it's become an unfamiliar sight. we're talking about the rain. it's falling right now across the bay area. will it be enough to ease drought concerns? we have team coverage coming up. >> plus, the search for a suspicious man in the south bay. what he said to a young girl that sent her running for help. >> plus, is it arson? details about a fire at a peninsula recycling plant. >> a live look at the bay bridge this morning. mike's going to warn us, slippery roads. it's thursday, january 30th and this is "today in the bay." good morning. it's 4:30. happy rainy thursday. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we're finally seeing it.

a live look across the bay area and you can certainly see the roadways are wet out there. the weather certainly our top story as we look at the forecast. we have a team in place to help you navigate around the wet mess. mike inouye keeping an eye on driving conditions. anthony slaughter checking water levels. let's start with meteorologist christina loren. >> happy girl this morning. happy girl this morning. much of the bay area is going to be so happy to see that the forecast, yeah, it played out this time. we have good totals to show you this morning. i'm going to say off the bat not enough to ease the drought. let's take that off the table. we need several more big systems to even put a dent in the drought. nonetheless we've got great looking totals to show you. redwood valley almost an inch. in the north bay, about a half inch, san jose, we have a pretty decent total. we're still getting more rainfall at this time so we

picked up about .1 inch at san jose state. there is more on the way. we're going to track the system throughout the morning. let's get back to the drought which brings me to anthony slaughter. anthony is live out there at the lexington reservoir. we know this isn't enough rain to put a dent in the drought. what do you see this morning? is it pretty low? >> reporter: well, you know, it's dark, so don't see much right now. but as we were driving up my photographer allen and i, you could actually see the levels were so low and this is my first time up here, so you know, as far as how i could compare it to what it usually looks like, not too much given there. but our photographer says he lived here for 30 years and this is the lowest he has seen it in all of the time he has been up here. that's someone from the bay who has been here over 30 years. we're going to continue to track

this rain. one thing is for sure, today probably not the best hair day. back to you. >> it's like you can see me from out there or something. glad you're going to be with us all morning long. we have team coverage this morning, want you to get to work safely. we'll send it back to you, scott and laura. >> thanks so much. rain in the bay area usually means snow in the sierra. take a look at this. video taken moments ago, this is highway 50 near 89 as you approach south lake tahoe. a fresh layer of powder lining the roadways up there. our own bob redell is in south lake tahoe braving the much needed snow right now. we'll have a live report coming up in our next half hour. also have to wait to see how much the fresh powder will affect today's snow survey. this is from the first snow survey earlier this month. then the snowpack was only about nine inches deep, 80% below

average. the sierra snow pack provides water to farms and cities. >> one town grateful for the rain is the small community of lompico. it relies on three wells and a creek to supply its 500 customers with water. that's becoming increasingly scarce. the district is one of 17 nationwide or statewide rather that could run out of water in the next 60 days. the town is hoping the state will step in and help. >> i'm not really sure about that. i'm hoping that it means that the governor will say wow, those people need some help. we're just a disaster away from being done here. a fire, one of the wells totally dying or having a major line break. >> local communities could be without water in two months. >> check the conditions on the

roadway this is morning, slick out there so take it easy before you head out the door. >> definitely. we had mist and drizzle but today we have official raindrops on my windshield and around the bay. it hasn't been enough to wash all of the grease and oil off of the roadways. the light traffic you see, 280 toward us. let's get you to a map with more to see. these are the south bay freeways. there where all of the construction is that's in the middle of the screen, that's 280 at 880. the green blocks all over the map as well. we're getting the weather data translating to the road weather index. we'll have wet and slippery patches where the green is here, in fact, possibly standing water. reports here the meridian on ramp to southbound 280, someone didn't make it. lost traction i'm supposing. car facing the wrong way. crews head out there. it's not on the freeway but

