Consider yourself warned: Much of Center City will be swamped by protests and marches Friday as the inauguration of Donald Trump takes place 140 miles south in Washington D.C.
Philadelphia police is recommending that "the public can expect delays in the areas of Center City, City Hall and Independence Mall from 12 p.m. through the evening hours due to planned protest activity."
Multiple protests will take place Friday and Saturday, police said.
"It is recommended that these areas be avoided if possible and public transportation be utilized as an alternative," police said.
Many downtown street closures are also planned for the massive "Women's March in Philadelphia" protest on Saturday.
The epicenter of that demonstration will be the Ben Franklin Parkway around Eakins Oval, according to the city.
Some 20,000 people are expected for the event that kicks off in the morning and will last several hours.
Protesters will march from Logan Circle, starting at 10 a.m., and arrive at Eakins Oval at noon, where a demonstration will commence.
According to the city, the following streets will be closed from 6:55 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday:
• Benjamin Franklin Parkway between 16th Street and 20th Street (including Logan Circle)
• 19th Street between Race Street and Vine Street
• Race Street between 20th Street and Logan Circle
The following streets will be closed from 6:55 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday:
• Benjamin Franklin Parkway between 20th Street and Eakins Oval (all lanes)
• 21st Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Winter Street
• 22nd Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Race Street
• 23rd Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Spring Garden Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Kelly Drive (outbound) from Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Fairmount Avenue
• Martin Luther King Drive between Eakins Oval and Sweet Briar Drive
• Spring Garden Street Bridge at 31st Street
Democratic Gov. John Carney is showing a spirit of bipartisanship as Republican Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office as president.
Carney's office says he will attend Trump's inauguration on Friday with his guest, Republican state senator Colin Bonini of Dover.
Bonini and Carney squared off in last year's gubernatorial contest in Delaware, but maintained a civil tone toward each other during the campaign.
Bonini described Carney during a debate as a friend and "a smart guy," and said after the election that he wanted Carney to be as successful a governor as he can be.
ANOTHER JANUARY 22-23, ANOTHER BIG NOR’EASTER
It may be pure coincidence, but exactly one year after our only snowstorm of last winter, here comes another big nor’easter. This time, though, it’ll be too warm for snow.
Here is what the weather map looked like on January 23rd, 2016:
Now, take a look at the predicted map for January 23rd-exactly one year later:
Looks awfully familiar, doesn’t it? It takes more than an intense LOW along the Mid-Atlantic coast in the middle of winter. This January has been MUCH warmer than last year, especially in the days leading up to the big storm.
Last year This year
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW
19th 29 16 49 43
20th 36 21 48 43
21st 37 26 54 45
As you can see, it’s not even close to being cold enough for snow-even at night.
People often ask: “How much snow would we have gotten if it was snow instead of rain?” Usually it’s not a good comparison, since warm air can hold so much more moisture than cold air. There’s just going to be WAAAY more moisture around this time because of the warmer air. But, considering the pattern (including a giant area of HIGH pressure over Eastern Canada), I can easily imagine another two foot near-blizzard for our area.
SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN THIS TIME?
Even without snow, this is going to be a big storm. The pressure difference between the LOW and the HIGH will lead to a strong onshore flow. Here’s a close-up of the forecast map:
The lines represent areas of equal pressure (called isobars). The closer they are together, the stronger the winds. Another factor will be the slow movement of the storm itself. That means more and more hours of onshore flow than in a typical coastal storm.
There won’t be a lot of rain from the system moving through Friday. So the “total accumulated precipitation” map consists mostly of the rain Sunday into Tuesday. Parts of our area are in the 3” range, which is a LOT of rain.
And now for the wind. It will be coming from the Northeast, and this model shows sustained winds at the coast of nearly 40 knots (46 mph). In that case, gusts would be well over 50 mph. When you combine such strong winds with the very wet ground, some trees could go down.
THE COASTAL FLOOD THREAT
Notice the wind barbs on the above map. They show both wind direction and speed. The map shows hundreds of miles of a wind from the East out in the Atlantic. That piles up water, and the waves get bigger and bigger as they approach land. The longer that wind direction continues, the bigger the waves, too. Each high tide means a higher water level. It all adds up to a significant coastal flood threat if the forecast maps are right.
We’ve issued a FIRST ALERT for the entire area for the period Sunday afternoon through Monday night for the combination of heavy rain, strong gusty winds, and coastal flooding. Stay tuned for updates on this significant storm.
A robbery at a Brookhaven fast food restaurant led to a police chase and crash that shut down part of of I-95 South in Delaware County Thursday evening.
