now. and you made it to the end of the week. good friday morning. thank you for joining us, i'm sam brock. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon who is off today. after two dry days the rain is back. our live satellite radar shows scattered rain falling over parts of the bay area. not a super soaker, but enough to make the roadways a little slick this morning. >> team coverage on everything from the roads to big waves and king tide. but let's start now with meteorologist kari hall who will talk about how long the rain will stick around. two days on, two off. >> i think that's been the pattern. we are getting ready to see this rain move through and then take a break from the rain for a while. as we go deeper into the forecast. but now we are seeing this storm system moving in and not bringing really intense rain, but it is, once again, just enough to make everything very soggy as you head out this friday morning. and the rain on the radar showing light shades of green as we go into the rest of the day. we're looking at more of the same.

very hit or miss. some spots where the rain gets a little bit heavy at times and gusty winds all throughout the day we could also have a few thunderstorms moving through as we go into tonight. but not looking like everyone will see that as it continues to move off towards the east. still some spotty rain in the forecast as we go into early tomorrow. and we are also concerned about king tides and high tide coming up this morning. up to about 6.feet at 9:45. let's check in now with steph on the embarcadero with how it looks out there now. >> good morning, kari. as you said, the rain not very intense this morning but a bit of a misty, light drizzle i'd call it. here is a nice depiction of what you might see later on. as you said, 9:46 this morning at the king tide hitting around 6 6.6 feet. here you see the water come up and especially if you have a storm at the same time, it could spill out to the walk here. now, the light rain is expected to continue through this morning commute and the usual warnings

apply. slow down and leave space between you and other vehicles. if you're driving, there may be landslides in steeper areas or deitbry flow because previous storm have saturated the land. a high-surf advisory along the coast through 9:00 tonight and the pacific pier is where people go to capture some of the most powerful waves like tuesday's that we saw. the waves can still get pretty high and strong and adding today's king tides and be even more careful. don't turn your back on the water and it could hit places that are usually dry. and we've seen what can happen when people get too close. we've got cell phone video from last weekend. no king tides then and the storm cause high surf and the water snuck up on this man who was taking cell phone video in pacific. so, again, this is the last official king tide of this winter season and you've heard kari mention this before, too. coastal low lying road and you

could get that flooding. live here in san francisco, stephanie chuang. a live look now at the foster city side on the san mateo bridge. a high wind advisory in effect for this bridge, as well as the bay bridge this morning. let's bring in mike inouye. what are you seeing right snow. >> the commute light as you would expect. the tarp right there in the center of your screen shaking around a bit. the wind gusty around that span and the san mateo picking up the volume on a typical friday pace. lets prr g's get you out to the. both the san mateo and bay bridge have wind advisories for drivers. no problems reported. there was a little flooding reported on the lower deck at treasure island. some of the rain settling down. chp said don't worry about it. chp also cleared the crash getting on to the lower deck there. it was eastbound 80 at 7th. so, some slowing for north 101 right now and that should clear up in the next few.

as we zoom this map out, southbound peninsula. no real issues and however north 01 an earlier crash and still over at the shoulder and a little light slowing there and that's it. lighter volume of traffic and with the slick roadways, just remember, keep the speeds lower and go a little slower than you think you have to. back to you. >> thanks, mike. with the rain some shelters are getting ready for extra people. the city will open up more than 250 additional beds and shoelters for the homeless this weekend and also activate an emergency pop-up shelter in golden gate park which can hold up to 100 homeless men and women. but their pets will not be allowed. wherever you are is through our nbc bay area app. click on the weather tab for our live satellite radar right at your fingertips. the key here, look at the future one. it will tell you what you're coming up to next. >> telling you what the future holds. now, while the bay area is seeing some rain, much of the

country bracing for some serious snow. this is a live look at sfo this morning where, already, 25 departi depart flights and 12 arriving flights are already canceled. if you're planning to travel today or this weekend, you definitely want to check with your airline first before you leave the house. more than 15 states and 80 million people are in the path of this historic blizzard. d.c. area getting hit especially hard. a live look a live report from jay gray who is right in the thick of the snow coming up in about ten minutes. new this morning, one man is in the hospital and another man is dead after a shooting in hayward. this is cell phone video of the scene sent to us by a viewer who was there. the shooting happened around:00 last night on west eighth street near interstate 880. police say one of the victims died at the scene from a gunshot wound. the second victim, a 19-year-old person in critical condition, but is expected to survive.

