philadelphia but further south along the shore, we're still watching and waiting. here's a live look at the nbc 10 first alert weather radar. this winter storm that has brought us sleet and rain over the past two days. and with already wet roads, the snow and freezing temperatures to come are bound to create dangerous conditions on the roads. that's why we have the storm force 10 this morning. we want to show you exactly what you'll be facing if you have to venture out on the roads. good morning and welcome to nbc 10 news today. i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm vai sikahema. the amount of snow varies from north to south, and that's why we spread our team of first alert reporters and photographers across the area this morning. >> this is actually how we track our crews. all of these icons show the places where our crews are and will be throughout the day. for example, here's where storm force is. storm force is on 295 in burlington new jersey. we'll show you some live pictures from storm force and from the rest of the crews coming up. >> our nbc 10 first alert team coverage continues in just a

moment. first here's what you need to know. hundreds of schools are closed including philadelphia public and you can see the complete list on the nbc 10 app. and in just the last 30 minutes, a tweet that philadelphia's government will open on time. >> and you can count on the first alert team of weather and traffic to guide you through this winter storm. first let's get you updated on the storm with glenn "hurricane" schwartz. >> well, tracy, the storm is evolving a little bit slowly. the snow moving in the temperatures dropping down. the trend is happening. it's just happening a little slower. it also means the snow is going to last longer during the day. there it is snowing in south philly. near i-95. the traffic seems to be moving just fine because of the warm roads right now. now let's take a look at the headlines. the snow melts at first. a lot of people waking up that

see the snow melted on the road you think nothing's going to happen here. but eventually the roads will get slippery. and snow covered. and in some cases, that can happen very quickly. it's also going to snow for most of the day. this is not a short-term thing. so we have the combination of some rain and snow in south philly, but surrounding the area is snow. that rain/snow line is now down to millville, new jersey. so we continue to get colder. the snow is a little bit heavier up in mount airy and lower montgomery than it is in northeast philly. the darker the blue, the heavier the snow. now, we're not seeing it very heavy, even in reading area and burks county lancaster county. i would not consider that heavy snow. so we have the combination of light snow falling on a warm

road. yeah, that's going to melt. but two things are going to happen. the temperature goes down and the snow gets heavier. that is going to of course determine when those roads will get slippery. now, the visibility tells us how heavy the snow is and we do not see real low visibility. it's going down some. but there's nothing -- no indication of heavy snow at the moment. pottstown, 32. reading, still 33. philly, still 36. so we're watching for the temperature drop. that, of course is one of the critical factors. in bucks county we see temperatures 34 35. in the lower portion of the county, mid-county right around the freezing mark. and the upper portions of the county also right near the freezing mark. those temperatures go down. as the snow spreads south and continues through much of the day. again, we'll keep you updated hour by hour.

those temperatures, just by 11:00 a.m., in the 20s. that could cause the snow to stick. >> yes it can. that's right, glenn. good morning. right now this is what's happening on 76 near city avenue. we can see light snowflakes in the camera. sometimes they're a little heavier than others. but roads are wet. 76 is not snow covered. the entire length is wet right now. you still need to slow down and take your time because even if the roads are just wet, you can still see some slippery spots out there. these are the ramps between the blue route and 95 in delaware county. oftentimes your ramps can be pretty dangerous. right now as you can see, again, just wet conditions out there. and that's what we're seeing in the lehigh valley. this is route 22 out near route 512. same situation there this morning. we are keeping an eye on all of these traffic cameras. we have hundreds of them. so when we see the changing conditions, i will be sure to let you know. when it comes to mass transit septa operating on a regular schedule. patco is operating on a snow schedule. amtrak northeast corridor modified schedule. dart is operating on a regular schedule as well.

that being said even though some of these lines are going to be operating with a regular schedule, as we get into the morning, when we get deep into the storm, i wouldn't be surprised if we see delays even suspension of service. we'll keep you updated throughout the day. vai? parts of south philly you could get the most snow. salem and millville will be in the bull's-eye. that's the area of 5 will be hard to navigate perhaps. this is camden. new jersey governor christie went on twitter last night to declare a state of emergency. he urged people to stay off the roads if possible to allow salt and plow crews to do their work. state offices in new jersey will delay opening until 11:00 this morning. over to montgomery county. our katiey zachry is live. about a half hour cleverly you wrote 5:05 on the sidewalk. we're anxious to see what it looks like. >> reporter: yeah cleverly tell our executive producer that's clever.

