millions of people are hitting the roads for the highway. we're live at san francisco international airport where people are already arriving for their flights. it's just starting to get busy here. i'll tell you about the holiday rush coming up in a live report. plus a devastating fire in san francisco guts three buildings, leaving dozens with nothing just before christmas. and $100,000 allegedly stolen from south bay nuns. and a live look outside the golden gate bridge. it's friday, december 23rd. and this is "today in the bay."

good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. jon kelley has the day off. >> let's check in with christina loren. >> could have sworn you were going to wear red. i went with the green. as you're trying to pick your wardrobe, dress in layers. it's frigid. 26 in santa rosa. 23 degrees in gilroy. 36 in san jose. so it is coal out there. there's a freeze warning in place for the north bay. where you hit the 70s in some cities. so pretty extreme swings in your temperatures. we'll talk about that and your holiday forecast coming up. first back to you guys with your top stories. pack your patience headed o the airport. one of the busiest travel days in the year.

kimberly terry is life with a look at the holiday rush. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. you can see people trying to get out ahead of the crowds flying today. it will be one of the busiest traveling days. 134,000 travelers are expected through the gate here. that's 5% over the travelers last year. it's also bucking the statewide trend. this is expected to drop 9.9% from last year. most families are choosing to drive, to go where they're getting to go for the holidays, and people are traveling. they're just doing it on a budget. so far, weather is not expected to cause any major delays for drivers or for those driving out of bay area airports.

but it's always a good idea to check with your airline before heading to the airport just in case. starting january 1st san jose police will change the way they respond to alarms making some business owners worry about their safety. they had this postcard, informing if their alarm trips, police will not respond unless someone calls to verify that the business is being burglarized. police say 98% of calls are false alarms. >> they expect me to walk in here shooting people? i'm going to go to jail in the end. not worth it. >> that was a business owner speaking about what he would have to do. fremont has a similar policy along the lines of seattle.

>> it is 4:33. >> a devastating day in san francisco after a fire ripped through several here. the fire raged for hours as funs of firefighters tried to gain control. this morning 60 people have lost everything, just days before christmas. entire buildings now gutted by the flames. residents say they escape the blame with just the shirts on their backs. but they're certainly grateful everyone made it out alive. >> he was asleep in his apartment. his partner called him. he had to come down the fire escape out of his unit. we're just glad he's alive. >> retz desidents are headed to hotels and nearby evacuation centers for help. a strange path taken by a gun has the gun involved in two separate deaths. first was here at the scene when a san jose police officer shot

and killed a man in his own home after he allegedly pointed the gun at officers. but it wasn't his gun. it was a different man running through the house who dropped it. galindo allegedly picked it up. police have linked the same gun to an october murder of a 29-year-old murder. the alleged murder weapon finally in hand, police charged her husband, marcus casillas with murder yesterday. police believe the cases are connect connected but they haven't revealed details. thou should not steal, especially from nuns. but a federal jury charged them. 65-year-old linda gomez faces 17 counts of fraud after allegedly using a credit card belonging to the sisters of the holy named convent. phyllis worked there since 1987. the sunnyvale woman is accused of buying the products online

and returning the products for up to $47,000 in cash. she is scheduled to appear in court january 10th. a 44-year-old custodian for the diablo unified school district remains in custody on $1.5 million bond on charges he molested a child. police arrested john aster near his walnut creek home after serving a search warrant. he's accused of lewd acts with a child under 14. police are not naming the school in which aster worked or if the alleged victim is a student at a district school. muni says it's rerouting the stop. it will reroute between stockton and 4th street and mason and 5th street.

