and here's a look at live doppler 7. we are getting pounded with drenching rain and a lot of wind just about everywhere in the bay area. that could mean a treacherous commute for you. hope you're prepared. good morning on this thursday, march 1st. as you can see, alexis is back with us. she's back from maternity leave. welcome back. >> good morning. it feels so weird. no one spit up on me yet today. i haven't changed any diapers. the day is young. >> all right. >> mike nicco -- >> nice to see you. >> you're the star of the show

today. >> yes, yes. i don't know if you can say spitting outside, but it's drenching up in the north bay. our next round of moderate to heavy rain. the oranges and yellows and reds, you see next to live doppler 7. for the rest of us, moderate to heavy rain went through overnight. wetness everywhere. you can see more rain developing offshore and heading our way. here's a lookt at that rain in san rafael. this is looking south on 101. drenching rain through the morning commute as the storm moves from north to south. lighter rain for noon. keep the umbrella hand. they will take over, showers will. scattered at 4:00. that's when we'll start to see the chance of thunderstorms which means lightning and hail and snow down to 4,000 feet. dress for temperatures in the low to mid-50s. here she is. >> good morning, mike. a rough day already. 23 incidents on the road today. some that of is standing water. a lot of report and a lot of spinout crashes. northbound 880 at oak street. we have a solo vehicle spinout

crash. that's blocking one lane. i believe that's in the clearing stages. some delays on the northbound side of 880. moving up to 580, looks like a new collision there just before 24 on westbound 580. some delays if you're trying to get to the bay bridge from oakland. we have trouble on walnut creek. >> let's check in with how the storm is affecting the south bay. >> matt keller joins us with more. matt, how is it going? >> reporter: gorge, natasha and reggie. i want to show you what happened on capital expressway. the vista park apartments. this is a vehicle that is on the sidewalk and up the ramp here toward the a apartments. this woman told me she was driving, started hydroplaning. spun out ended up on the sidewalk and ended up here on this little hill right no front of the apartments here. everybody is okay. that's the good news. but this is going to be

obviously a headache as she was trying to get to work this morning. obviously the rain is causing a lot of problems out here this morning. check this out. we were in los gatos earlier and saw this blue flash in the sky. we weren't able to track down where it came from. but power issues and rain like this are not uncommon. rain pounds the area. 3400 customers are without power right now from scotts valley to redwood estates. according to the pg&e outage map. they're hoping to have the power back on by 7:45 this morning. that's an estimate. the rain can cause problems on highway 17. slow down, take it easy. it's easy to lose control of your car on days like today as this vehicle proved this morning. reporting live in san jose, matt keller, abc 7 news. boy. i'm gng to echo what matt said. take it easy out there. i want to show you this new video coming in a few seconds

ago. this is in orinda. this video is from a short time ago. good news, i don't have any spinouts like with matt's live shot. but you can see this is highway 24, some pretty heavy and steady rain coming down there. visibility is a factor. good news is the commute is pretty good in that area. i just checked with alexis. she has issues up in walnut creek. >> but the orinda area on 24 looks good. as alexis has been telling us throughout the morning, take it slow today during your morning commute. back to you. >> thank you. despite the storms, east bay water managers don't think mother nature will help. that's because of last year's rain. east bay rain levels are only 44% of normal. we may need conservation measures again. water managers will wait until spring to assess the situation. but one fisherman already noticed the difference. >> tell our customers, do we need to do more than conserve as a way of life. do we need to request voluntary

conservation. >> last year was a lot of rain, of course. the reservoirs were filled up. this year, hasn't been so much rain. it's been kind of low. >> it could get worse. snowfall in the sierra is just 20% of normal. with the storm here, we want to make sure you have the abc 7 news app hand toy get up to the minute forecasting. you can customize the forecast for wherever you are. in southern california, a recommended evacuation warning in effect for parts of santa barbara county. last month, 20 people were killed when heavy rains triggered mudslides in montecito and other areas devastated by the thomas fire. rain is expected to hit the region hard today. there's concern there could be more mudslides. a heads-up if you're leaving the car at home and taking b.a.r.t. in today. happening today, b.a.r.t. fare inspectors will begin citing riders who don't have valid tickets or clipper cards.