no word on any arrests or a suspect description. also new this morning, a deadly siege at a beach front restaurant in somalia is now over. it started when islamic exests stormed a seafood restaurant yesterday in the capital shooting at people outside the restaurant, as well. more than 20 people have been killed. early today, though, somali forces retook control of the restaurant. it's not clear whether there are any attackers among the dead. the al shabab terror dprup has claimed responsibility. also new this morning, an american college student suddenly finds himself in custody in north korea. nort korea is accusing the university of virginia student of hostile acts orchestrated by the u.s. government. news agencies in north korea identify him as otto frederick. the university lists him as an economics undergraduate. a china-based tour companyfirming that one of its customers has been detained in north korea's capital.

in vallejo firefighters are trying to pinpoint the cause of this huge fire at a tow yard. it started last night on broadway avenue. ten cars were burned and firefighters say the flames were difficult to fight because the cars were so close together. there was also a eucalyptus tree nearby that caught fire. those tend to be pretty flammable, as well. now, firefighters say there was a person in that tow yard covered in oil, but no one was hurt. only on nbc bay area, a disturbing crime on the peninsula. a man allegedly used a cell phone to record people using the restroom inside of a redwood city restaurant. how did he do that? that phone was hidden inside a trash can. bob redell is live in redwood city with more on the suspect and how she discovered the camera. something seemed a little off. bob? >> the suspect is a 34-year-old man named marcus and used to be

a long-time employee of the milagros restaurant before she was fired and arrested for video recording people as they used the sex restroom inside the restaurant. the woman who discovered this does not want her name to be revealed. discovered what was going on in mid-december and was celebrating her birthty at milagros and when she went inside the bathroom, she noticed something odd about a nearby trash can. >> i realized i found a hole in the trash can and i saw a lens. it was just right there. there was a hole, the lens, i just put my hand in the trash can and out came an iphone that was recording. >> she stopped the recording, flipped through the video on the iphone and herself and other patrons recorded used the restroom. police determined that the phone belonged to the suspect marcus bach and now faces a misdemeanor people tom charge although the

woman is hoping that the d.a. will up it to something more severe, like a felony, if there are children recorded on that iphone. when asked for comment, the restaurant general manager would only tell us that he was fired on the spot. >> thank you, bob. well, to stop or to speed up the death penalty, that is the debate among many california voters as the state is pushing ahead with plans to use one drug execution. a public hearing will be held today for corrections officials to choose from four lethal sedatives to potentially use in the future. two of those are no longer in use. the other two have never been used before for capital punishment. the single injection would replace a series of three drugs which were last used in 2006. back to our microclimate forecast this morning as we take a live look outside right now of a somewhat misty golden gate bridge. a little bit of a wet start here. >> what you can't see is the rain. sam said he heard it howling

this morning but, kari, you say it sounded worse than it was. >> it's been breezy out there. and we have some light rain. and that rain continued through the morning making conditions wet as we take a look at that camera from the golden gate bridge. so, off and on and mostly cloudy sky in between. and the showers linger into tonight. there may even be some heavier downpours. sunset at 5:21. this is a look at the storm system as it continues to bring, once again, light rain. we are not seeing very intense rain and as we go into this with it pouring for several hours and the rain totals going up. we will have the concern of some gusty winds and some standing wat water on the roadways. i'll talk more about that and what to expect of that. and mike is helping you plan your commute as you head out the door. >> yeah, kari. we had that first burst. we typically see at 5:30. we don't see that on a friday. one of the indicators of a lighter volume and commute in

earnest starting to kick in. 6:10 right on schedule north 101 at 280 in san jose. let's look at your maps right here. slowing through the stretch. earlier crash cleared and another one at mcloflin. i didn't see any slowing. green patches shows more water on the roadway and looking at slick conditions and a little slowing through hayward for the nimitz. wind across the san mateo and bay bridges overnight. keep that in mind. it might be an issue as far as larger vehicles like vans or trucks. and the bay bridge metering lights are on. let's get a look at san rafael where there is a chance of low clouds in the area and see the moisture. water on the roadways. looks like mist and drizzle right here. back to you. >> thank you very much, mike. 6:12. coming up a developing story we're following very closely for you. east coast bracing for a monster blizzard. we'll take you live to one of the areas hardest hit, next. plus one of silicon valley's

biggest billionaire weighs in on these crazy markets. we'll take a look coming up in "business and tech."

