It is gigantic. It is out here laying across two lanes heading away the city of charlotte. Crews cut down the right hand part of the tree heading queens road northbound lanes. Cars could head in the city but the rest of it, obviously still here this morning. Well have to look at alternate routes because you obviously cant get through if youre leaving the city i want to send it over to chris larson in the traffic center. How do you get around the big tree . Chris traffic is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. So again as mark said, if youre heading northbound on queens road, no problems, it is southbound toward more head where we have the obstruction so likely hermitage down to Edge Hill Road would get you around that. Or could you take baxter street through the cherry neighborhood that would get you back over to kings drive. These are outbound heading toward morehead street where we have that block age there. Lets take a live look, i77 at clanton road, volume is light up here in the next 45 minutes to an hour. Looking at the overall charlotte commute, still quite a bit of green, 485 looks good, 77, 85 running in the clear with no problems. Continuing to follow this accident scene on wilkinson boulevard at harley avenue being reported as an injury accident right over by Charlotte Douglas international airport. That is right off the Josh Birmingham parkway, that major entrance route to the terminals at cr t. That is a check of the morning traffic. Youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. John Live Team Coverage of the Severe Weather turns to the clean up power crews working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers across the state. Ashton pellom joins us with more on what he has found. Reporter good morning, john, this spot behind me, im currently on oak drive you can see the tree that came down yesterday, it still is down in the middle of the road as of right now, you can just see a massive tree, starting from right there, came down across oak drive, actually took out a power line you can see, still wrapped around the tree and that line is still in the middle of the road right now. Take to you video i shot when i first arrived on scene, you see police right there blocking the road and that power line still down on the road, crews did come out and assess the damage but put barricades up and left the scene, hopefully crews will be back out here later to fix that power line and get the tree chopped up. Lets take you to the scene on old potter road, a big tree fell across that road as well, police tell me that a woman actually drove, as cars were backing up to avoid the tree, a woman drove around those cars backing up and ran in the tree and to is doing okay but the road is blocked. Fast forward this is treyburn drive, police tell me a power line was down on that road also, that is affecting thousands of people in nearby apartment complexes is affect and neighborhood over there is affected as well. So, Duke Energy Crews will have their hands busy today full of getting these trees up getting power restored. And they will have their hands busy. One thing to remind you about if you see roads barricaded, i saw one driver try drive through, dont go through the barricades, dont drive through them, they are up for a reason. Go around. Toss to Kristen Miranda in the alert center give you an update on Power Outages. Kristen youre showing us why power is out in so many areas. Look at Duke Energy Outage map has not changed all that much this morning but all over the charlotte region there are Power Outages. Ill give you numbers, burke county, 1700 customers without power. Changed. Caldwell, 1000. Iredell you are doing well, only 143 customers without power. Mecklenburg county is getting a little better we talked about 9,000 customers all morning long, now 7200. Rowan at 754, union county at 1406. One other thing before i get back to john and christine this morning, look at the pictures. Transportation for Watauga County schools tweeted these pictures as he was out checking on road conditions. We have been talking about School Closings and delays. You can see the situation on the roads up in Watauga County. Back to you guys. Christine give goings more visuals. More damage left behind by the storm in other parts of our area. A man and his granddaughter were home when a tree fell on their house in east charlotte. This is on green vista court, thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Car not far from issacs home. Sounded like a big lightning and i came outside to see what was going on and looked across the street and the tree was totally down and took out the power line and also had landed on top of the car right there. John in Gaston County, more of the same, homeowners were happy they werent inside when a tree fell in their living room in mount holly. Straight line winds toppled the tree, took out gas lines in the area. One neighbor couldnt even hear the trees falling because of how heavy and loud the wind was. Inburg county, this free fell across interstate 40. One of many that fell in just a few minutes yesterday. Now, dont forget to download the wbtv weather app. Throughout the storm we sent out alerts to help keep you safe and you can check the interactive radar to see the weather wherever you are. The ciaa tournament and the mens action kicks in full swing as the womens tournament gets a day off. Two local teams in action on the women side johnson c. Smith taking on Virginia Union, they would fall, 8468. Livingstone out of salisbury in a battle with lincoln. Powered by amber curtis 16 points. They would grab the win, 5045 