ad lib live picture welcome to wednesday morning. already the 15th of may. look at what is hitting the bay area. yes, it's may. but the wig storm is making its way to the bay area. good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. i saw a few sprinkles on my windshield. >> yeah. that's what we can expect across the bay area. light rain as the system rolls in. it's pretty much hitting anywhere from south of monterey all the way up to reading and eureka. we will continue to see light

rain to start out off and on throughout the morning. it's going to continue to bring us a soggy morning commute. just enough to make the roads a little wet, you may have to turn on the windshield wipers as the rain continues to move in and the storm system gets closer. as we go through 7:30, until 8:00, it's going to be mostly wet off and on and going to see some of the heavier rain expected to arrive this evening. by 7:00 to 8:00. heavy rain. and along with that, we'll have gusty winds. we will have the potential of thunderstorms. i'll be tracking all of that with the timeline in a few minutes. mike, now you have a live look in palo alto. >> you showed the radar activity. i saw a little glow for the rights. in the southeast, flashing lights, again, near the top of the screen north of willow as you come south into palo alto. we have the road crews working on the median part. as the sun comes up, you'll

notice all the separators in the center divide. radar activity across the san mateo bridge. we will check that camera in the next report. the road weather index shows damp roadways, 280, 101, creeping over to parts of the east bay. no flooding reported. no major problems. again, this is late in the season. i see slowing for 580. i'll check it out for you. back to you. thanks, mike. three systems are about to bear down on the bay area. >> car crashes, landslides and soggy college graduation ceremonies. terry mcsweeney in sauls lee toe with more >> reporter: when driving on wet roads the next few days, time and space. >> give more time. when we don't, they rush. when they rush, they crash.

so just slow down. >> reporter: a couple months ago, rains brought down the hillside and a home in sausalito. the public works director said they have their eye on it, but don't expect problems and neither do neighbors. >> it's about as often as we get snow that you get a landslide. no, i'm not worried about it. >> reporter: uc berkeley, people will get wed during the commencement. the university has no umbrella, no refund policies. i am worried about my elderly family members. i don't want them to get sick. but no umbrella in place so no one blocks any view. but you can view it from a dry place, it is being streamed. rain in the bay means fresh snow in the sierra. this is kings veil. according to kari, several inches could fall over the next few days. and this comes at the end of an

impressive winter already. the snowpackst currently over 133% of average. in tahoe, squaw valley plans to stay open through the fourth of july. new details surrounding the deadly midair crash involving two sight-seeing planes in alaska. >> a southern california man is listed among the six people who died. search crews have found the bodies of all who perished. three other americans, along with the pilot, and a canadian woman, and a man from australia. they were all taking a cruise through the gulf of acting a. other passengers are shell-shocked. >> we all said prayers and everything. it's just -- it's kind of quiet. sombering moments. >> some of the 10 people rescued are now out of the hospital.

doctors discharged three of the victims yesterday. >> 4:34. the clock is ticking when it comes to the looming teacher strike in the east bay. they promise to walk off the job on monday. teachers are asking for a 20% pay raise over two years. the district says it is already facing a $5 million shortfall. a pivotal vote means san francisco will be the first city in the nation to ban facial recognition technology. supervisors yesterday voted to forbid facial recognition on city computers and cameras. law enforcement officers say the technology helps fight crime. stprfrs decided to side with privacy advocates. >> well, do you have plans in place yet for another memorial day weekend? well, it is now 10 days away. if travel is on the agenda, expect some company. aaa is calculating that the numbers here and somewhere near

40 million americans are expected to hit the road, the second highest memorial day travel volume over the past two decades. so good news for you. while you're sitting in the traffic, lower gas prices may be coming. experts now believe that the statewide average will drop below $4 a gallon just before memorial day weekend arrives. >> that's great news. >> oh, it's good news there. okay. just when you thought san francisco real estate market couldn't get more wild. >> when it comes no a new listing, you're not just buying a shock, you're getting a demolition permit. the asking price is $2.5 million. real estate agents say you're paying for the land and the view. once a new home is built on the property, it could have a value of $6 million. like a lot of lots in the bay area. >> wow. all right. 4:36. coming up on "today in the bay", more jobs, faster delivery. those are the promises from amazon as it breaks ground on

its newest hub. >> graduation season is upon us. so where are the best places for the graduates to start their new careers? we have a list. a look at the cities and where the bay area ranks.