the ups and downs of the stock market. ookay, mostly downs for the last few weeks but now things are looking up. >> yeah we get to be sunshine, mr. mcgrew. >> it has been quite a ride. nobody likes this weird ride. the moves, the sudden moves

really shatter investors' confidence in the market, sam and kris. the markets could move much higher this morning and then apple reports its profits this coming tuesday. apple has had a tough of it lately losing billions of dollars in overall work. we call that market capitalization, by the way or market cap, if you want to sound cool. apple is worth $533 billion. it overtook exon a few years ago to become the world's most valuable company. but look who's coming up. google or more properly alphabet. a couple of bad weeks for apple and google could become the biggest company in the world. lenlenedary silicon valley investor kholsa says the market's strange behavior doesn't bother him at all. he doesn't care about valuation and he doesn't care what value does and he thinks low oil prices should help the market and not hurt them. he will be my guest here on

"meet the press" on sunday morning along with reporters. now, i know him as a billionaire vestor. a silicon valley entrepreneur and business people do. but surfers and beach lovers know him as the guy who owns martin's beach and he won't let them in. kholsa is in court. so i asked him about that. >> it's not a topic i want to talk about. we are clearly, it's a dispute around property rights. and most of the press hasn't gotten the basic facts right. >> the treaty. >> no, it doesn't. it just dates back to the coastal act in california. >> all right, is the press guy get wrong? take it as far as it needs to go? we take the case as far as it needs to go? >> i won't comment on what i will or won't do. >> by that, sam and kris, take it to the supreme court and we think he will. that is a fraction of all the

interesting things. >> thank you very much, scott. and developing right now, a potentially historic snow storm expected to pound much of the east coast bringing more than 30 inches of snow to many places, including our nation's capital, washington, d.c. shut down by something other than politics. more than 15 states and 80 million people are in the storm's path. and six states are now under a state of emergency. the philadelphia airport canceled all flights into and out of philly for tomorrow. ask that's very timely here as we talk about the impact on airlines. we do have team coverage of this developing situation right now. let's bring in meteorologist kari hall and impacting the storm and travel here at sfo. >> mainly because of the rain and the wind and the delays are up to three hours at sfo and check out philly. they're showing some minor delays, but i think they just went past the delays and just canceled everything. let's look at the snow storm as it continues to move parts of

the south and on over towards the east. we are seeing heavy snow just starting to move in and we will continue to see the snow continue for several hours. now, we're going to check in with jay gray. he's in roanoke, virginia. there now you can see that snow really starting to come in. how is it looking out there now? >> hey, kari. you're the scientist in this discussion, but i can tell you the depth of my scientific knowledge, the flakes are getting much bigger. i hope aervethd ceverybody can that at home. it will continue for the next 24 to 36. it is building and intensifying and that will continue, as well. some of the hardest hit areas here expected to see 30 inches or more before it's all over. there's a state of emergency here in virginia and across four other states right now. the national guard has moved in along with every available officer of the state police in virginia. so, they're trying to respond to the storm.

we've seen crews out, plows out trying to keep things clean. that's going to be a difficult process. staying ahead of the snow is going to be very hard for those teams. they're urging anyone in this region to really stay off the roads unless you absolutely have to get out. that state of emergency will stay in effect for quite some time. and this really the leading edge of this system that is going to swallow the entire east coast for the next couple of days. the national weather service that we're going to see, blizzard and whiteout conditions along with severe and, in their words, brutal high winds. up to 50 miles an hour at times. so, power crews are also stationed up and down the coast here to make sure that they can move in should those power lines fall. the next couple of days, snow is going to be the problem. after that, the power outages. 0 to 90 million people affected. going to be a tough go for the next several days. that's the latest live here in roanoke. sam and kris, back to you.

>> worsening conditions clearly out there on the east coast. we'll keep close track of that. >> kari, you were watching that part of the weather system, but we also know that we have weather that is going to dampen our weekend plans. >> the delays already at sfo. if you do have a flight out today, you might want to check on that. the roads also going down hill. we'll check in with mike here in a second. as we take a live look. we do see that things are fairly dry in the south bay and the rain has been very hit or miss. we've had breezy winds all throughout the night and a look at the wind forecast. it's still rushing in out ahead of the system as the winds come in from the south. at about 25 to 30 miles an hour, the wind forecast throughout the morning still keeps it breezy and down right windy along the coast. as we go into the rest of the day, still more of the same. with a prolong period of wind speeds at 25 to 30 miles per hour. there is that chance we could have downed trees bay area as the storm system approaches. but now it's bringing in

