Loader loading up some salt. They actually brought in more salt knowing theyre a little low here. But, guys, theyve been salting the interstate. This morning, we spent some time on Prince William parkway. Conditions pretty troublesome early in the morning, but as the day went on, it wasnt that bad. But listen, we tked to some kids this morning because Prince William county schools were closed and they were making the best of the cold weather and the snow. Kids are so lucky, man. Snow day, get to kick back, chill, relax, and ive still got to go to work. Reporter as Keith Cunningham leaves his neighborhood, he takes a parting jealous shot at the kids outside in the snow. Schools are closed today. So the bus sits, the campus empty, the bells silent. But down the street, its time for a snowball fight. I came out to walk my dog and i have been throwing snowballs at my mama. Reporter a day off from school means a nice walk around the block with mom and the pup which isnt a bad deal for mom either. Not too much of an inconvenience . No. Especially being a teacher. Its a good day for me too. Reporter the commute in Northern Virginia early this morning was a little troublesome. But by 6 00 a. M. , many of the main roads had been salted and plowed like here on Prince William parkway. One couple decided to make the most of it a little after 4 00 a. M. Snowman, snowwomen, snow wife, snow people, snowball fights. Were just enjoying it. Thats all. Reporter the side roads still remain a travel issue. It wont be until this afternoon that vdot makes a Significant Impact clearing them. One driver told us he hadnt seen any plows around his neighborhood. Its really bad because its slippery. You cant drive more than 10 or 15 miles per hour. Thats a problem right now theres no trucks, nothing right now. No salt truck. I didnt see any trucks. Reporter i just talked to one of the supervisors here at the vdot lot and he says they still have a lot of work to do even though they only do the interstates here. Hes talked to some of the other stations and theyre trying to make their way to the neighborhoods. If youre still at home trying to get out and shovel your car off and get out of your neighborhood, standby, theyre on the way. But other than that, ive got to tell you, we came down 95 this morning. It was a little slow getting down here, but we checked on it a couple of minutes ago. Its moving fairly well. Conditions are good. Back to you. Thanks, tony. And Northern Virginia wasnt alone in this mornings white awakening. Getting to work was a job of its own in parts of maryland this morning. Folks who got their first real taste of winter. Reporter well, it wasnt a ton of snow, just about an inch, maybe two inches in some areas. But it was the timing of it that was bad, falling through the night and into the early morning. It made for a difficult rush hour. As the world slept, a blanket of snow formed on area roads. In the early going, things were rather treacherous, especially in areas to the south. I came out ofolden beach in Southern Maryland, the roads are vital. Its rough out there. Reporter spots continued to plague throughout the rush hour. But as road crews plowed and spread salt, there was improvement on major roads. Its not too bad. I think i did good waiting a little while to travel out. Major roads are fine. I think the back roads, i think they probably couldve done a little better this time. Reporter and those neighborhood streets were quite slippery. Many School Systems like Charles County decided they were too slippery for buses and canceled classes for the day. And so porter traded in his backpack for a snow shovel. I knew my grandma was going to tell me to start shoveling. I was like i was like, okay. And i just went to go do it so i can, you know, go back in the house, play some video games. Reporter it is still very cold out. So, unfortunately, theres the potential for refreeze. And theres also talk of more snow on friday. In waldorf, megan mcgrath, news 4. Well, as you can see, the snow has stopped around here and the sun is shining. Can we expect some melting today . Lets ask tom kierein. Not much, temperatures will stay below freezing. Good morning, that snow transformed the landscape. Now, its finally looking and feeling like winter. Heres the radar history over the last 18 hours that system did come in and it moved in quickly from the north and west. And it swept across virginia, west virginia, the district, and maryland. The heaviest snows, those stripes of bright white there in Southern Maryland, thats where they got the heaviest snowfall. There was a band there in extreme Southern Maryland, parts of st. Marys county and southern Charles County got up to four inches. Few spots around far southern st. Marys county got over 5 inches of snow. And yenly, thoug lgenerally aro metro area, about a dusting toen a inch. Around 20 degrees in Prince Georges County. Montgomery county near 20, now climbing into the low 20s in arlington and fairfax counties. Reagan international is at 24 degrees. Not much more of a warmup, a lot of the suns energy is going to trying to melt a little bit of that snow. We could get some more tomorrow. I think theres a likelihood of that. Well talk about that, how much, and a look at the weekend too and into next week in just a few minutes, barbara. Thank you, tom. Lets check the midday traffic. Danella, how are we looking . Still seeing problems on the road, keith. Were going to start southbound lanes at riverdale road. They are all blocked at this time because of a water main break. Northbound, youre going to have just the right lane getting you by at riverdale road, really south of east west highway in that area. Please avoid the area while crews are working. Lets head over to alexandria, virginia, just past slaters lane. Youre going to see only the left lane getting you by the accident there. I can tell