22 leesburg and winchester. gusting only 13 in westminster but 36, the highest gust along with atlantic city at the pax river naval air station. a windchill in the mountains where it's just going to be colder there. 30 below in the mountains. our current temps down to 11 in d.c. 3 at hagerstown. 9 manassas. 8 at andrews. when you factor in the wind, now we have windchills to 5 below in the nation's capital. 12 below at the pax river naval air staying and feels like 2 above in luray. 25 below in davis. i don't think i want to be skiing at timberline at the moment but if i was dressed for it, i'm sure i would go. another look at timesaver traffic early this wednesday morning. >> nothing is going to stop you. >> no. i'lli'll tell you what will stop everyone from going out on the roads. schools are basically closed and government offices delayed so for at least for now it's nice and quiet. you can see it on our traffic feature, very little concern. i'm happy to say this because yesterday evening this was all red and black and we had a ton of accidents. let's not have a repeat today. things look really good. where you see the construction icons, that was scheduled construction and i don't think that's going to happen today. it's just where they were supposed to be. let's take a live look outside and show what you it looks like here on the south side of town, route 301 at route 5. snowplow hit the overpass here on the southbound side yesterday evening. it was closed for a while. looks like everything was taken care of at the overpass and you're in good shape coming in from the broondzywine -- brandywine area and the judge. no problems on the northbound side of i-95 here in springfield. vdot did a great job of treating the roadways last night. they were having troubles with their bridges and their ramps. right now it seems to be okay up to the 14th street bridge. high wind warnings in effect right now over at the chesapeake bay bridge and the nice bridge. metro trains are on a regular schedule. back to you guys. >> thank you, monika. school closings and work delays have been coming in. we'll run them at the bottom of the screen all morning for you. >> we'll quick you a quick look at some of -- we'll give you a quick look at some of the bigger districts. prince william county, culpeper, spotsylvania and stafford county schools all closed. alexandria, manassas and fredricksburg city schools in virginia closed. >> in maryland prince george's, anne arundel, calvert and frederick county closed. the federal government is on a two-hour delay but workers have the option of using unscheduled leave or telework. we have more delays and closures at the bottom of the screen. you can find a complete listing including private schools and charter schools on our wusa9.com app and ipad app. all of us that get up in the middle of the night had a chance to -- [indiscernible] >> there are definitely slick spots around the district. delia goncalves traveled those roads. she joins us live from union station. tell us about your commute. >> reporter: it wasn't too bad getting out of the neighborhood. i live in southeast in hillcrest, a very hilly neighborhood. it was tricky but i'm from massachusetts. i don't want to brag but i can drive in this weather. you just have to drive in low gear, right? the main thoroughfares look pretty g. here at union station, you can see there's still a lot of snow packed down on the roads here. we are starting to see a lot more traffic despite the cancellations and delays. still a lot of traffic so within the last hour, traffic has really picked up. folks are out and about. i would caution folks to still drive very slowly because a lot of this snow packed roads, there is a layer of ice underneath. so you might still find some slick spots. of course around the many circles that we have in d.c., really travel those very carefully because you have to be very slow when you're going around those curves. so certainly main thoroughfares are looking pretty good but we've seen lots of clouds out on the street continuing to plow, hopefully they'll get everything cleared or at least passible by the time folks do have to get out to work. but the commute has already begun and like monika says, thankfully so far so good. back to you in the studio. >> thank you. a new englander there bragging a little. if you're taking amtrak because philly and boston had even more snow in new york, they're on a modified schedule in the northeast corridor. surae chinn is out and about covering conditions in virginia. >> cameron avenue and route 7 in reston is where she is. let's see how things look this morning. good morning, surae. