extraordinary chicken. thanks for joining us. normally with we would be sending up to "good morning america" but as a safety precaution we're going to stay on the air to keep you posted because this is the time the weather starts to change. i just got incredible pictures. forgive me for a moment. want to make sure i get the name correct and i've got pictures here her grandmother, northeast market. 1966. a lot of you have been talking about the 1966 storm where's some spots nowhere drifts were over coming the tops of the telephone polls. i have pictures of northeast market.

we're going to try to get them on the air because that's incredible to give you some prospective with what we're dealing with and what we're trying to compare it to. some analog storms if you will. this is going to be the hardest- hitting storms of all we've had. not going to be the heaviest. >> but when you consider all of the snow on the ground, when you consider the new snow we had last night, the ice we had last night and the new snow on top of that. plus the new winds we're going to have a major issue with downed trees, and maybe structures freezing rain came into the baltimore. goes back to snow. we will see at least an additional 4 to 10 inches. that may be playing it

conservative depending on how this heavy band behaves and if it gets stuck on top of baltimore we can blow that out and follow at will. we're watching winds that will be gusting over 40 miles per hour that that where create blowing snow. near blinding white out conditions and from there on it it's academic. we have already achieves the snowest winter on record. you compare that to the 95/96 winter of 66.5 and that went through the end of march. we compare that to 2002 and 2003. and we just did that a few years ago. that also goes through the end of march. i think we may have had snow in april that year. we are adding to the list and still have a month to month and a after to go of snowfall. we have unchartered territory. the frustration is understandable but have to consider the fact this hasn't happened before. how do we deal with this? we're going to learn a lot of lessons across the entire

region. you can almost see the snow starting to move from west to east and shift up to the north and the northwest. as this wraps around, this is a development of our coastal storm and and let me switch this over. this is what is called level 2. we take all of our sweeps and look across the area and take out the winter mode where we can highlight where the heaviest bands are coming down. we see that in baltimore county. where you actually see some yellow north of po corners between jarrodsville. we have heavy snow north of hamstead or manchester and around the west minutes better area. watching this band. this is the heavy band i'm concerned with. this is the one along 81. hagueers town, once that gets back in overhead we're going to have problems. you may be able to see the deeper blues. that's going to try to pull itself off of the coast and once that get here's if it does sit on top of us like some

models are saying we'll be looking at blizzard conditions with snowfall rates 1 to 2 inches per hour or more. the coastal system is just beginning to take over. you can watch the band push its way through on virginia. the mix you had that's going to turn over. even the rain in salisbury, baltimore and the beaches is going to be replaced by strong winds. snowfall rates 2 inches per hour or greater and it depends who gets the snowfall rates as to why we have this broad expectation of snowfall. i'm still going with the 12 to 20-inches average across the region. we've already cracked a foot in new freedom and we're close to a foot in through carol county, maybe. around baltimore we've averaged 3 to 7 inches. we've had that layer of ice compacted down so if you go out and measure through the crust this morning you may not have as much on the ground as what we actually did receive because

it got heavy and it weighed down. think half is happening in the trees and power lines. south of baltimore you had more rain. 6 to 12 inches and lighter mountains over the eastern shore but we do expect those problems statewide, blizzard conditions and temperatures dropping into the 20s. that blizzard warning 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 tonight. now let's check on those roads and it is absolutely messy out there. here's kim brown. >> very messies with we do have light volume, fortunately that's making it extremely slow going, even on the major interstates. we're getting reports it's going to be kind of slow going through the fort worth mchenry tunnel. 95 the corridor between the beltways is running extremely slow because some of the roads have not been plowed so don't expect to go onto 695 or even 95 and expect to see all lanes open because that's certainly not the case as we're dealing with both a snow and ice event this morning. so here we go with the crashes. southbound on the harrisburg expressway, we have an accident there. in also good news in anne

arundel county, davidsonville road now reopened at newman way. that earlier accident was reportedly involving anne arundel county fire crew so definitely keep that in mind. in anne arundel county though this is where it is coming in. in we have a crash again at route 450. howard county a crash in the westbound lane of route 100 at route 29. again you can make it out but you have to drive with a lot of caution, a lot of care. keep your speeds down, but you don't know if you're going to be able to make it home so keep that in mind before you head out and now we're going to toss it to linda so who is actually out live in locus point with a real report of what the road conditions are looking like in the city. well the snow has started to fall. getting pretty heavy. mixing with a little bit of freezing rain but mostly it's snow right now. a lot of people out and about

these folks have to go to work so they're out here in these yucky conditions and one of those guy is william. william thank you so much for joining us. what are you you doing out here this morning? >> i'm delivering a paper the best we can. trying hard not to get stuck. doing the dirty work. >> reporter: tell us what it's like on the roads? >> it's slick. the snow is starting to pack down on top of the slush. so if you don't have to be out here don't come out here. a lot of people are still getting stuck. make sure you have your shovels and your ice. everything you need, bottled water. >> reporter: you're dressed appropriately. i understand that you're having to walk through these neighborhoods to deliver the papers because you can't throw them out the window. it's hard to get through some of the streets. stroh go the extra mile this morning. like i said i have my brother in the truck. he has to park the truck while we walk up and down the street and still make sure people get their -- everybody getting sun today be patient, we are coming, we're trying our best. linda is on the job and we're doing our best. >> reporter: you have a newborn at home. >> i have a newborn, just want to say thank you to my family

for being there. we're out here making this bread and bringing the donuts home. >> reporter: william, stay safe, okay. especially when you're out and about walking in this. >> i appreciate you guys to for talking to me. >> reporter: you're doing a great job. >> you heard it from william. he said the roads have gotten a lot slicker. it was slush but it's starting to pack down and as it gets colder all of the stuff is going to freeze so be careful on the road. we see a lot of people walking trying to get to work or trying to get to the grocery store at royal farms to get something to eat. if you're driving out on the roads that you will probably be sharing it with pedestrians because the sidewalks have not been cleared yet. just be careful. again, snow is coming down pretty good now. coming down sideways into your face. i mean it's getting colder out here too so just be careful. we're live in locus point linda so, abc2 news. >> we certainly want you to head into the truck and warmup because it does look have

really, really cold out there. >> it is. linda was talking to his man william who was out working and we were chatting about this on abc2news.com there's a live web chat and you can get involved in this but there's been a big debate about bosses saying you have to get to work today and a lot of people have been talking about that. one man, terry, had a little tough love. you know this was coming it's your responsibility to get to work. there's six other people who want your job if you don't get there. >> it is tough because a lot of people are staying off the roads. kim brown is telling you the roads is nasty and it brings up a tough debate and somebody else asked are we going to be talking to somebody about schools because they've been closed for three days now it would be surprising if school returned thursday and friday. how are kids going to make that up. we have a lot of questions to get to which is why we're on the air right now. >> and also, there was another one. craig said that in pennsylvania snowplows went down on saturday

and the group of people came out and blocked the snowplowbecause they didn't want their mailboxes to be plowed. >> he said it was so bad that the police had to get involved. that's one of those situations where the snow's got to go somewhere and it really does stink if you can't get your mail but access to your street is more important. >> i think that's when you are really letting the stress get to you. feel free to weigh in. we are here. abc2news.com. we would love to know what you're thinking right now. one other person wrote in and i think this is a very important remainer. this is not the kind of weather to leave your animal chained up outside or in a crate and it sounds ridiculous but people forget if you leave a bowl of water out there it's going to freeze and your dog needs water and your dog needs warmth and so this is the time to bring your pets inside. >> checking on your elderly residents and neighbors and we applaud utor doing that. contact the nearest hospital to