you it involves a crash, poles, wires are down and you may see dark traffic lights in that area. All right. Right now, john kerry is on capitol hill for his confirmation hearing to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Hes answering questions from the Senate Foreign relations committee. By the way, hes the chairman of that committee. News 4 joins us now with more. Melissa, what kinds of questions could he be facing . Well, hes been on the committee for 28 years, led it for the past four, as expected, keith, the questions thus far have been fairly friendly. Now, the hearing started just about an hour ago, this is a live look right now. Its the first of three for Obamas National Security nominees and the least controversial. Later, lawmakers plan to ask kerry about the civil war in syria, his stance on foreign aid and the keystone xl pipeline. Hes expected to win by partisan support for his colleagues. Im already excited by the many ways we can Work Together in which we must Work Together. In order to advance americas security interest in a complicated and ever more dangerous world. 2008, you might remember obama chose Hillary Clinton over kerry for this very post. Former republican senator chuck hagel will face tough questions at his confirmation hearing next thursday, and john brennan, the president s choice for cia director will be quizzed at his hearing next month. Keith . Thanks, melissa. And were waiting to hear from defense secretary leon panetta. We expect him to announce about an hour from now that the pentagon is lifting its ban on women in combat. The policy change will overturn a 1994 rule that banned women from being part of combat units. Itll open more than 200,000 positions to women. Despite the combat ban, women in the military have still given their lives for this country. More than 150 women have been killed in iraq and afghanistan. And gay rights activists are making a new appeal to the white house. They want president obama to ban federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees. Current federal law bans discrimination based on sex, race, and national origin, but didnt mention sexual orientation. D. C. s police chief is challenging the findings of a new report released just a few minutes ago that the d. C. Police mishandled hundreds of rape cases. Chief kathy lanier says the information in the report by Human Rights Watch was gathered using flawed methods. But news 4 spoke with one victim who tells us she was mistreated by police and her case mishandled after she says she was sexually assaulted. The detective right in front of me told the nurse that i didnt need the exam done. And the nurse to her credit said that was her job to determine and that i would need to talk with her and i did. The experience of being raped was absolutely humiliating, but it wasnt until i talked to police that i felt shamed. My fear is that this report because it is based largely on older data, instance involving one or two detectives who are no longer in the unit, its painting a picture that thats the current state of affairs here and its not. The report says in the past three years the d. C. Police have failed to document more than 170 assault cases and failed to investigate 35 other cases. Our time, 11 10, and coming up, its not the event he hoped to attend this week. What brings mitt romney to washington . Plus, new gun control efforts. The north korea could be getting ready for Nuclear Tests with the goal of targeting the united states. The Associated Press reports that north korea is ready to conduct a nuclear test. The country reportedly also wants to carry out more long range missile launches after a successful launch last month. The threats come just days after the u. N. Condemned that launch. Theyre threatening to wage a quote fullfledged confrontation against the u. S. For what it calls continued hostility. Today we should get an update on the safety of boeings 787. The National Transportation safety board will discuss what led to a fire aboard one of Boeings Dreamliners at Boston Logan Airport back on january 7th. The faa and several other countries decided to ground the planes last week. The safety of the planes have been called into question since several fires broke out over the last few weeks, raising concern over the planes batteries. Former republican president ial nominee mitt romney will make a rare appearance in d. C. Tomorrow. Hell attend a luncheon hosted by two of his Major Campaign fundraisers. Catherine reynolds and bill marriott jr. The reception is being held at the marriott hotel. Romney has rejoined the hotel chains board of directors after leaving in 2011 to run for the white house. Romney chose not to attend the inauguration on monday. The first nominee to do so since Michael Dukakis back in 1989. Storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us to talk about this real deep freeze. We said that yesterday. What kind of head wear should we be going with . This . Or this from barbara . I think you need to try it on first so we can decide. I can definitely go with this. Oh, yeah. Thats you. Definitely you. Somebody brought this to me from russia, and ill thought this might be helpful. That is how you survive in russia. No, that is not road kill. That is a hat. It is. They wear it. Its a real you look like lara. Wouldnt i like to look like her . Unfortunately, i left it in my office and i wont be able to play for you. And we have a feeling looking like winter finally. Look at this from maryland where they got about 4 inches of snow. This picture sent in to weather nbcwashington. Com. Look at this Dupont Circle neighborhood in washington. It was transformed into a magical Winter Wonderland sent in by isabella lara. And this one from leonardtown, maryland, four inches of snow there too in Southern Maryland. Heres another photo sent in by ambrose, one of our coworkers at