scattered, light showers. the rain not all that impressive. as we take it hour by hour. scattered showers the day and at times it may get heavier, especially as it moves onshore and thenens as it gets inland and then by later on tonight, we still have a chance of some heavy downpours and koppel of sp spotty showers and thunderstorms. does look like everyone will see that action as we go into the weekend. the rain tapering off as we go into the afternoon. high tide will be at 9:45 and some of those low-lying areas of roadways may experience some flooding along with the beaches and bays and high surf possible, again, tomorrow morning. so, today's rain because that area of low pressure, the rain streaming in well ahead of it and then as we go through the day, once again, we won't see this letting up until tomorrow. but temperatures today, right at about average in the upper 50s to lower 60s. and the winds picking up at

about to 30 miles an hour. we're looking at 57 degrees today for a high in santa rosa. and weekend that starts out wet, will end dry. so, sunday is the best day to get outside. we will have sunny and mild conditions and it won't be as windy and highs reaching into the upper 50s to near 60 degrees. let's check in now with mike to see how the roads moving. >> kari, it's friday. lighter volume but the conditions are that you want to slow down, folks. oakland where i've zoomed in, not a great traffic shot but moving well past the coliseum and see the surface streets over the lights and the signals here and over for the oakland coliseum parking lot. that wet roadway will be a factor all over parts of the bay. as we look at your map, a smooth drive around here and that green, again, highlighting things. we're also looking at just a little yellow and slowing for the nimitz. nothing big. this is a friday commute over here. recovering north 880 after a second crash around 7th over on the oakland side and the bay bridge metering lights are on. north bay seeing a little drizzle and live look at the

bridge heading over towards the san rafael side and now the building commute, there you see it falling on the lens and another live look shows you palo alto. anywhere south of the san mateo bridge and mist and drizzle in patches. more interesting developments for the 911 system. come back for that. starting this week-- people in

the east bay can now text a new tool in the event of an emergency. starting this week, people in the east bay can text 911.

the richmond police department is now taking the lead in northern california to update the way people reach out for help. starting this week, if you're in richmond, el cerito and kensington and san pablo, you can text 911 to dispatchers. that could be life saving, especially if you're in a situation where you are trying to hide from someone and you simply can't talk. the program is already in use southern california. two men are on the run after holding a man up at gunpoint and stealing his plumbing van. hercules police release the image of the van hoping that you might be able to help. the victim says he was picking up his brother before heading to his plumbing just shortly before yesterday morning and that's when one of the armed suspects approached him and forced him to get out of the driver's seat before taking off. 6:26 oth on your friday. coming up next, toll takers robbed at gunpoint on bay area bridges. the arsenal of weapons recovered from the two suspects now under arrest.

and i'm stephanie chuang live in san francisco with more on king tide hitting later this morning and what the warning local scientists have on how much damage they can do. that's coming up right here on "today in the bay."

it is 6:30 now. good morning and thanks for joining us. i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia canon. >> and i'm sam brock. another wet morning in the bay

area. enough to make the roads slick this morning. >> team coverage in place for everything from the roadways to the big waves in tide but we start with meteorologist kari hall and how long is the rain going to stick around this time, kari? >> it will be off and on all. this is a fairly widespread storm system. but it's not very intense. but it's just enough to bring in some high winds and waves, especially for our coastal waters. as far as how much rain we're seeing now, we're seeing it covering most of the east bay and now starting to move into parts of the south bay. we haven't seen much of the rain there yet. and into the rest of the day, very hit or miss. and maybe even a few cells that are a little bit more intense with heavy downpours and some stronger storms as we go into this evening, which lingner to the start of the day on saturday. we also have the concern of king tides with gusty winds and high tide will be coming up and increasing the risk of some flooding on some of the low-lying roadways and beaches and bays. for more information on what to

expect as we head into the king tides and hthe high tide, let's check in with stephanie chuang is is at the embarcadero. >> right now sort of that misty light drizzle we've seen a lot of this morning. here at pier 14 a fascinating show just to see the water levels creeping up and we get, now and again, these big splashes coming up here, especially with king tide hitting around 9:46 this morning at 6.5 feet. this water level should be a couple to a few feet higher which is a foot above normal and could splash some of the people here walking along the embarcadero. a high surf advisory along the coast through 9:00 tonight. the pacifica pier is where people go to capture the waves and during reg storms like tuesday, it can get pretty high and pretty strong and add in today's kings tide and be even more because water could hit places where there was no king