make sure they're okay with 4x4s getting in. your 4-wheeled drives make sure the nurses and personnel get in there too. here's a couple more comments, abc2news.com. that's where we're opening it up and you're firing away here and again we're asking you for your comments here. we know about some of the side streets have not been touched and you're naming names here and you're getting frustrated. the plows are getting out here. we have pictures to show you now. >> speaking of our website feel free to upload your pictures. it's really easy to do. go to abc2news.com. direction there's on how to upload your pictures. this is the picture that came into us. one of the snowed out roads we've been talking about. this is krofton, morgan mason says they've been stuck in their homes and it's actually a serious situation there because some people need to get medicine. they're asking if you have a plow. if there's any way you can help them out on york town court in krofton please do that. we're going to try to contact

this person and see if we can get them some help because when you have the situation of medicine that's pretty serious. >> another picture coming in, a black lab, pepper ann. we're told by her owners, she love, loves, loves the snow. coming from karen who says good morning, and good morning, to you karen as well as pepper ann who might love the snow but is looking like she's had enough. >> we have melinda from dundalk who just made coffee and chipped beef. >> we'll be over. >> listen to this. this is why we're here. elaine from baltimore writes in mr. burnell briggs works everyday, is caring for his wife who is recovering from surgery, yet he found time to help people who live on a side street by shoveling for more than six hours. she wanted to applaud mr. briggs for getting out there and doing it. >> that reminds me of a story we heard over the weekend. we were on the air constantly

on saturday and sunday and someone wrote in to us -- called in to us saying we need help. i work for a veterans hospital and one of their volunteers with a 4x4 was a disabled veteran who brought in his 4- wheeled drive and was driving people around to and from the veterans hospital. that's all something we have to think about if you are home and have on the ability to leave was a 4-wheel drive -- can we show this picture of the fire station -- of the dundalk fire station. it was on fire. >> stay with us, we'll show you after the break

we are talking to everybody here. overnight we had a fire at dundalk fire station number six in sours point. mike took this picture. look at this. they heard the alarm. went to checking things and found smoke in the engine. guys got one engine out. they had to fight the fire out to the building wasn't a total loss. in thein the end they lost two fire engines, two medic units and a brush truck. a national guard humvee was also destroyed. the cause of the fire is under investigation. luckily none of the firefighters were injured. if you are worried about coverage from the fire department in that area don't be they have had seven extra people at the station during the day as well as two national guard members. they'll have that covered. >> that's awful, though.

>> they lost two fire engines and a brush truck and two medic units we are out live in harford county in edgewood. we overheard you talking to your photographer. you said this road is bad >> reporter: good morning. sorry, can you say that one more time? >> we overheard youierier saying this road is bad >> reporter: the snow is still coming down. the roads here are looking bad as you can see. that's route 24 over there. you have folks waving. good morning. they are on route 24. that's sort of passable but snow covered. we have edgewood road which is is defendantly snow covered and slick here. right now kevin is joining me from dundalk trying to get into

work this morning. good morning. can you tell me about your commute and what you encountered on the roads encountered on t your commute. >> stay in if you don't have to get out. they say if you have four-wheel drive trucks. i'm out here in rear-wheel and it is slick >> reporter: what are you doing? >> driving slow. taking my time >> reporter: dedicated employee out there. you are working for a printing company. >> i am. >> reporter: so you got to get to work. >> got to get to work and make extra money. >> reporter: thanks for talking to us. be careful. stay safe. in edgewood we are seeing snow-covered roads. we are seeing traffic picking up. a lot of times we are seeing people with plows plowing the parking lots. we are seeing a lot of those on the roadways. traffic is picking up.

people, for the most part, are trying to take their time. we have seen a couple of suvs plow through here quickly. encouraging people if you have to get on the road talk it slowly and take your time. underbeneath the snow-covered roads you have a sheet of ice. as you can see we got big trucks here. a lot of suvs. ;it very slow. that's definitely what you want to do. we have seen some on edgewood road slipping and sliding. as it keeps coming down station highway administration is trying to stay on top of the roads as best they can. with the snow coming down it is hard to tackle it. now let's head to break. we'll be back with more. ok, you got your card, your roses and her favorite -- hershey's kisses.

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comments are coming into abc2news.com. we have a live chat. we'd love to hear your stories. >> we had terry who said you should have taken precautions. you know it was coming. somebody else fires back saying i'm not putting my family at risk trying to get to work today. they have claire who writes taking an opportunity. after you finish shoveling you need a massage. she has a massage company. she is trying to get publicity to give you a nice back rub. >> that's probably a good idea. we'll go now to the phones. we have the director on the phone. >> good morning. >> you need a back rub. >> couple of them. >> give us the state of the state.

>> everything is quiet. we have gotten through the night okay. as you have been reporting the winds are picking up. we are concerned about blizzard conditions and power outages. we are hanging in. we'll be there to see what happens during the day. we are advising people not to get on the roads. we'll go from there. you mentioned dundalk station. i worked out of there many times when i was in the fire department in the county. >> can you believe that? >> i know. unbelievable. i'm happy nobody was injured. >> it is great they'll be continuing to service that community. that really is amazing. i can not imagine. >> that's such a great community down there. they'll be there for them and recover like they always do. >> what, as far as the situation goes for you guys today, how do you handle something like that where we are expecting bad weather all day? >> that's a good point.

as we have talked many times our role is public safety. we'll be here monitoring and concerned about assisting locals with getting emergency equipment in and out of neighborhoods. that's what we'll concentrate on today. of course, fha will work on clearing the roads. it is a great team work here. we are ready in case we have power outages. we are in prep mode. this is what we train for and plan for. we'll do it. >> maybe you can help us on this. there is a debate going on about if i have a private plow and i have my own plow can i go to baltimore city and plow a public road? >> yes. that's a good question. i think legally probably not. because it is a city property, so to speak. but, in these type of things i wouldn't be surprised if people don't do it.

>> it has been such an issue being discussed right now. we were trying to get answers for people. it would be a nice thing to do for neighbors who had be been stuck on the street for days now. legality is an issue. i'm sure that makes people hesitant do so. >> it is a liability. a lot of times with these trucks they are hitting cars, not on purpose but they cannot see them or the trucks are too wide for a road. i think it is probably a very liable situation to be putting yourself in. once again, in these times i think everybody's doing whatever they can do. >> we know you'll be busy all day. would you mind calling us in a little while and checking in. >> absolutely. >> thank you. dundalk fire station has hearts going out to the engine company. >> they need that equipment. it is so expensive.

it has to be awful to watch that burn. the community needs it. on top after that they are able to serve the community. we'll stay on top of that story and keep you posted jeff is joining us this morning. he is out live. how are you out there? >> reporter: i'm at garrison forest plaza. we drove here a couple hours ago. conditions have changed. we have somebody with a four wheeler that will tell us what it is looking out there more recently. it is john. good to see you. you came from east baltimore this morning. what is it like? >> roads are slow. if you got a truck or four- wheel drive you'd be all right. i don't recommend you driving >> reporter: where are you heading? >> to work. i got to make the money. someone has the pay the bills >> reporter: there was no forgiveness today about work. >> get up and go get that

money. that's what she said >> reporter: the american way. make sure you are safe out there. >> you, too. >> reporter: take care. we want to give you a quick update on the roads. state highway administration is doing a marvelous job. we'll take a quick peak as john rolls around out of the lot. to give you idea of what it looks like. we had four trucks come through here. one was a salt truck coming behind the plows. you can see some visible asphalt. not a lot. it is soupy but cars are passing. again, blizzard conditions. visibility low. very few people on the road. it is passable for now. >> thank you, jeff.

