the sound of hail and rain was heard throughout much of the bay area. next at 5:00 team coverage on the stormy weather that blanketed everything from back yards to mountaintop benches. plus closing the vaccine equity gap. it's happening right now in the north bay. the new effort to make a big impact. also this evening the surprise announcement in san francisco. the school superintendent is retiring as the battle over class reopenings rages on. also here the story of a little boy and his special day thanks to a firefighter who just couldn't stop caring. >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc 7 news. it's certainly been a strange day. hail pounds the bay area.

from san jose to san francisco to san mateo to santa rosa and windsor. >> i saw cars going by with a bunch of ice. i was like that looked like snow. every single car. it's dangerous. you can see the freeways, a lot of accidents. even down here there was an accident. crazy. i've never, ever seen something like this ever. ever. >> accidents were particularly bad in the north bay. the santa rosa fire department responded to several. at one point traffic was completely stopped on 101, the road just covered in hail. good evening. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. thank you for joining us. that hail you just saw was just the beginning. a thunderstorm roared through the south bay sky with lightning and the sound of thunder this afternoon, and then there was this. we found hail pounding a parking lot in north san jose.

and check this out. that's pea-sized hail slowed down so you can see it bouncing from the hood of the car. this was in oakland but we saw dramatic weather like this really all around the bay area. today's wild weather brought snow to mount diablo and hikers who wanted to get a firsthand look as well. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live on mount diablo. look at that. that's weather from two months ago normally, laura. >> reporter: well, that's right, dan. this is one of those situations where you wait five minutes and the weather will change. you'll get a little bit of everything. the last 20 minutes or so we've seen snow, we've seen hail, we've seen sun, we've seen wind. let's show you what it looked like just a few hours ago when we first got up here. that was really when there was visible snow. quite a bit of it up here. but you had to go up pretty high

to see it. we're talking really over 3,000-foot elevation. the folks who did get up here to take a look they had to park at the juniper parking lot and walk about a mile up to the location where i am which is the lower summit parking lot. but they came up here. they wanted to get a look at the snow up close. >> but it was just kind of crazy to come up and see the snow coming down. i haven't seen snow in years and years. >> can't really bring the skis. >> no. but i live by the ocean. so just seeing any snow is really nice. >> plus just being outdoors. fresh air and everything gets clean and -- yeah. it's just nice to be outside. >> reporter: now, i know from growing up in this area people get really excite when'd there's snow on mount diablo. i will tell you, though, if you weren't up here in the first few hours it melted pretty quickly. it's been around 39, 40 degrees

since we've been up here. the wind comes in, it goes, the hail, a little bit of snow. let's show you what it looks like live here. this is looking west from our location. it is gorgeous up here right now. you can see a little bit of sun. you can see the clouds. we can see it raining over there. but then clearer closer to where i am. a little bit of snow left on the picnic tables. but again, just a sampling of everything that we've seen all over the bay area today. except up here we got a little bit of snow. live on mount diablo, laura anthony, abc 7 news. gregory tweeted this beautiful scene in west sonoma county. the hail left a wet wintry coating on a deck. abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel joins us. and sandhya, we're seeing a lot of great images today. >> absolutely stunning images. winter is definitely still with us and alive, ama.

let me show you live doppler 7 right now. that cold storm still moving, still producing snow showers over mount hamilton at this hour as we get you into street-level radar. around alum rock, quillby road, we are seeing heavy rain. east bay, moraga lighter rain but look at that mount diablo seeing the mixed precipitation falling and in napa across highway 12 american canyon seeing some lighter showers so as we wyden out this picture yes we've seen it all from thunderstorms to hail to snow. right now we still have this cold unstable air off the coastline. that's going to continue to pivot in here. so it's a 1 for tonight. showers briefly heavy. definitely expect the potential for lightning and hail. and snow will continue over our highest peaks. i'll be back with a timeline coming right up. ama? >> thank you, sandhya. here's some of the snow sandhya was talking about. look at this. abc 7 news meteorologist drew tuma has mofrt stunning images we captured from sky 7 as well as some pictures we received from viewers. hi, drew. >> hi, ama.

