right now at 4:30, firefighters make some progress against bay area wildfires. nearly all continue to rage consuming hundreds of thousands of acres, homes and businesses, even lives. and to add to all of that, look what's returning to northern california. >> that's right, thunder and lightning rolling back in making for extreme fire danger as if firefighters aren't already stretched thin enough. the hits keep coming for the bay area. we're following all of them for you. a very good morning to you and thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia.

>> and i'm marcus washington. mike is keeping an eye on the commute for thus morning. let's get to meteorologist kari hall. we're talking about the lightning and thunder. how soon could we expect to see that? we've seen it very isolated across the bay area, but we're keeping a close eye on the radar because this can detect the lightning strike as it happens and then it plots an icon here. as we look at the bay area we've seen a couple places of rain but look over the sierra, a lot of lightning strikes as the thunderstorms really get going this morning and that's something we'll be watching throughout today, that chance of that lightning. as we get a closer look, the good thing we are seeing spotty rain. this is not enough to make a big impact on those wildfires, but the humidity is going up and we haven't seen a lot of lightning strikes. i'll be watching that with an hour-by-hour look. mike, how is it looking getting out the door right now? kari, the traffic is light.

that light rain may affect folks as they concentrate on other things. always focus on road safety as well. in the altamont pass there's wind. that's what chp talks about. not uncommon for the area. a little build here. the wind advisory from chp. as we zoom out the rest of the map below 580, the scu complex fire, no major freeways closed there. in the red, that's the closures we saw last week on friday. laura, we continue to follow this fire as the closures grow and so does the issue. back to you. that's right. it is the breaking news that is dominating bay area news headlines these days. the wildfires that have been leaving hundreds of homes in ruins, tens of thousands evacuated and firefighters are certainly stretched to the limit pulling so many long hours. we learned last night a new death has now been tied to the

fires. authorities say a 70-year-old man died in fire burning in san mateo county. the fire has scorched nearly 75,000 acres and burned at last 160 structures. it's less than 10% contained. now we have some brand-new video to show you, showing what it's like for first responders and firefighters who are driving through the czu fire at night. cal fire posting this to twitter. you can see the massive flames on either side of the road just like a wall of flames there. fire debris falling onto the windshield of trucks driving through. it is just frightening to see. all of this making for extremely dangerous continuing conditions. and, laura, new evacuation orders in the east bay. the scu complex fire expands in size. here is a look at how wide that evacuation zone is. you can see here the evacuation area is in the red. you see all of this area down here.

look at how big the yellow is, the areas under evacuation orders. and you can see how close this is to the tri-valley area. now "today in the bay's" sergio quintana talked to some nervous evacuees. >> reporter: the southern tip of the scu complex fire continued steady progression to east morgan hill triggering the latest round of evacuations on this sprawling fire. >> we just packed up everything we have. >> we just packed up our valuables and personal items. we have had plenty of time to decide what to take and leave behind. >> reporter: the lingering smoke has made it difficult to fight the fire from the air. air tankers had to be grounded because of poor visibility. on the ground crews from across the state and from neighbors states continue to arrive to help. >> currently we have just about 90 engines from several different states. i think eight different states, washington, oregon, texas,

idaho, utah. >> reporter: but fire commanders are gearing up for a long, hard fight because of the size of the fire, one of the biggest in california history, and the other fires burning in the region. >> we have been messaging to all of our cooperators we are going to have to set manageable pacers because this is going to be a very long-term incident. >> reporter: the high winds from forecast red flag warnings never materialized through the day, which is some good news. but fire commanders say they are nervously waiting for whatever weather comes at them tonight. in pleasanton, i'm sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. and kari is certainly watching the skies for us as well. now we have these big threats of thunderstorms. we've seen the thunderstorms to the east of the bay area and parts of the central valley and over the sierra. for us this morning we've only had a couple of lightning strikes. we know just one lightning