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. plow trucks have been out and about this morning. they've been working around the clock. we can see a couple here already. they're stopping at this gas station and they've been per codally -- periodically coming through, taking some respite and going out again. route 7 looks pretty good. i took a drive through sterling into loudoun county. that's a little more ice packed and snow packed where the plow trucks haven't quite gotten to the pavement but you can see pavement here in reston. but the main issue, monika has been talking about all morning, the secondary roads. you can see that it is snow packed. it's got ice. it's very, very slick. and even when the plow trucks have already gone through this several times over, you are still going to see not a lot of clearing because that's just the way it is because it's so cold in residential areas pretty much the same thing. so that's how we're looking here in reston in fairfax county. back to you. >> thanks a lot, surae. what about conditions in maryland? >> carol terry with prince george's county public works joins us on the phone with a look at conditions there. thanks for being with us. what are you seeing out on the roadways in prince george's county? >> well, the primary roadways are in good condition. they're passible. we're getting into the residential areas. everything has been treated. but the roadways are still compacted there. >> what areas are the worst as far as residential neighborhoods where people -- it's even going to be hard for them to walk? >> okay. well, with the residential areas, we will be getting into there. we're just telling people to drive slowly and use caution. >> what kind of treating do you all do? is it a chemical treatment? is it a salt and sand mixture? >> we do a salt mixture. all the roadways have been treated. >> as far as equipment, do you have a significant number of plows on the road? >> yes. right now we had crews working through the evening. we had 206 vehicles on the roadways. >> if people have any specific problems because of the road conditions, what do you subject they do? -- suggest they do? is there a phone number they can call? >> if they have any problems or if they want to report road conditions, they can call 311 or they can call our snow information center at 301-350- 0500. >> thank you very much for speaking with us. safe driving for your workers out there on the roads this morning. >> thank you. the storm may be over but now we're in for a deep freetz. howard is -- freeze. howard is keeping an eye on the weather. >> we're talking teens, single digits in some places. you have to watch out for the patches of ice underneath the welcome back. 5:10 on this wednesday morning. yellow alert day due to the cold. a very cold start. windchills currently well below zero. in fact, they're colder than 20 below zero in the high country of western maryland. the sun is coming back. we're not going to do a whole lot of melting. temperatures will struggle today into the teens. we may see a few 20-degree readings. i'm going a little colder than guidance today with a high of 17, 18 in d.c. and the windchill advisory till noon. back with a very cold seven-day forecast. more snow and when we could see a few more flakes in just a few minutes. right now over to monika with another look at timesaver traffic. the beltway in prince george's county looks final but coming in on route 50, the bay bridge is under a wind warning. they're at 40 to 50 mile an hour winds. also an update on metro. the glenmont station is temporarily closed. they were having a power problem there. they're asking you to use wheaton as an alternate. again glenmont station red line is temporarily closed. back to you guys. >> thank you, monika. wasting no time, lawyers for former virginia governor bob mcdonnell have already filed a motion challenging a federal grand jury indictment. >> mcdonnell and his wife maureen were indicted on corruption charges yesterday. mcdonnell stands accused of accepting illegal gifts, luxury vacations and large loans from a businessman who was seeking special treatment from the state. prosecutors say the gifts and loans from richmond area businessman johnny williams amounted to at least $165,000. with his family at his side, mcdonnell moments after the charges were announced. >> i come before you this evening as someone who has been falsely and wrongfully accused in his public service -- and his public service has been wrongfully attacked. while i deeply regret accepting these legal gifts and loans from mr. williams, all of these now have been returned or repaid with interest. >> prosecutors say the mcdonnells worked -- [indiscernible] -- to help jonny williams and his struggling firm which sold dietary supplements. he's the first governor to ever face federal charges. the charges. >> we do need to ensure there's more transparency and a clear he set of rules for all virginia elected officials. >> while former governor mcdonnell insists he did nothing wrong, prosecutors say the governor attended events on jonny williams' behalf, provided access to top state officials and allowed the state mansion to be used for a launch party for williams' company. they say they also accuse virginia's first lady of lying to investigators. our time is 5:13. we have a list of school closings and delays continually running at the bottom of our screen. you can always find them on our week site wusa9.com. >> the new and improved website is excellent and they're in alphabetical order. it's easy to find your district easily. howard has the forecast coming up next. teens and single digits throughout the day. mo ka has a check of the roads too. >> congratulations to this morning's fan of the day. ruth munoz says i eat breakfast watching you before class and eat dinner watching you at 6:00 p.m. >> we appreciate that. if you want to be the fan of the day, go to our facebook fan page. fill out the form and send us a link i'm over the hill. my body doesn't work the way it used to. past my prime? i'm a victim of a slowing metabolism? i don't think so. great grains protein blend. protein from natural ingredients like seeds and nuts. it helps support a healthy metabolism. great grains protein blend. welcome back. yellow alert on this wednesday morning for the cold. we have a lot of slick streets. the main roads are in good shape. you heard monika talking about the side streets, surae and also delia out there showing you the conditions on the lesser traveled roads. a lot of snow pack and a cold day coming up today with temperatures climbing into the upper teens. maybe 20 with a little luck. northwesterly winds are going to be at times gusting 20, 25, even 30 miles an hour as we get toward 17 or so by 3:00. and 5:00 about 16 with windchills a big factor today. another arctic outbreak but not as bad as the last one in the sense remember last time we had minus 10, minus 20-degree temps. cleveland at 6. 