Though. We have the radar punched up. Were driving north as quickly as we can get there safely of course. Maintaining our safe speeds on wet roads first thing this morning. And you should do the same because its just wet for now but as weve been talking about, the opportunity for roads to freeze up by later this morning and into this afternoon is a real possibility. So you want to take it extra slow. If you get a sleet or snow report send to me chuckbell4. And well be himself picking up potential for storm names, as well. Yesterday i think we were snowdone with it all. So thats what we have so far. Well continue our trip northbound on 270 here. Should be in frederick in the next 30 to 40 minutes. For now traffic with melissa. Sdl im sure we have lots of name suggestions this morning. Perhaps just a im done. Yep. Unless youre home playing with your kids. Its not fun to be out. We do have a disabled vehicle inner loop after braddock road. Because the roads are just wet and of course its so early not many folks out. Stay home if you can. Beltway at colesville road, also just wet there. 95 in and out of town bw parkway looking pretty good. Same thing looking at 270 this morning. No major problems. As far as marc it is completely canceled today on the trains. 201 bus will be running between gaithersburg and bwi airport. And vre also canceled today. Well be pushing these out on the nbc washington app and also giving you you info on twitter, as well. Storm team 4 tracking the major winter storm. Right now youre seeing rain outside your window but that will change over to snow. Some of you could see as much as 8 inches on the ground by the time this is all over. Megan mcgrath live at the salt dome. And weve learned Montgomery County schools are closed today. Everybody anticipating this tricky winter storm. Yeah you hear all the children going yay thats what my kids reaction was. Lots of jurisdictions closing. Its kind of an odd situation because all were seeing now at this point is rain. You can see the trucks are here. Theyre loading up. This one just fueled up. You look at the back there no salt in the back of the truck yet, but hell be continuing to load up and gear up this morning. So we are seeing a lot of those trucks already leaving the lot, so theyre ready to go just waiting on standby basically for the switch over to happen. And that will be coming up later on this morning. So dont be deceived. Yeah, were just seeing rain right now but that is going to change. We could start to see sleet a little later on this morning. And then the switchover to snow. Now, this is one of those tricky storms. The trucks we rely on them so much. The salts, chemicals, brine that they put down to melt the snow when it starts to fall. The problem with this kind of storm is that it starts as rain. And weve seen steady rain overnight and early this morning. And that will continue for a little while yet. So the chemicals that they would put down on the road, it would just be washed away. So when the snow starts to fall is a tough situation. Because unfortunately, that snow will just stick to the roadway and that could make for very, very treacherous driving conditions. So while youre looking out your window right now and youre seeing just rain keep in mind that that is going to change later on this morning. So plan accordingly. Dont position, oh,gosition think i can do things as normal. We will see the change joef and that will have a big impact on the roads. Megan mcgrath, news 4. And as aaron mentioned, Montgomery County school just closed and now Frederick County maryland schools are closed as well. 4 35 right now. Amtrak is running on reduced service this morning due to this pending storm. Trains between d. C. And new york will be running less frequently and that includes acela trains. Because the go. Is closed all Marc Train Service is canceled take. The same goes for vre. If youre commuting today by taxi prices will be higher in d. C. The Taxicab Commission announced their snow emergency fares will go into effect starting at 7 00 a. M. Fares will add a flat fee of 15 to the meter charge. That remains in effect for 12 hours with an extension possible depending on how much snow we get. Pepco says it will work around the clock to keep your lights and heat on throughout the day. Pepco says more than 400 contractors are on standby to deal with any problems. More closings coming in. It is a day off for most of you. Federal agencies are closed opm says check with your agency to see whether you have to telework today. Were pushing new School Closings to the nbc washington app. We just learned again Montgomery County schools are closed today. So are d. C. Fairfax, Prince Georges CountyPrince William county schools. We also just learned Frederick County maryland have closed. Arlington, loudoun Spotsylvania Stafford and fredericksburg city are closed as well p. Also Fauquier Culpeper rappahannock and king george all closed. In maryland charles, st. Marys Howard Anne Arundel and weve learned Calvert County schools are now closed. Alexandria falls church Manassas Manassas park schools are closed as well. The complete list on nbc washington nbcwashingto and at the of your screen. Were covering all angles of the storm. And temperatures will be dropping with the snow. Tom is timing out when it would be the coldest. And you cant talk about the snow without talking about a snowball fight. Where you can join in on the fun today. And while youre just seeing rain now you will see snow later on this morning. A live look at radar here for you. You can see the pink and white starting to mix down into our area. The full for the 4 x 4 is driving around 270 northbound. Here is a live look. Chuck bell is