tide and the water snuck up on this man who was taking cell phone video in pacifica. if you're on the road today, especially in the north bay or in santa cruz mountains, there may be landslides in steeper area or even deep ee eer debris and around 9:46 this morning, coastal low-lying roads could get some flooding as you heard kari mention. according to local scientists and expert you have king tide condition, as well as el nino and that could threaten critical infrastructure. the richmond, dumbarton bridges and south bay. that's something they are watching out for. live here in san francisco, stephanie chang, "today in the bay." >> you see some of that rain clogging up your camera there, as well. here is another look this time from foster city side of the san mateo bridge. a high-wind advisory in effect for the bridge, as well as the bay bridge morning. so, let's bring in mike inouye

and rains could make for a tricky commute hardly friday light. >> the volume is light, guys. that's the good side. the conditions, though, they're not the easiest to drive in. the wind is more of a factor, i think, than the rain. slick roadways and we look at the water on the lens and the bay bridge plaza. san mateo bridge and the bay bridge, talked aboutthe two areas being a wind advisory and that advisory issued by the chp. not by the national weather service. that means they were driving across overnight and some officers called in and said, look, it's a little gusty, let's give that note. over here the bay bridge shows that note and slow towards treasure island and a friday lighter xu mute for most of your bay. look, a lot of slowing northbound 880. now, one disabled big rig over on the shoulder still there and in that same area a crash and it sounded like all the cars are cleared because we talked to chp and they said, no, lanes are cleared now and we should see clear recovery, again. slowest stretch from oakland. the rest of your bay shows damp,

wet roads at times and south 880 through hayward and a little build there. not a big deal and friday's commute through the south bay not showing any real problems and we're watching areas as s f steph mentioned because one of the usual suspects for flooding. 6:34 right now. a great way to stay on top of all the storms this winter, our nbc bay area app. click on it right on your fin r fingertips. friends and family gathered to remember two college students who are presumed dead now as they were swept out to sea. more than 200 people for this candlelight vigil. the 19-year-old of palo alto and 20-year-old of san jose were at bonnie dunn beach near santa cruz on monday when those huge waves hit them. >> as they say, good people are taken away first. you know, i think they left us,

a whole lot for the families, for themself. you know, they had so much ambition. >> the coast guard called off that search because of dangerous conditions. the family might hire private divers to try to help find their bodies. now only on nbc bay area, a disturb itting ding discovery t to a nightmare. the peninsula man who placed his cell phone in a garbage can to secretly record people while they were in the restroom. she said she made that discovery after noticing a hole in the garbage can and the lens. she noticed it back at milagros restaurant back in mid-december. he was fired and arrested on the spot. possibility kids could have been recorded, too. >> if children were filmed and he is in possession of child

pornograp pornography, that is a felony. this person should be on that sexual offenders list. >> boch is expected to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges next week. a toll bridge bandit busted chp officers nabbed two thieves in connection with a series of armed robberies on the toll plaza. they also seized semi-automatic weapons, handguns and rounds of ammunition. officers arrested two suspects, one of is just 17 years old. they were arrested in vallejo on monday. the chp said the suspect used these weapons to rob the carquinez, the benicia and bay bridge toll plazas back in november and december. break in the case, police arrested two men for a shooting outside a bay fair center last week. san leandro officers said they also found several guns during this arrest. police say a group of men walking in the parking lot and another person in a car shot at each other. but nobody was hurt. officer os say they worked

closely with oakland police to try to track down those suspects. while mechanical failure is now ruled out in a tragichand bus crash earlier this week in san jose now investigators are looking at where the passengers were sitting. ntsb investigators combing through the wreckage of that bus to figure out what happened. investigators are looking into whether the driver was fatigued, whether the weather was a factor. it was very rainy that day. and the bus driver admits at this point that he was tired at the time of the crash, so, he says he did not fall asleep. two people were killed and eight others were hurt when the bus flipped over on highway 101 in south san jose on tuesday. california right now looking at a new way to raise new revenues. those who drive the most would be the ones hardest hit digging deeper into their pockets. the state transportation department is soon going to be launching a pilot program to test the viability of replacing the state's gas tax with mileage fees. that means a small device