over lincoln. They will advance to take on Virginia Union tomorrow at 3 00. Here is a look the schedule of games. Maybe youll have time. St. Augustine, bowie state at 1 00. Fayetteville and virginia state. The men from johnson c. Smith play lincoln at 7 00 tonight. Virginia union and shaw wrapup action at 9 00. Still plenty ahead here live on wbtv news this morning. John a happy ending for this puppy who was shot 18 times with a bb gun. Well tell you where hes heading now, coming up after the break. Quick check of first alert weather temperatures, 41 in charlotte, 40 monroe, 30 up in boone. Here is a live look at i77 West Boulevard, things moving smoothly. Remember, youre never more than and traffic giving you first alert weather and traffic every seven minutes. Welcome back to wbtv news this morning. Christine welcome back we have several stories brand new in this hour we want you to stick around for. At 6 34, investigate on going issues at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Well hear from one veteran who says despite efforts to cut down on long wait times, he still is having problems. An investigation you will see only on wbtv. Several dangers including risk of exploding. At 6 42, just that, we have video that will make you think twice before buying another one. John the city of charlotte is in the market for a new city manager. Ron carlee will not look to extend his contract when it expires at the end of march. Charlotte city council met in closed session to discussion who should be named as interim city manager. Jennifer roberts had appointed a special committee of five Council Members to consider whether carlees contract should be renewed. It is possible carlee could remain on the job longer to ensure a smooth transition. Christine now a crime alert, police releasing a new round of photos of the man they say kidnapped and robbed a Delivery Driver. So take a good look at your tv, do you know who this is . Officers say he and a woman kidnapped a 61yearold papa johns Delivery Driver in the cherry neighborhood in midtown, drove him to an atm where he was forced to withdraw money. Crimestoppers at 7043341600. Now a happy ending for a puppy that many of you have fallen in love with. Brody was shot 18 times with a bb gun. We have been telling you a the boy the story on wbtv. Weve kept in contact with ebenezer Animal Hospital in rock hill how hes doing. They told us hes been adopted by a loving new family. That family wants to remain anonymous, but they are very excited to take care of brody. And brody had a special reunion with the man at the apartment complex who saved him. The Animal Hospital posting these photos on the Facebook Page saying thank you, darryl. Darryl alerted authorities when he found the injured puppy. John that is such a feelgood story. I love that. A sweet puppy. 6 15, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Here is meteorologist al conklin. Al john, really, pretty close to blizzard conditions in the mountains this morning. Air they may not have quite as much snow as you would technically have using that terms but the conditions are kind of like that inasmuch as we have snow that is going side ways, the gusts of winds are 50 Miles Per Hour. King street in boone from resortcams. Com, that snow just continues to bore down, they had an inch or so already in the boone area, courtesy of the upper level low piling that snow in our mountain counties. And this is going to persist most of the day today. It may pick up as we go through the day today. How much snow are we talking about . Through the day and in tonight, three to five inches. Highest elevations on the avery county line, likely to see the most, probably closer to two or three around boone, may be hard to measure for all that blowing. 41 in charlotte, cornelius, arboretum, 40 Mountain Island lake, 39 tega cay, 34 over toward harrisburg area. 30 with the snow in boone. Wind chill factor 14. 40 statesville, 41 concord, 40 start off at 42, near 50 lunch time and 56 late this afternoon. Heading to the ball games tonight, ciaa tipoff forecast at the arena, 39 degrees, keep in mind the Darren Wilson be around, will be dry but a very chilly wind if youre waiting online. Seven day forecast around the corner, nice warmup down the road, ill have it in a few minutes. Check in with chris, first alert traffic. Chris first alert traffic is sponsored by toyota of North Charlotte. Heads up if youre heading outbound on independence boulevard, trying to make your way toward wendover road, blockage on the exit ramps from independence to wendover, just be aware of that. I77 at the rest area, volume light but we will see it picking up here the next 30 minutes. Looking at the overall commute, slow downs on providence road as you make your way inbound and be aware that we still have a tree down on queens road over near the cherry neighborhood. That may cause slow downs if youre heading toward morehead this morning. Johnston at marvin road, that is highway 521 at marvin road down to the south of providence road west. That is a check of traffic, christine, over to you. Christine the privacy fight continues for apple. John the government shows no signs of backing down the closer look at the details on the fight at cbs this morning at 7 00. Christine next at 6 00, Kristen Miranda hard at work in the alert Center Getting you headlines first. She just learned chapel grove elementary in Gaston County is closed. Chapel grove elementary in Gaston County closed. Kristen miranda getting that in Severe Weather elsewhere a vo you can pass down a subaru forester. dad shes all yours. vo but you get to keep the memories. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. John good morning, 6 21, we select few, of all the School Closings and delays. Avery, mitchell and Watauga County schools are closed. Ashe county is on threehour delay. Alleghany on twohour delay. If we get more well let you know. Get over to Kristen Miranda she is live in the alert center with details just in on two more school closures. Kristen very important if your kids go to school in Gaston County. We got word from Gaston County schools i want to read it to you so i get it right. Power outages in this area here that have closed two schools. Chapel Grove Elementary School and Stanley Middle School in Gaston County, both closed today for students. Because the schools dont have power. These are the only two schools Gaston County says in the School System without power. So everybody else is going to school today in Gaston County but the students at chapel grove elementary and Stanley Middle School are staying home because there is no power at the school. I want to show you video i got in as well, talking about the Weather Damage in areas outside look at this, this is massachusetts, in both dorchester and cambridge, you can see what that tree did both to the house and that car. They are having a lot of the same problems we are here in the carolinas. Back to you. Christine thank you, kristen for that heads up security. The hornets on a roll as of late. With five straight wins. The team looking to keep the streak alive. Visiting the cavaliers, kemba walker would lead the way with 20 points and 6 assists, but the cavs 12 punch of lebron james and kyrie irving were too much. Next up the pace rs tomorrow night. In college hoops, unc in raleigh to take on the wolfpack. Cat barber had 32 points. The wolfpack lead by double digits early but the tar heels rallied behind Brice JohnsonsNorth Carolina wins 8068. Tar heels travel to take on virginia on saturday. A quick correction if youre following ciaa tournament action, we said johnson c. Smith is going to be playing lincoln, they are playing livingstone tonight at 7 00. Johnson c. Smith versus livingstone tonight at 7 00. John 6 23, youre never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on wbtv news this morning. Blizzard like conditions up in the mountains. Al they are getting snow, they have temperatures below freezing and 50 mile per hour wind gusts. Hard to measure because the snow is blowing everywhere. That is why most of the schools are closed up there because of what has happened in the mountains this morning. It is very, very tough. Look at it now, this week we had about three inches of rain in charlotte, hard to believe how quickly things have changed after being so dry there earlier in the month. Things turned around very quickly. You may recall last week i showed you this graphic and we were down both for the month and for the year, now look where we are. A surplus for month of an 1. 5 and for the year now, a surplus of almost a half inch. Im also happy to report were done with the rain for a while, thank you. There is still rain in new york and new england, snow on the backside of the low but as this pulls northward were going to get in a dry flow, seasonal the next couple days, deal with the wind today. But will get rid of that and start to see gradually warmer conditions. A brighter sky off toward the east in stallings. Scott clarks and a gorgeous looking morning out here in charlotte. Current conditions from Scott Clark Nissan honda hd tower cam, clear skies, 41, the winds sustained at 15milesperhour, gusts closer to 30. As we go through the Morning Hours here today, take a look at this, stop it at noon. 44 mile per hour wind gusts in the mountains. Between 25 and 30 miles across will hold until 4 00. The winds die down we should have a prettier day in terms of much less wind. Below freezing in the mountains, 41 morganton, concord, 40 monroe, 38 in lincolnton. Mountains talked about it snow today, just above freezing and very strong winds throughout the day. The rest of us are dry, partly sunny skies, youll be near 50, lenoir, taylorsville, low chances for snow that way. Here in the piedmonts are partly to mostly sunny skies, 56 mooresville, charlotte, monroe and salisbury, and we take you south, looks like a nice day across lancaster, rock hill, chester in the 50s as well. Our rain chances will be low and 50s at first but look at next week, 60s and 70s back in the forecast, and again after today, with the snow in the mountain, all going to dry out very nicely. Nice stretch of weather coming our way, the seven day forecast, 56, mostly sunny, 53 less wind tomorrow. Both days of the weekend are 66, as mentioned, uphill with very little chance for any rain near 70 next week. Lets check in with chris, 6 00 25, first alert traffic. 6 25. Chris al, thank you, first alert traffic sponsored this morning by toyota of North Charlotte. Want to give you a heads up heading outbound away from center city on independence expressway. We have a blockage on the ramp to wendover road. So again, that might cause a few slow downs. Inbound on independence, still running in the green this morning. Over on queens road, tree down, came down yesterday during our storm and the southbound lanes toward morehead still blocked off you might want to think about hermitage or edge hill to get you around that accident scene if youre trying to make your way toward morehead. A live look at i85, northbound going away from you at 485, southbound traffic coming in toward the city and beginning to pick up. But most of our majors are continuing to run in the green at this hour. Highway 521 at