they will ask for proof of payment in the paid areas of stations and on the trains. they'll use devices that scan paper tickets and your clipper cards. up until now, inspectors have been handing out warnings. now, fare violators will be fined $75 each time they're caught. the fine for minors is $55. an 18-year-old high school student has been arrested for allegedly bringing guns to school. he was taken into custody yesterday at olympic high school. police went to campus after a tip about an armed student. he was found with two loaded hand guns. he had previously been arrested on suspicion of a weapons violation and admitted to being in a gang. president trump shocked lawmakers by calling for wide ranging gun control measures, including raising minimum age -- the president appears to be taking positions that put himself at odds with the nra. kendis gibson is here. >> president trump shocking

lawmakers in this bipartisan meeting calling for wide ranging gun control measures. >> the president repeatedly taking positions that put himself at odds with the nra and republicans. he seemed to embrace connecticut democrat chris murphy's call for background checks for all gun purchases. >> people want it. >> we do have a different president now. >> you went through a lot of presidents and you didn't get it done. >> people want to get it done. >> the president each disagreeing with his own vice president. saying in some cases law enforcement should take weapons from someone identified as a possible threat each if it violates due process rights. >> allow due process so no one rights are tramped. but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and collect not only the firearms but any weapons in the possession of that -- >> or mike, take the firearms first and then go to court. >> the nra quickly react to that exchange. strongly disagreeing with the

president. >> the nra is going to protect due process for innocent americans. >> trump bringing up another idea that the nra firmly opposes. raising the minimum age to buy assault-style weapons. such as the ar-15 used in the parkland shooting. kendis gibson, new york. rejecting a tax increase on gas. blowing a $617 million hole in governor brown's budget. the board of equalization normally rubber stamps. two members refuse to do so. they didn't want to raise the gas tax by $.04 a gallon aft we. a spokesperson says the revenue loss will be reflected in less money for roads, highways and maintenance. now, your accuweather forecast with mike nicco. >> let's talk about the storm impact scale. because we still got another round of soaking rain coming in this morning. that's why the storm is 2 moderate on the storm impact scale. we'll transition over to thunderstorms this afternoon. that could mean localized

moderate to heavy rain. winds that will be overall about 40 miles per hour could be locally gusty in these thunderstorms also. here's a look at what's going on. we're having light rain across most of our neighborhoods right now sass the moderate rain continues to develop up in the north bay. the dividing line is the cold front. that's going to come through this morning and bring us that next round of moderate rain. you can see we transition to showers once we get behind that. temperatures, very mild this morning. 49 in rohnert park. we've got clear lake at 44. ukiah at 48. everybody else 50 to 52. pretty much upper 40s to low 50s everywhere with san carlos at 53. one of the warm spots. tracy from there, it's 47. same thing at cupertino. alameda about 51. you can see about 3/4 of an inch of rain, what it does. there's a lot of puddles on embarcadero. if you're going to be out and about, half the umbrella handy. but the rain will come in sideways at times as the breezes kick in. if you like to exercise in the rain, have fun.

just use caution. poor footing out there and traveling to the sierra, don't do it if you don't need to. temperatures today, about 53 to 58 degrees. not much warming from this morning. much cooler tomorrow. but no soaking rain that the forecast. just some scattered showers. temperatures in the mid-30s to mid-40s. we'll take a look at the lowering snow levels and just about who is going to get an inch to 2 inches of rain coming up next. here's alexis. >> busy day with all this ryne fall. i want to head to walnut creek. we're improving even though you're seeing the red. a semi was involved in that one also. mercedes flipped over. we just got the all clear from chp. that is as you approach the 24 interchange. i think that backup will unwind quickly given we're ohm at 5:10 this morning. highway 4 to walnut creek, starting to see that improvement. back in the green at 9 minutes. westbound 24, walnut creek to highway 13, a lot of water on

the roads. in the green at 9 and westbound 580 tracy to dublin. you're a little slow at 41 minutes. a quick check of the golden gate bridge. we'll have flooding in marin county as well. the north bay takes another big step in recovering from the october firestorm. that is next. a story about broken call boxes. only on abc 7 news, prompts the city of san francisco to take action to make sure that we're ready for an emergency. plus, a new nuclear threat this morning. this morning. but this time

