ROCKVILLE SNOW UPDATE/FORECAST #RKV #WEATHER

A few days before springing forward to Daylight Savings Time, winter is going out kicking and screaming with another snowstorm headed our way tonight. We will be experiencing rain throughout the day today with our relatively warmer temperatures (our high will be 46°F this afternoon), but overnight that will switch to snow. By 5 AM Thursday, we'll be at the freezing mark - just in time for rush hour, of course.

Snow will begin to taper off by 5 PM Thursday, and our total accumulation will be in the 3"-7" range, with some forecasters calling for 10" at the higher end of the spectrum. A frigid Friday means we'll be iced in by whatever has fallen until it begins to melt Saturday. If recent storms are a guide, that initial freeze will slow the melting process even once temperatures have gone above freezing this weekend.

Our current temperature is a downright-balmy 39°, and fog will be a problem early this morning. Take an umbrella. Winds are WSW at 4 MPH.

Stay tuned here and on Twitter at @RockvilleNights for updates throughout the storm tonight and tomorrow.

ROCKVILLE SNOW UPDATE AND FORECAST #RKV

The DC area will be under a Winter Weather Advisory from noon until 10:00 PM tonight, as snow, sleet and freezing rain associated with Winter Storm Thor are expected to create hazardous road conditions this evening.

Thor is expected to hit at midday. We will be getting up to an inch of snow and sleet, according to the NWS; the Weather Channel is showing slightly higher amounts.

What could be worse for drivers, falling limbs and trees, and power outages, is that we are again facing a coating of ice around a tenth of an inch today.

It is currently a frigid 22°F. The good news is that, beginning around 7:00 PM tonight, we will be rising above freezing, and continue to heat up overnight. That will turn the precipitation into rain.

Prepare to enjoy a rainy but comparatively toasty 47° high on Wednesday.

SIGN INSTALLED AT NEW YORK MART IN ROCKVILLE (PHOTOS)

The permanent sign is up at New York Mart, the Asian grocery store coming to College Plaza on Route 355 in Rockville. It is taking over the space formerly occupied by Magruder's - and yes, those are vintage Magruder's shopping carts outside. They are now collector's items.

The store's building permit

Vintage! Magruder's shopping carts
still on site!

" WORLD'S BEST CASHIER " REINSTATED AT TWINBROOK SAFEWAY

Howard, the Twinbrook Safeway cashier dubbed the "World's Best Cashier" by his regular customers and fans, is back on the job. Those customers rallied behind him after he was mysteriously let go by the store for no apparent reason recently. Letters, emails, a union grievance hearing and hundreds of petition signatures later, Howard Abrams is now back behind his checkout register at the grocery chain's Twinbrook location.

JBG FULLY LEASES RETAIL AT 275 N. WASHINGTON ST., ASIAN BUSINESSES TO DOMINATE NEW ROCKVILLE BUILDING (PHOTOS)

The established and still-growing Asian community in Rockville has shown its economic power strongly in the retail mix the JBG Companies are bringing to their new 275 N. Washington Street project. JBG has announced the mixed-use building's retail space is fully-leased, and that four Asian-owned businesses will be among the tenants.

Those businesses will be French-Asian cafe Lavande Patisserie, Kung Fu Tea, Quickway Japanese Hibachi Grill and Amber Door Day Spa. Rockville's Asian community has founded many businesses, and the city has increasingly become a major shopping and dining destination for the larger, regional Asian community around the DC area.

In addition to the many Asian restaurants nearby, there are several Asian markets in the vicinity - including one only steps away, and a new one in the College Plaza that replaces the venerable Magruder's grocery store. This synergy, which will be enhanced by the new businesses, is creating what JBG's Anthony Greenberg calls "an organically emerging district" of Asian-owned businesses near downtown Rockville. New additions in the adjacent Rockville Town Square include Peter Chang's Bistro, and the Asian-owned Hair Design Zone, both opening this spring.

Quickway Japanese Hibachi founder Bob Liang says the diversity of Rockville, and 275 N. Washington's town center location, were the major factors in deciding to open his 10th area location here. The restaurant will feature fast casual Japanese cuisine.

Lavande Patisserie is owned by mother and son Julie Yi and Andrew Liang of Gaithersburg, and will serve breakfast, lunch and French pastries with an Asian twist, including kumquat fruit tarts. "Buy local" will be a mantra for Lavande. "Everything is fresh and purchased within 50 miles, nothing is store bought or pre-processed,” says Liang. Meat butchering, flour milling and more will be done in-house in this farm-to-table café.

Kung Fu Tea is a New York-based chain serving tea beverages, and this will be its first DC-area location.

Amber Door Day Spa is locally owned, offering massages, facials, body treatments, makeup and other spa services.

All four businesses are moving in, and expect to open this spring. The project's anchor tenant is Bank of America, and 12,000 SF of Class A office space is still available for lease on the building's second floor. This is one of many projects Chevy Chase-based JBG is developing in Rockville.

CORRIDOR CITIES TRANSITWAY MEETING TONIGHT AT 7:00

Corridor Cities Transitway Project Manager Rick Kiegel will host a public meeting tonight in North Potomac at 7:00 PM. The meeting will be at Stone Mill Elementary School, located at 14323 Stonebridge View Road in North Potomac.

The CCT is a transit project that was recently switched from light rail to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Its travel time from Clarksburg to Shady Grove Metro station is estimated to be a sluggish 48 minutes. At that rate, a car in rush hour traffic could beat it there.

Tonight's meeting will discuss the community impacts of the CCT on the North Potomac area, but the route also extends through the City of Rockville. King Farm, in particular, will be impacted by the route.

Only a portion of the full route is being discussed right now, as developers are anxious to qualify for the density at Science City (Belward Farm, etc.) that only the CCT can permit. But with ridership potential now seriously reduced by the decision to switch from rail to bus, its effectiveness in managing the major traffic impacts of the Science City plan is in doubt to say the least.

Even on this short segment, estimated travel times are about three times slower than current automobile travel times. In fact, even the existing, humble Ride On bus beats the CCT between Belward Farm and Shady Grove by a whopping ten minutes! Embarrassing.

What is the justification for this taxpayer boondoggle, other than the financial and political benefits accrued to the developers and the politicians they help get elected to office?

ROCKVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: HAIR DESIGN ZONE AT ROCKVILLE TOWN SQUARE (PHOTOS)

Hairstylist Juan Ma is bringing 10 years of experience at Abanai, one of the top salons in Osaka, Japan, to Rockville Town Square. But first she needs a salon, and that work is underway at 141-C Gibbs Street. Hair Design Zone will aim to bring the latest hair designs and styling methods from Japan and America to Rockville, offering haircare, cuts and coloring.

The salon replaces The Hair Cuttery, which closed last August.