wouldter exactly how many miles you're driving. that idea rattled some privacied a, but the problem is california's 36 cents per gallon tax is no longer generating enough money. electric car users don't pay anything. >> the gas tax, which is our major source of funding, is not keeping pace with our transportation need. so we have to look at other mechanisms for raising the money. >> as part of the new program, they're looking for 5,000 volunteers to test out that idea starting this summer. that should be enough to give lawmakers the sense of whether this plan could actually work. well, 6:38 right now. we've been talking about the rainy weather conditions here in the bay area and they will affect driving to work or school this morning. also your weekend plans. >> yes, some of the weekend plans, especially later on this evening. but we have yet to see any rain in san jose, but most of it is moving through parts of the east bay and the peninsula. and it has moved out of san francisco for now, as well as the north bay. and this systems to stream some

moisture in. the center of that low pressure still well off to the west. so, we'll see this working in throughout the day and with this, we will have several hours of not only the rain, but some gusty winds. and the way it plays out through the rest of the day, by 7:00, we've seen some of the scattered showers very hit or miss and it may get heavier throughout later this morning and early afternoon. but there will be some breaks in between and we will see this all moving off to the east by early tomorrow. we'll talk more about the timing and how much rain to expect. let's check in now with mike to see how it affects your commute. >> kari, we have the slick conditions. most of the bay sees a lighter friday commute as you expect, slick conditions demanding you slow it down a bit. over here soupy conditions past the coliseum and the wind kicks in from time to time and way watch bay bridges for gusts of winds and more slowing north of there on our map as you're approaching seventh. although chp the best it looks like there is a tow truck there north 880 at 7th blocking your two middle lanes causing this

slow down all the way back into downtown exit there around the embarcadero exit. slow also building for the east shore freeway and richmond down towards berkeley and the bay bridge toll plaza where the metering lights are on. the slowest section of the bay and the roadways are slick, we will be careful. a smoother drive here. h hayward shows more slowing and the build heading over towards the peninsula, light right now for the san mateo and dumbarton bridges. nice look at the map. 101 slows a bit at 68 o0 because of the volume just kicking in. back to you. >> kicking off pretty soon here, mike. coming up next, still more than a couple weeks away from super bowl 50, but the transformation really does kick off this weekend. the major road closures in effect starting tomorrow and how to get around all the chaos. some chaos on wall street, as well. although today looks pretty good. let's take out live to the big board with the dow industrials crossed back over 16,000. take a look in business and tech. we're inching closer to the

super bowl.. ==sam/cgb!!== preparations are getting nd we are inching closer to the super bowl. preparations getting under way in san francisco, which means traffic is about to get a lot worse. here's a closer look at what's going to close down in the city. it would be sections of the embarcadero, justin herman plaza and market street all shutting down starting this weekend. all this is going to be part of super bowl city. there's also a section farther south around the marsconi cen r

center. our super bowl l coverage continues. game day now only 16 days, 8 hours, 45 minutes. scott mcgrew, patience, the cardinal rule. >> that leaves me with the team the panthers and the patriots. i can't do anything with either one of those. let's take a look at the markets. dow industrials gaining more than 200. some executives from comcast, our parent company opening the nasdaq. every stock doing very well. chevron much higher because of higher oil prices. little stocks that are potential takeovers. they're up better than 4% this morning on rumors. legendary silicon valley pioneer and kholsa will be my guest. he has invested more than $1 billion in green energy fighting extremeerty in developing countries, founded sun microsystems. he runs where one of the people assisting him is, i kid you not,

tony blair. an interesting interview here on "meet the press" sunday morning. companies that create self-driving cars will now have to turn their accident reports into the state and a new one showed up in the inbox yesterday from the company cruise automati automation. they make the funny device on top of the car. the accident report says the car was at 7th and bryant in san francisco and it started to drift a little to the left. the computer corrected back to the right and that's when the driver actually took control. after taking manual control, the operator did not change the path of the vehicle and it collided with an unoccupied toyota prius. i bring this up, guys, because, once again, it's the drivers that are having the accidents. the computer, although it did drift a little has never, never in california history has a orobot car actually been the cause of an accident. it's always the driver. >> what is the point taking over control if you're not going to do anything. >> that would be what they're

asking that employee this morning. >> and the whole discussion, should you have a steering wheel on the car because people do stuped things like that. >> so far drivers, not the robots. back to our developing story now. a potentially historic blizzard starting to hit much of the east coast as we speak. several states already under a declared state of emergency as more than two feet of snow could. >> "today" show michelle is live for us in washington, d.c., this morning. hopefully some bread and water left in the local super markets, miguel. much of that area has grinded to a halt. >> the bread and milk is certainly running thin on shelves here. it's only cold and clear here in washington, d.c., but the snow is on the way. up to two feet, as you mentioned. take a look at the pictures of our crew coming down from virginia towards washington, d.c. they're in some pretty decent snow themselves right now. it's going to be blinding at times is what we're told.