welcome back. coming up on 5:14. wind advisory everywhere except for the santa clara valley. winds fusing up to 45 miles per hour on our peaks could create power outages and down some trees. they're going to bring in ever cooling snow levels today. 4,000 feet. saturday 2,000 feet. here's a live desk a possible nuclear threat. not from north korea. this time from russia. russian president vladimir putin says russia tested out nuclear weapons immune to enemy interception. he says the cruise missile tested last fall has unlimited range and high-speed. it can target aircraft carriers and facilities. putin says russia tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile with more warheads and

average range than ever before. he actually showcased all of these weapons this morning in a pre-election speech. he's expected to win his fourth presidential term later this month. back to you. jessica, thank you. happening today, will open for the first time since the october north bay wildfires. the cabin suffered smoke damage and that's why they haven't reopened until today. safari west was lucky no animals were hurt or died. the preserve was spared with minimal damage to fence and equipment. abc 7 news was there as the first visitors returned to safari west. they felt it was important to get everyone back to work while repairs were made. a new warning for women taking uber and lyft. authorities in los angeles arrested a man who is a serial rapist who lured women by posing as their driver. diane macedo has the details. >> in this first look, officials in los angeles are urging caution for anyone using ride

sharing apps. after arresting a man that posed as a driver to prey on women. >> it's scary. when it's 2:00 in the morning and you're getting out of a bar, you're not really looking at the license plate. >> 44-year-old nicholas morales is facing 27 felony counts, including sexual assault. authorities say morales would allegedly wait outside clubs in beverly hills and the surrounding areas late at night. according to police, he would drive up to women who appeared drunk asking if they requested a ride. now behind bars, the married man is a skews cuesed of sexually assaulting at least 7 women over a 15-month span. coming up at 7:00 a.m., we'll tell you how to stay safe with your gma first look, i'm diane macedo, abc news, new york. we have an update on the red fire emergency call boxes found all over san francisco. a few weeks ago, abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez noticed that towels and tape were covering some of them. yesterday the committee

conducted hearings to determine why they're not working and what it will take to bring them back online. oebl 87% of the 2300 emergency call boxes are currently working. some were built in the 1860s. the city does not want the boxes gone. instead, they're looking into retrofitting them with wireless, radio-based or sell communication. an estimated cost for that, $5,000 to $6,000 per box. >> if you do the math on that, it's about 12 to $13 million. but we would do it over time. >> now, instead of towels and tape, orange plastic bags with the words not in service are being used. it's 5:17 and as you can see, alexis is back from ma ter terpt leave. >> it's been what, five years. >> you're back in service now. >> i'm back in service. i had a really nice calm day to come back to, right? >> yeah. welcome back. >> thank you. just thank you guys so much.

gave me a great sendoff and i have a lot of kind messages from you and all of our viewers, too, have been checking in. i think we have a picture of my little guy. >> introduce us to the little guy. >> look at him. >> that's my little boy connor. he's 3 1/2 months already. it's crazy. he loves to sit up and -- of course, he needs a little help. he loves to stand up too. >> he's the cutest little thing. >> he looks like his dad. he's got dark hair, dark eyes, he doesn't look a thing like me. >> he looks eye depth cal to his dad. >> they're buddies. i had to wake my husband up this morning because i fed connor and i couldn't get him back to sleep. >> tapped him on the shoulder at 2:30, sorry. i can't get him back to sleep. >> welcome back, alexis. >> i had a great ma terpt leave. that's great.

south on 101, looks treacherous there, doesn't it? rain think morning to stormy this afternoon and evening. breezy all day today. showers and thunderstorms will continue all day through saturday. the snow levels we talked about dropping from 4,000 feet to 2,000 feet. here's a look at the big picture. satellite lows that will rotate still well to the north as the storm slides south to us. that's why we're going to have three days of rain. some of our better radar returns in the santa cruz mountains. there could be ponding on the roadways or at least sheen or water, sheets of it rolling sideways across some of those inclines and declines. up in the north bay, this may be a little hotter than what is actually reaching the ground. but you can see an uptick in the intensity through the morning hours. there it is at 7:00. still in the north bay, still

