Winter weather is heading back to the area overnight. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory. The Reston area could see about an inch of snow  late Monday into Tuesday.

From the NWS:

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM EST TUESDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW… WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM EST TUESDAY.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE… SNOW. SNOW MAY END AS A BRIEF PERIOD OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN.

* ACCUMULATIONS… 1 TO 2 INCHES. LITTLE OR NO ICE ACCUMULATION FROM FREEZING RAIN.

* TIMING… LATE THIS EVENING THROUGH OVERNIGHT.

* TEMPERATURES… MIDDLE TO UPPER 20S.

* WINDS… SOUTHEAST 5 TO 10 MPH.

* IMPACTS… ROADS WILL BE SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY… AND WITH TEMPERATURES BELOW FREEZING ANY UNTREATED ROADS WILL REMAIN SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY THROUGH THE MORNING RUSH.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW… SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES… AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

Multifamily housing is a growing trend, says the George Mason Center for Regional Analysis. But in order for it to continue to be successful, there needs to enough to appeal to residents at all price points.

The CRA recently issued a new report, Multifamily Housing in the Washington, DC Region: Demand and Supply Trends, which warns that although new rental housing construction has “increased in the region over the past three years, it has been increasingly high-end rental units located in particular submarkets.”

This may be food for thought for local developers who are eying Reston as a place for hundreds, even thousands, of multifamily units as Reston morphs into a transit-oriented community.

New buildings in Reston include The Avant at Reston Town Center (359 rental units), The Harrison (slated to open later this year on Reston Parkway; 362 units) and The BLVD (recently began construction at Reston Station; 450 units). There are also multifamily buildings planned for Reston Heights (498 units) , Fairway (804 units), Crescent/Lake Anne (935 units) and the Lake Anne Fellowship House site (425 units).

Changes to the Reston Master Plan, which were approved by Fairfax County Supervisors earlier this week, allow for up to 27,900 units of residential development (including existing), an increase of 14,695 from the previous plan.

Is Reston ready for that many units, especially if they come with luxury-sized rents? The newer Reston properties are commanding a high price. At the Avant, for instance, amenities such as granite counters and an on-site yoga room start at $2,157 a month for a studio apartment. A two-bedroom costs more than $2,800 a month.

The other buildings under construction are expected to have similar rents.

While a certain number of Reston’s new units will be set aside as affordable housing, the report says developers will need to be more flexible as the needs of those who seek to live in multifamily buildings change. Many middle-income residents and families who may have formerly opted for a single-family home will seek to live in multifamily housing close to a transit station and amenities, the CRA report says. Read More

Officers from Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station charged nine people with trespassing with intent to damage on Saturday after they allegedly broke into a homeowner’s association community building.

Police were called to the clubhouse in the 13000 block of Keach Place in unincorporated Herndon at 10:43 p.m. after a resident reported that several individuals had broken into the building and were having a party. Responding officers caught nine suspects and charged all with trespassing with intent to damage.

In other crime news in the last week:

LARCENIES

11300 block of Baron Cameron Avenue, purse from vehicle

11900 block of Democracy Drive, cell phone from business

2500 block of John Milton Drive, beer from business

900 block of Locust Street, book, jacket, sneakers and cell phone from school

2000 block of Royal Fern Court, electronic device from residence

2300 block of Saddle View Court, purse and cell phone from vehicle

10300 block of Saddle View Court, purse and cell phone from vehicle

1300 block of Vintage Place, purse from vehicle

11200 block of Lagoon Lane, license plate from vehicle

11400 block of Ridge Heights Road, shoes from school

STOLEN VEHICLES

2300 block of Freetown Court, 2007 Chrysler PT cruiser

More snow fell overnight on top of the 13 inches or so already on the ground, which may turn plowed streets and shoveled sidewalks back into the mess they were earlier.

Nonetheless, many around here are trying to get back to business as usual. Here are some updates as of 7:30 a.m. Friday:

Fairfax County Public Schools are closed.

The Federal Government is on a two-hour delay.

Fairfax County government is opening at noon.

Fairfax County Public Libraries are closed.

Northern Virginia Community College is closed.

Transportation:

• VDOT says many roads are still very icy. Check VDOT’s VA 511 site to see conditions.
• Fairfax Connector is running weekday service, starting at 6 a.m., with slight detours.
• Fastran will transport dialysis, chemotherapy, and radiation trips only. All other scheduled route services including: senior centers, adult day health care, Women’s Recovery Center, senior residence trips, and charter services are canceled.
• Virginia Railway Express will only operate trains with an “S” above its train number.
• Metrobus will run limited service only on selected major arterial roadways.