it is 7:29 somewhere. here it is in ellicott city. look what they are doing. this was sent in by blair. they are just drinking the snow away. >> parrot heads in the snow. probably listening to jimmy buffet drinking their margaritas. i'd like those people to be my neighbors. they look like fun don't they? >> what's the cul-de-sac on desperate housewives? >> wisteria lane. >> keep them coming. you can upload your pictures at abc2news.com. you can see all the directions and instructions on how to do it. also, while you are there feel free to weigh in the chat room. we have a live chat going on. a lot of debates happening with this weather. kathy says how many think

i'll be able to get tomorrow to florida driving? >> wow! >> she's online now at abc2news.com. she's going to try to go to florida tomorrow and try to drive. do you think she'll make it? >> i think she will. >> be careful. they are saying stay off the roads if you can. that's one thing to keep in mind. florida is always going to be there. we'll take a break and be right back. stay with us.

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good morning. as we peak around the area roadways conditions are certainly getting worse as the hours continue to tick along. as we look at the beltway on the outer loop 695 we have an accident there off to the shoulder. can't even say if i would say that these shoulder. we only have one opened lane on

the outer loop. it is going to be a snow event and ice event. take your time. bring your speeds down. give space between you and the drivers in front of you. we have other accidents southbound 83. we have an accident crash there. around the counties howard county 70 eastbound at marriottsville road another accident. route 100 westbound at route 29 in ellicott city on the side streets. montgomery road a crash there. ann arundel county getting hit hard. route 450 at punxsatawney river road there is a crash. baltimore city accident at last ski highway. major roadways are getting worse. side streets will be looking worse than the beltway and worse than 15. even with light volume a lot of

people took off work. school systems are closed. so are county and city governments. baltimore city has a furlough day today. federal government shut town as well. less people on the roadways does not make it less hazardous. you have to use common sense and drive with care before you head out this morning. black ice is going to be a problem as we have that freezing rain come through the area. coated roads with ice and glaze. then snow fell on top of it. where you think you are driving through snow it could be ice. tires may not give you the traction you are looking for. take your time before you head out. we'll toss it over to justin burke with an update on a blizzard warning. >> so much to talk about. before we get that to i want to share with you. studio is an artificial environment. we have to create this ambience so we look okay on tv. i have a straight shot outside.

it is hard to see across the parking lot. the snow has picked up. as you can see we have ourselves a view with the snow coming back down. if we pull back we'll get a better perspective of the deeper look. let's come back inside and talk about what i have to share with you. which means for those of you on the eastern shore it has been going from snow to sleet then to rain back to sleet. it looks like it is turning back to snow. doppler radar says that is the case. denton we put that in the heart of the screen. yes we have that changeover. it is pushing through federalsburg. overall i want to highlight it is a matter of who is getting moderate and who is getting heavy snow. there is a heavy snow band to

the west. we'll continue to watch that work eastbound. snowfall rates will pick up from half inch to inch per hour to two to two inches per hour. here's the deal. you can see the better here on the wide view. where you have deeper blues those are the snowfall rates coming down for greater than an inch per hour. west of baltimore and northwest of d.c. along the potomac we have ourselves a push of heavy snow. that's the band some of these computer models have been pick to move on top of baltimore and sit for a few hours. like that weekend storm we had ten days ago, that could really make the difference. 50-miles or so of who gets clobbered with exceptional snow amounts. down to 32 easton. 30 baltimore. 28 york, pennsylvania. winds picking up out of the northwest 5 to 15 miles per hour. it is a matter of hours until

the winds really get cranking. blizzard warning. that tax -- takes us from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with. the winds gusting 40 miles per hour. that will take our wind chills into the single digits. factor in the heavy snow and we have a full on blizzard and whiteout conditions. you can see where we have those deeper darker blues and bands of heavy snow from central pennsylvania through southern virginia. that's an upper level piece of energy. that's the last ingrediant to take this coastal storm and have it explode with development. that creates a little vacuum in atmosphere. air will rush in from all directions. that's why we are turning everything back to snow. winds pick up over the next couple of hours as the

barometer pressure drops. this is the look in carroll county. half an inch of sleet and snow. rain and 33 for a while. back to snow in denton. six inches in elkton. rain is going back. it will pick up. you'll more than double those amounts today. piles on harford county and aberdeen 5.5. as we push it through baltimore county you were watching jeff in owens mills they had 7.1. now ice and sleet will put you in the forecast zone of a foot-plus. parkville 3.3. more ice overnight will compact what's on the ground. layer of ice and crust will help the new layer of snow to stick. we'll have problems building across the entire area. we'll have more totals coming

up later on. again, i wanted to highlight my forecast. i'm sticking with it. average of 12-20 inches across the area. more to the north where they never turn over the sleet and freezing rain. then we have bands of heavy snow that pushes through. six to 12 inches around the midportion of the day. rainy sections end with heavy snow. stick around. we have an entire day ahead of us. we have to go to commercial break.

head to abc 2. we are trying to get answers to the questions you are asking. that's a lively place to chat about work and whether you can go there or not. somebody asked about the federal government in washington. they are closed today.

federal government outside of washington are you closed? this is a big issue. we are getting an answer. write this number down. if you loose power they are saying we are not going to know unless you call us. hopefully you won't loose power. if you do call 877-778-222. 2222. right now bge is ahead of the game. if you loose power they have got to hear from you. give them a call. we have beverly on the phone. she is the boss of the transportation system in maryland. good morning. >> good morning. >> here we go again. it is getting worse out there. how are we managing? >> through the night we were able to keep up well since we have not yet had the hardest part of this storm. the crews both on the highways, transits and the airport have

been able to keep up plowing and salting operations. we expect the storm to intensify to so the crews will work through drought day. >> what do you hear from the drivers? they have been working nonstop since friday. how do you keep moral up? >> fortunately many of the drivers are very dedicated employees. they, in some ways get up for these events. they know they are the unsung heroes out there. so they just keep going. they take a few breaks. sleeping in their shops and that short of thing. we try to keep them well fed. but like i said they know how important this is. i think they sort of psych themselves up for these events >> is in a state law regarding how to deal with plow truck drivers on the road you see? i know some states have a distance you have to keep.

is there anything like that in maryland? >> no. but we do try to make sure that everyone understands what the protocals should be and to keep everyone safe. >> go over the protocal. >> people should never pass a snow plow. or particularly they need to be cautious around the snow plow train. it requires they be patient. that's what is important is to get those folks out there to get these roads clear. we need for people to be careful and to make sure that they are staying behind them. if they do have to get out on the roads at all. the best thing do is stay home with their family this morning. >> i saw salt arrive at the port of baltimore. how does that loaded and are we really craving more salt? >> well, we have a sufficient supply of salt at the port of

baltimore. the challenge is getting it to the places that need it. some supplies are running low in the urban areas. the challenge is for the salt companies it takes a great deal of time to actually be loading these salt trucks and then to get them out on the roads to the places where we need them. last night they did close those operations at 9:00. they were concerned about the safety on their drivers. that is a challenge is getting the snow from the port into the places where we need it. >> thank you. she is the madame secretary for transportation in maryland. now we'll go live in harford county. harford county was an area that was supposed to get hit hard. it looks like it has been coming down steady >> reporter: that's right. we are definitely seeing more snow. we feel like we are in a blizzard right now. i know the warnings starts at 10:00. it is definitely come doing.