have that hotspot down in santa cruz mountains. let's see where they go. santa cruz mountains, one never leaves and the one in the north bay moves into the heart of the bay by lunch. then by 3:00, it's gone. here comes the waves of scattered showers and thunderstorms. don't forget all that snow possible in lake county through saturday. overnight, it changes more to scattered showers. 9:00 tomorrow morning, still scattered light showers and a little bit more showers tomorrow afternoon once the sun gets in there. a look at hamilton, diablo and the north bay mountains is when more snow will fall. here's my accuweather seven-day forecast. the lightest amount of rain will fall on saturday with scattered wintry mix. dry for the oscars on shuunday. spring will try to make a comeback monday before it gets wet again tuesday and wednesday. what's going on, alexis. >> a busy day on the roads. live doppler 7 on top of the traffic maps. we're soggy about everywhere. want to take you up to the north bay. we do have reports of flooding

in all lanes on northbound 101 around lucky drive. so slow down. take it easy. a lot of hydroplaning this morning. amy hollyfield is checking out the north bay. we'll check in with her shortly. another look at the bay bridge toll plaza. rain and winds. that is coming in sideways. we just got word that the bay bridge metering lights are flipped on as well. a bit of a delay in the maze as you approach the toll booth. a couple of issues. one on 880 and one on 580. approaching the toll plaza here as well. we'll tell you about the new problem for the central valley commuters at 5:30. thank you, alexis. best buy cutting costs by close closing a chain of stores. the they plan to close all 250 small format mobile phone stores. best buy opened the stores more than a decade ago before the iphone came along. sales from mobile phone stores account for 1% of total revenue. they'll close by the end of may.

the company will try to remain as many workers as they can. >> struggled to get food on the table have a new source thanks to a partnership. in hayward, the unified food paptry. the project by the community food bank and president hayward unified school district. the food paptry is open to all but specifically designed for those in the district. >> unified is able to order the food right for their families, the quantities right for the families, the type of food relevant and to have it here on site. >> the pantry is located at a former school cafeteria at the parent resource center. next, the 7

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water that's fallen and it is a dangerous commute this morning. we've got heavier rain on the way for the rest of the morning commute. and the storms that will last through at least saturday. >> yeah. number 2 is all about that soggy commute here this morning. we've got about a dozen crashes working right now. the latest, westbound 580 before you get to grant line road. in the tracy area, one lane down. this will take a while to clear. >> number 3, the weather may have contributed to a four-car collision. a fedex semi jack-knifed in oakland. it closed all lanes for two hours overnight. number 4, emergency crews in sonoma county are on alert because of the storm. last october's fire damaged tousands of trees that could fall in high winds. 10,000 trees are tagged for removal or trimming because of the fire. number 5 from the live desk. there are power outages to report right now due to the rain. most of those outages in the south bay. a lot of them seem to be in the santa cruz mountains.

we've reached out to pg&e. i'll let you know when we get more details. >> a threatening tweet send to alum rock school district. the district can't confirm the credibility but is taking the tweet seriously. number 7, elon musk says that he can build a new b.a.r.t. tunnel under san francisco bay faster and for less money. b.a.r.t. says that the project would cost up to $15 billion. news i can says he could do it for 1/5 of that amount. an east bay woman is looking for help to find her missing parrot. the 3-year-old flew away from her owner a week ago sunday from morgan hill. maybe scared off by hawks. fin was spotted a day later but not seen since. the owner is offering a $4,000 reward. if you have information on fin's whereabouts go to our website. blue angels are training at their winter home in el centro,

california. some spectators got a very close experience this week. >> nope. not in a million years. i would never stand there. that is way too close. in fact, if you do stand there, you know what happens? you get a mouthful of dirt. >> sure. >> one person was even blown off their viewing ladder, breaking their camera. we're told even so, everyone loved it. okay. the blue angels will be in san francisco for fleet week the first week of october. i don't recommend standing that close. >> we're coming back with a full 90 minutes of news, including the impact of the storm on the bay area and the critical safety tips from pg&e. first, a reward. now chp trying a new