we're exing two feet of snow and over 36 hours. what we could even see is thunder snow. thunder mixed in with snowfall. they're expecting the snow drifts to be up as high as eight feet. this area could get what could be a once in a lifetime storm in this area. they haven't seen a storm totals predicted to be this high in nearly 100 years. so, certainly a very busy storm. as you alluded to, they are cleaning out grocery store shelves, as well as hardware store shelves. everything from milk, bread, shovels and salt being taken at local stores. as they prep here for this massive storm. the federal will shut down at noon in just a few hours today. just in time for our first snowfall here. schools have been closed for the day. rail and bus service has been suspended over this weekend and already today, some 3,000 flights have been canceled. so, they're bracing, they are battering down the hatches here as they're expecting a monster storm to move in this area in three hours, guys. back to you. >> used to washington, d.c.,

being shut down and the gridlock and not usually because of the weather. stay warm. >> not running the. thank you very much, miguel. 6:48 right now. a check of your weather and traffic. the traffic may be impacted or public use impacted. >> miguel's video, i'm not going to complain at all. >> it's all relative. we have some active weather here, as well. >> rain moving through and some gusty winds all throughout the morning. we also have the concern about king tide. we'll talk about that. as we take a live look at san jose. yet to see a rain drop fall there and cloudy skies and in los gatos some rain there and hasn't made it over some of the mountains. we've also seen rain moving into east parts of the peninsula and some wet conditions as we take a live look from the camera and king tides a concern as they come up. right at about 9:45. times of rain today and even a few storms possible later this evening. the showers linger into the overnight hours and into the

start of the day tomorrow. we could also have high wind gusts. looking at the radar now, we see mainly light rain. we haven't seen any really intense downpours and i think this is we will see pretty much throughout the day. a closer look shows light shades of green, indicating, once again, light rain. as the system continues to move in and gets closer, the winds will pick up just a bit and coming in from the south as air rushes into the area of low pressure, the futurecast and  rain forecast hour by hour shows at times there will be heavier downpours and that off and on throughout the day will add more to those rainfall totals that we are expecting and some gusty winds. here we are tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon and we still see a little bit of green here, but for the most part, the storm system will be moving off to the east and the will be tapering off. the rain forecast shows the poe potential of 0.5 in san francisco up to 1 inch in the north parts of the north bay and

fremont 0.6 and highs today reaching the upper 50s to lower 60s. off and on rain. even some breaks where the sun may be peeking out throughout the afternoon and temperatures little bit cooler than yesterday. we will a split weekend ahead. we start out with rain early saturday morning and then the sun coming out during the afternoon. sunday looks bright and sunny and not as windy with some mild temperatures. and then as we look ahead to what will happen after this, high pressure will be moving in. and that will steer those weather systems well to the north of us with the jet stream and we may enter into at least a few days with some dry weather and no more of the storm systems moving through. let's check in now with mike to see how the commute is moving. >> well, kari, that rain. it's not heavy and slow and steady and we hope that helps the ground water. not hurting the commute too much, but we have this issue which is jammed up. this is the worst spot for the bay area, guys the nimitz freeway. slowing down from 66. actually a98th now all the way up past high street.

let me show you how far this goes on our map. this has been building up for the last half hour and a little longer, actually. two crashes and one still in lane at 7th street. tow truck on scene there from what i understand and this is the big jam. now, westbound 580 much, much lighter flow of traffic. if you can get there at all, i suggest you use that. that jam going on from the coliseum, again, up to downtown and the east shore freeway builds because that commute is starting to kick in. it is lighter, it is friday, but we have a commute still. the nimitz slows through hayward and union city and a slight build for the san mateo bridge. wind advisory san mateo and bay bridges. chp said it was gusty at times overnight and might not be the case if you drive over. the south bay the northbound route starting to kick in a bit. 87 to downtown and also slippery roadways. we'll show you palo alto on our camera there. a traffic rig approaching university, but that they moved that stall. back to you. >> mike, thank you. just in to our newsroom the

first american skier to win the olympic men's downhill has died. bill johnson won the downhill title at the 1984 winter olympics. that was also the first time any american male skier had ever won olympic gold. johnson tried to make a comeback, but suffered a traumatic brain injury in a crash. bill johnson was only 55 years old. coming up, a trip to a restaurant bathroom. made a disturbing discovery inside a trash can now a former employee faces criminal charges.