County police said a team of suspects robbed a McDonald's in Brookhaven just before 8 p.m. and took off.
Police chased suspects onto I-95 South where they crashed near Highland Avenue in Chester, officials said. At least four people were taken into custody.
The highway was shut down for a time while the investigation continued. Officials said the roadway was reopend around 9:10, but traffic delays remained.
County officials reported that a cash register was found in the suspect's vehicle.
Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.
TODAY'S TOP STORY
95 South Reopens in Delco After Robbery, Chase, Crash: A robbery at a Brookhaven fast food restaurant led to a police chase and crash that shut down part of of I-95 South in Delaware County Thursday evening. County police said a team of suspects robbed a McDonald's in Brookhaven just before 8 p.m. and took off. Police chased suspects onto I-95 South where they crashed near Highland Avenue in Chester, officials said. At least four people were taken into custody. The highway was shut down for a time while the investigation continued. Officials said the roadway was reopened around 9:10 p.m., but traffic delays remained. County officials reported that a cash register was found in the suspect's vehicle.
YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST
It's a cold start to Friday but temperatures could reach the mid-40s. Rain is expected for much of Friday. Saturday is expected to see temperatures in the 50s with plenty of clouds. Rain is expected for Sunday. Heavy downpours and wind are possible for Monday. Tuesday is expected to be dry. High Temp: 46 Degrees. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.
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WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY
Missing College Student from NJ Found in Good Health: A University of New Haven freshman and softball player who was reported missing for two days has been found in good health, police said. Allie McGrory, 18, of Medford, New Jersey, was last seen on Tuesday at her dorm, school officials said. Police said they found McGrory at Ingalls Rink at Yale University but did not explain why she was there. The last possible sighting of her may have been in the New Haven area, officials said. A resident assistant contacted school authorities Wednesday with concerns that McGrory had been missing for nearly 24 hours and had not gone to classes or softball practice, according to school officials and West Haven police.
AROUND THE WORLD
Trump to Take Oath of Office Amid Pomp and Protests: Republican Donald J. Trump, a businessman and former reality TV star, will be sworn in Friday as the 45th president of the United States. It will cap an unlikely and historic rise for a man who has never before served in government. Taking the nation's highest office and with Republicans in both houses of Congress, Trump will get his chance to fulfill his campaign slogan to make America great again. Hundreds of thousands of people have descended on Washington, D.C., to mark the occasion and millions more will tune in to watch all of the pomp — and a number of protests. Officials estimate that 800,000 to 900,000 people will be present for Inauguration Day festivities, a celebration that takes over the city, closing roads and taxing the city's Metro transit system.
Recommended: Commuters Avoid Center City on Friday: Consider yourself warned: Much of Center City will be swamped by protests and marches Friday as the inauguration of Donald Trump takes place 140 miles south in Washington D.C. Philadelphia police is recommending that "the public can expect delays in the areas of Center City, City Hall and Independence Mall from 12 p.m. through the evening hours due to planned protest activity.” Multiple protests will take place Friday and Saturday, police said. "It is recommended that these areas be avoided if possible and public transportation be utilized as an alternative," police said. Many downtown street closures are also planned for the massive "Women's March in Philadelphia" protest on Saturday. The epicenter of that demonstration will be the Ben Franklin Parkway around Eakins Oval, according to the city.
SPORTS SPOT
Player Performance: The Sixers’ Dario Saric is beginning to hit his stride on the team. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
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See more Top News Photos here.
THROUGH IGER'S EYES
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@seanseansean captured this cool photo of delicious chicken parm.
Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.
TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO
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Barack and Joe will hoepfully meet again. Watch more here.
Wilmington Welcomes Back Joe Biden: Wilmington is preparing to welcome back Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, and what started out as plans for a small gathering has bloomed into a party open to the public. Read more.
That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as the country's 45th president on Friday and thousands of his supporters from across the country will attend to witness the historic event. They hope his presidency will be the start of an American revival that will bring greater prosperity to the country.
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The next day thousands of women, many dismayed by the president-elect's crude references to them and his embrace of policies they believe will hurt them and their families, will march in the capital. Many will wear pink hats with cat ears, in a reference to Trump's now famous statement that he could grab women "by the pussy."
Hear from some of those planning to attend.
Voices of men and women headed to D.C. for Trump's inauguration:
David J. Pelto Jr.