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let's not complain because we need the rain. the storm across the bay area is making for a challenging commute. you're looking at live at the walnut creek camera. >> good morning on this thursday, march 1st. alexis is back from maternity leave. welcome back. a busy day at work. >> thank you very much. >> you're never more than seven minutes away from -- s minutes away from your accuweather forecast. >> good morning, hi. everybody. let's talk about the storm impact scale off the bat. it's a 2, moderate because of the soaking rain we're getting this morning and the chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and the wind that will gust over 40 to 45 miles per hour with a slight chance of power outages. our strongest returns north of santa rosa towards mark west springs road. heading towards calistoga as this is moving more from southwest to northeast. the entire system is moving from

northwest to southeast. so that cold front is going to bring us a soaking rain all the way through at least noon. we'll transition over to light rain. it will become storms during the afternoon hours, which means localized brief heavy rain, localized gusty conditions and even small hail. let's find out about the streets this morning. hi, alexis. >> yeah. a lot of standing water and hydroplaning and spinout crashes along with that. here's a look at the soggy bay bridge toll plaza. you can see that rain coming down pretty heavy and blowing sideways. those metering lights turned on easterlyer early today. 5:17. it is gusty over the water as well. both hands on the wheel. westbound 580 tracy to dublin. up to 43 minutes near grant line road. more on that in a few. southbound 680 out of dublin to mission boulevard. northbound 85 between 101 and cupertino. >> alexis, thank you. a big rig jack-knifed on southbound 880 in oakland this morning colliding with three cars. the good news, no one was seriously hurt. this happened at 1:40 this

morning south of 7th street. all lanes were blocked. chp got the accident cleared by 4:00 a.m. the freeway was split from the rain during the crash. an investigation is is under way to find the official cause. there's concern that the storm will topple trees damaged in the sonoma wildfires. >> tens of thousands of trees have been tagged for removal or trimming. amy hollyfield is tracking the impact of the storm in the north bay. a amy? >> reporter: good morning reggie. look at this standing water here on this corner in the coffey park neighborhood which was devastated by fire. they've done preparations. we see sandbags, we also see straw waddles, all of this in an effort to keep the rain or any debris from going into the storm drains here. they're worried about debris from the runoff from the burned out areas. they're also keeping a close eye

on all of the trees that have been tagged. 10,000 of them that are dead or dying from the fires. we are dealing with a lot of wind right now. but intense winds are predicted from this storm. they're worried they could knock over those trees. >> especially is gusts sustained at 20 to 35 miles per hour and up to 50 at the highest elevations. that's a concern of ours just from the amount of dead and dying trees that we've talked about where we've had the damaged trees that have been associated with the fire. crews are on high alert and they have been doing a lot of prep work. we showed you they've got the straw waddles, the gravel bags. all trying to protect the storm drains from any runoff. they will be keeping a close eye on all the burned out areas as this storm moves through. reporting live in santa rosa, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. a live desk update. >> quickly want to show you the power outages in the bay area. we're actually looking pretty good right now.

pg&e telling us that most of the customers experiencing outages are in the south bay. you can see that in the south bay. the yellows and the oranges, concentrated in the san jose area, as well as the santa cruz mountains. they say 1,370 customers are without power in the south bay. meanwhile, only 15 outages in the east bay. none in the north bay. as i mentioned, most of those outages right now in the santa cruz mountains in the south bay. back to you. >> the sierra expected to get up to 7 feet of snow throughout the weekend. check out conditions along interstate 80 and highway 50. the chp says stay out of the mountains for the next few days. but if you have to travel there, make sure you're prepared. >> make sure that you have an emergency travel kit with extra food and water, some warm clothes, blankets. being able to make sure that they start off their trip with a full tank of gas. >> cal trans says they've

received some -- i should say they have 200 employees working around the clock to make sure the roads are clear. extra precautions at san jose state university following the threat of violence. they believe it's not credible but they're not taking chances. here's a look at the graffiti, threat yented a shooting at the school yesterday at 5:00 p.m. we spotted a clear police presence there. they september an alert to students and increased police patrols. they believe it's not credible. police investigating a threat against the alum rock school district. the threat was made on twitter. it was received in the last day. the message is a threat to, quote, shoot up all the district schools. the district said they cannot confirm its credibility but taking the tweet seriously. only on abc 7 news, we're learning new details about the length chp is going to track down a freeway shooter targeting tech buses. investigators tell abc 7 news at least 20 vehicles have been hit

over the past month. possibly by a high-powered bb gun or rifle. the attacks have mainly happened along interstate 280. when the buses started taking highway 101 instead, the suspect followed them and attacked again. the impacts have been severe enough to break windows. now the fbi is involved. the chp revealed to us a new tactic they've started using. >> perhaps a bait bus. perhaps just a proactive patrol in unmarked vehicles as well as marked patrol vehicles, as well as individuals that are -- making themselves comfortable throughout that stretch of the 280 on the side of the road and not even in a patrol vehicle. >> the chp is also asking for tips from drivers who may have witnessed one of these shootings. shut down i.c.e. >> happening today another protest in san francisco against the weekend sweep by federal immigration agents.