getting onto the freeway. the warning about on ramps and off ramps making that tight turn, watch it there. we'll look at oakland, there you see even though there is a light volume of traffic the parking lot at the bottom with the white light, on the other side you see the sheen on the road. be careful this morning. we'll track incidents. back to you. >> of course we'll continue to track the rain all morning long. we are on the air until 7:00 a.m. this morning. you can check our website nbcbayarea.com at any time. look for the weather tab in our interactive radar. >> this morning morgan hill police ask for help solving that sweent much a crime as woresome and suspicious. police say a suspect resem bleling the man in this sketch approached juan 5-year-old girl as she was walking home on monterey road saturday afternoon. the teenager says the man reached out toward her and said,

quote, hey beautiful. he never touched her and the girl ran into a restaurant where she was able to call police. >> i'm happy she was able to find a place and i'm happy we were here and we can keep her safe. >> investigators say the man described as south asian or indian in his 30s got back into a white van and took off. they call this suspicious, not an attempted kidnapping. this white van is interesting. about a year ago there was another man driving around in a white van trying to pick up teenagers. investigators say the description of the two men are different. >> the family of a mission dublin middle school student who disappeared 25 years ago is continuing their search with an annual march. 13-year-old eileen vanished walking home from school. now more than two decades later her parents and twin brother are leading another vigil in her honor tonight at 7:00 at wells middle school and follow the

path eileen took the night she was abducted. >> police are warning residents about a spike in home burglaries. they say suspects have been targeting homes usually knocking first, to see if anybody's home, oftentimes posing as service people or sales people or even someone who is lost. be alert, lock doors, have a security system in place. >> a sheriff's deputy could be in court today a. veteran correctional officer now sits in the same jail he once secured. the sheriff's afs says he was allowing several convicted criminals to live in his san jose home in exchange for illegal drugs. he's now on administrative leave, his bail is $121,000. three other people at his home were also arrested. in the east bay prosecutors expect a teen charged with setting another teen's skirt on fire to enter a plea. they charged richard thomas as an adult with a hate crime

enhancement. thomas admitted to setting sasha fleischman's skirt on fire in november. fleischman suffered second and third degree burns in that attack. >> new details on that recycling plant fire that forced health warnings across the peninsula. a lot of smoke as well. investigators say a fire at sims metal management back in december was deliberately set. right now investigators won't go into detail, but they are reviewing surveillance video from the plant. there was also a fire at the very same plant a month earlier. >> 4:39. everybody talking about the rain. finally here. >> real rain. >> the wet stuff. it's enough to water our hills which are so brown and even the coastal mountains which we get a lot of onshore flow at this point in the season and that's what keeps the hills moist but around half moon bay it is brown out there because we've been

lacking that much needed moisture. even onshore flow has been hard to come by so far this winter. throughout the day today we're going to add more drops to the tally that we are impressed by. red wood valley, an inch of rain, san jose is getting good looking numbers, we're going to add to it. that's where the heaviest rainfall is coming down. that's where you want to travel cautiously. we're watching this band that came along the peninsula, this is going to spread to the south bay as well as we progress throughout the next two hours so you want to give yourself extra time to reach your destination safely. we're going to be here. a couple interesting things i want to point out. you can see san francisco getting nice and wet at this point. we could pick up additional .1 inch of rain here as we head throughout the next two hours. this is really looking good for us. some good looking totals. we're not out of the woods until 3:00 this afternoon. you can see residual spotty activity at that point. we head to friday morning we're

going to see the showers around so we're going to keep the moisture coming in and hey, the big story is in tahoe. look at this snowfall. we could pick up three feet of powder above 7,000 feet so we're excited about it. we'll talk more about where we're heading. a chance for rain on sunday coming up in the next report. let's check the roads, a rough one so far and it's still early, mike. >> it's very early so there is light volume of traffic. we're going to see a lot of crashes probably like spin-outs with these slick roads. even the water on the lens sticking around. light drizzle in this shot. you'll have slick on and off ramps, that's been an issue seeing reports of spin-outs. a look at the maps, the green blotch in san pablo and oakland we showed you the wet roadways. throughout the north bay look at that, all the way into san rafael we have slicker conditions.

a light volume of traffic. we head southbound the curves t glowing lights and the wet roads show up. down into san francisco, christina talked about the rain being active there. along the peninsula a smooth drive. the sheen on the roadways. back to you. >> thank you. still ahead "today in the bay," unloaded, sanitized, back at sea. how that caribbean cruise ship at the center of a suspected norovirus update will leave for its next journey. >> legal troubles for justin bieber continues. a petition aimed at sending him back to canada. why the white house is expected to respond to it.