so yes, vai, i did put a time stamp in the show. i'll show you that in just a minute. in the last half hour things have changed. the temperature has stayed the same, 32 degrees. so it feels like the mid-20s, so it's cold. the flakes are smaller and falling faster. and as you can see, that's accounting for a pretty decent coating on the grass, on the sidewalks, on parking lots. i measured it in the last half hour. it's about a quarter inch. this is east high street to my left. you can see it's pretty much slushy and wet. i talked to a plow driver not too long ago who tells me the main roads like east high street are really just wet. there's a lot of runoff that's residual from yesterday, that warming we had and all of the rain we had. here's my time stamp that you said i so cleverly put in the snow. we wanted to show you how the conditions are changing every half hour. when i last drew this it was 5:05. you see some of the snow is filling in the lines.

i did have some passersby unfortunately disrupt my clever artwork. but it hasn't filled in the snow quite yet. so about a quarter of an inch we're seeing here really just a coating on those surfaces. that's the latest in pottstown. katy zachry, nbc 10 news. >> thank you, katy. breaking news from overnight, an suv crashed into a bank in north philadelphia. look at this video. nbc 10 on the scene at broad & jefferson. that's where the cadillac suv plowed into the entrance of this united bank. police say the suv hit a car before smashing into the bank. this happened around 1:45 this morning. luckily no one was hurt. investigators say the suv driver and a passenger in the vehicle ran away from the scene. police are checking to see if the vehicle was stolen. and of course we continue to follow this early march snowstorm in the making. glenn "hurricane" schwartz is in. >> yeah this is a live picture of mayfair. you can see the roads are just wet. the snow starting to come down. but as the snow gets heavier and the temperature goes down that

picture is going to change. so stay tuned and watch it change with us.

good morning. if you're waking up in delaware this is what it's looking like right at main street and college avenue. you can see the roads are wet. the snow not sticking just yet. in a few minutes, i'll take you into chester county where i am starting to see some of that snow sticking along route 100. >> it's been such a roller-coaster ride. tuesday, we got sleet and ice. yesterday mostly rain. today we're expecting a snowstorm. >> and you've been tracking it and really saying if you're looking outside right now, it just looks like maybe rain or wet snow. it's going to change significantly. >> right, i know. and there are snow lovers out there that will wake up and they're seeing rain or snow light snow melt on the roads, you know, disappointed. it's just the beginning. and with temperatures dropping and the snow getting a little heavier, things are going to change significantly as we go

through the day. this is a different kind of storm than what we usually get around here. this isn't one of those coming up from the gulf of mexico. it's not one of those developing offshore. it's kind of a front and cold air gradually coming down. take a look at this radar here. and the blue is the snow area. all right? >> yeah. >> that's 1700 miles worth of snow that goes from new england all the way down to texas. that whole area is just sliding southward very, very slowly. and so this is a battle here. it's a battle between those temperatures which are going down which would tend to make the snow stick. the light snow now, the darker blues indicating heavier snow getting heavier. and that would help make it stick. the other thing fighting it though, is at 6:30 the sun comes up. by 7:00 it's totally bright.

and that strong march sun is sliding things off, trying to melt the snow too. so we need to get the snow heavy enough and the temperature low enough for the snow to stick. and that's just going to happen from north to south. but with the moisture on the roads now, and you get cold snow coming on sometimes you can, like instantly get a slippery road. >> right, changing conditions. >> yeah. so we have to be careful of that. it's going to stay like this all day. >> thank you glenn. >> make sure you're following the first alert meteorologists on twitter as this storm moves through. they will be tweeting any changes so you always have the most up-to-date forecast and predictions.

this is nbc 10 news first alert weather. >> and about a quarter to 6:00 right now. we continue to track the winter storm over the last few hours we've watched the rain turn to snow and that snow is going to stay with us for much of the day. here's a live look now from storm force 10 as it's traveling on 295 southbound. in the slow lane. checking the conditions on the streets while we're out there. we're also seeing snow sticking to the roads in some areas.