nbc 4. The neighborhood there is in arlington, virginia, where there was about 1 2 inch of snow. Right now, beautiful blue sky over the potomac and 24 at reagan international, and northerly wind up to about 20 miles an hour. And when that windchill is down just near ten degrees, temperatures much of the region low to mid20s. Northern virginia, much of maryland. And its going to the not warm up much more. That suns energy is not heating the ground. Its going to evaporate some of that snow. Right now, the windchill just in the low teens, much of the region with the wind only around 10 to 15 miles an hour. Well, that snow came quickly, beginning late last night, the heaviest snows fell between about midnight and 3 00 a. M. In Southern Maryland and thats where they got those totals there in st. Marys county, some locations over four inches, some places in far Southern Maryland at 5 1 2 inches. This band in the dark blue generally anywhere from 4 inches plus in Southern Maryland to about an inch or two around the blue ridge. Generally about 1 2 inch or so around the metro area. As we go forward into friday, thats when well have increasing clouds, this is friday at 3 00 in the afternoon. All these areas in lavender zone of potential more accumulating snow. Disease lo does look like around 3 00 p. M. 6 00 or 7 00, accumulating snow by then. 9 00 itll again to move off to the east and quickly exit and be gone. Its not going to last very long, but we could get one to three inches of that snow tomorrow afternoon into tomorrow evening. For this afternoon, partly cloudy, cold and breezy, temperatures only in the upper 20s. And well have a northwesterly wind around 10 to 25 miles an hour. So those windchills will be down in the teens much of the day. And then, tomorrow, thickening clouds, teens in the morning, afternoon highs into the upper 20s. And that accumulating snow. Again, i think about one to three inches, much of the region, kind of widespread like the one last night. Thatll begin late friday afternoon, ending before midnight friday night. Sun back saturday and sunday, but cold, teens in the morning, afternoon highs only around 30 or so saturday, maybe mid30s sunday. Then warming up maybe near 40 on monday and tuesday into the 40s. And next time we might get precipitation after friday maybe in the form of rain on wednesday is the way it looks right now. And you can get also a wonderful slide show of all the latest snow pics, those will be on nbcwashington. Com. And you can check that out right now. And check out all the latest pictures too on twitter and facebook and follow me and get all the latest science and nature news. I like his. I like mine better too. Has anyone seen keiths digni dignity. We brought one for you. Its gone. Moving right along. How is it looking on the road . Weve got a hat for you too. Im looking for keiths dignity. I dont know where that is. Okay. Lets talk about the roads in silver spring. Not far from my old alma matter. Its clear, your travel lanes are open and well talk about the beltway. As you loop around all the way to the wilson bridge, travel lanes are open. This looks a lot better than it did this morning. Keith, heres your dignity back. Thank you. I need it. Its been crushed. 11 19 is the time, still ahead on midday, the problem young people are trying to raise awareness of and how others can get involved. And steps you can take right now to slow the aging process. But first, a look at whats hot on nbcwashington. Com. Get off of me. Or what . You cant do anything to me. I can. That was one of last years winning entries in a Student Competition in montgomery county. The competition helps raise awareness for National Teen dating violence, awareness and prevention month. Students are getting another shot to make their own Public Service announcements. Assistant state attorney Debbie Feinstein joins us. Good morning to all of you. Debbie, let me start with you. How big a problem is this . One in three teens are affected by teen dating violence nationwide and about 1. 5 million teenagers are affected by physical violence every year. And caesar and kara and whichever one of you wants to speak first, go for it. What inspired you guys to do this . The fact that there are a lot of a lot of relationships that are not working well. And we try to help other people to have them and see where the consequences are and how they can do something about it. And kara . He got me involved with this project. We were working together in one of our classes and, you know, he told me what the video was about, and i thought it would be a great way to raise awareness for it. And when you look at this video, obviously its a great video and its a great promotional tool. But how else can people stop this growing epidemic . Well, this year were actually hosting a conference on march 3rd, move beyond the myths, basically about healthy teen dating and learning ways you can get in there, help teens, help yourself and realize this, unfortunately, the one in three statistic doesnt lie. Its everywhere, its not just physical and you need to speak up. You need to speak up, speak out when you see things happening both for yourself and for others. And thats a hard thing to do, but were trying to really promote awareness. And caesar and kara, how would you encourage others your age to get involved . They can do videos like we did and try to probably talk to their friends and see and tell them what the consequences are and what the problems of the relationships that can happen. I think these psas are a great way to raise awareness. And the conference, you know, they offer a lot of different workshops and you can see videos and learn a lot about it. And how can people make their own psa . And how can that enter . Go to www. Chooserespectmontgomery. Eventbrite. Com. Were going to have bands, theres going to be music, workshops, a lot of vid