6 below in oakland. very cold but we're sitting at 11 but not as cold. the difference is it's going to be a much longer arctic outbreak. we had really cold stuff for a day. looks like we'll be pretty much in the deep freeze for a week or so. 3 in hagerstown. 2 cumberland, york and bel air. south we have teens in fredricksburg 14. tappahannock 13. cambridge and easton at 11 and 3 in gaithersburg. when you factor in the winds, now we've got windchills 10 below gaithersburg. 15 below in hagerstown. feels like zero in la late take. windchill advisory till noon. in the mountains windchills pushing 20, 25 below so windchill warnings there. michael & son weather camera looks good. it's 11. winds coming down a little bit from last hour. northwest 14. windchill at 5 below and the humidity 51%. very, very dry air. you see those dew points below zero? a sign of when you get some arctic air around here. so your indoor humidity, if you're not using a humidifier in the house, probably in the single percent, maybe 10% range. there's the storm from there still piling on areas in eastern long island, southeastern new england there. boy, cape cod, nantucket, martha's vineyard, blizzard warnings for them. we'll watch another piece of energy coming in on a northwest flow which is reinforcing the cold but giving us another shot for a little snow tomorrow. but this is pretty minor. flurries or snow showers. this is our futurecast this afternoon. no problems except for the cold and the wind. we'll see some clouds increase late tonight into tomorrow morning especially in the mountains. now tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m., you'll notice some cleveland back toward pittsburgh, through morgantown and through garrett county we've got this area of snow showers coming through. this is going to make a run toward the metro here late in the morning toward midday with flurries and snow showers. could drop a dusting. mid afternoon already east of us as the sun returns. another cold day with highs in the 20s. the forecast today upper teens, maybe 20 but not going to feel much different with the winds out there. the windchill advisories till noon so the yellow alert for the cold. 9 tonight in town. 2 in the cold spots with lighter winds. 22 tomorrow with the afternoon snow showers. same friday but it will be sunny. another very cold day. a little reprieve from the cold on saturday. back in the 20s for highs. sunday through tuesday. hello, winter. hello, monika. you know what you're going to need today? wiper fluid. >> got to get the stuff that doesn't freeze. >> you need the stuff that doesn't freeze and you're definitely going to need to clean off thatld because as you drive and things begin to melt later on, it's definitely going to spray. so be aware of that. i wanted to let you know that the metro glenmont station had been closed for just a bit. they reopened it. they had a technical problem there. now there are residual delays. the bus service today is on snow emergency routes. trains are generally speaking on a regular schedule. metro access begins at noon. if you're a marc train user, operating on an s schedule today. brunswick 880 will depart at 8:25, a little bit later than normal. commuter bus service also on a two-hour delayed schedule. let's take a look at our traffic feature right now on our ipad app. by the way, it's a free download at the app store and you can get real time traffic information down to your street level. if you're concerned about your neighborhood, you can check out if there are any issues in your area. right now coming out of your neighborhoods and on to the side streets is going to be the toughest part. i'm getting a lot of tweets, people saying it took them up to three times longer to get to work, even at this time in the morning. i got to work at 3:00 in the morning and i left the house 15 to 20 minutes early. that's the biggest deal today. overall generally speaking you can see that the beltway is doing okay. we're going to take one quick live look. i'm going to show what you it looks like on some of what you would consider highly traveled roadways. look how icy this intersection is and people passing this intersection at connecticut avenue and veers mere road with we have temperatures down. the slick roads we have this morning with temperatures in the single digits in many areas. it is 11 in d.c. 10 in annapolis but only 2 in damascus and 7 in reston. yes, serious cold. as far as the futurecast today, we're going to stay sunny. temperatures upper teens. futurecast wants to warm us to the low 20s. not sure we're going to make it. >> good morning, everybody. the washington capitals have played just two games this season without alex ovechkin in the lineup. they scored ten goals and won both of them. ov sat out of last night's game against the senators but this time the loss ever the team's leading scorer proved to be a serious disadvantage. capitals looking to snap a five- game skid. pick it up in the 2nd period, still scoreless. two on two. gets the puck through the pads of holtby. 