maryland will have 650 trucks on the road. d.c., 200 snow plows and 500 in northern virginia. >> when it gets more than three or four inches, everybody should stay off the road unless you have an s.u.v. and you know how to drive. >> meanwhile area road contractors are stirring up what they hope will be the best snow fighters. district uses beet juice and brine to keep melting materials sticking. maryland uses a salt and water mix. >> pour it in the truck and spray it on the roads, pretreat the roads. should keep it from freezing. >> montgomery county is warning residents they need to clear sidewalks in front of homes and businesses within 24 hours of storm or face a $50 fine. >> when the snow falls, everybody who owns property next to a sidewalk has to keep that sidewalk clear. >> biggest challenge, some of the worst snowfall will hit just in time for tuesday morning rush. and you're looking at a live picture of route 7 just off the dulles toll road. those white stripes there, signs of the pretreating that is ongoing. they're

in maryland southbound 270 at old georgetown there was an accident. that should be out of the roadway now. but otherwise, just volume delays headed south through newington and over the occoquan and then headed south from quantico, bogged down towards stafford. no incidents on the way there. very slow traffic headed to landmark. take a look at cameras and see what things look like there now. things are generally pretty slow. this is on washington boulevard trying to get down to 395. and that's trying to get on to 395 itself which is heavy and slow. traffic on 270 bogs down most of the way from shady grove past montgomery and up to germantown to clarksburg. >> ok bob. thank you. well companies are experimenting with new uses for drones. and apparently criminals are as well. look at this picture. this is a drone crash near tijuana tijuana. police say it was carrying more than six pounds of crystal meth. it was headed towards the u.s. border when it fell from the sky. drone experts say the technology is built to carry a small camera and that the weight of

reporting live in upper marlboro maryland rebecca cooper, abc 7 news. >> thanks. as for virginia, there's no law requiring schools there to have armed security. there is a law requiring districts that choose to have security but they must use armed police officers. as of 2010 119 of the commonwealth's 132 school divisions used school resource officers. public schools say that all schools have a security guard on site but they're not armed. certain schools, though do have resource officers who are armed. alison? >> the cleanup from the blizzard might have to be put on hold. two more storms could drop another six inches on parts of massachusetts. in the meantime we're getting an aerial look right there at the damage that was caused by those hurricane-force winds that everyone talked about along the coast. some communities were flooded after the sea walls broke. look at that. air travel in the region though, has pretty much returned to normal. but it will be a while before it's back to normal for those folks. wow. >> boston get six or seven inches but like bangor mai

notice nothing for the immediate metro and nothing for southern maryland. that's because temperatures are expected to be well above freezing. moving through the evening hours, it's dry at 7:00. and 11:00 it will be dry. showers will be the instant move in from the south and west by 3:00 in the morning or so. here's the extended outlook that shows showers for the day tomorrow. 40 degrees. look at the spike in temperatures for sunday. near 60. cold front may bring up a few thunderstorms and that much colder air on monday. breezy conditions upper 30's. middle 30's on tuesday. only around 30 on wednesday. and we're talking nighttime lows in the teens by thursday morning and we'll see temperatures for daytime highs only only in the upper 20's. to the newsdesk. >> ok, thank you very much. >> all right. checking in with a look at the wizards who are on this road trip right now. they could make a statement really. >> if they're going to do that they'll have to be a different team than they were on tuesday. >> that's for sure. >> it was not pretty. wiz didn't exactl

even colder for western maryland. look at these wind gusts, past hour or so 20-mile-per-hour wind gusts at gaithersburg but the jackpot goes to southern maryland with 43-mile-per-hour gusts and they're going to look for those winds to continue for at least the next several hours. here's the latest from the national weather service. let me get this out here. i'm having a brain freeze right now. a wind chill advisory that's what it is. get it out eventually. wind chill advisory all the areas shaded in blue and it includes all of southern maryland. head further out to the west and the mountains, that's where they're expecting a little bit of snow for the overnight hours and it's going to be cold out there and we're going to keep the cold temperatures with us for another couple of days. satellite and radar, there are the streamers, the snow flurries moving across parts of montgomery county and frederick county once again. nothing that's going to stick to the ground. we are going to look for things to begin to fizzle out l