>> welcome back everyone. it's 4:45. first lady michelle obama will arrive in the bay area today. mrs. obama will attend at least one democratic national committee fund-raiser in san francisco today. officials will not say exactly where. tomorrow she will be at a luncheon with nancy pelosi. tickets range from $500 to more than $32,000 each. and they are sold out. tomorrow's event at 11:30 a.m. >> that massive security breach

at target for that and the rest of the news before the bell, good morning. >> good morning, scott. futures higher following wednesday's sell-off, disappointing earnings, jitters over the health of turkey and more cuts to the fed's economic stimulus efforts adding to investor worries. the dow is at its lowest since early november. we get data today on unemployment, pending home sales and the first look at fourth quarter gdp. that's expected to show the economy continued to grow at a moderate pace in the final three months of last year. the dow dropping yesterday to 15738, the nasdaq losing 46 to 4051. watch shares of facebook. they jumped 12% in after hours trading last night after the social networking site posted better than expected earnings, thanks to growth in mobile ad sales. now account for more than half of its total ad revenue and

target says hackers who stole millions of customer credit and debit cards may have accessed by using credentials they stole from a vendor. target wouldn't identify the vendor or how hackers stole but "the wall street journal" reports that target restricted access to a human resources website and data base for suppliers shortly after earning of the breach last month. back to you. >> morgan, thank you. yesterday it became a federal investigation as well, holder said he would bring all of that to bear with the federal government. >> so many people affected by it. people in the bay area affected by the rain. you've been telling us about it. you're nailing it. >> thank you, laura. i spend a lot of time on this. thank you very much. i can tell you now these are great looking totals. any time we accumulate almost an inch of rain in the higher elevations over the course after 24-hour period that's a great total for the bay area. as you can see now from your active radar it's still coming

in. we've got a little moderate rainfall at this point developing in the north bay. if you are waking up in mill valley travel cautiously. sausalito as well getting wet at this point. down in san jose you can see you have deep green, rich moisture moving through. that goes for los gatos as well. and everywhere is slick. there is more on the way. in the pacific we're tapping into subtropical moisture which is why we have such impressive totals. we really need it. highs are going to climb out of the 50s and 60s, yeah, pretty much going to stay put. talking about a cold day with more rain on the way. stop that clock on the futurecast. isolated activity. we'll keep it going all the way through friday at 1:00 a.m. you can see we're fair game for a shower or two. finally friday night we clear out, then saturday into sunday, more rain on the way so. we're looking good there. overall not bad. we'll let you mow where the heavier pockets develop and how

they could impact you. >> thanks so much, christina. at 4:48 cars moving in atlanta after a rare winter storm stranded thousands of drivers causing a major traffic jam. traffic started to thin out overnight, it was so bad one woman says it took 16 hours to drive 12 miles. now both georgia's governor and the at lanta mayor facing criticism. atlanta's mayor says they are partly to blame for letting schools, businesses all out at once. >> the royal caribbean cruise ship at the center of a possible outbreak getting ready for its next voyage. it returned to port in new jersey yesterday. a 10-day cruise cut short after 700 passengers and crew got sick. health officials say the symptoms were similar to the norovirus but they haven't identified. royal caribbean says the ship is

being sanitized and as of now is scheduled to leave on a nine-night caribbean cruise tomorrow. >> petitions to get pop star justin bieber sent back to canada now have nearly 180,000 signatures this morning. the petition was started on the white house's we the people website. it says bieber is a terrible influence on young americans and should be deported. the white house says petitions that get at least 100,000 signatures will get a response. yesterday toronto police charged bieber with assaulting a limo driver in canada last month. he will be in court in march. before that bieber will be in a miami courtroom in two weeks to answer to charges of dui, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license. he's pleaded not guilty. >> the world tour of courts. still ahead, stanford's pavilion packed with fans rooting for the opposition. we'll tell you why. >> plus, this little gem rescued from the trash.