hundreds of people rallied outside of i.c.e. headquarters yesterday demanding an end to deportation raids. oakland mayor libby schaaf responded to criticism from the i.c.e. director that her weekend warning allowed hundreds of criminals to hide from agents. she accuses the trump add mgs of political retaliation by targeting california. uc berkeley agreed to make changes after a federal investigation into how it hanlts sexual misconduct allegations. they've been reviewing the policies since 2014 after two complaints were filed by students. university officials say the investigation involved reviewing more than 200 case files and that compliance concerns were expressed over about 12 of them. cal has two years to show the government how its policies have changed. back to storm coverage now. pg&e is urging customers to be prepared for the next round of storms. they have a list of safety tips. among them, never touchdowned wires. if you see a downed line, call

911 immediately. use flash flood flashlights, not candles. turn off appliances if you lose power. here's one other tip. pg&e sent out this tweet suggesting customers store water bottles in the freezer and use them as blocks of ice to prevent food from spoiling if the power goes out. you can melt the ice if you need drinking water. it's not a great chance for power outages. but always a chance when we get wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour and where, you know, amy was up in the north bay. those trees damaged or dead from the fire there. or trees weakened from the years of drought we had. the areas in yellow, that's the best chance of the gusts hitting 45 miles per hour. so far, we've missed out. here's a look at rain. light to moderate rain on the peninsula from millbrae. redwood city, palo alto, woodside. it's going to go across the dunbarton bridges and towards hayward, newark, union city and

fremont. coming from discovery bay or the altamont pass, we have light to moderate rain falling. look at the temperatures this morning. 9 to 23 degrees warmer. so you don't have to worry about a chill in the air. but you have to dress to stay dry. temperatures in the low to mid-50s on the peninsula right now. 50 across the board oakland. hayward, san ramon, livermore, fremont and also in san jose. 51 in napa and san rafael. we're not going to warm up much today. if you look at the rain falling on the western span of the bay bridge. poor, the roads this morning to almost dangerous because of the standing water that's out there. rainy, just about all day if you're taking mass transit. it will be wet and windy on the bay. quick look at the temperatures today. the high will be 58 in san jose. most of us around 55. 56 degrees. 50 in lakeport and ukiah with snow possible in your highest elevations. tonight get ready for the chill to come back. mid-30s to mid-40s. that also means the chance of hail and snow with the rest of

our storm that's going to last through saturday. details coming up. how about the commute. >> it's not pretty this morning, mike. i want to take you back to the central valley. if you're leaving the tracy area, we're seeing that line of red on westbound 580. a bit of good news. a solo vehicle crashed around grant line road. it sounds like that person was transported with injuries. they were able to push that vehicle off to the shoulder. checking those speeds, they're not great. but we certainly have seen worse in that stretch. 11 miles an hour as you approach that 205 and 580 interchange and up to 30 miles an hour as you get closer to altamont pass. overall, not terrible and it should improve. south bay, you're soggy but not many crashes there this morning. 101 and 880. that northbound side starting to fill in. a quick check of the richmond-san rafael bridge. a lot of drops on the camera lens. no issues in that area. we'll take a look at drive times in less than ten. coming up, the plan oakland school leaders have to get lead out of drinking fountains.

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let's look at the california forecast. only southern california is not going to be touched by this storm. low to upper 60s around san diego, los angeles and palm springs. let's check out what's going on. lake county, where we've got the winter storm warning.

possibly 2 to 8 inches. this will be more prevalent tomorrow and into saturday when the colder air starts to come in. 2 feet on the peaks. that's impressive. until you look over here and up to 7 feet in the sierra until that snow, winter storm warning continues until 10:00 saturday evening and do not drive around lake tahoe. from 8:00 this morning to 4:00 friday. white-out conditions due to 65 miles per hour wind and heavy, heavy snow. my accuweather seven-day forecast. the snow goes through saturday morning and again wednesday. reggie? >> meghan markle and me too. the royal bride-to-be speaking out candidly about topics once considered taboo within the royal family. the american actress is modernizing the monarchy. with less than three months to her wedding to prince harry, markle is shaking things up. she's tackling topics like sexual harassment, rape, workplace abuse and gender equality. >> now, so many campaigns, me too and time's up.