1-0 senators. ottawa takes advantage on the power play. ottawa wins 2-0. the capitals fail to convert on four power plays for their sixth straight loss. linebacker brian arapahoe is the latest redskin to be headed to hawaii for the pro bowl. he replaces san francisco's a mad brooks who withdrew from the game. this is his third pro bowl appearance. could doug williams be returning to the redskins? according to tweets from cbs sports, the super bowl mvp has been in talks with g.m. bruce allen about a front office job. the two met yesterday in mobile, alabama. allen and williams also worked together in tampa bay. we're about two months away from the start of march madness. the stakes just went up for those of you thinking of filling out a bracket. there is now $1 billion -- billion with a b on the line. warren buffett and quicken loans are ponying up $1 billion if you can guess all 67 games correctly from start to finish of the tournament. your chances of course are one in 9.2 quintillion. that's a 9 with 18 zeros. good luck to everybody. that will do it for your morning kerri: kerri the sparkle® fairy here. are you about to spend that on paper towels? mom: well, i use bounty... kerri: ooo! use sparkle®... it's just right for cleaning up everyday little messes without cleaning out your piggy bank. sparkle®. the bright way to clean. hello and welcome back to wusa9 on this wednesday morning. >> we were playing songs during the break like we always do and monika-- >> you need to hear the music. >> good morning. we've been on tv a long time. we're a little silly. >> she is the marathon woman. she can dance. >> well double. -- well double. she worked last night -- well done. she worked last night as well. snow has moved out. very cold with windchill advisories till noon. other than a break saturday, i think the cold stuff will be with us for at least a week. it will be a lot longer cold outbreak than the one earlier in the season. temperatures struggling through the teens. 16 by noon. 17, 18, maybe 20 with some luck for the high but the winds this morning are gusting still over 30 miles an hour in spots. that's pushing windchills well below zero. that's why we have the yellow alert. there's the storm system with the snow anywhere from 3 to 10 inches across the region. even southern maryland ended up with even 2 to 5 inches, even close to 6 down toward leonardtown. i got a report 5.8. i don't know -- down in the leonardtown area last night at 10:45. you can see the 36 mile an hour gust at pax river, also along the coast from ocean city to atlantic city. still gusting over 30 here at reagan national. a windchill advisory in effect till noon. warnings in the mountains with some of the wind chills still 25 below. look at the temps this morning. low single digits north to low teens south. let's go over to monika samtani. she's in with another look at timesaver traffic. i was telling howard behind the scenes that we've been telling everyone to get an early start. i think that's what's happening and now you're going to begin to see some accidents as well. we do have one on the northbound side of i-270 near middle "best" brook road so head -- middlebrook road so heading into germantown. police are now just headed to the scene to check out if there are any lanes blocked there. let's give you a live look outside and give you the road conditions. route 301 at route 5 seems to be fairing pretty well. i think the lanes are a bit squeezed. many parts ever the area, the snow is pushed on to the shoulder. be aware of that. give yourself extra time. the chesapeake bay bridge and the nice bridge both are under wind warnings at this time. back to you. >> thanks a lot. 5:32. plows and the salt trucks have been out all night cleaning the roads. >> we're talking about the district right now. how are conditions in the nation's capital? delia joins us live from union station. deal yarks a lot more traffic pick -- delia, a lot more traffic picking up. >> reporter: a lot more traffic and we're seeing folks on bicycles as well. we know d.c. is a very big cycling city. lots of folks. i saw somebody on a speed bike and someone on a mountain bike. i'm thinking probably the mountain bike would do better for traction on these snow packed roads. you can see just in the the circle here in union station we're pretty snow packed but lots of the main roads are passible. there still is a lot of ice underneath a lot of that snow so folks should certainly take it easy. i do want to talk about our homeless population because take a look at these buses that you have here. there are two metro buses not in service but providing a great service because they are allowing the homeless here in d.c. to actually find shelter and stay inside in a warm place. a lot of homeless are inside right now. dozens of them bundled up in their blankets. we know here in d.c. there are 15,000 homeless people. even though we have lots of shelters, 1700 live on the streets and they have a right to a warm place. in fact, it is the law here in d.c. that the city provide them a safe and warm place when hypothermia is a risk. we know being out here in this temperature could be deadly for a lot of those folks. so