we have seen more snow getting a lot colder out here opposed to a couple of hours ago. side roads to edgewood road also very slick. we are seeing snow cover thed and slick spots with the ice. northbound lane didn't look as bad. southbound lane the trucks need to come by on that lane. that one looks worse for wear there. if you are heading out you want to take it slow. we have ran into a couple of people saying they need to get to work. if you do have to head out you want to take it slow. you don't want to drive too fast for the conditions out here. here in harford county the snow is picking up. the wind is picking up. we have a pretty rough situation out here. again, if you don't have to be on the roads you really don't

want to. this is edgewood road here. snow covered. it is packed in there. it is also slick. we have to walk on the roadway here to get over here to the live shot. it is very slick to even try to walk on it let alone drive. that's the situation here in edgewood in harford county. now back to you in the studio. >> thank you. stay warm out there. we'll take a look at pictures you have been sending in. this is incredible. look at this. 1966 winter storm. northeast market. snow inside the market. it is almost looks like maybe it is a street. that is the northeast market. you can see snow inside. >> growing up here in rose dale i remember standing on the roof of my father's car because of the 1966 storm. i have a picture of that. thats to bun i always compare

snow storms to. this one nothing to compare to. here i sent videos to you. keep the pictures coming. we are hearing you. listening to you. stay with us. lisa, your family thinks you might have roaster phobia.

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deliver. we got a request from jimmy in harford county. here's your forecast forecast. listen up. hooked up now to eastons emergency management agency. it is 28 degrees now. winds have not been that big of an issue. i think we may have problems with some of the anemometers. that's the wind instrument considering the fact that we had rain. now it is 28 degrees. it may freeze. that happened real quick. here's what's happening in easton. we were talking about caroline county where the snow moved over. from here on out it is snow. you are under a blizzard warning. as we pull this wider i want to point out the fact there are heavier snow bands back west. it is going to continue to rotate and pivot through.

snow lovers there is your dream. we have circulation to the south that one heads off the coast. that takes some of the heavy snow bands around the potomac and swings those through. for you you'll get heavier snow picking up. we have heavier snow bands in baltimore and carroll county. that's the stuff moving through. for you on the eastern shore much like the rest of us you'll wine up with at least an extra six to 12 inches of snow. now there is a heavier band here. ing clearly see that showing up now on our radar with darker blues back to our west. that's the stuff that still had to pivot through. it may get stuck for some time around the bay and the eastern shore. from this point on it is safe to say that most of us are going to wind up with another least another six inches of move. could be pushing another foot in some spots. temperatures are pulling back 30 degrees baltimore. 32 easton. that was at the top of the hour.

that was at 7:00. 8:00 update for you in easton should be dropping into the 20s like i showed you. that's why we have this life equipment in stations all over the state versus relying on the airports that only update once an hour. temperatures already pulling back into the 20s. they are locked there. as wet get winds kicking up that will push 35 to 40 miles per hour threshold. snowfall rates one to two inches per hour. that will make for whiteout conditions. be careful in the places near the bay with opened field or if you are on elevated plateau or hill you could be exposed to the wins and get disoriented. i wrote this online. if you can check on your neighbors make sure someone knows when you are going out. although they may loose you a few feet away from the house it

is good to know the timing and perspective. i have been out in whiteout conditions. it is not fun. it gets scary. it can get like that today. we have a low pressure that's rapidly developing. winds will pick up. you can see the snow pivots toward the east. snow will make its way towards the coast. the storm will intensify. as it does so that will increase snow rates. that's why we expect to have ourselves a snowfall that will be topping the list that we have gotten. if you are wondering we have made it. the update from this morning 65.6 inches on counting for baltimore. that puts this as the snowiest winter of all time. we'll add to that list. with the blizzard warning we have in effect at 10:00 through 7:00 p.m. gusts over 40 miles per hour. there will be heavy snow. there look blowing snow.

there will be drifting snow. even stronger winds on the eastern shore. while we could be looking at winds pushing 40 miles per hour in baltimore and ann arundel and aberdeen along the bay eastern shore could be pushing 50 miles per hour winds. expecting winds over 06 miles per hour along the beaches of maryland to delaware, new jersey under that blizzard warning to long island. overall again i'm calling for an average of 12 to 20 inch move. i'm sticking with my original forecast from yesterday. more to the north where i had a couple reports in york county averaging 13 to 16 inches of new snow from this storm. they could get another foot on top of that. while it is mixed over with freezing rain and sleet around baltimore that has stole an few

hours of potential snow flakes for us. this storm should make 12-20 inches. i said another six to 12 with slightly lighter amounts east. i'm putting four to eight inches in the lower portion of the eastern shore. you could easily surpass that if the heavy snow bands get on top of you. we have ourselves a blizzard warning today. temperatures will go to the mid 20s. wind chills will be down into the low teens and single digits. this is a snow-lovers dream. i spoke to my wife on the phone. she really believes she woke up and in the movie misery. i think a lot of people are feeling like that. as much as you love snow there is a point where it gets ridiculous. we are reaching that point. it will get dangerous because of the icing we have had allowing the snow to stick. it should finally come to an end.

the problem is the weight dealing with the wind. the winds will stay with us tonight. as we roll through the extended forecast, some of you are wondering about the weekend, the next storm looks like it hugs the gulf coast and stays south. we should be fine for that thing passing friday and saturday well to the south of the area. we'll hover with temperatures in the low 30s. melting during the day and teens at night which means a hard refreeze and ice in the mornings. sunday night and monday another system comes in this cold arctic pattern. it is possible we deal with snow through the early part of next week. before i toss it over to traffic i want to say december 5th and 19th then we got our january storm. then we got our storm last weekend. out of all those storms that seem to just consistently hit on the weekend a lot of you ask

for a midweek storm. here you go. be careful what you wish for. now let's see what's happening on the roads. >> when you said we have a possibility for more snow later in the week my heart skipped a beat. listen, as more folks start to venture out so are crashes beginning to pile up. this is an earlier accident on the outer loop. you can see the police on the scene. we mad emergency vehicles. they have since been cleared away. you can still see left lane and shoulder remain blocked there. as we only have one lane opened on the beltway and city highway administration let us know at the beginning of the last storm that that is truly their goal. as the snow comes down at a very rapid pace all they want to do is keep one lane opened on the major roadways for emergency vehicles only. as we heard from officials they are really encouraging drivers

to stay off the roadways. as we have accidents coming in on the inner loop both shoulders blocked from earlier crash. 95 southbound past mountain road incident blocking left lane and shoulder. as we look at route 50 you can see a couple lanes passable. probably a nice glazing of ice. northbound accident off to the right shoulder. second at the hartford tunnel toll plaza one lane blocked there. around the counties 70 eastbound at marriottsville road in harford county a single vehicle off the road out of the travel lanes. route 100 westbound at route 29 accident there. ellicott city on the side street crash reported. ann arundel route 450 at punxsatawney river road. glen burnie route 10 at 648.

baltimore county we have a crash. taking a peak here at the jfx maybe the plows hit this a couple of time. maybe one or two passes. still slick snow covered. bad drivers conditions. switch to swiffer wetjet,