there's no better time than to real really continue to shine a light when feeling empowered and people really helping to support them. women don't need to find a voice. they have a voice. they need to feel empowered to you and people need to be encouraged to listen. >> royal protocol calls for family members to avoid any political controversy. but markle and prince harry say they are committed to making a difference together. this morning, new turmoil in the white house. one of president trump's most loyal aides is resigning. communications director hope hicks will step down in the coming weeks. the move comes after her testimony on tuesday before the house intelligence committee. she said she was required to tell, quote, white lies for president trump. but she denied lying about the russia investigation. in a statement, the president praised hicks for her work and said we will, quote, miss having her by my side. the oakland unified school partner the east bay times reports that the new clean

drinking water policy requires the district to for contaminants including lead. the results will be posted publicly. those with more than 5 parts per billion will have been to be fixed o r replaced. gabby giffords is here to support a scholarship. it's named for her aide, gabe zimmerman, one of the six people killed in an assassination attempt of giffords in 2011. giffords will be joined by a group of speakers, including her husband, astronaut mark kelly, and uc president janet naacknapp napolitano. this will be at chronicle books at 4:00 p.m. on second street. 3,000 miles apart, they recently tis covered they're family. abc 7 news was at the airport for this. a touching reunion only on abc

7. rick mcbride was in the bay area, jeff clark in north carolina. they recently found out they're half brothers. rick posted on social media that he was looking for jeff clark and that brought them together. >> i've been talking with them on the phone and we did one face time call and we seem to have a lot in common. >> it's also your birthday. >> yes, sir. >> i'm his present. >> great birthday. >> best one ever. >> over the next week and a half, the two brothers will spend a lot of time getting to know each other. they have one mission. to find a sister that they know is somewhere out there too. >> sounds like another story to do. never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. meteorologist mike nicco has a weather story. >> yeah. nearly .25 inches in the south bay. usually you get to skate through the morning commute without rain. but not this time. this is 101 and 880. it's slick and slippery. we've got rainy conditions this

morning. that means a steady diet of light to moderate rain. it will become stornl i this afternoon. we're going to have widespread scattered showers and thunderstorms. showers and thunderstorms tomorrow through saturday with that snow level dropping from 4,000 feet today to 2,000 feet saturday. you can see in the south bay, we've got some wet weather. there it is. showing up on live doppler 7. all the way up to sunol grade and out the altamont pass. you see the benicia bridge, the golden gate bridge and also the bay bridge all getting rain right now. there's no escaping it. in fact, it's the east-west bridges where we find the breezes that add a little challenge if not danger to your morning commute. here's a look at the moderate rain moving through the north bay. also down in the santa cruz mountains. notice how it moves through and into, i should say, through the north bay into the heart of the bay by noon. especially in the south bay and east bay. then by 2:00, it's out of there.

there come the scattered showers and thunderstorms. you can see the snow around clear lake. we'll get a chance of snow overnight on diablo and hamilton. you can see at 4:00 tomorrow morning. notice how the nature of the storms are more widespread. the heaviest is definitely going to fall today. we have a better chance of thunderstorms, lightning and hail tomorrow and sa. those are a 1, light. sunshine for sunday and monday and more rain tuesday and wednesday. say good morning to alexis. she's back. >> unfortunately, i don't have great news either. probably a good day to head out the door early. we've got live doppler 7 on top of our traffic maps. as you can see and as mike told us, it is soggy out there today. a new sig-alert in the pleasanton area. northbound 680 at bernal avenue. sounds like a box truck. this is the lighter side of traffic. that's the good news. we're already seeing backups on the busier side. quick check of the bay bridge toll plaza metering lights on at