Trash:

• Fairfax County Collection Customers: Trash and recycling collection service has been suspended for Thursday and Friday customers as a result of the weather and road conditions.

The National Zoo will open at noon.

Reston Association offices will open at noon.

Friday’s horse-drawn carriage rides at Reston Town Center are cancelled due to the snow. Most restaurants and stores plan to be open though.

Airports:

• Thursday featured a record number of canceled flights. The main runway at Reagan National is open and several runways at Dulles International are open. However, check with your individual airline as there still may be many cancellations and delays.

Even though a few flakes to a few inches are predicted to fall Thursday evening, most of the precipitation in Reston turned to intermittent sleet and cold rain throughout the day.

Fairfax County Public Schools  announced at 4 p.m. there would be an additional snow day on Friday as residents continued to dig out.

So how bad was it? National Weather Service trained spotters (and a few unofficial residents with rulers) put the snowfall at about 13.5 inches, give or take a little drifting.

That makes the Wednesday night-Thursday night storm pretty bad, but not the worst one-day total we have seen around here.  It was, however, the most that fell in one day since Dec. 19, 2009, when 15 inches fell at Dulles. The “Snowmaggedeon” storm of February 2010 dumped 32 inches at Dulles, but that was over a three-day period.

The 13.5 inches ranks this storm No. 6 in one-day totals as measured at Dulles.

An additional one-to-three inches of snow may fall Thursday night. The Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 1 a.m. Friday.

Many people heeded officials’ warnings to stay off the roads, but some ventured out. Virginia State Police reported 78 traffic crashes, 172 disabled vehicles and 510 calls for service through noon on Thursday.

There was one death reported, when a Virginia Department of Transportation contractor was hit by another truck in Ashburn.

Others just had fun. There were dogs playing, snowmen sprouting — and this guy “waterskiing” down Ridge Heights Road.

Many Reston businesses were closed Thursday as crews still had not plowed some streets. Want to know when your street might be plowed? Visit www.vdotplows.org.

FCPS has already used seven snow days, and Friday will be the eighth. Makeup days will be held Feb. 17 and April 7. According to the school calendar, the school year may be extended a day to June 23 in exchange for today’s snow day, though FCPS has not made an official announcement. Friday’s snow day may not need to be made up.

Check out a gallery of great Reston snow photos here.

Photo of Reston Town Center Thursday morning by Ed Scheudel vis Twitter.

Reston residents were up at daybreak to show the snow at their homes Thursday.

About a foot of snow had fallen by 7 a.m. — and more is predicted as the day goes on. The National Weather Service’s Winter Storm Warning is in effect until Friday at 1 a.m.

Fairfax County Government, Fairfax County Public Schools and Dulles International Airport are among the many places that are closed.

How are you spending your snow day?

Take any good pictures? Send them to us at [email protected] or on Facebook or Twitter.

Update, 9:30 a.m.: Virginia State Police say there has been on fatality on Northern Virginia roads today. A VDOT contractor was killed when his truck collided with another truck in Ashburn early Thursday, Ashburn Patch reports.

Original story: The winter storm predicted for Reston and the rest of Northern Virginia overnight delivered.

About 10 inches of snow has already fallen here as of 6:30 a.m. Thursday, with snow forecast to fall throughout the day. A total of 12-15 inches might be on the ground before the storm is over, forecasters say.

The National Weather Services’ Winter Storm Warning is in effect through Friday.

The Federal Government is closed.

Fairfax County Government and courts are closed.

Fairfax County Public Schools are closed.

All runways at Dulles International and Reagan National Airport are closed as of 6:45 a.m.

Fairfax Connector has canceled all service.

The George Washington Parkway Northbound from Interstate 495 to the Key Bridge near Turkey Run is closed.

Public safety officials are urging residents to stay off the road. If you need to check road conditions, visit www.VDOT’s Virginia 511 website.

Have a great snow photo? Send it to us at [email protected] or tweet us at @restonnow.

Photo by Spence via Twitter.