maryland bureau chief brad bell is live in silver spring. any improvement out there tonight? >> tremendous improvement as you can imagin

the maryland general assembly meanwhile, began its 435th session today in annapolis. larry hogan and state lawmakers are starting this year's legislative session by emphasizing bipartisanship. one big issue they'll have to tackle is finding a way to deal with the state's estimated $750 million budget shortfall for the 2016 fiscal year. hogan says he also wants to look at lowering tolls once he takes office. he will be sworn in next week. and coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00 the double dose of problems you can face when you file your taxes this year. >> plus a case of whooping cough in a local elementary school. what's being done about it. >> a woman found guilty of stealing $80,000 in jewelry from luxury homes and this d.v.d. has a clip of her caught in the act. i'm kevin lewis in rockville and after the >> time now for a look at the day's other top stories. three people are hospitalized with nonlife threatening injuries after an explosion at a shopping center in falls church. that explosion caused the two alarm fire around 2:30 this afternoon at eden center. that's lo

eastern maryland has a giant crab. temperatures, wind chill factors, i should say, i don't think that came out right. wind chill factors are 33 degrees for dulles. 37 at reagan national. definitely cool out there and we are going to keep things on the cool side at least for the overnight hours. and then a bump in temperatures for the second half of the upcoming weekend. we have to wait another couple of days. satellite and radar with high pressure overhead is what brought us to sunshine earlier in the day. see the clouds starting to filter in. not going to amount for a whole lot. dry for tonight, dry for the day tomorrow and then the changes late tomorrow evening into the day on saturday. that's when you're definitely going to need your umbrella because it's going to get wet around here. scattered clouds and cool overnight. 25 to 33 degrees. that will be the low. keep in mind that last night our low temperatures were in the middle teens to lower 20's. the clouds will actually help as an insulator to keep that warmth in

she is the second-highest leader of the applicable diocese in maryland. earlier today prosecutors announced they would charge her in the crash that killed tom palermo two weeks ago. she is being held at the baltimore city detention center. >> a carjacking and it when a suspect -- a carjacking ended suspect walked into a police station and pulled a gun. sam is live with with the suspect asked the front desk officer when he walked in. sam? >> leon, according to the police report when he walked in he asked the first officer that he saw he had a gun. the officer said no. but the suspect had one, at least a fake one that he used to carjack somebody before he ditch the car and walked up here. at an son gas station at new york and bladensburg northeast the 1996 black or sadie's had its -- black mercedes had its engine running. a man carjacked it. then he walked to the fifth district police station, gun and waistband, smoking a cigarette and walked in. the police told him to put it out. he said no. the us the first officer if he had a gun. the first officer said

the maryland bureau chief brad bell live there tonight saying he's got the latest on the search and the outpouring of love. brad? >> yeah leon, last night when we were here smoke was still billowing from the house earlier today at noon still an awful lot of smoke. we can say that the smoke has subsided and as we zoom on in towards the scene out there, you can see some gentlemen wearing bright orange. that is the crane operating crew. tomorrow morning, they'll begin the search for the six people presumed lost in this house. that work is going on even as outside of this property people are mourning what they suspect is going to be a terribly tragic end. will makes the long walk down childs point road and he's already taken a train from his home in new york this morning to pay respects to the man he considered a mentor now believed lost in this massive fire. >> don was an inspiring character. >> the i.t. executive don pyle his wife sandy and four young grandchildren are officially considered unaccounted for after this fire destroyed the pyles' massive waterfront castlelike home yesterday m

and we have offices all over maryland in the d.c. metro area. specifically, we have an office in prince george's county as well as an office in montgomery county. and we assist clients that have civil disputes that are similar in nature. consumer cases family law employment and public benefits are some of the main areas that we focus on. >> you also do pro bono days and there's one coming up in washington county. what can viewers expect at a place like that? >> so pro bono days is basically a chance for someone to walk in and meet with an attorney. usually legal aid partners with the private bar and so there's nonprofit and private attorneys who are available to consult with individuals who have legal questions and so sort of a chance to meet for free and get brief advice about your legal situation, review documents that you might have and maybe come up with a plan of action of what next steps you have to take. >> a little bit of everything has somebody calling and asking about disability benefits. someone with a question related to a time share