yeah, today was the perfect day to launch sky 7. you're looking at pictures from earlier today. this is the east foothills in santa clara county, just capped with snow. and got some breaks of sunshine too within those showers giving us a nice rainbow. we saw it all today. if you did see snow, odds are you probably saw some hail. this video coming in from lea, alameda. you can see just that hail pounding on her picnic tablt, anywhere from pea to dime size. that's what we saw in santa rosa as well. this picture coming in from the north bay. in the hands you can see a lot of hail. those hail sizes anywhere again as big as dimes. so you certainly heard it as well. st. helena jennifer coming with this picture of hail covering a parking lot. really just a wild day of weather and thunderstorms. the threat does continue through this evening. when meteorologist sandhya patel comes back she's going to go hour by hour, walk you through the rest of the storm in the full acuwaerthd forecast in a few minutes. >> thank you, drew. as if to put a bow on all the wild weather we captured this sliver of a rainbow over

san francisco. isn't that nice? this is looking north toward the golden gate bridge and marin county. a reminder to you, you can always check live doppler 7 and get your forecast on demand through the abc 7 bay area connected tv app. governor newsom says he expects the state to reach its goal of 2 million vaccine doses to vulnerable communities this friday. now, that would open up red tier status for most counties. right now sonoma and contra costa are the only two bay area counties still in the most restrictive tier. that's purple. the state recently tied tier metrics to the number of low-income residents who have received vaccines statewide. and there is a new effort in the north bay to help bridge the vaccine equity gap. new data shows the huge impact that mobile clinics are having in terms of reaching underserved communities. abc 7 news reporter cornell barnard has more. >> the first shot. one to go. >> reporter: dwayne smith is halfway to being vaccinated. he didn't need an appointment for this mobile clinic in marin

city. >> most of my family have their first shot and some their second. so i just felt it was the right thing to do. >> reporter: 150 vaccinations given at this mobile clinic sponsored in part by marin county public health. last week the mobile clinic gave 300 vaccinations at canal alliance, a non-profit advocate for the latino community in san rafael's canal district where covid rates were once spiking. today only 5% of people have been vaccinated here. >> there is a need out there to do more efforts in order to be more equitable. >> reporter: community advocate douglas mundo wants to see more opportunities for people lacking access to wi-fi, computers and transportation, giving everyone accessibility to the shot. >> to places where they can go, what we call in walking distance, you know. >> reporter: new data shows that mobile vaccination clinics are helping to bridge the equity gap when it comes to giving vaccinations to folks who want it. new state numbers show that

black and latino individuals only made up 4% and 20% of all visitors to the oakland coliseum mega vaccination site. but those rates were much higher at oakland's mobile vaccination sites. 25% and 33% respectively. >> i think it's a great idea. anything that we can do to bring the vaccine to where people are is always a great idea. >> reporter: san rafael city council member micah lorenz gulati wants more mobile vaccination sites in underserved communities. the county says it's working on a plan to expand clinics even to local churches. in marin county cornell barnard, abc 7 news. the head of san francisco's public school system announced today he's stepping down. as abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez explains, he isn't saying much about why. >> reporter: the announcement of his retirement came in the form of a press release with a date, june 30th. dr. vincent matthews wrote, "i am sharing this news just as soon as my family and i made the decision. for the reminder of my time as

superintendent i remain committed to the critical work in front of us, which as he told us last monday is getting san francisco public school kids back to in-person learning. >> we will continue to do everything we can as a district to get as many students back into in-person learning as we possibly can. >> i didn't see that coming. and i know that if i were in his shoes i would be consistently overwhelmed and underthanked. >> reporter: since march 2020 dr. matthews has worked with the school board that has made controversial decisions like attempting to rename schools and changing the admissions policy at lowell high school. dr. matthews was hired in 2017 for his local connection to san francisco, born and raised. along with years of experience as an educator and district leader. he was supposed to be here for the long haul. >> i honestly did not think he would be a good match for the community. >> reporter: jill winds was on the board for 24 years.