good morning. it's rahel solomon at cnbc headquarters. wall street will attempt to add to yesterday's big gains. markets rebounding from monday's big selloff as fears over the

trade war between the u.s. and china eased at least for now. the dow having its best day in a month, closing up 207 points. although that was off the highs of the series. reports on retail sales and industrial production and earnings from macy's. amazon breaking ground on construction. $1.5 billion air hub outside of cincinnati. it's part of the company's efforts to deliver packages to customers faster. the facility is scheduled to open in 2021. amazon expects to fly 50 planes from there and employ 2,000 people. they are expanding its own logistics network to rely less on third-party carriers such as u.p.s., fedex and usps. it is graduation season. the report looked at 182 cities and measured factors such as availability oven try-level jobs, salary, workforce

diversity and affordable housing. the top spot is salt lake city, followed by pittsburg, orlando, austin, texas. the worst place, montgomery, alabama and shreveport, louisiana. taking a look at the bay area specifically, san francisco is 9th. oakland is 70th. employers are expected to hire 17% more grads from the class of 2019 versus last year. marcus and laura, i'll send it back to you. >> not too bad for the bay area. >> exactly. nice place to start out. not to buy the house, though. 4:41. coming up next on "today in the bay", the rain we have been talking about coming in. >> we start out with light rain. we are still dry. a live look at san jose. you may feel sprinkles on your face. campbell, a light rain to start, a break, and then heavier rain this afternoon. light rain once again.

a closer look at the timeline when the heavier rain arrives coming up next. >> we saw sprinkles on the camera in palo alto. richmond-san rafael bridge, the road crew ready to clear as the rain moves in. how that affects the drive popping up around the bay. minutes. life and death. people died screaming, trapped in their homes, because they didn't have time. >> is the federal government making california even more vulnerable to wildfires? we investigate, next.

and a good wednesday morning to you. take a live look at san rafael right now. you see a few cars on the road there. expect showers in the bay area. kari will have a look at that. and mike will look at a commute in a second. are you tired of chatty drivers? when you order the black tier you can request a quiet car. it promises to keep conversations to a minimum. riders can use the app to request help with luggage and even their preferred temperature. all those extra features will cost you, though. uber black rides can be double the price. >> i have a friend who put earbuds in and then when they ask, he wouldn't respond.

>> i do that at the gym. >> now you know the secrets. shocking. >> we've been talking about the weather. >> yeah. rain coming in. now we need to grab the umbrellas. as you head out for work this morning, it will be soggy. starting out with light rain. some of the heavier rain arriving by this afternoon. what you are seeing there around pittsburg and east of pleasanton, that's actually the wind turbines being picked up on the radar. so it's all green as we look across the bay area starting out this morning with a lot of spots except for the tri-valley and the south bay. as we start with spotty sprinkles and soggy morning commute, turn on the windshield wipers. hopefully you checked that your windshield wipers are still working. the 8:00 hour, a lot more yellow indicating heavier rain for parts of the east bay, as well

as the coastal parts of the north bay. it will come in waves. off and on, breaks as we go into early afternoon. then this evening is when the heavier rain starts to pick up and shift its way into the bay area. 8:00, you will hear the rain hitting the roof in parts of the bay. as we go into this evening, into the overnight hours, it tapers at midnight. we still will have spotty off and on rain. another little burst of energy as an area of low pressure moves in for tomorrow that could bring us heavy rain and the potential of thunderstorms as the colder air starts to drop in. as you check out the seven-day forecast, unusual for the middle of may to have such a wet storm. temperatures will reach into the 50s in the middle of the day. anywhere from about an inch of rain in parts of the south bay, maybe a little bit lighter for san jose.

head over to the east bay, oakland, mauraga, hayward, an inch and a half of rain. san francisco, about an inch with parts of the north bay anywhere from an inch and a half to over two inches of rain as you head up around ukiah. additional rainfall this weekend will give us another possibly half inch of rain as we are going to see another wet storm moving in. we think how much rain do we normally get in may? what's the wettest may we have ever seen. san jose dates back to 1915 where we had over two inches of rain, over two and a half inches. and more recently, we have had some rain in may of 1990 and 1998. that was close to two inches of rain. so we're looking at for san jose, i think three quart-quart an inch. so this wet storm moving in. i know you're making weekend plans. let's skip ahead to friday.

friday morning we start out with light showers. and then it kind of moves out going into the afternoon. so friday afternoon is looking dry and sunny. another storm system moves in on saturday. saturday afternoon we start to see the rain in the north bay first, early afternoon, and the rest of the bay area starts to see the showers into the 6:00 to 7:00 hours. so saturday evening is looking wet. still off and on rain on sunday. we also have been talking about sierra snow. look at that. getting the potential of one, to possibly a foot and a half next week. we have a very active weather pattern here the next seven days. inland temperatures reaching into the upper 60s today. and much cooler for the next few days. now, heading over to mike, the slicker roadways are showing up. >> that's right. with all of that radar activity, all the green that kari is showing us, we are finally starting to see it really noticeable here at the bay bridge. we don't see the windshield