meanwhile, western parts of virginia and maryland began their preparations for this storm hours ago. richard reid is live in western loudoun county with a look at the conditions early on. rich? >> yeah, alison it's been lightly snowing here but it's not sticking yet but you know just in time for the evening commute. take a look. this is route 7. these folks heading west towards leesburg right now. traffic was stacked up and very much stop and go at this point. but vdot says it is ready. now, we visited a vdot facility off route 7. they have 650 to 700 trucks loaded with salt and sand. by midnight, they stay they'll have 1,000 trucks that cross northern virginia. in the district they have about 200 snow trucks in place by 8:00 tonight and in maryland about 2400 pieces of snow equipment across the state. now, major thoroughfares have all been pretreated pretty much vdot tells us but it is a gamble, you know, no one knows exactly how much will fall or where. it is a very inexact science. >> we take the worst scenario and mobilize to that level and prestage our equipment. that way we can

these are images from frederick, maryland, a couple of hours ago. right now, of course, the snow has moved out of our area but there was enough of it to cause schools to cancel evening activities. chief meteorologist doug hill lets us know what to expect tonight. doug? >> hey, maureen, the story tonight is going to be all about the temperatures right now, 33 degrees here in arlington outside of the furniture storm watch 7 weather center. some areas, though as you check out the weather net right now, already below freezing gaithersburg annapolis, at freezing in prince george's county. gaithersburg below freezing. that will be the story. lower the temperatures go for the longer period of time the better the chance we'll see things kind of glaze over puddles freeze temperatures will drop near 30 later this evening with a light southeasterly breeze and then as we head through the overnight hours, we're looking for temperatures of 25 to 31 degrees and on top of that we may well see areas of fog forming overnight and that with subfreezing temperatures cou

they saw a bus and a lot of these people stuck here trying to get into maryland or virginia. their regular route home on metro disrupted. again, a lot of angry passengers here. but many thankful that at least they were not in one of those train stations or in the area where there was indeed that smoke. reporting live stephen tschida, abc 7 news. >> ok thank you stephen. we'll continue to bring you updates from l'enfant plaza and hospitals as well where the passengers are being taken. if you want you can go to wjla.com and see some of the i am images being sent to us from l'enfant plaza. we'll be back in a few minutes here. >> the other big story, the risk of freezing temperatures overnight making for an icy mess of area roads. chief meteorologist doug hill tracking this winter weather alert for us. doug? >> all right, alison i think what we'll find is as the cold front moves in tonight after the rain ends the gusty winds will dry off a lot of roadways big stretches of roadways but areas where there's standing water and puddles, those are the areas that are wet now and will fr

but that wasn't the case here in howard county, maryland. when a fire truck slammed into this car. >> it's messed up. >> despite the current condition of ann simone's 2004 honda. >> seriously messed up. >> that statement is not directed towards her car. >> i didn't do anything wrong! >> two sundays ago, around 10:30 in the morning, a fire truck left this station in columbia maryland for an emergency call. at this hill on route 108, the truck slid on ice hitting five parked cars. simone's damage is estimated to be around $3,000. most of which her insurance will cover. but she is still out about a grand for her deductible and rental car. >> i can't afford it. if i had been the one to hit somebody, i would have had to pay for the damages! >> according to the police report obtained by "7 on your side", the truck is owned by howard county which won't pay for the damages. abc 7 received this statement. "howard county pays claims for property damage only when the damage is caused by the careless or wrongful actions of our employees. the county blam

we can check out indian head, maryland and 34 degrees. a little breeze out of northwest at six miles per hour right now. tacoma park, 6-mile-per-hour breeze. and temperatures around the area are below average. average high is 44 and this time of day, we should at least be in the lower 40's. instead, we're in the 30's. 30's is the cold spot at gaithersburg. 37 at reagan national airport. as we get through the evening hours here we'll see the temperatures drop slowly but steadily.e time the temperatures drop and they diminish. drop to 21 inside the beltway or overnight range will be between 14 and 22 something like that. definitely a cold night. not the gusty winds as we get through the day tomorrow. the core of the cold air over the great lakes through new england and on the southern fringes of the cold air mass. if you go farther west it warms up in a hurry. 72 still at this hour in kansas we'll try to punch a little warmer temperatures here tomorrow ahead of a cold front. it will be marginal and won't warm up all that much. what we see o