matthews was once the principal at the controversial edison charter academy in san francisco, which was under investigation for its discriminating enrollment practice against black and brown children. >> giving a little nudge to families to get their students out that they didn't want and things that public schools can't do and shouldn't do, are wrong. >> reporter: it will now be up to the school board to name an interim superintendent. the school board will meet tomorrow to begin discussing how to eventually fill that position. lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. still ahead, the future of a special spot in the bay area. tide pools, marshland and commercial salt mining. the decision that i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking

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tonight a prominent bay area lawmaker and environmental groups are expressing fresh hopes about the future of a sought-after piece of shoreline on san francisco bay. >> the basalt ponds in redwood city have been at the center of an ongoing lawsuit over their future and competing visions of what they could and should become. for decades these salt ponds in redwood city have stretched into san francisco bay like a blank slate. owner car gil corporation sees the outline of a new housing development while environmental groups see a restored wetland habitat. most recently david louis and his group save the bay joined the lawsuit against the trump administration's epa in a back

and forth battle over whether the area falls under federal protection. >> so the clean water act says these salt ponds are part of san francisco bay. they're wetlands and waters of the united states. they deserve legal protection. that makes it very difficult to build on them. >> reporter: in the waning days of the trump administration the epa had appealed a court ruling which it essentially granted that protection. but in the wake of a letter signed by representative jackie speier and other lawmakers the biden era epa has now dropped that appeal. >> what a difference an election makes. >> reporter: speier has also introduced a $250 million bill for restoration projects on san francisco bay and now hopes the salt pond site can ultimately be included. >> beautiful opportunities for outdoor trails and for vistas. >> reporter: cargill has issued a statement saying it disagrees with the court's interpretation of the clean water anthony and "with that in mind we do not

intend to withdraw our notice of appeal." still, with recent developments representative speier is hopeful the company may be ready to negotiate a new future for the site. >> well, they actually reached out to me last year, and i think they started to see the writing on the wall. >> reporter: she says no formal negotiations have taken place and groups like save the bay say after decades of back and forth they'll wait for clear signals that the company might be willing to change its plans for this coveted stretch of san francisco bay shoreline. >> reporter: >> these salt ponds should not be built on. they should be added to the wild fyfe refuge. >> now, cargill was scheduled to file its first response in the appeal on monday. that's now been pushed back several weeks into mid april. of course, ama, we'll stay on it. >> absolutely. well, when we come back, abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel, she's been staying on th

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man, take a look at these photos from st. helena. hail just gives everything a wintry look. it's beautiful, dan. >> it is beautiful, ama. and so really in a way unexpected this time of year. but great to see, meteorologist sandhya patel is tracking it. fun in the weather department today, sandhya. >> absolutely. it is exciting times. and hopefully you had a chance to enjoy it safely, dan and ama. let me show you live doppler 7. i want to show you what it looks

like right now. we're still tracking that snow over the higher elevations. so mt. hamilton is still look at some snow around quillby road, evergreen you will notice in the south bay some moderate pockets of showers as we get you into street level here. rainfall rates about half an inch an hour. so if you get caught underneath one of these downpours be careful. lighter showers around oakland, foothill, 7th street and in the north bay right around napa, old sonoma road. rainfall totals over the last 48 hours .8 of an inch in kentfield, santa rosa just over half an inch in san francisco and half moon bay. oakland .63. 3/4 of an inch in san jose. south bay gets missed sometimes. that didn't happen this time. quarter of an inch in concord. welcome sight. almost an inch in ben lomond. in the sierra it has been snowing. one to two feet of snow. state route 88 and 4 both requiring chains. winter storm warning in effect until 7:00 tonight. additional two to six inches

