fayetteville. That is the live camera. That is glistening on the roads. We will start encouraging everybody to stay off the roads. The dot. O. T. Instruction are standing by and the fewer cars on the road the better. We will keep an eye on the travel situations with the airports and trains. Here is our r. D. U. Camera and we can show you more than 200 flights were canceled in and out of r. D. U. And theres a trickle down effect and fact that they wanted to move planes so they were not just covered in the ice they are anticipating. A lot of people are being rerouted or rescheduled. John and barbara, it is also not good for people coming to the game because charlotte canceled the game. We are watching the storm system move it. Could be an interesting day. John interesting indeed. Barbara it is 4 12 and 30 degrees. You are watching live coverage of the impending winter storm. John selling mattresses the traditional way isnt the best way. Most are made in a large factory, and shipped hundreds of miles to a retailers warehouse, where theyre marked up and up before finally selling and delivering them at the original Mattress Factory we take a straightforward approach. We have eliminated the extra steps and created a direct line from our factory to you. John a live look outside, major winter storm bearing down, the first impact expected in the next few hours. Barbara we want to update you on headlines. All major School Districts are closed including major colleges and universities. The governor declared a state of emergency urging everyone to stay off the roads and give the d. O. T. Crews a chance to do their jobment duke power is ready to respond to expected power outages. They have a staging area in raleigh. For the some of you this is not the first snow of the year. John Gloria Rodriguez is live conditions there. Gloria thats right. We have been driving around on main street in roxboro. We will give you a look at the roads so you can see what we are seeing. Right now you see brine on the roads and this area is expecting snow. When we get snow this is the reason it tends to get the most snowfall. They are preparing for that. The schools are closed here today so of course it is still early but we are not seeing much activity. Also, theres been snow here the last few days and most of it has melted. We have been driving around around seeing some patches of snow but for the most part it has melted. We will stay here and keep driving around and see what we find and in the next half hour or so we should see more activity. The latest. Gloria rodriguez, abc 11 eyewitness news. Barbara nicole carr is live in fayetteville. Nicole good morning. Was debating whether i should keep my hood up or not. It has been raining off and on. I was coming down from the graves creek area just before 3 00 but you see nothing is happening right now. Except folks out for a random reason on hay street. Anyhow, nothing going on now but our building manager came out and prepped us for anything we might encounter later opbn. So we have the sidewalks treated here and d. O. T. Out in Cumberland County earlier this week anticipating this. The major thing is enjoy the day home. Fort bragg. If you want to go to the p. X. Or commissary there is a twohour delay. But we are standing by waiting to see what happens pretty much after 6 30. We will keep you on the up and up. We are here for you all morning. Back to you. Barbara that was odd to see a guy in his boat at 4 00 in the morning. Nicole and this has nothing to do with the weather but there is stray dog, i dont know what all of this activity is about. We have to find that dog a spot. John thank you, nicole. We have the latest on the force with don. Don today is not a good day to be in a boat. There could be 35mileanhour gusts so that can cause problems and not recommended to be on the water. Through saturday 6 00, Winter Weather advisory the purple area to the south runs through tonight at 6 00 p. M. Live look at radar and this verifies what we are seeing. The white area would indicate small snowflakes, purple where you would see sleet and pink is freezing rain and nicole was in downtown fayetteville and she reported just raindrops that would be freezing rain where it falls to the ground as raindrops and freezes on contact. We will take a better look at the radar loop but temperatures right now 28 degrees in roxboro, 30 chapel hill. 31 sanford, 34 fayetteville. 29 goldsboro, 28 wilson. 27 Roanoke Rapids and 27 in oxford. The temperatures are critical. Anything above means freezing rain. In this area it could be freezing rain or sleet and this we will have to wait to see as we warm up throughout the day. This is the wintry mix working through. You see the leading edge here but a lot of precipitation stacked back to the south and west. That is lifting north and east and will work in. This system extends from us to arkansas. This is huge. We are on the leading edge. It is this area as it pulls up the moisture into us, that is what we are worried about. It is all right if it turns to rain or snow but the ice outages. We look at the first alert predictor forecast model and you will notice as we go through the morning it is mainly snowflakes south. By lunchtime we are seeing more push of warm air. That pushes that snow line up and brings us rain, freezing rain and sleet. Through the afternoon and evening this is by 5 00 this warm air win out to the south and change to rain and then more of a rain and freezing rain event and mixed precipitation. The question is how much sleet versus freezing rain. Sleet is rain drops that freeze before they make it to the ground and more sleet is good, more freezing rain is bad. Freezing rain is Ice Accumulation and sleet is just like a snow you kcan shovel. This is 1 00 a. M. And overnight we will have a little dry air working back in and changes to snowflakes tomorrow. We could see an additional one to three inches of accumulation tomorrow. This is the ice potential. You