A snow storm is slated to hit the Reston area after sunset Wednesday night. The area is under a Winter Storm Warning, and 4 to 8 inches of snow could fall here between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

Closings

• Fairfax County Public Schools have canceled all evening activities on Wednesday.
• Metrobus late-night bus service will be cancelled after 1 a.m. tonight, and MetroAccess service for riders with disabilities will be suspended tomorrow.
• Metrobus: Scheduled Metrobus trips that connect with the last trains of the night are expected to operate; however, all other Metrobus trips that originate at or after 1:00 a.m. will be cancelled tonight. (Metrobus trips that originate before 1:00 a.m.will continue to their final destination, even if the arrival time is later than 1:00 a.m.)
• MetroAccess: Due to the weather forecast and expected road conditions, all MetroAccess paratransit service will be suspended on Thursday. Service will be restored when it is safe to do so; however a time for service restoration is not yet known.

Updates

• Fairfax County’s Emergency Information blog has this list of reminders and important numbers.
• Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has issued a state of emergency for the commonwealth. A state of emergency, authorizes state agencies to position resources to prepare for the storm and recovery, including the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the Department of Transportation, the Virginia National Guard and utility companies. McAuliffe said Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) crews are conducting anti-icing operations on major roadways across the state in preparation for the storm.
• VDOT says more than 12,300 pieces of equipment, including trucks and plows will be deployed. VDOT is also prepared to remove trees, branches and other debris that may fall on roadways. The agency said its goal is to have roads passable within 48 hours of the storm. To see when your street may be plowed after two inches of snow falls, visit www.vdotplows.org.

Is this the storm of the season?

It could be, weather forecasters say. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Northern Virginia for Wednesday evening and Thursday. The latest storm models Tuesday afternoon say that 8 to 14 inches of snow may fall later this week in the Washington area’s western suburbs such as Reston.

The snow is expected to start falling about 7 p.m. Wednesday and continue through Thursday.

If this forecast holds, this will add to the pattern of the snowiest winter around here in four years. Fairfax County Public Schools have already used up six snow days. The school system builds three snow days into the calendar. FCPS has already announced Feb. 17 (President’s Day) and April 7 (student holiday) will now be school days. It is likely there will be more snow days if more than a few inches fall here.

However, forecasters have gotten it wrong and storms have moved off-course before. Sometimes a storm tracks west or east of the region, and what is predicted to be a blizzard ends up being a dusting. Do you think they are right on the money this time?

Metro’s Silver Line moved a step closer to its first passengers Friday when the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, responsible for building the rail extension, said its contractor has reached “substantial completion” and is ready to turn the project over to Metro.

There is still no official opening date for the rail extension, which will run from Falls Church to Reston’s Wiehle Avenue.

“Dulles Transit Partners (DTP), the contractor building Phase 1 of the Silver Line, took an important step today in construction of the project,” MWAA said in a statement. “DTP has made the determination that they have reached substantial completion. The declaration of substantial completion by DTP means they believe they have satisfied the terms of their contract and are ready to turn the project over to MWAA and WMATA for final testing and preparation for operations of the line.”

MWAA and Metro will now be in a 15-day review period, then MWAA can hand off the project. Metro has up to 90 days to complete final testing, but Metro has previously said it probably would not need the full 90 days.

The review will include: delivery of all spare parts and maintenance manuals; evidence supporting successful completion of all tests, all regulatory approvals; as-built final drawings, safety certifications documents; Certificates of Occupancy and remaining punch list items with completion schedule, MWAA said.

So barring big problems, the first riders of the Silver Line to Reston should finally be aboard this spring. The Silver Line’s terminus will be at Wiehle-Reston East for the next five years.

Phase 2 of the project will have stops at Reston Parkway, Herndon Monroe, Route 28, Dulles International Airport and Ashburn. That is expected to open in 2018.

The project, which reportedly loses $2 million each month the rail is not open, has already had significant delays. MWAA officials originally estimated at December 2013 opening based on an August handoff. Last summer, that was extended to early in 2014. In November, it was discovered that tracking software needed to be re-tested. That software was retested two weeks ago.

Patty Nicoson, President of the Dullles Corridor Rail Association, called the news “kind of thrilling we are getting one step closer to the goal post.”

“It is my understanding they shouldn’t need the full 90 days,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if it were open for baseball season?”

In 2014, Reston will be losing its only nursing and rehabilitation center when Cameron Glen closes its doors and moves to a new facility in Loudoun County.

However, area eldercare advocates are exploring whether Reston may be a good place for a new style of senior living.