-maryland line where saturday night, a cop here noticed that d.c. car was parked here under a handicapped space and didn't have a handicapped sticker on the car. before it was over the driver of the car, rookie d.c. firefighter oshane jones and two were in custody with lots of questionable stuff in that car. probationary firefighter oshane jones age 21 is on paid administrative leave from the engine 30 firehouse where he worked. police george's police say saturday night outside of this capital heights liquor store, an officer smelled marijuana from jones' car and then spotted ammunition inside including an ammo drum that holds 75 bullets. police confiscated a list of items including two pistols, the ammo drum two ski masks latex gloves, a box of ammunition and $60 worth of marijuana. jones and two others in his car were arrested on gun charges. jones was released on his own recognizance. >> fire officials have no comment on the incident but jones is the second rookie to attract attention. in last year's death, rookie remy jones was blamed for failin

what does the future hold for the ongoing maryland governor martin o'malley. what he had to say about his next steps and a potential white house run? that's coming up at 6 of -- 6:00. >> nasa says despite last winter's bit areer cold, it was the hottest year on record. the world averaged 58 1/4 fahrenheit last year and one degree makes a big difference and that 1.25 degrees was above average for the 20th century. global heat statistics have been kept 135 years. they also say that 2014 was a record setter. >> well 7 is on your side now with a health alert about the effects of alcohol on sleep. australian researchers gave a group of young adults either straight orange juice or juice spiked with vodka before bed. then while the subjects slept, the researchers monitored their brain waves so those who drank the spiked o.j. had brain activity consistent with sleep disturbances. researches say further studies will be needed to determine if having a nightcap is in fact, detrimental to your sleep. >> wonder if they'll have a tough time getting people to volunteer to he

that's along with maryland avenue between first and third streets. for a complete list of road closures and parking restrictions, go to wjla.com. time for a check on the traffic situation this holiday monday. bob emler is in the wtop traffic center with details. bob? >> maureen, certainly not a typical rush hour on this martin luther king jr. holiday. h.o.v. restrictions not in effect. in the district, rock creek parkway and canal road stay in two-way operation normally the rush hour they go to one way. brief delays around the region. want so much in bethesda and silver spring. a little slow northbound and southbound getting to the occoquan briefly slow. let's see how things look like now. a little bit of volume getting past river road and really moving ok on the inner loop. pretty light getting up to 270 and on 66 just brief volume delays between vienna and fairfax city. i'm bob emler with 103.5 wtop radio. >> coming up at 5:00 luggage lost. a blind woman left without her winter clothing. what it took to finally get that bag and those warm clothes b

maryland state police say the dirt has all been cleaned up. let's get a check of how traffic looks right now with bob emler standing by in the wtop traffic center. hi, bob. >> hi alison. on 6 westbound, very slow leaving the beltway going to centreville. along the way, there had been a crash before route 28. it's been moved out of the road but still there for people to see and still very slow headed west on 66. not too bad out of tysons today getting up to 270 on the inner loop of the beltway. slowed just about at the georgetown pike and through bethesda and silver spring. traffic generally doing well on 95 heading south on virginia. that's about it. take a look at cameras and see how things look right now. things are slow as you travel on 66 westbound headed out past 123 and then on 270, you have some delays as you travel north through montgomery village up in the german town and clarksburg no incidents to report along the way. i'm bob emler with 103.5 wtop radio. >> thank you very much. and coming up here on abc 7 news at 5:00 promises of pr

southern maryland st. mary's county and charles county not included but charles and the west of the area is under that as well. break in the current advisories posted and much more south side virginia to the south carolina border where they have freezing rain advisories. this is all in advance of a system that's yet to fully develop. the air is plenty cold. below freezing in many spots now. warm spot, reagan national at 33 degrees but the temperatures will fall. we have a dry cold northerly wind. it will push us across the viewing area between 15 and 23 degrees early tomorrow morning. it will be plenty cold! look at how cold the air is to our north. syracuse, 4 degrees. 3 at burlington vermont and 1 degree below zero at caribou. it won't be a case of freezing rain. it's going to be snow and in some areas, a few thousand feet up, there's a little transition zone where it's briefly above freezing since some of the snowflakes may melt and refreeze on the way down that's how we get the snow/sleet combination.