heading to gloucester county now, and pittman, gloucester county new jersey nbc 10's matt delucia is live there. matt that's a sleepy little community in pittman. are folks out and about yet seeing what's going on? >> reporter: no, not at all, vai. i'll tell you, there are a few cars out here right now, but for the most part people are taking some good advice and staying inside. although we do see some of the vehicles out here right now taking it extra slow. and a lot of them, this guy out here has a snowblower in the back of his pickup truck all ready to go. so we've also seen a couple of plows. of course, not with the plows down, but they've got the salt spreaders ready to go as the morning progresses and we get a little bit of that snow moving into the area. at this point, we're really only seeing rain. we saw a little bit of snow just a few flakes about five ten minutes ago. but at this point, it is still just steady rain. you can see out here on some of the colder surfaces like this ice that is left over here, you can see some of that moisture that has frozen over out here on

the surfaces. so you can see some of the effects it's having out here. but for the most part, the roads are just wet. not entirely slick at this point. but of course, we've been saying this all morning, the conditions are going to be changing over out here in new jersey. and so we're going to start seeing that momentarily. we're going to stay out here keep an eye on the condition. i'm also checking in with local counties, how they're getting ready. i'll have that in about 30 minutes. for now live in pittman, gloucester county matt delucia. nbc 10 along a snow emergency route in roxboro overnight. philadelphia's snow emergency begins in just a few minutes at 6:00 this morning which means you have to move your car from designated snow emergency routes or the city will tow it away. our monique braxton is live along a snow emergency route in mayfair. know monique? >> reporter: that means less than 15 minutes before these cars, suvs, work vehicles must be off major snow routes like cottman avenue. you can see now the snow is

beginning to stick. you also see the people have your trash out. we should let you know that when you come out to move your car, also remove your trash. there will be no trash pickup until tomorrow in the city of philadelphia. okay, look down on the sidewalk now, everybody. the snow is beginning to stick here. it's time for me to switch from the rain boots to the snow boots. it's beginning to stick here in philadelphia on the sidewalk as well as over on the grassy areas. now, we want to let you know that street crews in philadelphia have been on standby now since midnight. 350 plow trucks are going to be hitting the streets soon. monitoring the situation. de-icing salting to keep the major thoroughfares passable. we've been told that they're going to hit the snow routes first, then the primary and secondary roads. then they will begin to move on to the residential streets. schools are closed in philadelphia. all public and parochial schools.

i'm sure that's a major shout-out for the kids as they're waking up watching us waiting to hear whether they have to go to school today. we'll be back in the next half hour with an update on snow conditions as well as what you can expect for the remainder of this snow event that we're all excited about. live for now from mayfair, monique braxton, nbc 10 news. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz. >> well as you can see from monique, it's coming down a little bit harder. but you can see the traffic moving just fine. the roads are wet in philadelphia. and if it snows at this rate and the temperature didn't change it would melt on the roads all day. but it is going to change. it's not going to i sta the way it is. you can see the large area of snow expanding now into new jersey and northern delaware. the rain/snow line very clear-cut. and even in philadelphia now, we have snow everywhere.

and the concrete over at heat island has washed out in the atmosphere and now cold enough to snow. the darker blues out in some of the northern suburbs here. but still not really heavy. everything is relative in weather. okay this is darker blue but that doesn't necessarily mean it's heavy. we monitor how heavy that snow is. you can see that on radar as well as just having reporters out there tell you. now, if it's coming down real hard, real heavy, it would be maybe one inch per hour. two inches per hour. we've had some of the thundersnow issues where it's three or four inches per hour. the heaviest i've seen at least in the last few minutes, is .15. that's less than one-fifth of an inch per hour. that's not that heavy. the .08, that's really light. so here's the point. the snow is not heavy enough to

stick in most areas yet. you've got to get the temperature to go low enough. reading, burks county that looks like a lighter snow. here's the rain/snow line getting closer and closer to atlantic city right on top of millville, going from rain to sleet to snow. and in delaware wilmington getting some snow now as well. visibilities tell us how heavy the snow is. there's another sign that it's not that heavy. at least not yet. visibility down at philadelphia international and atlantic city. it's got to go below a mile before i'm really impressed, and so far, not so. 34 now in allentown. 33 reading. it just dropped to 32. in allentown. so the temperature's going down but it's not going down fast. 34 in philadelphia and in wilmington. we have to watch these

temperatures because, of course they're going to be critical. the road doesn't become snow covered immediately when it gets to 32. but the lower the temperature goes, the more likely it is to get snow covered. so glenside is 33. we go up into montgomery county collegeville and eagleville at 32. 32 in pottstown as well. so you can see that the temperatures are marginal. but watch, pick your spot and watch the temperature drop. now, of course normally during the day, especially in march, the temperature goes up during the day. this time it's going down. and when it gets into the 20s, that snow should be sticking even if it's light. now let's head over to meteorologist brittney shipp with more on how much snow to expect. >> that really is the big question, and it varies depending on where you live. so as we get you right to our snowfall forecast map, if you live closer to the lehigh valley, even into the poconos,