check it out at sfmta.com. >> if you're just headed to the car, it's cold out there. let's join christina. >> you'll be happy with a carport or garage this morning. if you don't f you parked out there, the vehicle exposed to the element. not only to warm it up but to scrape frost off the the windshield. we're settling in for widespread frost in san jose, sunnyvale, oakland, 31 degrees. that officially makes this the coldest morning we've had in over seven months. we'll see the 60s later on. we're 25 degrees warmer than the

day before. this morning we're 29 degrees colder than yesterday at this time. make sure you have the winter and spring wardrobe ready to go so you can interchange it throughout the day. won't be quite as frigid few the next few mornings. lots of 60s, no rain until next week. 58 in alameda. 58 in richmond. you'll hit 57 degrees in half-moon bay. temperatures really coming back each afternoon. the rebound is nice. you just have to wait for it. and we have a nice looking holiday weekend ahead. i'll take you through that forecast. for now though, send it back to you guys. >> san francisco's finest are pitching in to bring some holiday spirit to kids in need. >> and there's still time to help. firefighters, police officers, volunteering to hand out toys collected in the last minute toy drive. you can drop off new, unwrapped toys all day tomorrow.

near union square. the toys will be happeneded out on christmas day. >> makes a big difference. coming up, wen best buy isn't your best bet. the company could use some santa's elves to get the holiday order under the tree. plus, which hollywood heavyweights are duking it out for the top spot on christmas day. >> for your news, weather, traffic updates, check us out on facebook. search nbc bay area news. a chil srt to san jose.

welcome back, everyone not a lot of traffic to report. this is 680. it's close to a major mall. i can't imagine what it would be like inside later today. 4:42 now. this morning best buy says it may not be able to get your holiday orders in on time for christmas. let's turn to jackie deangeles live at cnbc. >> the futures are higher this morning after the markets closed near the highs for a second straight day. instead, they focused on a surprise drop in unemployment filings and a rise in consumer sentiment. we're going to get reports on

demand for durable goods, personal income and spending and new home sales. watch for those. the dough rose 61 points to close at 12, 169. the nasdaq to close at 2599. mortgage rates are at record lows. the average rate fell to 3.91% this week. it was below 4% for eight straight weeks. now they're 1% lower than in january. that roughly means in today's home buyers they could pay $100 less on a $200 home if you ordered something, don't expect it to be delivered by christmas. due to overwhelming demand for hot products, it's been unable to process the orders. best buy wouldn't be more specific than that. it appears laptops and nintendo wii are on back order. barney's is personally apologizing to shopperings.

>> same to you as well. >> it is 4:43. the long awaited nba season will make its debut on christmas day. there are plenty of games to choose from. here are a few to keep your eye on. our own golden state warriors are at home. the bulls play the lakers, and the celtics take on the nicks. but you can watch the panthers take on the bears. >> i will be in chicago six, seven hours from now. i'm assuming it will be colder there. let's talk about san jose weather, san francisco. >> safe assumption, scott mcgrew. >> you probably know better than i do. >> it's great to be in california this time of year we

know what is out there. we've had temperatures in the upper 20s every day in the past couple of weeks in the north bay. they are going to fall into the low 20s before all is said and done. your forecast is 22 degrees where you hit 70 yesterday. what a difference a day makes. temperatures this morning is almost 30 degrees colder than this time yesterday in the north bay. everywhere else it's not quite ads significant when it comes to the swing. but stst still cold in san jose. through the next 48 hours, we'll see an area of low pressure pass to the north. high pressure is why it's so clear out there. it's that clear sky that makes

way to coal conditions. and we will lost the warming wind that we had. the wind that kept things so mild. you lose the wind, you lose 30 degrees in the north bay. so the very cold morning will make way to the 60 rz. low pressure will make for good holiday travel throughout the state of california. then we have an area of low pressure slated to bring us showers ch mostly cloudy conditions, gusty winds and showers monday and tuesday of next week. your holiday forecast shapes up like this. 60s today in most cities. 59 in san francisco. not as warm as it was there yesterday. 65 in san francisco downtown yesterday. 5 in concord. 58 degrees in san ramone. and 61 in pittsburgh. after you hit the low 20s in santa rosa, look forward to a 63-degree high. by 8:00 a.m. above the freezing mark in most cities above the bay area. staying dry through christmas. holding on with the 64-degree inland temperature.