will notice through wake county and back a quarter to a half inch of ice. Half inch is dangerous threshold. We like it below a half inch. As far as snow potential there is through tomorrow night an mainly rain toward clinton. Three to six to the north and roxboro where it could stay colder you could see six to 10 inches of snow or sleet. For the rest of today it will be just a nasty day. Cloudy skies, wintry mix. 31 henderson, 34 fayetteville, 33 raleigh. The other big story are the winds. We could see gusts up to 35 miles an hour. The first alert sevenday forecast forecast, tomorrow 34 degrees. However, that temperature is in question. Closer to 32 you have one to three inches of additional snow. By sunday we will melt some of it at 42. Monday morning can be problematic because we are down into the 20s and we could see refreeze and icy roads. Tuesday and wednesday near 50 and we could see rain by the middle of next week. But we are at the start of this. This could last at least 12 hours today of precipitation, see a little dry air working in. We will work on it. John i see Caitlin Knute is tweet ing tweeting ice pellets are coming down in raleigh. Don sleet are raindrops that fall through the air and freeze before they make it to the green. It is basically anything that hits the ground and bounces, freezing rain or raindrops that make it to the ground and freeze on contact. Barbara i dont like either one. Amber we have to live through it. It will be an interesting day. We are here for you are and have you covered. Even though we are working, happy friday. Breaking news one, you see sleet coming down. Where is this . South saunders. It is easier to see it with the headlights from breaking news one. Here comes the precipitation at 4 23. Meantime, we can take a camera to the far west from raleigh i85 at the orangedurham county lines and everything is quiet, as it should be. That is what state officials have been everybody to stay off the roads because they will need to do their thing as this storm makes its way in. Hopefully you have your milk and bread. This is 40 and south saunders at the exit ramp and you can see it is moving fine, quiet. We are accident free so i will do drive times later. They will all be red and completely come to a standstill. Hopefully it doesnt leave anyone on the road. Beltline is fine durham freeway seven minutes 40 to 15. Barbara it is good now. Amber now. We continue to watch this developing winter storm. Barbara coming up how the storm is putting a damper meet the moores were the moore family, and as you can see, we need an internet that can do more. We do more games, and more streaming. So we need more speed. Thats why we switched to Time Warner Cable. Now we can connect more devices, at the same time. Hi grandma and grandpa ha, look at that [laughs] Time Warner Cable even has an internet plan for us. Get 50 meg internet for and ask about free installation. John the threat of wintry weather is putting a damper on the Panthers Party plans. The stage was set for a pep rally this afternoon but Charlotte City leaders canceled it saying they couldnt ask fans no matter how die hard they are to get on potentially slick roads. Barbara we have had a few a. C. C. Games changed. Syracuse an virginia moved from saturday to sunday and virginia at wake forest moved from monday to tuesday. As of now n. C. State and duke on as scheduled for saturday afternoon in raleigh. Officials say they will monitor the situation and make changes if needed. 4 27 and you are watching live coverage of the impending winter storm. John still to come we will the viewing area and we will show you a live picture outside. This is i believe downtown raleigh where ice pellets and sleet are reported. We will be right back. Barbara carolina waking up to a state of emergency. This is breaking news one as a major storm moves it. John d. O. T. Rested and ready their trucks ready to put down salt and sand. Barbara snow not the only issue. The storm bringing sleet and freezing rain. That means the mess on the roads and potential for power outage. It is january 22, 30 degrees, almost 4 30. Im barbara gibbs. Im john clark we have special updated on the changing weather conditions. Barbara all School Systems are closed because of the storm. We start with weather and traffic together with meteorologist Don Schwenneker in the first alert storm center. Don good morning to you. Lets talk about what we are seeing as far as the watches, warnings, advisories. Everybody is under a winter storm warning or weather advisory through this evening. All the pink areas until 6 00 tomorrow is a winter storm warning and includes the triangle, fayetteville. Harnett county, johnston county. South and east of i95 we are seeing the purple areas, that is a went weather advisory in effect until 6 00 tonight and they may advance that as they go through the evening. A look the first alert doppler xp and leading edge of this what we are seeing right now not all of this is making it to the ground. There sis moistening the atmosphere in that area. And that is sleet, freezing rain, we have reports of rain to the south. Chatham county could be seeing anything from siler city to the pittsboro. U. S. Highway 64 is the cutoff between what is colder air and warmer air. Right now it is around 30 and cloudy skies. Sleet being reported at r. D. U. Fpltlunchtime a wintry mix, rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow possibly. This afternoon 33 degrees with a wintry mix across the area. We will continue to see this throughout the day and talk about radar. We have the complete forecast in a bit but now we talk traffic with amber. Amber it is pretty quiet for now. 40 and airport if you are trying to catch a flight at r. D. U. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones that didnt cancel. They had more than 200 cancellations. It is quiet and clear. We are starting to see precipitation in the form of news one vehicle around raleigh