that's going to be the area where we're going to see the least amount of snow which is different from most of our snow systems. two to four inches for allentown, bethlehem, reading, even a little less closer to the poconos. but it goes up the further south you go. doylestown westchester, philadelphia on out to mount holly holly, burlington county all in that four to seven-inch rain. if you're closer to newcastle county salem, gloucester camden, central and southern parts of burlington that is the bull's-eye of our system. so that's the area highlighted in purple. that six to nine inches of snowfall. that's the possibility there. four to seven closer to dover. stretching out to sea isle city. atlantic city and also into cape may. so two to four inches for lynn new hanover, allentown expected to pick up anywhere between two to four inches. same thing for reading and phillipsburg. switch over to our next category, the most impressive one, six to nine inches. that's going to mainly apply to

christina, smyrna delaware, woodstown in new jersey beach haven, new jersey again, in the six to nine category. i'll continue to update you on what you can expect closer to your neighborhood, how much snowfall you can expect to get when i see you again. for now we'll send it over to jillian. good morning. >> before that i do want to mention we're getting closings and cancellations. we have more than 700 schools closed. and camden county offices have closed for the day and chester county offices have closed for the day. >> jillian, morning commuters may not see government vehicles or school buses out there this morning. >> i hope that we don't see a lot of vehicles this morning. schools will be closed. if you're going to stay home from work you shouldn't have to leave your house because we are seeing that snowfall as you see on this radar all across the area. let's zoom this into chester county right now. you can see all of that blue that's the snow coming down. so route 100 right near route 113, this is a live look. you can see a little bit here on the ground. we're just starting to see a little bit of it sticking especially on the shoulders. we're not getting too much. you can see the roads for the most part are still looking

pretty wet out there. but the conditions are changing and the conditions vary of course, depending on where you live, where you're traveling. so this is something that changes by the minute. we'll keep you updated throughout the morning. septa operating on a regular schedule. new jersey transit, systemwide cross-honoring. if you plan to travel amtrak, a modified schedule today. dart is also planning to operate on a regular schedule. and i want to say they're planning to operate on a regular schedule because that is the plan right now. but throughout the day, if that snow starts to come down and it's heavy and it impacts service, we could see suspension of service. we could see some delays. so keep with us. we'll keep you updated on all of the changing -- excuse me circumstances throughout the morning. vai? >> you can follow jillian on twitter and also count on the nbc 10 app to keep you updated on the changing forecast and any travel troubles from this winter storm. it's a free download in the app store.

this is nbc 10 news first alert weather. >> we have live cameras throughout the area. and here's a live look at the mayfair section of philadelphia. cottman avenue, which is a snow emergency route. philadelphia's snow emergency

goes into effect in two minutes at 6:00 a.m. which means you have to get your cars that are parked along snow emergency routes off those routes. >> still some of those cars are out there. >> yeah, they'll get towed. >> you've got to hurry. you're watching our snow coverage. nbc 10 news at 6:00 a.m. starts right now. >> nbc 10 first alert weather breaking news. >> the third part of this winter storm is now bearing down on us. here's a live look from montgomery county where the rain has turned to snow. and in philadelphia it began snowing about an hour ago. not a lot of accumulation, but according to glenn, it's coming and it's going to be here all day. and no snow just yet here in pittman. a live look from gloucester county, but it will change over soon. and we could see some of the highest totals in south jersey. good morning. this is nbc 10 news today. i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm vai sikahema. philadelphia public and

parochial schools are all closed because of this winter storm. close to 800 schools are scrolling at the bottom of your screen right now. let's get right to chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz. glenn? >> yeah, vai, we have that snow that is falling and melting along those warmer roads right now. it's not necessarily going to stay that way. we still have snow even in philadelphia. and as we take a look at that shot, you can see the snowflakes. you can also see the traffic moving. and on the radar, you can see the rain/snow line pretty clearly right near atlantic city and dover. and to the north, it's all snow. but it is above freezing. so this snow is melting on the roads. it will stick on your cars on the grass. then it will start sticking on the sidewalk. and eventually on the side roads and then the main roads. the darker blues indicate a little bit heavier snow. but we don't have any