expected. up to ten inches for the highest peaks. look at this dramatic view from our emeryville camera right now. 51 in san francisco and mountain view. it is 52 degrees in san jose. and we are seeing peaks of blue from our kgo roof camera right now. 47 in santa rosa and napa. chilly outside. grab a jacket if you have to head out from our golden gate bridge camera. quieter scene. wintry mix tapers off overnight. cold mornings, milder days thursday through saturday and our next round of rain arrives on saturday. it's a level 1 on our storm impact scale. so expect showers briefly heavy, still the possibility of dhurnd, hail, and snow will continue on our peaks. 7:00 tonight you will notice still some showers pivoting in at 10:00 p.m., could see? downpours especially along the san mateo coast. 2:00 a.m. spotty lighter showers. 4:00 a.m. an isolated shower or two can't be ruled out. pretty much winds down except over the higher terrain. tomorrow evening we may still see a couple of pop-up showers here and there. temperatures tomorrow morning 29

at lakeport. we do have hard freeze warnings and freeze warnings for parts of lake county. 30s, 40s for your morning temperatures. definitely need the heavy winter garr. as far as your afternoon highs, mid 50s to low 60s and a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast. isolate morning showers followed by plenty of sun for your friday but a cold morning. don't forget, sunday morning you'll want to spring forward. the time changes. and we have a storm coming in for spring sunday coming into monday. it's a 1. dan and ama. >> all right. thank you so much, sandhya. stay here with us. a helicopter was just pun part of a special day for a

a bittersweet report as we end here tonight. a birthday party for the ages. >> yeah, some firefighters gathered with a family they know very well through difficult circumstances. but as abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman explains, today that was not the case. >> reporter: you have never seen a birthday party like this. >> he loves the fire trucks. >> reporter: and now the surprise staging a few blocks away. >> i have to tell you, we needed michael as much as michael needed us. >> reporter: michael reeding of vallejo turned 2 years old today. based on a rare condition that

affects his connective tissues, it's a long shot that he'll live to see his third. that he's made it this far is a miracle. now imagine being his mother, emily, who's dealing with all that. >> so every day we treat it like a miracle because we never know if we get another day with michael. >> reporter: but oh, what a day this would be. [ sirens ] these are firefighters from alameda county and vallejo and castro valley. all came to michael's house for a parade-size visit on this special day. ♪ happy birthday ♪ most of them including heather marquez already know michael well. >> happy birthday, michael. >> reporter: back when the family lived in castro valley michael would ask to see the fire station almost every day. those firefighters opened their hearts. >> they just embraced michael and wanted to give him every opportunity that they knew he wouldn't otherwise have. >> he can name every component on a fire engine better than some of the rest of us.

>> reporter: as anyone can see. >> you want to see the big tires? >> we've almost lost michael four times. because of his condition we never know exactly what to expect 37. >> reporter: instead they know only what they can give, to fill every possible moment with joy and to savor them knowing how they're finite, fleeting, all too few. and brief. >> this is my angel right here. >> these are the things that -- these are the things that always stay with us. we consider these career highlights. >> reporter: so now you've just seen the birthday of a lifetime. at age 2. >> you'll have this day. >> we'll have this day forever. >> reporter: in vallejo wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> wow. if that doesn't get you, dan, nothing will. >> oh, i know. what a sweet little boy. >> yeah. okay. well, that is where we are going to end it for now. "world news tonight" with david muir is next. thank you for joining us. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. for sandhya patel and all of us here, we'll see you again in

half an hour for the news at 6:00.

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tonight, the president's tonight, the president's historic bill passes. help for struggling americans is now on the way. president biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief bill clears its final hurdle. to be signed by the president on friday, after house democrats today passed the historic bill, sending it to the president's desk. the president immediately signaling, quote, help is here. tonight, what it means for millions of americans, the checks for $1,400. what it means for a typical family of four. also, the jobless benefits extended through the summer. and the cost of health insurance lowered if you rely on obamacare. the president scheduled to address the nation tomorrow night. and how soon will those checks go out? your questions answered right here