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day long. >> sally says i appreciate your coverage but couldn't we get some-"good morning america"? i would like to know who else is going on in the world? there's not a bigger story in the world. all the stations are on. and not to mention,dy hear our desk, they're on the phone with other stations around the country, including new york and "good morning america" that want video of what is going on today. it is a big story and we apologize people become accustomed to the programming. and we feel like this is a public service. we'll hearing your concerns on the air and some -- so this is why we're doing it, we're trying to keep people safe and informed. and it really is why we do our i don't know. i think a lot of times you wonder what is going on with the news? this is one of the situations that i think we strongly feel like we need to be here. so we're sorry. i'm sure you miss what is going on. and we'll try to get to other news happening. but right now we have to stay

with the weather and we'll head over to david craig. he's on the phone. >> good morning. >> how are you doing in. >> we're doing okay. it's president's weekend coming up. and harford county is going to have a white sale. >> this is unprecedented. we're living through history. >> yes, we are. it had to be on my watch, didn't it? >> yes. we have about ten new inches on the ground and the roads are treacherous out there. and we encourage everybody to stay home. yesterday when i was at the shop as the crews were getting ready to go out, they were tired. but they were ready. the thing we're experiencing is now equipment breakdowns after it's been on the road. we've been out 24 hours a day the last four or five days. but we have extra equipment is we're able to keep the vehicles out there and turn around and get them become out. >> we heard a debate going on

our chatroom on abc2news.com and some people saying, i think it's illegal for people who own private plows to go on to public stress and plow. but there are some areas that need some help. is that something that is a concern or an issue? >> we had a meeting yesterday as we were getting -- reassessing and getting ready for this storm and we were talking about who we could pull in to help us. and already legal issues and insurance issues. i would have to say at this point, we have not seen a lot of people like that out there. but we are really limited who we can bring in to do the work. you have to have certain licenses and certain insurance before they can do that, even if they're contractual workers. and we have many contractual work outs out there -- workers out there. that's typically true in the 1400 court yards that we have in harford county that takes

about an hour and a half to plow. one thing we did talk about yesterday is that the people that got done last are going to try to get done first this year. sort of a little olives branch tool about how patient they were. we appreciate the patience of the citizens out there. >> if there's a stress in harford or bel air, what should they do if the plow has not been down the street? >> don't call 911. get on the computer and we're call the highway department. i don't know if you flash that number up. off in front of me right now. but if it's not an emergency situation. if you're home and have a medical emergency, call 911. if you're home and sort of frustrated and you want to find out when is the plow coming? call the highway department. that is a separate number that we put up during the storm. we have six national guard

humvees out there. those guys are coming in. if you're having a medical emergency for some reason, whatever it is that's where you call 911. >> david, have you talked to anybody from the schools at all. i know that you're with the county and not the school system. but there's been a question of what is going to happen when summer rolls around? how long are the kids going to be in school? so we're wondering that right now and we're hearing a lot of people ask about it. how are we going to make up for the missed school days? it would be surprises from schools opened up thursday or friday. >> i would be surprise philadelphia they open up all week. and -- i remember growing up in huge february snowstorm in 1966 and we were off and they add extra hours. what you'll have to see is from appeals to the state superintendent to forgive some

of the days and and i had a daughter that missed 15 days. and she loved it and she did not have to make it up. it's going to be difficult and there are probably going into late june, problemly one thing that we have talked to the school board about is they have their own snowplow system for doing the parking lots and they have hired contractual people to do that. and we asked them if you can help us do the roads if we help you do the parking lot? but as you've seen and you've shown on your tv, there's no need to get out because there no place to get to after you get out right now. >> all right. we're going to work on geting that number and we'll try to get a hold of nancy grass to see if she can shed any light on the school situation. in the meantime, are you hearing anything from parents and your county? >> mostly right now we're still hearing from citizens that are frustrated with the plows

getting to them at this point. we have not really heard anybody. i think the priority right now is get the road surfaces cleared so we can get to work and do what we need to do. we'll worry about when school is going to be over when it is going to be over. but the seniors are loving lives right now. >> i do really like the idea and you're the first person that i heard that from, that you'll get to the streets first that were neglected last time around or maybe the last on the list, those are the ones that you're getting to first. those people have to be going a little stir crazy and feeling a little neglected. that is a good idea. >> and that came out of our highway department yesterday. they work hard at this. and they've done it before. but they never did this before. >> if you're watching at home and if you live in harford county, we put up the number that david craig mentioned. if you have any concerns, that number right there. >> thanks for putting that up.

>> and we got an e-mail from shannon. and she said she just moved here four years ago from toronto, canada. and she said that she's never experienced this but 1999 living in toronto, the mayor of the city brought the army in for support. since you're right there with aberdeen, i would like to go to that point. >> aberdeen crew that have crew that are in desert places right now. in maryland, the national guard is helping us with the emergency vehicles. i live 2 miles from the national guard reservation and they don't have equipment like that, unfortunately. we will probably have to help plow them out so they can get on the roads and do the things that they need to do. so i a little different than in canada but we appreciate her call. i had gotten an e-mail from toronto said that you are not donning a really good job

because i've seen in other places. but maryland is maryland. and we're a little different my sister lives like this in north carolina. they shut down and nothing happens because they don't plow anything so we're in the middle there. >> if you're used to getting a lot of snow, you're probably better equipped to deal with it. >> i have a son-in-law from buffalo. and he tells me like what the snow was like growing up. and it was probably like this all the time. that's why we live here. >> you want to take a picture of your backyard and send it up to the people from new jersey that are moving down to aberdeen. >> i don't know if we want to do that or no we can have the winter olympics here. >> thank you very much for checking in with us. >> thank you very much have a good time. >> david craig, harford county executive. >> and now we're going to try to go to linda. she has been live and local at fells point all day long. there's a debate whether to go

to work and linda has been talking to people that have been working at the shops, royal farms and walk into a work from locust point downtown. what are you hearing this morning? >> this seems to be the hotspot for people making a run to get some coffee, this royal farms on the corner of sea highway and lauren street. we have two people here. skip you just got off work overnight what was it like trying to get back home. >> really, really hard. >> reporter: really slick out there? >> yes. >> reporter: tell us what the roads were like? >> you could drive through. but it was really bad. >> reporter: so they decided instead of hopping in the car, they walked down here. what was the walk like in. >> walk was okay. so we walked in the middle of the street and the cars went around us. >> reporter: you want to be careful because you'll be sharing the road with some cars and the road conditions. >> if you're from locust point you have no store. so you have no choice but to

walk to the royal farm. >> reporter: skip, what was your road looking like? >> my street, andre street was pretty bad, yes. >> reporter: dee in. >> it's good. it's drivable. >> reporter: good luck. >> it's just the side streets that are really bad. >> side streets are bad. you can't get down there. >> reporter: be careful, especially walking too because the conditions are not looking good. thank you very much. stay safe. when we were out here earlier this morning, about four hours ago, could you actually see the pavement on lauren street. but you can see it's know covered. we have seen several plows come by, but the snow is coming down pretty good now and they're having a hard time keeping up. the roads snow covered and the people talking to all morning saying it's getting worse and worse. and just continue said it's going to continue to snow and

it's going to get worse. if you have to be on the road, take it easy and a lot of people tell us that the folks here at the royal farms that are out and about, they have no choice, they have to go into work so they're just asking folks to take it easy. you heard dee and skip were walking. and there's another man walking. be careful and watch out for one another. >> reporter: we're live in locust point. i believe now we're going to go live to jeff layinger. he's live in owennings mills. the snow has been really been falling there and been quite steady. are you there? >> reporter: i certainly am. it's really intensified in the last 30 minutes or so. we're at the garrison plaza on reisterstown road. and while the highway crews are working on the roads, you see that the bigger trucks that the ford f250 with the plow on the front have been trying to keep