Reston resident Steve Gurney, publisher of the Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook and a member of Reston for a Lifetime, has been consulting with non-profit The Green House Project, an Arlington-based organization that helps communities build a more homelike senior living arrangement.

Green House homes try and replicate the feel of a home rather than an institution, says the Green House Project. Homes are designed for 10 to 12 residents, with private rooms and bathrooms as well as common open spaces.

The Green House Project says this model gives residents four times more contact and reduces staff turnover.

“There really is going to be a void to fill,” says Gurney of Cameron Glen’s closing. “The concept [with The Green House]  is you are not living in an institution, you are living in a home.”

There will be an informational meeting about the potential project for Reston on Feb. 12, 2 p.m. at  at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods.

Green House has helped open one other facility in Virginia, Woodland Park at Virginia Mennonite Residential Community in Harrisonburg. Woodland Park has three homes, but plans to eventually have 10. It can accommodate a wide range of needs (certified nurses and nurses aides, dietitians, etc.)  in its partnership with the larger Virginia Mennonite campus.

There would be several “hoops to jump through,” to get the project organized in Reston, says Gurney. Among them: raising money, cooperation from the county, organizing partnerships with existing healthcare organizations such as Reston Hospital Center or Inova, land acquisition and Medicare/Medicaid approval.

Thefts of property from South Lakes and Herndon High Schools are in the crime report from Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station this week.

Police said a wallet was reported stolen at Herndon High and a cell phone was taken at South Lakes. They did not specify whether the thefts were from students or staff.

Complete crime reports for the week ending Feb. 4:

LARCENIES

2100 block of San Moritz Circle, items from vehicle

11800 block of Sunrise Valley Drive, merchandise from business

11100 block of South Lakes Drive, beverages from business

11900 block of Market Street, jewelry from business

12100 block of Sunset Hills Road, electronic device from business

700 block of Bennett Street, wallet from school

2500 block of John Milton Drive, liquor from business

11400 block of South Lakes Drive, cell phone from school

STOLEN VEHICLES

11200 block of Chestnut Grove Square, 1999 Ford F250

11700 block of Ledura Court, 2006 Toyota Scion

A Reston resident returns to the set of the TV game show Jeopardy this week as the show hosts “Battle of the Decades.”

Mark Lowenthal, a former State Department and CIA official and noted U.S. intelligence Community analyst, first competed on Jeopardy in 1988. He has been on the show twice since — winning the Tournament of Champions and pocketing a total of $154,901.

In addition to knowing the kind of random trivia and historic knowledge of a Jeopardy champ, Lowenthal has written five books and more than 90 articles or studies on intelligence and national security. His book Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy is a standard college text on the subject.

Another book he co-authored, with Chuck Forrest is Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions. Twenty-five years later, he will see if he still remembers the secrets to winning.

Lowenthal’s episode airs on WJLA-7 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6.

Lowenthal said he first thought of becoming a contestant when the show was on and he and his wife and other relatives were making dinner.

“I was just zipping through the questions,” Lowenthal said in Jeopardy promotional materials. “My family said ‘you ought to be on the show!’ ” He said he thought of a million reasons why not to try out — including they were then the parents of a newborn and had scarcely hired a babysitter.

“In those days, you had to send a postcard to Channel 7,” Lowenthal said. “But the deadline was the next day. So I hand delivered the postcard to Channel 7.”

Lowenthal won $49,901 in his first appearance. He was pretty pleased.

“Win or lose, I am a Jeopardy champion,” he says he thought at the time. He returned to play again in 1990 and 2005.

The original appearance also led to a cameo spot in the 1988 movie Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman’s character, who has autism, must watch Jeopardy as part of his daily routine. One of the segments he is watching in the movie features Lowenthal — who, incidentally, got the question wrong.

It’s Groundhog Day!  Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter — starting with some possible snow accumulation late Sunday to early Monday.

The Weather Channel is predicting that Northern Virginia will see the edge of a winter storm that will affect the Midwest and East Coast. But with temperatures around 50 the last fews days, the ground might be too warm to collect much accumulation.

The DC area will be right on the rain-show line of the storm. The Capitol Weather Gang predicts there will be several hours of precipitation on Monday. That could mean heavy rain — or it could mean up to three inches of snow in Reston. Nearby Loudoun and Montgomery Counties are under a winter storm watch.

Either way, be prepared for a soggy commute. Reston Now will update this story later Sunday if the forecast gets more specific.