if you are just waking up with us this morning, it is another wet and windy morning. right now light to steady rain falling over most of the bay area. a lot of your morning drive is slick and the evening commute will be much better. we have team coverage this morning. we'll try to be opmystic about this. let's bring in stephanie chuang live along the embarcadero tracking not just the rain and wind but some big waves in king tide. >> that's right. the king tides not supposed to hit until 9:46 this morning at 6.6 feet. here at pier 14 you can see the water levels are already up this morning since we got here much

earlier. you can see the splashing happening already. this water could splash. i was walking here along the embarcadero especially when king tide hits. a high surf and the waves can get pretty high and strong during a regular storm just like tuesday's. add in today's king tides and that means be even more careful. water hits places that are usually dry. if you're driving today especially in the north bay or santa cruzens, landslides in the steeper terrain areas andious storms have already saturated the land and coastal low-lying roads could get flooding and local experts warn really king tide conditions plus el nino that could threaten critical infrastructure like the bridges and low lying areas. that is something they're looking out for. live here in san francisco, stephanie chuang. >> thank you very much. we'll check your forecast and commute with kari and mike in just a minute. the rainy weather here is nothing comed to the massive blizzard starting to slam much

of the east coast right now. "today" show will have complete coverage, including flight cancellations if you're traveling this weekend we've already seen 27 or so at sfo this morning. that's coming up on "today" in just moments. >> trickle out effect. meanwhile, in vallejo, firefighters trying to pinpoint the cause of this huge fire at a tow yard last night. started on broadway avenue and in the end ten cars were burned. firefighters say the flames were difficult to fight because the cars were so close together and there was a nearby eucalyptus tree that caught fire, as well. firefighters say there was a person in the tow yard covered in oil, but no one was hurt. a disturbing crime now on the peninsula. a man facing charges this morning after he allegedly recorded people using the restroom at a redwood city restaurant. >> bob redell is live at milagros restaurant with a story you'll see only on bay area. >> it was last december a woman was celebrating her birthday

here at milagros restaurant in downtown redwood city when she noticed something odd about the trash can in the unisex bathroom. there was a hole in the can and when she peered through she spied the lens of an iphone camera that was recording video. this woman who doesn't want her name to be revealed, stopped the recording and checked the video on os the phone to see that it captured her and other patrons using the restroom. police determined that the phone belonged to 34-year-old marcus boch and faces a misdemeanor peeping tom charge. but they're hoping the district attorney will up the charge to something more severe. >> if children were filmed. he is in possession of child pornography, that is a felony. that's something that can lead to being placed on a sexual offender's list. and this person should be on that list. >> we don't know what he could have done or what he could have done with the video. if they're out on the web right

now. if i'm being exposed to the world. i don't know that. >> when asked for a comment, the general manager here at milagros would only say that boch was fired here on the spot. reporting here in redwood city, bob redell. now that we're officially creeped out. wash that off. >> you can see in bob's live shot light rain coming down and that's what we're seeing in parts of the bay area that will continue off and on all day and gusty winds later on this evening. >> all right. and the, you know, you're dealing with a traffic situation in the commute direction a real bummer. >> despite a lighter friday commute overall. show you oakland is jammed heading towards the bay bridge. this is the coliseum shot. you're jammed from oracle arena all the way up into downtown. show the map to past 880 because of the crash that is in lanes right now. tow truck has arrived. they hope to clear that shortly. the east shore freeway not so

bad. watch those slick conditions. that's what's happening "today in the bay." back with you in 30 minutes with live, local news. good morning. making history. a snow storm of epic proportions set to bury our nation's capital in just a few hours. at least two feet expected in d.c. more in other places. 88 million americans to be impacted, and our team of weather wizards is tracking it all. breaking overnight, a university of virginia student arrested and detained in north korea accused of committing a hostile act. what was he doing there, and what will the u.s. government do to get him out? mr. nice guy? >> we will be unified. we will be one. we will be happy again. >> donald trump tells voters he'll bring the country together, but then just hours later released this ad attacking ted cruz while hillary clinton turns to pop star demi lovato.