wipers moving, but the mist is building up on the roadways. this is likely the first rain we have had in a number of weeks. so that means grease and oil will rise to the top. very slick. backup building. no surprises toward the bay bridge. here's all that radar activity, the darker greens. a little more closer to rain and drizzle. you may have to use the windshield wipers a swipe or two. the green highlighting down the peninsula as well. you need to make sure you have windshield wiper fluid as well. light rain might make it smear across the lens. here's the hayward side. still dry. again, that is moving through the entire bay, guys. back to you. 4:50 for you right now. is the federal government to blame for faster, more devastating wildfires in california? >> that debate is heating up with hundreds of scientists

calling for many changes at the u. s. forest service. >> reporter: good morning. when it comes to what's fueling the fire, that all depends on who you ask. your safety and millions of tax dollars are at stake. the federal government allows private lumber companies to chop down and haul away burnt trees. the forest service gets paid for it. close to $40 million each year. critics say the process can actually lead to even faster-moving fires. >> the logging program on our public lands is definitely playing a role in making fires burn faster and hotter than they otherwise would. >> we are doing what's right for the ecosystem and the community itself. >> reporter: watch our full investigation. logon to nbcbayarea.com/investigations. well, it was a special treat for eight migrant children in vatican city. >> earlier today, pope francis

let the group ride around in its pope mobile. they came from different nations, including syria and the congo. the pope has often spoke in defense of migrant rights. how fun. next in bay area responds. >> want to rent out your house and make easy money? we have a hard lesson before you do. the $1 million question when nbc bay area responds, next. and happening now, venezuelan president showing a sign of strength by meeting with soldiers. the u.s. government wants to forcibly oust him from office. they are ignoring demands from the opposition. the nature of a virus is to change. move. mutate.

today, life-changing technology from abbott is helping hunt them down at their source. because the faster we can identify new viruses, the faster we can get to stopping them. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life.

life. to the fullest.

a very good wednesday morning to you. taking a live look at the golden gate bridge. pretty clear there. not a lot of traffic. in particular, look at the radar in the right-hand corner of your screen. yeah, the rain is here making its way to the north bay. it's coming. it's such a late storm. it's surprising so many people. consider yourself warned. nbc bay area responds to a sonoma couple's $1 million dispute. >> they asked chris chmura's team to make a tech company make good on its seven-figure promise. good morning. this revolves around this destructive fireback in 2017. the homeowners have rented out the home to app users for the weekend. the tenants escaped the fire, but the house was a total loss.

the homeowners figured the rental app had their back with rebuilding because of a $1 million promise. attorney robert actutoler said should be careful. >> frequently their actions are inconsistent with their words. and that's a real serious problem. >> tonight at 11:00, what happened with the house after we stepped in, and the important insurance lesson we learned that every want-to-be landlord needs to know before their next guest checks in. if you have a consumer problem you can't settle yourself, call us 888-996-tips or nbcbayarea.com/responds. please join us again tonight at 11:00. all right. looking forward to that, chris. now, to this video of rescue crews freeing a horse. you heard me right, a horse. he is stuck deep in mud here. this is in los angeles. they were able to pull the horse to safety by laying down boards

of wood. a woman was stuck nearby just yesterday. look at that. as she is smoking a cigarette. >> you know when you need it, you need a little smoke. stress relief. how did she get there? >> who knows? maybe she -- i don't know. >> 4:57 right now. the things you see, kari hall. >> i know, right? we're going to have to deal with a little bit of mud here now that the rain is falling. here's a look at contra costa county. some of the heaviest rain west of concord. i'll be tracking the rain as it moves into your neighborhood. a closer look coming up next. and looking at 580. headlights moving west out of the altamonte. there was a little wind advisory overnight. kari is talking about that advisory for the rain coming through the area. we will see how both are affecting your drive. plus, expanding bart into the tri-valley comes a little more into focus. details on the agency's new plan ahead in a live report for you.

you're watching "today in the bay". possibly thunder and light.

right now at 5:00, rain moving into the bay area, bringing thunder and lightning. kari hall is tracking this rare system. her hour-by-hour forecast coming up in moments. >> bart planning to extend deeper into livermore. the plan could be ready to move forward now. new details coming up in a live report. and -- >> i told my mom, who you with?

>> the curry brothers go head to head at oracle. what steph is saying about beating brother seth. good wednesday morning to you. thank you for starting your day with us. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. first, everybody is going to talk about the weather today. >> yeah. starting out wet this morning. light rain moving in. we are going to see rounds of light rain through the early hours, a break early afternoon, heavier rain moving in later this evening. as we take a closer look, some of the heaviest rain where we see the yellow is right there as you head closer to richmond, over toward concord. we will see waves of it. we talked about the potential of thunder and lightning. that is tomorrow with the second system moving in. today the rain gets heavier as we go into the evening along with gusty