certainly the city providing a great service. these two buses, this is only one of five locations around the city. the buses will stay here until 7:00 tonight. back to you. >> thanks a lot, delia, live at union station. please get warm. we'll talk to you in just a bit. let's look at the conditions in virginia now. >> surae chinn is shivering in the area of cameron avenue in reston, virginia. good morning, surae. >> reporter: good morning, andrea and mike. we are seeing the plow trucks coming in, stopping at the gas station and then heading right back out. they've been working nonstop. vdot has some 4,000 pieces of equipment. they were working during the height of the storm. and they continue to work through the night and into this morning. we do see more traffic here on route 7. i'll tell you the roads are looking really g. you see the pavement. i did drive through sterling into loudoun county. there was some snow pack there where the plow trucks hadn't quite gotten to the pavement. but we're still looking okay but it's really the concern on the secondary roads which they are snow covered. it is slippery. there's ice underneath and the residential roads aren't any better. but the vdot equipment and contractors are working to clear those roads through today. they've treated them and hopefully they'll be much better later on today. but again these plow trucks continue to come through and hopefully conditions will be better for all of you outside. back to you. >> surae, thank you from reston, virginia. 5:35. time foe another your money report. >> jessica doyle is back with the money of snow. good morning, jess. >> good morning, andrea, mike, and good morning to everybody at home. surae was just showing you the roads. you can't drive if they don't have the money to clean them off. of course we've had a handful amount of decent bouts of winter weather so far this season. that has us wondering how the regions are doing with their snow budgets. the maryland highway administration tells us it has spent a little over $42 million as of our last storm. that is big bucks. the virginia department of transportation says it will probably spend about $50 million of its $63 million budget for northern virginia by the end of the storm. so only about $16 million left. but both agencies tell us they're going to do whatever it takes to keep the roads clear. d.c. mayor vincent mayor didn't talk about specific numbers when we asked him about the city's budget but he says he's comfortable with where we are right now. in the meantime, the second fierce blast of winter weather is sapping fuel supplies in many regions and sending prices for propane and natural gas to record highs. higher natural gas prices are also leading to sharply higher wholesale electricity prices as power utilities snap -- [indiscernible] -- and meet higher than expected winter demand. propane users, you're going to get pinched the most. those finding themselves suddenly needing to fill their tanks could pay $100 to $200 more to fill up a month ago. homeowners using gas will see higher heating bills because they'll use more fuel but utilities only buy a small portion of the fuel at elevated prices. when it gets cold outside, those bills are going to go up no matter what you're doing. back to you. >> the shortage on propane. >> propane is very, very high. we will be back right after this but check it out outside. temperatures in the single digits and teens. throw some windchill in there, it is very, very cold. thankfully the plows did a nice job trying to clear the roads. still some icy patches. this is a live look from union station. >> you can always check out our ipad app to tell you whether your commute is green, red, yellow or black whic we've got nice snow out there. we've got snow cover. boy, we had about 5 or 10 inches. a little blew off the roof. a winter wonderland in many areas. as far as today is concerned, it's going to be a sunny, windy, very cold day. winds gusting to 30 miles an hour. temps generally going to stay in the teens. watch out. the windchills running from around minus 5 to minus 15. i'll be back in just a few minutes with the very latest seven-day forecast. another cold stretch ahead. here's monika now with timesaver traffic. you might encounter icy patches on some of the lesser traveled roadways and definitely i think out of your neighborhoods. a lot of the neighborhoods around our metropolitan area have not been treated or will be this morning so you're going to need extra time and extra time needed now on metro's red line. apparently a power problem according to one of our web producers is on our way to work said there are delays in both directions at the gallery place metro staying. red line delays in both directions. back to you guys. at 5:41, proof snowball fights aren't just for kids. >> no, they're not. check this out. the battle in dupont circle last night. a group calling itself washington, d.c. snowball fight association said they waited for three years to pull one of these off. they put a message on facebook and people showed up in big numbers. >> all right. let's see who's celebrating a birthday today. at university of phoenix, we know you can't afford wrong turns on the road to your future. that's why we build tools like our career guidance system. it's kind of like gps, you know, for your career. it walks you through different degree possibilities and even lets you explore local job market conditions, helping you map a