in there. You can tell its just raining right now but we know the snow will be coming and the roads covered later today. Tom will tell us when the temperatures will drop. Do you ever feel like you want to build a snowman and then just go in on thats where i am with the snow right now. There is a snowball fight that will be happening in the district today. Take a look at some video from weve reached that point in our lives. Just grab hands full of it and go this. The event started here five years ago. The organizers say its growing every year. There will be a prize for the best dressed snowballer. Is this happen th happening at the 5 30 at due you upon thepont circle. So have at it. Better a snowman than an actual man. Grant county West Virginia schools are now closed as well. Is is this snow the kind that you can have a snow ball fight . Yeah it should be good packing. They are getting snow north and west of us in the gray zone. The green zone is rain. And just to our north, this area in the pink maybe a little bit of sleet trying to mix in with the rain in fairfax, montgomery northern Prince Georges County. Live view from the tower camera showing just rain here in washington now maybe a little sleet in and out through 8 00 a. M. And after that the snow moves in. 10 00 or so this morning. And then snow heavy at times during the afternoon and then quickly tapers off by 8 00 p. M. And temperatures continue to drop to near 20 degrees by late tonight. 4 to 6 inches. A look at the timing coming up at 4 51. Melissa, any problems . Roads just wet at this point. Well talk about the rails here in a second. Beltway at colesville, everything moving nicely. Same thing at kenilworth avenue. Downtown east capitol at southern just wet there, as well. Going to look very different later. Also in the district, 14th closed at cedar because of a police investigation. Marc canceled today. 201 bus will run. Vre also canceled. It is 4 42. Were working for you in laurel where a snow emergency is in effect right now. Laurel Police Department is asking you to keep snow emergency routes clear. No parking is allowed even on the side of street of those snow emergency routes. Not just the main routes, but the side streets. You could be ticketed or towed. And were making sure your car is safe and running if you have to venture out. Dont try to charge your battery or warm up the car in an enclosed area like a garage. Make sure your tires are properly inflated, too. You want to keep your gas tank at least half full to avoid a gas line freeze up. And top off your washer fluid with a winter formula. Radar is very colorful. It is show something rain right in the d. C. Metropolitan area. We have sleet and snow to the west of us. Tom kierein has the latest on the snow timing at 4 51. And well check in with our crew in Northern Virginia where theyre calling for all hands lifes morning multitasking. Its multiple ideas for growing families and drawers with many layers to show exactly what you need. Lifes the food that brings us together. And kitchens where every meal is the most important of the day. Good morning. Tracking rain sleet and snow. Rain in green, sleet in pink snow is in white and gray. That stretches all the way back to texas, but right now around our metro area, getting rain in washington points south and east. And this little pink zone getting a little bit of sleet in parts of Montgomery County into howard county, that is tracking north and east. But this is the area of snow darker gray is just very light snow now falling in parts of Frederick County, maybe mixing with rain. And then the brighter white area is where the snow is coming down a little bit harder. Near hagerstown and along interstate 68 and interstate 70 there and along 81 south down toward martinsburg. 4 46 how. Were tracking preparations all over the area. Derrick ward is in Northern Virginia in vienna. Derrick, good morning. Reporter looking at route 123, maple avenue as it comes through this part of vee enin in avienna. And again, were seeing just wet streets. The rain has pretty much let up here temporarily. We imagine this is just the proverbial quiet before the storm and the cold before the storm. Temperatures are pretty cold right now. And you have your snowplows and your spreading equipment on the side of the road. All hands on deck here. Vdot says 3800 pieces of equipment will be out keeping the roads pass able once they can actually do something. Hills, curves residential area they will put sand down so that will give you traction. But again, they cant really treat a whole lot while the rain is down because it will simply wash away. So if you are parked on a street in virginia theyre asking that you can either park in a driveway or on the odd numbered side of the street to allow those trucks to get through and to keep these roads passable and get a grip on what is coming our way. Now, with more on what were seeing around our area Darcy Spencer is in the laurel section of Prince Georges County. Dars city what are you seeing . Reporter good morning. Yeah, im feeling like its getting always colder out here. Were getting some wind. We have a right line here in Prince Georges County. And id rather be standing out here in snow than the rain. Its a little bit on the miserable side. This is route 1. You can see there are trucks that have been coming through here it looks like theyre probably getting ready to stage. We havent seen any sign of any snow at this point. Here is another couple of trucks coming through here. This looks like this is going to be a plowable event. Recently weve had a lot of ice and freezing rain and things like that where they have had to use a lot of snow. But it looks like they have had to use