looks so cute now all clean, read the go to that brand new home. >> looking here toward the san mateo bridge, this is also a cutie. it's going over the water. we'll talk about driving in the water on the roads coming up.

welcome back. a young man from the bay area could be the next big thing in

pro basketball. >> we're talking about 18-year-old aaron gordon from san jose now plays for the number one team in the country t arizona wildcats. gordon was back in town last night taking on the stanford cardinals and it was a strange scene as the fans were rooting for arizona. really rooting for gordon. friends, family, they showed up and displayed wildcat pride. the former middy high school star has the attention of nba coaches. number 11 says he is focused on the present. >> everything is going to happen how it happens. >> he does want to be a college coach some day so he'll have to have a college degree so you know, we're going to play wait and see on what he does at the end of the season. >> arizona beat stanford 60-57. to stay undefeated. gordon posed for a group photo with his cheering section.

next at cal on saturday night. >> arizona barely beat stanford. the bay area's soccer team celebrating its 40th anniversary. a new logo and jerseys during a special presentation. the party which starts at 5:30 there will be an autograph session, silent auction, special guests the mayor and members from the very first earthquakes team back in 1974. i'll be honest i did not realize the team was that old. phenomenal. >> one to celebrate here in the bay area. what about the morning commute? should you add extra time? >> probably. the reason being you need to lower the speeds because of the conditions. we're looking here at 580, good morning, this is the glowing lights you see because of the moisture in the air westbound right around el charo. show you the same area on the maps.

the road weather index showing you the green highlight all around the area, that's where you may have standing water, puddles. 680 slows a bit through sunol. we'll track that. look at that all over the south bay, hit with some rain earlier in the morning so we have slicker condition there is as well. spin-out, 280 has cleared but watch it there along the peninsula, the rain having traveled through the area and now more green over 280 and 101 along the peninsula. san mateo and dumbarton bridges. look at the bay bridge, moving nicely. you see water on the lens, on the road, eastbound can't move the camera that far but reports of a stall off the bridge on the shoulder. back to you guys. >> thank you much. >> an abandoned puppy pulled out of the trash at the recology center now getting a new home. >> so many people at the plant wanted to adopt the dog nicknamed gem, they held a lottery. an employee won that lottery. it wasn't just employees.

more than 200 people from around the country expressed interest in adopting this dog. someone apparently had thrown gem away 18 truckload of bottles and cans. you see her originally. what a transformation. we should have a before and after still shot. her original owner has not been found but doesn't matter because she's got a new owner that's going to take good care. >> only one reason to find that owner. good news for gem. still ahead on "today in the bay," rain in the bay area equals snow in the sierra. bob redell is up there now, he's going to have a live report. >> plus t search for a suspicious man in the south bay. what he said to a young girl that sent her running for help.

water worries, the state representative that will be in the bay area to talk about california's conservation efforts. >> and just what we need to ease those water worries, at least a little bit. we've got rain on the radar.

this is not our only rain chance. showers friday into the weekend and even next week. we really need it. i'm going to give you the timeline. >> and that water worries me about your drive. we have slick conditions, another spin-out reported for the east bay. i'll show you where. >> and the south bay man that filed suit against nasa. >> we have a live look outside. it's rainy, it's wet, about time, it's thursday, january 30th, and this is "today in the bay." >> good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. our top story certainly the rain. we've been waiting for it. it is here. so is meteorologist christina loren. >> we are so happy it is here now. the bad part is it's arrived right in the heart of your morning drive so give yourself extra time especially taking the little ones to school. you might have to dig out their rain gear, it has been so l