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Pelto Jr., 35, will attend the inauguration with his two sons to witness history and what he called the return of "common sense" to the White House. For Pelto, who owns a truck and hauls oil, taxes are an enormous issue. At one point he owned several trucks until a drop in oil prices, and his business was further hurt by employment taxes he had to pay for drivers who worked for him, he said. "It costs on average 15 percent on top of an employee's wage," he said. "Depending on the state it can go much higher." Pelto, who lives in Arkansas, said that he hoped that entrepreneurs would benefit from the $1 trillion that President-elect Donald Trump has proposed spending on infrastructure. Pelto, who describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal, also thinks the country should be less resistant to fracking. The increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma, which has been linked to wastewater disposal wells, do worry him, but he believes fracking is safe elsewhere. As far as green energy, "Why don't we allow what we have now to continue working for us while we grow slowly into green energy?"
Myke Shelby
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Myke Shelby, the owner of the San Diego Harley-Davidson dealership, which has about 150 employees, is in Washington as part of the Bikers for Trump. He flew to Washington, but was with other bikers protecting Donald Trump supporters headed to the DeploraBall from protesters. The event was named after Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment. "I'm a veteran. I fought for their right to protest. Don't get me wrong. This country was born in a revolutionary war," said Shelby, 72. "But they don't have the right to be violent and to threaten harm." For Shelby, regulations are a key issue — ones covering the environment and labor and those from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). "Regulations, they stifle business, but they catch us when we're not looking and we end up with big fines and big legal fees," he said. OSHA regulations might have made sense when the administration was created, but they no longer protect workers the way they were meant to, he said. "It's gotten to be an overbearing bureaucracy that forces us to do things that really don't make a lot of sense," he said. Shelby said he became a Trump supporter when he heard the President-elect talk about onerous regulations. "I said 'Hello,'" he said. "Hallelujah, somebody gets it because I don't think too many politicians ever understood that."
John Hikel
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Hikel, 58, a former New Hampshire legislator and the longtime owner of an auto-repair business in Manchester, said he had supported Donald Trump since meeting him three months before the president-elect decided to run. "He had never been elected to an elected office before and he wasn't an attorney and that was my minimum," Hikel said. He said he wanted to see fewer regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency and the IRS, among agencies, particularly those governing clean air, which he said he thought were too stringent. "When Mr. Trump talked to me about trimming all of these agencies, I couldn't agree more," he said. Hikel said he was looking forward to a manufacturing revival under Trump, whom he viewed as a strong-willed leader. "More and more (customers) are coming into my shop not being able to spend $100 or $200 or $300 even to fix their vehicles," he said. "People are living paycheck to paycheck. I know they have for a long time but that's a problem that our government has handed down to us."
Erin Sullivan
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Sullivan, 20, a junior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, voted for the first time in November and she picked President-elect Donald Trump. The country needs a revival, and Trump's tax and immigration policies and his ideas for creating more jobs in America will help rebuild the country, Sullivan said. An example: his urging automobile manufacturers to build cars in the United States and not in Mexico or elsewhere, she said. "Trump is really focusing on the American dream, and looking at the people who worked really hard and sometimes don't necessarily have a voice," she said. As a young woman, she found his lewd comment about grabbing women to be disgusting, but thought everyone at some point was bound to say something stupid. In his favor, Trump hired women for spots in his campaign, among them SMU alumna Hope Hicks as his director of strategic communications, she said. Sullivan, who is from Wilton, Connecticut, will attend the inauguration with other students from SMU and will volunteer at the Texas State Society's Black Tie and Boots Ball.
Austin Yang
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Yang, 14, a student at La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California, will attend the inauguration with a group of schoolmates. "It's such an important event in our American government," he said. Too young to vote, Yang nonetheless had a preferred candidate, Donald Trump. "We thought that Trump would be better toward the Chinese," said Yang, whose mother was born in China. Trump instead threatened a trade war with China over the value of its currency. "The exact opposite of what we thought would happen," Yang said. "I'm not very happy with it but I guess we can only deal with it now since he's our president." Yang, who expects to study medicine, remains hopeful that Trump will moderate his views once he meets with Chinese officials.
Joseph Locke
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Locke, 21, works in construction, attends Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts full time and will soon start classes at the Massachusetts state reserve police academy with the goal of joining a town police force. He believes that Trump will ensure the military is better prepared to defend the country and cut back spending to tackle the country's debt. "Seeing it from a businessman's perspective where you can see where you can make cuts and not have detriment to the country," he said. Locke ran a Trump campaign office in his hometown Easton, Massachusetts, where he organized volunteers making phone calls and as part of the Bridgewater State University's College Republicans, he reached out to college students. "He didn't seem just like a regular politician," he said of Trump. "I like that he actually says what he feels and what he thinks."