5:17 today. a quick check of drive times as well. highway 4 to the maze in the yellow at 25 minutes. about 14 minutes across that bridge. southbound 101, san francisco to sfo, looking okay there. in the green at ten minutes. thanks, alexis. facebook expanding its job search tool to dozens of countries. >> first unveiled the feature in the u.s. and canada last year. urk sort through job listings by location, industry, type as well as manage applications and apply through facebook. the social network says that 40% of u.s. small businesses reported that filling jobs was more difficult than they expected. they think that facebook can play a part in closing that gap. music streaming service spotify has filed to go public. instead of a traditional ipo, the swedish company is going to pursue a direct public offering. that means spotify can list existing shares owned by investors and employees without raising new capital. the shares have traded as high

as $132 on private markets. next at 6:00, details on a local high school student arrested for bringing two loaded guns to school. the drug executive known as the pharma bro wants to make a deal. what he's offering do if a judge goes easy on him. elon musk has a proposition for b.a.r.t. >> announcer: the abc 7 storm impact scale. today's storm is level 2. that means moderate rain. so gear up before you go out. drive safely. track today's storm any time on the abc 7

good morning. we're tracking a 2. there's app endless supply of moisture from the ocean the. you can't escape the rain. the only thing you can hope for is it's light during the commute. for most of us, moderate over the next several hours. natasha? martin shkreli is asking for leniency from a judge and admitting that he was a fool. in a letter, he tells the judge if she gives him a lenient sentence, he will do his best to use his skills for the betterment of humanity. he describes the trial and his six months in prison as a quote, frightening wakeup call. he's best known for boosting the price of a life-saving aids drug. he was convicted of cheating investors in a pair of failed hedge funds. he's scheduled to be sentenced on march 9th. elon musk says his boring company could built a new tunnel faster and cheaper. musk tweeted that his tunneling company could complete the project for 1/10 the cost and 1/5 the amount of time estimated by b.a.r.t.

b.a.r.t. is spending $100 million just to study the project this year which could end up costing as much as $15 billion to actually build. okay. today might be a great day to take b.a.r.t. as well when you see how soggy the roads are here. this is 101 and 880 in san jose. we do have a new crash reported around this area. a little bit north of here. de la cruz. four vehicles involved and everything was pushed to the shoulder. the road spray kicking up. no delays with ace rail. 1 and 3 on time. so far the weather has not slowed down the b.a.r.t. trains and it will be windy out on the bay. san francisco bay ferry looking at normal service right now as well. let's check in with mike nicco and how is the rest of the commute looking today? >> it's looking pretty bad weatherwise. the worst part of the storm or the strongest part will move in during the morning commute. that's why we've had one round

of drenching rain, another coming. we've had ponding on the roadways and i expect more out of this next round. the winds will pick up through the next couple of hours. if you have plans this weekend, we wake up saturday morning pretty quiet. mid-30s to mid-40s. heading into the afternoon hours, you can see a scattering of showers and a slightly breezy conditions and temperatures in the low to mid-50s. by the evening hours they fall apart. the best day to be inside. saturday won't be a washout like today. mike, thank you. we are counting down to the 90th annual oscars here on abc 7. >> here's a live look above the dolby theatre in hollywood. they're getting similar weather that we are. of course, they're going to be all wuki walking on the red carpet on sunday. is it going to rain? they were rolling out the carpet yesterday. it's covering some of the street. it is going to rain tomorrow and saturday. but on sunday, looks like the

forecast is clear. >> all right. you can catchall the excitement of the -- our complete coverage begins sunday at 1:30 with on the red carpet. at 3:30, the oscars opening ceremony. at 5:00 p.m. the oscars. dion lim will be reporting live from hollywood beginning tomorrow. if shape of water wins, can i scream? >> not until the break. >> not a scream of joy. next at 6:00, did oakland mayor libby schaaf obstruct justice? what federal officials are doing in response to the mayor's comments about i.c.e. >> b.a.r.t. officials say the time is now. fare evaders just received their final warning. plus, are you or someone you know experiencing a power outage right now? maybe you're watching us on live stream if your tv is not working. you are not alone. i'll have an update next. this is much more than an this is much more than an adorable video of

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good morning bay area. let's get up and get going. this is abc 7 mornings. rain and wind are a recipe for a dangerous commute. that's exactly what we've been seeing as the storm moves through the bay area. good morning and welcome to you on this thursday, march 1st. never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. do want to welcome alexis back. >> thank you. >> she's right here and lovely to see you. >> thank you so much. good to be back. >> busy. >> very busy. >> ease on in, no. here's a look at live doppler 7. mill valley, kentfield. san rafael. down 101 or heading along 580, you've got a moderate shower putting more ponding or standing water on the roadways. you can see hayward to union city right there. 880 and 238. that's going to head over towards pleasanton and dublin. an increase in the intensity of your rain. look at that. more rain coming our