this lot clear, even though a lot of businesses scheduled to be open hours ago have not opened yet. we're going to talk with the driver quick. i saw you out here for the last three or four hours. you said you've been here all nile night and it's tough to keep up with it? >> yes. it's coming down faster than we can keep up with it. >> reporter: how long do you anticipate you'll be out here? >> probably for a day or so after it stops. we'll keep up with it and then we'll worry about the cleanup. >> reporter: later you said you might have to bring in heavier equipment? >> yes. they're bringing in a couple large front-end loaders to put some of the snow that is putting on. >> reporter: that's the trouble, it just mounts up. >> yes. >> reporter: are you from these parts in. >> we live on kent island but

most of the problems that we take care of here or here. >> reporter: so we'll let you get back to work. i know you've been sitting here for a while. and now if bill with walk over here with me. we have some of the other trucks working through this. look at the shopping carts stuck in the snow that the new piles. all of this was scraped clean probably two hours ago that made the last pass and it looks like it's got a good inch and a half 2 inches on it. and it's continuously starting to pick up with the wind as well. we were noting a dirt that was flowing against the wind through the snow in the blizzard up over the treeline and bill suggested that it might be a snow bird. i don't know but that's pretty much where we're at at owings mills. >> stay warm out there. we want to pass along a number to you. we'll put it on the screen.

this is the baltimore city fire department. the situation is the city is bad. they have so much plowing to do. they're trying to get to it the city is looking for private plow truck driver for legal plowing on city streets. if i own a plow can i go and do a good deed? legally you can't. if you call this number, i believe that they're willing to set you up to do that. call this number (410)396-5752. >> that is baltimore city fire department they're looking for priority plow truck drivers to get to you do some legal plowing. so call that number. we'll put the number on our website. >> listen to this greetings to me, you and just continue from nancy, the blizzard bride. >> this was nancy in december. the week before christmas. she called us.

and she said meg and gamey i'm supposed to get to my wedding. can you ask just continue what the weather is going to be like. we did a live phone-in with her. i have my boots on, i have my wedding dress on and i'm on the way i'm getting married. so here is a picture of nancy. she just sent us more information. luck would have it, listen to this. the blizzard bride on her honeymoon stuck. everything has been delayed because of the wliz in december. here's her situation. she's sending us the pictures she is now stuck in turks. do you want to feel bad for her there? >> no. >> at least she's stuck somewhere beautiful. but i find it funny. she was stuck before on her wedding day and now here she is stuck on her honeymoon. at least maybe that is sort of karma. it's a good way. at least you're stuck somewhere

beautiful. but thank you. i'm glad she could check in with us. >> we're finding this on line a lot is that people are still debating whether we get closer to the 9:00 to 5:00 shift whether people should go to work today. and they're finding it hard to get out the door in their own homes and get on the streets and risk their own lives to get to work. >> we had business owners that say, i've closed up my shop for the day and we've had people say i'm getting told if i don't come into work today i'm not going get paid and i'm going get reprimanded. so we want to know what you think. we'll open up our phone lines. we'll take your call live on the air. before we head to break, grab a pen. do you have to work today? are you going into work today? let us know what you think. sound off. (410)377-8100. there's the number.

write it down and give us a call. we'll be right back.

we wanted to let you know that "good morning america" posts all their interviews on line. they do that right now. so check off 11:00 or 11:30. but they'll put everything on there. we apologize. this is the big story locally and we're a local tv station so we have to give what you you need to know about your community and that's the whether right now. >> and find us on demand --

few yows ownby -- eye fios on demand too. >> reporter: good morning. we're in harford county. the snow has picked up here. the roads are treacherous and the main roads snow covered and the side streets slick. we're here at this exxon across from denny's and edgewood road and we had a chance to catch up with the motorist out here. we're here with staff sergeant marvin here on training. how are the roads? >> they are treacherous. i had to come out and get operations and i'm staying at the hilton express down the road. but it's treacherous. it's not worth being out today. sit home and relax and have hot

coffee and hot chocolate. don't do it. >> reporter: you have an suv and a four-wheel drive. but in the scheme of things, the roads very bad? >> very bad. the work crews are on it. they've been out and they're on top of it. but it's mother nature. what can you do? >> reporter: and you came from houston. and you come here for training and this is what you find. what is going through your mind? >> i wasn't thinking this kind of training. but in the army, we adjust. we continue on. but it was a little bit a shock. >> reporter: we don't normally get two major snowstorms in less than a week. i guess maybe you brought the snow with you? >> i asked the people inside the store, i said who ordered this? i would like to show you something quick if you don't mind. >> reporter: what do you have?

>> do you know what this is? this is hope that we hope that the sun comes up soon. the power of positive thinking. >> reporter: stay safe. we have one person that picked up some shades in the hopes that we'll see the sun soon and we're hoping the same thing. you take care. i hope you get to that training. as you can see, we have some folks out here in four-wheel drive. but if you don't have to be out here, then you don't want to. as marvin pull away in his suv, he said that he had could come in here and get a few provisions in the military. but we're in edgewood and the snow keeps on falling and the ground is snow covered. again, if you don't have to be out here, then you probably

don't. back to you in the studio. >> wendy said that they are house is clean. >> it's never been so clean that is a way to get some exercise and take care of that cabin fever. >> we're getting a couple of calls -- give out the baltimore fire department. >> the baltimore fire department, they're looking for private snowplow driver or legal plowing on city streets. there are a lot of streets that they have not been able to get to the number is right there on the screen. give them a call if you have a plow. they need you. >> there's just continue. you got to listen to this. these are some of the comments that i'm getting on line. police go out and push the stop button. i feel like i'm in the movie my river it might be time to stop liking snow and are we being punished something? and this makes up for the past three winters. this is my favorite.

i went out with my dog and came home with my neighbor's dog. that is rough, no pun intended. we got visibilities that will be cut down. so that dog comment, let me tell you something, i've been out in whiteouts and it can get disorienting really quick. if you you go outside to check on your neighbors, make sure that someone knows that you're heading out there and maybe they can watch from the window. once you get to some point in this storm, a hundred feet or so away from the house, a big gust of wind can blow the snow up from the ground and you can lose your perspective of wherer. the freezing rain has turned back to snow. those of you that have woken in the last couple of hours. we had some freezing rain and

that added a layer of ice. we have a layer of ice and have that extra stickiness on the trees and power lines and an additional 12 inches or more as we roll into the second part of this storm. and the blizzard warning kicks in at 10:00. you'll notice the winds gradually pick up and strong gusts into the afternoon and blowing snow. it's all the counties in central maryland up towards the pa line and that includes frederick, carroll, baltimore and down the eastern shore where there's actually a winter storm warning now for perhaps pick pentagon up an additional four to eight inches of snow in the lower eastern shore and on the beaches, you'll have winds on the shoreline approaching 60 miles an hour. and really strong waves that will continue to eat away at the coastline. let's take to you baltimore

county right now. this is harford middle school. 26 degrees and there's the wind out of the northwest at eight gusting to 18. it takes a little wind to believe up the snow and knock the wind chill down to seven. this is stevenson university. there's a parking lot somewhere. 28 degrees right now. and we may have problems with some of our wind measurments being frozen. this is because of the snow and the rain and the hard freeze glen burnie down to 28 degrees. and you can see near whiteout condition there's as well. overall, glenn burn any, this is the time -- burnie. there's the know getting heavy in some locations. this is maryland's most powerful doppler radar. and we have a band of snow and this is showing up in the