The day after Trump's inauguration, thousands of women are expected on the Mall for the Women's March on Washington.
Voices of women headed to D.C. for the women's march:
Krista Suh
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When Krista Suh, one of the originators of "The Pussyhat Project" steps out for the Women's March on Washington on Saturday, she will likely be surrounded by the handiwork of women from across the country: pink cat-eared hats, a rebuke to Donald Trump over his comment that he grabs women "by the pussy." Women from coast to coast knitted hats for themselves, friends and neighbors and sent them to Washington for other women to wear, even if they cannot be there. "But it’s about so much more than Trump using the word," Suh, 29, said. "It's about us reclaiming the word." She said that she had always been ambitious about the project, which she began with her friend Jayna Zweiman, but was taken aback by the feelings it sparked.
"I just wasn’t prepared for the emotional depth of this project — the notes that accompanied the hats have made me cry and the people who have reached out to me saying that this project has lifted them out of the grief and depression," she said. "That I didn't anticipate and that's been really humbling." Suh, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles, knew the minute she heard about the Women's March that she would attend and quickly thought about what sign could she hold up or what could she wear. "Honestly I was willing to strip naked for this," she said. But then she considered Washington's colder temperatures and settled on a hat — the cat ears to give it a distinctive silhouette. Her knitting teacher named it with her comment: "It's the pussy power hat."
Kica Matos
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Matos, 50, plans join the Women’s March on Washington the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration to show her 11-year-old son what is possible in a democracy. A former deputy mayor in New Haven, Connecticut, she wants to impress on him that he should be an engaged citizen, that he can participate in peaceful protests and fight for what he believes in. Matos, the director of immigration at The Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., said she feared that Trump's election would undermine advances made in racial justice, immigrant rights and women's rights. His campaign, with attacks on immigrants, Muslims and people of color, brought out the worst in many Americans, she said. Of her son, she said, "I want him to believe that we are better as Americans and that we should always strive for a world that respects others, regardless of difference," she said. "And to me this march, the idea of women from all walks of life coming together in solidarity and in support of a better, more just world is incredibly appealing."
Laura Noe
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Noe, 50, will participate in the Women's March on Washington, the first she has ever gone to, because she believes the country must re-think its values. Americans are becoming insulated and isolated, mean and judgmental and are losing the ability to empathize with others, she said. "It becomes an us and them, black and white, win lose," she said. After her divorce, she sold her home so that she and her son could travel and see first-hand how other people lived. "We're all about our stuff, buying and buying, consuming and gobbling up," she said. "I decided I wanted to spend my time and money on experiences." Noe, who owns a marketing and communications company in Branford, Connecticut, wrote about their trips to France, the Czech Republic, Morocco and Turkey in "Travels With My Son: Journeys of the Heart." She is now writing about her brother, Ed, who became homeless, was diagnosed with mental illness and after many years is getting treatment. They celebrated Thanksgiving together for the first time in 17 years.
Chloe Wagner, Morenike Fabiyi
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Wagner and Fabiyi, both 16 and juniors at Francis W. Parker High School in Chicago, worked with the Illinois chapter of the Women's March on Washington and Chicago Women Take Action to put together a group of teenagers from their school to attend the march. They call their organization the Illinois Youth Chapter. Wagner is particularly concerned with LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights; Fabiyi is focused on immigration rights and education reform. Wagner said that after Trump's win, she at first felt powerless. "There wasn't anything happening for a few days and then all of a sudden we just came back full force and that's when we really starting getting passionate about bringing Illinois Youth to Washington," she said. Fabiyi said that she also felt lost but quickly realized that she needed to do something. "I can't just be mad and sad and complain about it all the time," she said. Wagner said one of the goals of the march was to tell the Trump administration that "we will not be walked over, and we will fight for all rights we are given under the Constitution." Said Fabiyi, "Just because I can't vote yet doesn't mean that my voice shouldn't be heard."
Alexandra Goutnova
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Goutnova, 15 and a student at La Jolla Country Day School in California, will be attending both the inauguration and the Women's March on Washington though she does not support President-elect Donald Trump. "I'm very passionate about women's rights," she said. Goutnova, who moved to the United States from Russia three years ago and who plans to attend law school, is bothered by comments Trump has made about women and by his denial of climate change. "It is a proven scientific fact that this is happening and this is happening right now," she said. "So the fact that our president is not willing to deal with it I think is absurd." Americans compared to Russians are more accepting, about LGBTQ rights, for example, she said. She said she is terrified that the United States will change. "Coming from Russia, I've seen the difference of how it can be in a bad way," she said. "And I'm just scared to see that happen to the U.S."