a lot of salt, excuse me so it looks like this will be mostly snow and they can get out there and do some plowing. Schools have been closed in Prince Georges County. A lot of workplaces are announcing people can stay home take. So were just waiting for the snow to come. People get ready state Highway Administration says that they will have their trucks out ready to plow. They ask for you to stay out of the way if you can, let them do their job, stay home if you can and enjoy the snow. Were reporting live from Prince Georges CountyDarcy Spencer news 4. If you are looking to have some fun in the snow today, you will not be able to go shredding on capitol hill. Eleanor Holmes Norton asked police to allow sledding today on the hills afternoon the u. S. Capitol, but the Capitol Police board said no citing safety concerns. Safety first. Tom kierein is on his way in here right now, but first, you should know that you can follow pats snow stick. You knew there would be one. The winner gets his or her very own pat collins snow stick. So far this winter weve seen some of your best snow pet pictures and hats. Todays contest could have something to do with spring. Its alledgedly not too far away. Allegedly. Im going to have to see to believe it at this rate. Lets check in with amelia segal now to find out what kind of day well have. So snow is coming for sure. Absolutely. And in fact on storm team 4 radar, just starting to see indications of sleet sinking into parts of washington. As we work our way into the mid and late morning hours, mainly around 7 00 and 8 00 a. M. This is when well really start to see sleet and snow begin to mix in and then after that roads will go downhill. You might be wondering why schools have called off. You will see later today. And its all about the temperature. As we work our way throughout the morning hours, well continue to track falling temperatures. By 7 ouk a. M. Here is the temperature forecast in your neighborhood. Washington at 36 degrees. So still above freezing at that point. So the Road Conditions in d. C. At 7 00 a. M. Should be okay. But you notice the suburbs, gaithersburg at 30, frederick at 32 as well as leleesburg, manassas and culpeper. Throughout the morning it only gets colder. So that means wet heavy snow starts to transition to a drier snow and that will be able to accumulate a little bit more. So 10 00 a. M. You can see washington is at 32 at that point and thats when sleet and snow starts to stick to the area. Tom by 1 00 p. M. Were looking at temperatures in the mid20s to upper 20s in the suburbs. And 30 this washington. This could be the biggest snow storm the d. C. Metro area has seen this season. Weve been talking about it all morning. Those temperatures are critical. Right now were in the 30s near 40 with rain. As the temperatures drop and snow comes in thats when it will really start stickinging. But not until later this afternoon. Look at all the snow that area in the white and gray. It is snowing pretty hard now in kentucky and parts of West Virginia ohio. That snow zone extends all the way to texas. So we have a lot more to get through right now just getting a little bit of some rain here in washington this area in the pink maybe a little sleet trying to mix into the rain in our northern suburbs. But this is an area of snow just to the north of there from northern Montgomery County and into frederick and Washington County and then maybe a little bit of snowflake mixing in with a little bit of rain. Y light right now. And the timing and heavier snow that will be arriving not until around noontime. Thats going to be moving in to the metro area with the sleet zone sinking farther south and east and rain continues to pull away. Then the snow gets heavy at times between noon and around 4 00 p. M. Thats when well get the most accumulation. And then by 6 00 or so most of that heavier snow is in Southern MarylandNorthern Neck and it really starts to tape are off north and west of us by then. But still snow falling through the metro area. And then its quickly done. Maybe a few lingering flurries by around 10 00, leaving about 6 to 8 inches north and west. That includes Shenandoah Valley parts of the panhandle of West Virginia and east of there, southern Washington County all of frederick and all of montgomery northern fairfax, loudoun, northern Prince William and fauquier that will get 6 to 8 inches. And maybe around 6 inches or so right here in northwest washington. But generally less than that maybe 4, 5 inches in the blue zone. Including Prince Georges County fairfax, southern Prince William into Charles County and parts of calvert. St. Marys and Northern Neck lighter amounts, generally 2 to 4 inches. Look at this big zone under winter storm warnings from dallas all the way to new york. And we are under this winter storm warning all the way into this evening our entire region thats the pink zone there. After we get through this snow tonight, it will get cold. Tomorrow morning down into the teens. So snow wouldntone be going anywhere. Well have icy conditions tomorrow morning. Teens again saturday morning. Finally above freezing saturday afternoon. Then we move our clocks forward one Hour Saturday night. Quite a bit of melting going on on sunday. Temperatures should make it in to the 40s. And then maybe near 50 on monday with sunshine. It will be beautiful next week. Payback is nice. Well be into the 50s on tuesday and again wednesday. Wednesday maybe even near 60 degrees. And lot of rapid melting. Be still my heart. I just want to give this a big hug. Looks pretty good to me. All right. Taking a look now at some roads seeing one of our photographers driving through leesburg and hes been telling us it is just wet he