yellow shade thing that is going to start pushing itself to the east. i want to put this little tool in into washington d.c. this is about 34 miles away from anne arundel county and that's slowly going to shift in our direction. we'll use this radar to high late that band of snow. watching it move off to the east and you see the throw back from the eastern shore pushing northwestern with that moisture that is in response to the upper energy catching up. tail have major ice problems there. the blizzard warning takes us through the afternoon and we're looking at temperatures locking down into the mid-20s. plan for and circumstantial six to 12 inches. more on the snow cast and the extended forecast a little later on and now to traffic and kim. as we take a look at the beltway on the northeast corner at harford road, you can tell that the plow have been out and started to clear away some of the lanes. the outer loop i believe is on the right-hand side of the

screen and inner loop on the left front fender side. i only see one open lane. they're goal in bad storms like this is to keep one lane of travel open even on the major interstates and that is why people are encouraging you to not be on the roadways today it is very, very hazardous driving conditions. take a peek in anne arundel county at route 50 and 97, we have a crash reported on casing clear road on the ramp to 50 westbound. possibly the ramp will be closed and the westbound span at bay bridge, you're going to see the left lane closed as plow have been making passes on the bridge. all that snow is getting piled up. so expect that. fog warnings posted at the bay bridge. it will be slow going up and down the corridor. we have ice under the snow. so take your time. so here we go with the crashes.

westbound liberty road on the ramp to the inner loop that is closed because of debris in the roadway. northbound 895 past lumbar street remains on the right. and southbound harford tunnel toll plaza, there's a crash. and route 900 east at route one, we have a report of a disabled vehicle. and ricer town hanover pike, we have an accident there as well. as you check around baltimore city, i like to check on the jfx for the most part they try to keep it as clear as possible. and the last blizzard that came through over the weekend, it is one of the first roadways to get all lanes opened. it's been plowed a couple times and traffic is able to pass. but if you can, stay in. so we're still taking your comments and your pictures and

video as the abc2news.com. so we'll be back with your live snowstorm coverage when the special edition of "wjz eyewitness news, morning edition" returns after this

that's a beautiful tree. >> to now they're going to bring out a tree expert how damaged is it? there you go. there's al and his tree. >> we asked you what you think about the do i go to work today or not go to work? some people say it is your pointy and other people say i have a family and i'm not going to put them at risk. so we'll hear what you have to say. our first call is john. good morning. how are you doing? >> i'm doing good. can you mention my birthday next friday. we were told at the time that we used to work 3:30 to

midnight. and they told us, we don't care how you get into work more how you get home, get here. i want to try to help some people. i needed some help yesterday. and it's hard if you have no way to get -- find out where to call. the baltimore county emergency manage am was able to help me out and my neighbor. and i want to give the number out. (410)887-5996. i have a question if i could. i want to put your website on my computer. is that the number two or do

you spell the word out. >> the number two. >> you don't mention that. >> and tv is visual and i should understand that. i still listen to you every take, jamie. hope to see you at the banquet in may if you can make it. >> and now sue in bel air. work or not? >> well i just want to call in and talk about the employers and employees. i just oned to let people know that they may not realize how the hospitals do take care of their employees. they're expected to be there. but they put them up in hotel rooms. they put up all their hotels in hotels. it's been kind of chaotic but they take care of their employees. they're allowed to statement so i think it's night they protect the employees and families. we don't worry about them being on the roads. they did it last weekend and they're doing it again today.

i think it's great that the hospital does things like that. >> absolutely. and now we're going to go to diane. and before we go to diane, this has been a debated subject and that is do you go to work today? the officials are saying stay off the roads and some buses are saying you have to be here to do your job. so diane what do you say? >> i say that it's kind of unreasonable to expect people to go to work today. i work for a movie theater. and i'm not going to put their name out there. but the movies are open every weekday every weekend and holidays. so we're expected to be at work every day. but we have people calling us to find out are you still going to be open at 8:00? or 7:00. i think it's more important that people stay home and be

with your families and worry about their safety rather than come out in the whether to see a movie. and most of the employees at the theater, they're high school students. a lot of them pay public transportation or just learning to drive. it's not safe for us to be out there. >> diane i think your words equal priority. i think that's what it is. >> she brings up a great point. my parents used to say they would never go to businesses that were open on christmas because they didn't want the people to stay open so people could have the day off. so maybe it is on us to not assume that things operate as normal and don't call for a pizza. prepare plan ahead so you're not putting somebody else at risk. it's something to think about. and now we'll head to dee in baltimore. >> high. how are you guys doing? my comment was directed towards the woman that had actually

called and said she might possibly lose her job if she didn't show up. i was asfounded that her boss would make such a ridiculous request. we had one serious snowfall and we're in the process of another one. my city street, we had anywhere between five and seven foot of snow in the middle of the street. there was no way to get out. and i think that is -- i think that's common through the city and the county. beyond that, i don't know the type of job she has or what importance it may need. like the lady before, she works for a movie theater, stay home. but if her boss needs her that bad, let him pay for a plow to plow herr street or come and pick her up. >> if you want your employees in, and they can't get, find a way for them to get in by

coming to pick them up in a four-wheel drive. >> ceo went and picked them up. >> he went up and picked up his employees. and i think is funny he never told him that he was the coo. that is absolutely an option if you want your employees to come to work is to drive them in and now to jane in annapolis. are you going to work or not? >> i'm in retailment and they have some sympathy what is going on. i have not decided whether the mall is going to be closed or not when you work for the big corporations and department stores, if the mall is open you have to be there. but i'm not going to risk my

staff's life in a blizzard. and they tell you that the you canner management, if you don't come to work you'll get a serious write up or lose your -- writeup or lose your job. >> you write a note that the governor told me to stay home and not to go out. >> the people are saying stay home that is one thing to keep in mind. and we'll head to robin in baltimore. how are you? >> remember. you can call us and let you no he what you think think. we have a live chute on abc2news.com. we're going to hear from another caller.

bonnie. good morning. >> i have a question also about the snow and the legal issues that maybe be a part of this. my husband is a truck driver. he's been working through the this entire week and that you will snow he barely made to work or his route and had a hard time getting home at 10:30 at night. and i'm from columbus, ohio, hi. >> i used to live in columbus. >> i know. i was wonder, isn't there some kind of legal ramification if he is injured on his way to work or our car goes into a ditch, what is happening with that? >> that is an excellent question and one thing that several people in our chatroom brought up and sever bosses said, i own a company is not worth it with the workers comp

and the liability because somebody could easily make the argument i was threatened. i'm going to get fired if i don't come into work. so i would think that a lot of employers would not want to deal with that kind of mess. >> my husband could have stayed in a hotel room and had an accident this morning at 5:15. hopefully he's okay. >> hopefully. >> chris from ricer town is on the phone now. good morning. i feel like i've been with you guys for quite a while. >> thank you for the updates. >> whatever i can do. you guys are dong a great job. >> you tarted a fire on the internet. >> you are the one that has not had the mail since friday? >> i want to say that overall in the area, i've heard that the mail has been pretty good, hob to have the. but for me, it has not.