clear course from the job you want, back to you. go to phoenix.edu and get started today. ♪ ♪ bring the delicious taste of hershey's chocolateads. to anything - everything. with new hershey's spreads, the possibilities are delicious. good morning. welcome back to wusa9. it is 5:45. it's also a yellow alert day. it is a frigid day outside. hopefully you can have fun staying indoors because it's too cold to go out and battle the elements. >> just bundle up. when i'm out -- a glove liner with mittens. >> there's a t in that? >> this is where the long islander comes out in me. like "budder." it's just one of those things. keep laughing. i'm do weather. very cold temperatures. windchill advisory in effect till noon. really a cold stretch of weather coming up. much longer duration than when we had the very cold air. remember the polar vortex? i hate using that term because it's very overused. the sex of the next seven days staying below freezing. here's your day planner. >> vortex? >> i should have taken latin. let me break it down for you hour by hour. we have 17 at 3:00. that will be about the high for the day. we might get to 20 but now i'm a little skeptical we'll get there. mid-teens at 7:00. 15 at 9:00. the winds this morning have been gusting over 30 miles an hour. very cold start to the day. we're down to 2 degrees in westminster and york. three in hagerstown and gaithersburg. 9 for leesburg, manassas. martinsburg, had reports of over 8 inches. reedville had 5.5 inches of snow from jan. had some five-plus inch totals around leonardtown yesterday. ej in prince frederick is 9 degrees at the moment and laurie looking at 12. the wind chills, they're a little painful this morning to 9 below in gaithersburg. 21 below in garrett county. 6 below in culpeper and feels like 4 below in frederick. so a chilly, chilly morning with windchill advisories in effect till noon. in the mountains where the windchills are running 25 below, that's where we've got the windchill warnings. michael & son weather camera, great visibility this morning. other than the cold, no weather problems. we have a temperature of 11 and a northwest wind at 14 so feels like 5 below. 4 below zero the dew point. the arctic air is in place. behind it a departing snowstorm which is pounding ears from eastern long island to southeastern mass. over the cape and the islands, martha's vineyard, a blizzard warning is in effect. as we head into the day on thursday, this will approach us with the threat for some snow showers even coming through the metro midday. so a light dusting not out of the question but shouldn't be a big deal. today yellow alert for the cold and the slick streets this morning, 17. 9 tonight with closer to 2 or 3 in the outer suburbs but the winds tonight will calm down. tomorrow the afternoon snow showers, 22. 10 tomorrow night. remaining cold but sunny on friday, lower 20s. saturday i think we'll bump to the mid-30s so it should feel better with snow showers possible in the afternoon and more 20s for highs sunday through tuesday. here comes monika samtani, timesaver traffic. how you doing this wednesday morning? >> how you doing, long island? it's very cute, how we. we love you. -- howie. we love you. remember i told you that i think a lot of people are going to get an early start? i've got my list of accidents and they're mainly single vehicle accidents, cars spinning out, even facing the wrong direction on an interstate. so watch your step thing. you're going to need the extra time. let me put this away and tell you what's going o. first of all metro bus service on a snow emergency route today and now there are delays at gallery place metro station because of a technical problem there. trains are on a regular schedule. metro access will begin at noon. marc trains operating on an s schedule. commuter bus service on a two- hour delayed schedule. let's take a live look outside. you're going to see of course trucks stopped on the sired of the roadway getting ready -- side of the roadway getting ready. a car is spun out here, facing the wrong direction. there's an accident bw parkway southbound newer powder -- near powder mill road. no irks here in springfield -- issues here in springfield but 395 hov lanes there's now an accident after seminary road. just about every star is on dwitter, instagram or facebook and we know more about artists than ever before and that can sometimes affect the outcome of awards shows like the grammys. we welcome back our entertainment reporter with "u.s.a. today." thank you very much. let's talk about the impact that social media is having. as we said everybody is on twitter. how is it affecting the grammys? >> i think twitter is affecting the grammys like it's affecting everything else. people have more access, more people can have their voices heard. you can have fans interacting with journalists covering the show. you can have fans interacting with actual artists who are nominated or in some cases not nominated. there have been a few art is who have expressed their displeasure or disappointment at not being nominated already via twitter. so it very much affects how we all feel connected to the show and to the handing out of awards. >> have the votes all been tabulated and nothing can change over the weekend? could all of the swirl on twitter and instagram affect the outcome of any category? >> i'm not shower exactly at what point the votes are completely in and there's no changing them but once that cutoff