then showers on the way. so a little bit of everything in the first week of winter forecast. pack to you guys. >> what a gift. >> 4:46. a bunch of hollywood hot shots will go head to head at the box office. spielberg, matt damon, daniel craig. here's rafael with a sneak peek. >> i assume i'll look after him. if i can, i'll return him to you. "war horse" is the epic trail of a young man and his horse. when they enter world war i the army asks for all hands and hoovs hoov s hooves to help out. >> this is a clue to one of the greatest secrets in history. he also directed the adventures of tin-tin. a motion capture animated

version of the famous book series created by a belgian artist. he's a curious young reporter who tries to solve a century's old secret that takes him around the world. daniel craig learns not to judge a book by the cover in a girl with a dragon tattoo. he needs help cracking the 40-year-old case and gets it in the form of a tattooed punk. matt damon gets in touch with a wild side in "we bought a zoo." he finds a new home with plenty of room, sunlight and a lion. te turns into a dilapidated zoo park. based on a true story, "we bought a zoo" is rated pg. that's the box office preview. >> they always come up with the

big ones during christmas time because it's a holiday tradition. >> we do that into the late afternoon. i want to see "war horse." it's really quite good. it's simplistic but good. nice for a holiday movie. how to turn the frown upside down when you get a lousy gift. what you need to know before braving the mall to make some returns. and three music icons rank at the top of the list of the worst holiday songs. think about your three. >> i can think of one for me. pretty light traffic out there this morning at the privilege toll plaza. pretty moderate on 880 this morning. we'll keep or eyes on the roadway for you. blood pressure

welcome back, everyone. a live look outside. a cold morning across the bay. what a jump in temperatures we've certainly seen. this is live overlooking san francisco. hp pavilion is all quiet there. more coming up. you know the feeling. you're unwrapping a gift. a smile on the face.

that's lovely. you're certainly not alone. 20% of american adults will be getting lousy gifts this holiday season. and that means plenty of returns. certainly the reaction to most gifts will be like this. but a recent survey concluded up to 49 million americans will get what can safely be called a lousy gift. >> the things that don't fit. the things that are ugly. >> he says lousy gifts are are why retailers prepare for a flood of returns. >> one in five americans will spend two or more hours returning gift this is year. >> which means consumers need to be prepared, too. starting with the obvious. >> go without saying that if you're giving a gift, get a

receipt. >> because of about $3.5 billion in return fraud, don't be offended by tiger return rules this year. with gifts like electronics, think before ripping it open to help avoid restocking fees should you return it. and consider your favorite charity as a destination for that not so favorite gift. >> we're talking new gifts. if people get a gift they don't like, if it's perfectly new and it's in good shape, donate it. >> the survey said that's what one if knife americans plan to do with a gift they don't want. >> the best gift i ever gave. my dad likes a certain cartoonist in the newspaper. i got one of the old proofs. i think that was the best i've ever done. and the worst -- nobody has told me what the worst is. >> all your presents are great.

>> thank you. well, there's nothing like a good christmas song to get you into the holiday spirit. number three "happy christmas: war is over." number two, wonderful christmastime. number one, madonna's version of "santa baby." i can do that one in my head. i've heard "santa baby." >> it turns sexual. so forget it. it's madonna. it's 4:55 right now. time to look at the forecast. yesterday there's a potential that we could break some records in the north bay. we're looking at 70 degree temperatures. do you know if we did that.

so we are going from near record highs to near record lows in a matter of 24 hours. majors in your temperatures. we came two degrees away from breaking a temperature. and the dry winds keep us dry. as a result, temperatures falling like a rock. take a look at where your temperatures are now. this is where we're forecasting them to end up throughout the morning hours. 0 in san jose. 29 in los gatos.

brick in the sensitive plants. wear a jacket with something to take off later. we're still headed to the 60s. it is california. we'll take you through the forecast. looking good as well. much more ahead. we're live with a look at what to expect before you attempt to catch the holiday flight. he says he's a plastic surgeon. how a san francisco man duped women into going under the knife just ahead. and for all your news, weather and traffic updates, check us out on facebook. just search nbc bay area news. and it turns out you can city hall. there's san jose's city hall at 4:57.

good morning, everyone. okay, we're going to take you to san francisco for a look at