i can speak from self experience. i wanted to comment about the whole going to work versus not going to work. i am a teacher, i won't say who say. and my fiance is a child care teacher and what really borns me up, and he worked in the child care industry for about five years, parents are a lot less patient with child care centers than they are with the school system. and there's a lot of pressure for various daycare centers whether the y or personally operated centers, a lot of pressure on those individuals to often make in more than myself, more pressure for them to get no work even on days like today. so i sort of want to send a

general reminder out there and general call for patients if you have to keep your first grade error high school schooler at home, interests probably a good idea to keep your two or three-year-old home as well. >> that is a great point. we're looking at live pictures outside of our studio. harry is -- he's the guy that gets us to work. he on saturday drove 500 miles to get employees in because he's got a great car with four- wheel drive and he's confident in the snow and he's dedicated. you know that you're going get to work safely. so we were watching him drop off some of our coworkers. and somebody said who is coming out of harry's car. >> i think it's lady gaga. >> thank you for coming in. >> i'm getting hammered on line that there's nothing else in

the world happening. listen. listen. let's get a grip. we're living through history. all right. i want to see what is happening in my town. that's why on my tv station telling our people how to be safe. that's it. >> and i think we are a local tv station and we hate to break into national news. we know you want to know about haiti and the government that is closed by the way because of the weather. this is the big story of the day, not just here, but everybody in the country is paying attention to baltimore and philadelphia and washington d.c. we have never seen this before. justin is the most snow that we've had on the ground at one time. >> that's a good point. i have to look that up. i know it ran a chargeup on the aaron sunday because bwi reported 26 and a half inches in the middle of the last storm

and it came with the final total of 4.8. so i ran up this personal angry charge how they could come up with less snow when elkridge came up with 38 in needless to say, i have to talk with some folks at the whether service and we'll see if we can get them on the phone today. it turns out that the observer at bwi was measuring all wrong. the official way to measure snow on a barred that is painted what time raced above the ground every six hours. and do it six hours later. some of the people like this person at the airport was measuring whiling the board clean and remeasuring every hour that prevents the natural compaction of the snow. it's still under debate and review. and it is still and estimate

not a final. so we actually consider that and considering the 4 inches that fell to midnight, no new report yet. and we come in with 65.6 inches for the season. that puts us right now at the all time snowy winter on record. we had that 28-inch storm in 2003. that may be challenging the depth that we could be approaching today. so a question about that. i'll see if i can dig anything up. i want to highlight that we've had the top three winters, the top three winters in the last 15 years so we surpassed the 1995 and 1996 year and we continue to add on to that. what i've got is a series of records by decade for those of you wandering how we stack up -- wondering how we stack up. i'm a believer in tis ticks and the natural cycle of nature.

check this out. the snowiest decade we had was in the 1960s. and a lot of you grew up in the 1960 and we don't have much snow as we used to. you see that versus now. the snowiest decade was 1963 and 1964. you know what was the least snowiest decade in the 1950s. they averaged 14 and a half inches of snow to the 1960s where we averaged 32.4. the 19 70s gave us big snows, 1977 to '79. and this is the big year of 2002 and 2003 and it really tailed off. we're making up for lost time. we have the latest update from

maryland's most powerful doppler. we're in the midst of grip of this blizzard. in the middle of the blizzard is jeff. >> before we goo to jeff, we're going to to take three more phone calls. no, i'm just kidding. go ahead, jeff. >> reporter: why not take 30. take all day. i'll tell you what, the wind has picked up and the hard stuff is starting to come down. if we can turn over here, you'll see a big truck coming through. and maybe you can see how the visibility has gone away in the last 15 minutes. also up on a treeline up above that truck, you see the snow whipping off from the left to right motion on the screen. still further off to the right, you can look on the reisterstown road and cars are out and still moving through this moving a slow pace. road conditions are starting to pick up quite a bit of snow in our area right now in baltimore county because it's really just

starting coming down a lot heavier. bill walking with me and being very patient. i'm going to ask him to look down the side of our satellite truck if he can pick up some of the snow picking up in the parking lot. it looks like the workers have taken a break or given up for now. it's coming down so hard that the -- they're probably not seeing a lot of results for everything that they're trying to do right now. but as i said, it's coming down hard and the wind comes in different whips with. sometimes it feels like it's really blowing up. and the other times it kind of lets up like it is right now. very cold and at temperature seems to be dropping a bit out here. when we talk about blizzard sometimes weover state stuff but we're really getting blizzard like conditions out here. we'll go back to the phones.

we asked people. what do you think. do you go to work today or stay home in some bosses are saying you better get in here. but other leaders, state and county leaders are saying stay home. >> whole idea about employers expecting people to come in to work on a day like this kind of makes me wonder. i work in the city of washington. and i live approximately 2530 miles away -- 25, 30 miles away. and if they're coming up from the south and going to work, the bosses, and they're not encountering that much snow or that much problem, they expect everybody else to get in. but if you go further north of

the city, some places are getting hit a lot harder. and being on a side street, which yesterday i finally got plowed out since friday, and now you got this behind it, you got to get to those main roads. if you can't get to the main roads, you can't get in. >> that's right, andy. listen to this we got i missed the name, randallstown is getting gusts of wind. it's really gusting out there in randallstown and it's serious. carroll, in ellicott city is on the phone right now. >> i feel strongly about this i'm a nurse at a downtown hospital. and the thing is when you take a job that designate you as a essential personnel, then you know you have to be there.

forecasting has gotten so much better in the past few years when you see this coming you know and you need to make plans. you are told that when you first take the job. they have downtown all the hotels have very low rates for essential personnel that are employed by hospitals. so it makes it cost you almost nothing if you need to stay in a hotel. the hospitals will put you up. that is not going to be that comfortable and they do run out of space. but there are placing that are walking distance that are very cheap. and sob storys about people that can get out. that is no excuse. it sounds lame to the people that are picking up the slack. and those are your cowork we ares that are stuck there picking up the slack because you call up and say, i can't get out. you can't get out. you didn't know it was coming? you knew it was coming. this has been well forecasted i think. and other people that are not essential personnel, need to

stay out of the way. if we have to get to work, we can. and one other thing, i drove home late last night because i was way over on my shift. but people -- the trucks that go by a regular car at -- trucks that go by at 50, 60 miles an hour on the lane that has not been plowed are causing a white outto the rest of -- whiteout to the rest of us. they need to be aware of other cars on the road. >> look at your screen. we're getting wind out there with everything else. >> it wasn't quite that bad when i came home. >> with hear you. >> she's a nurse. we need them to be there. they have to be there. but i think the woman that called earlier that works at the many of very theater that a completely different story it depends on what you do. and now kim in white marsh. >> i think what you are doing,

i want to commend you because everybody's opinion and everybody is entitled to the opinion. and i think that employers today, need to have a little more empathy when it comes down to situations such as this. we're dealing with a blizzard and you're talking about the safety and well-being of others. if someone gets out here and gets into an accident and let's say people lose their lives. who it going to be held accountable? >> we just got a memo from cheryl. is your life worth eight hours of pay in. >> it's not because after the snowstorm is over and someone loses their life, they're gone. and the family member has to deal with that the loss of a

loved one. that's my main concern. with the conditions and i'm looking here at the television. it's dangerous out here. and our lives are more important. we can't replace a life. but evaluate lit storm will pass. it will be over in a few days and once they clean up everything. but you can't replace the life of a loved one you. >> stay warm and safe and we appreciate your thoughts. >> thank you very much. you be safe as well. >> we're going to take a break from the phone lines and we want to remind you if you have any pictures, you can up load them on our website, abc2news.com and we'll share it with other people about what you're seeing out there and what you're experiencing. so abc2news.com. check it out. we'll leave you with some pictures as we head into break. but we'll be right back.