date has been arrived at there, there is no changing. so once the tally is in the actual outcome, i don't think can be affected by social media. who knows. maybe there's something i don't know about that. >> are you going to be tweeting during the show? >> yes, yes, certainly here at "u.s.a. today," we're going to be having folks tweeting during the show constantly. i will not be tweeting myself. i will be sitting at home in my pajamas actually writing about the performances. i have colleagues in l.a. who will be covering it live, the best way to see any award show. but i have colleagues in l.a. who will be covering it live and other colleagues who are going to be tweeting. twitter is a very big vehicle for us. so you can certainly follow "u.s.a. today" live. >> we'll be doing that but what's really interesting is you are going to be reporting on it the way we are watching it at home, probably in our jammies munching on something, having a good time without having to get dressed up and go through all that. >> that's right, trying not to spill ice cream on my computer. >> we wish you luck with that and we thank you for speaking with us. and coming up tomorrow, what is an award show without the red carpet, the usual wild suspects like lady gaga and miley cyrus aren't nominated so who will carry the wild and crazy clothes banner? we'll have some ideas and let you know tomorrow. >> we know who wins the hair contest. go to our facebook fan page. here's the question of the day. the average person -- [ laughter ] >> the average person does this 16 times a dai. is it a, eats, b, swears, c, laughs. obviously we've surpassed that. tony writes i hope it's laughs. we'll have the answer in about an hour. this week when you answer the question of the morning, you have a chance to win four tickets to monster jam at verizon center this friday or saturday. we'll choose a winner every day this week. mike will end up on the funny wheel for all of next year. jess, take it away. >> thanks, andre ya. i've been combing through the retailer websites to find you deep discounts and some favorites for you. since it's snowy, how about a ski trip. you can go two days to the historic homestead resort in hot springs, virginia. the property is now owned by omni. packages start at $330 so that's 48% off. and included are two vouchers valid towards lift tickets or ice skating tickets. would you like to go somewhere where it's warmer? a deal with luxor las vegas. deals start at 40 bucks a night. and how about some even more sun. cheapcaribbean.com is returning a 99-hour sale. it ends on friday. you'll find deals like this one. five nights, we're there all inclusive. prices start at about $750 at the lifestyle tropical beach resort and spa. if you have a deal for our yellow alerts on this wednesday morning due to the windchill advisory and also the very slick conditions we still have this morning. look at these temperatures. we're starting out single digits. lovettsville 5. two in damascus. 8 for alexandria and arlington and 7 in bowie. waldorf is 9. as far as today is concerned, a sunny day. that's good but windy and cold. windchill advisory till noon. highs in the teens. maybe if you're lucky you'll get to the 20-degree mark. over to you. >> thanks, howard. the washington auto show opens tomorrow. >> indeed. eric gives us a look at the massive effort it takes to turn the convention center into a giant showroom. >> my name is david and i'm the auto show manager with ford. we want the impression people have when they come to visit us to be absolutely flawless. we want to show off our latest products and technologies in the absolute best light. >> you're going to come to this plug. >> for washington, it probably is a team of roughly a hundred. and it takes us from last thursday through tuesday. so about five days. to everything everything from the light rigging to the complete floor, bring all the vehicles in. get everything cleaned up and make sure all the features are turned on and running. we have to bring the vehicles of course. you set up an electrical grid. it's almost like building a little building within the convention center. we are just completely excited about the new truck. we're also bringing the new mustang 2015. the c max solar energy car. this is the first auto show where that car will appear. >> looks good. >> it's all good. next one. >> and the auto show again opens tomorrow. good place to go. maybe you'll be able to get there if you bundle up. good morning. welcome to wusa9. >> metro goes right there. >> you're right, right inside on the yellow line. it is wednesday, january 22. i'm andrea roane. and it feels like winter. there is no doubt what season it is this morning. teens and single digits in places. i'm mike hydeck. good morning, monika. >> you know it's not even february yet. >> we've had some warm days. >> you get into early march, that's when we get our bigger storms historically around here. >> if you put out a graph for the winter so far -- >>it's been up and down. considering we haven't had much of a winter the last three years but, yes, winter is here. the next week or so will be quite cold. our floor director keeps -- [ inaudible ] >> you probably know this because you get your tweets and whatever but the federal government is opening two hours late today. every major school system in our region is closed as well. >> right. we have the closures and delays at the bottom of your screen on the wusa9.com website and