strike will be bad because it could spark a fire in a spot we haven't seen so far. here is what to expect today, that chance of lightning mainly this morning and that spotty rain has been moving through. also those erratic winds especially where we do see the showers and those thunderstorms developing that could cause that rain and the winds to spread out in different directions. we'll be monitoring that with an hour by hour update. we'll talk about what else is coming up in a few minutes. thank you very much. in the north bay people are certainly monitoring the weather and everything that is going on as the entire town is either under an evacuation order or warning. that bridge part, part of the lnu lightning complex. now 21% contained. most orders were given to people west of highway 101 but since downgraded to warnings. residents are keeping an eye on the situation very closely worried the flames will jump and start moving towards them quickly. >> the lightning is the hard

part because this started from lightning strikes last monday. >> people living in the area are in a bit of a catch 22. they want rain to help firefighters, but those working in the wine industry say the rain will damage the crops which are ready to be harvested. speaking of the walbridge fire, northwest of sonoma county, 52,000 acre fire. >> let's break down the numbers for you and they are important especially for people who have everything on the line. so across the state right now more than 14,000 firefighters battling those flames. some of the equipment being used right now includes 2,400 fire engines, 284 dozers, and 95 aircraft. and more help is on the way. cal fire will soon be getting equipment reinforcement in the form of the national guard coming in to help. cal fire says the national guard

will be helping. they are issuing protective gear. the troops are undergoing hand crew training for fighting the fire on the central coast. the guard also showing off this view from inside the cockpit of a pilot view fighting the fire flames. >> the smoke can be seen from space. nasa showing it lingering in the skies. reaching parts of kansas in the midwest. a look at time lapse video of the czu lightning complex fire taken over the weekend giving you an idea just how thick it really is. a spare the air alert in effect today. we're following breaking news out of milwaukee. a police shooting that is

leading to these massive overnight protests and calls for change. plus, firing back, the legal action tiktok plans to take against the trump administration after the president's executive order demanding they sell the app's u.s. operations. first something good to share with you amid the ongoing wildfires. communities across the bay area are really taking first responders and firefighters to heart. they're thanking them for everything they're doing. check out these photos showing local restaurants donating food to the frontline workers. we are all thankful for all the work they are doing right now. 4:39. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 4:42 as we take a look at our current temperatures we have some fog near the coast, mid-50s in half moon bay. inland areas we're starting out at 70 degrees but the air quality is terrible. we'll take a look at those numbers in the forecast coming up. and, kari, we are looking at the roadways, 580 at the richmond san rafael bridge. reports of a roadside fire. i'm hearing a brush fire, maybe more. no lanes closed but i'm tracking that as well as the rest of the bigger fire activity around the bay. good morning. i'm bertha coombs with cnbc. here are today's top business

headlines. wall street is set to open higher this morning as the markets look to extend their record setting rally. stocks pushed higher into the close on friday with the s&p 500 ending at a fresh record high. tech continues to lead the market gains. apple is jumping more than 8% last week ahead of its 4 for 1 stock split at the end of the month. today is the last day to get in on apple before that four for one split. we have reports on home prices, consumer confidence, durable goods, unemployment claims and second quarter economic growth. tiktok confirms it will file a lawsuit against the trump administration over the executive order demanding that its parent company bitedance sell the operations. they say data could be used to help china. a sought to reach a constructive solution with the u.s. government for the past

year. hollywood got the first clue this weekend of how quickly people are willing to return to the theater. "unhinged" starring russell crowe took in $4 million at the box office. that may not seem like a whole lot, but it was actually a lot better than some expected. it had no real competition and indoor theaters in california and here in new york are still closed so you have a lot of theaters that wouldn't be taking in those big box office receipts. analysts say movies will likely open with low numbers like these and make up ground over time as consumers get more comfortable going into the theater. the big test will come the next few weeks with the release of the potential blockbusters such as disney's "the new mutant." kari, back to you. i don't know about you, but i'm not quite ready to go into a theater just yet. i'll do a drive-in, though. >> nope, not yet. thank you, bertha. let's check out our

temperatures today as we see the smoke over the bay area, our temperatures will still warm up this afternoon into the mid-80s. we'll talk more about this, the air quality and the forecast coming up. the air quality was a big concern for my family over the weekend, kari. we'll watch for your report. the road quality improving as we do have crews repairing potholes. we'll talk about what's going on and what i see for the nimitz coming up.

4:47 for you. welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." i want to get you caught up on what's going on right now. we're closely monitoring all of those fires across the bay area. here is the late thes hour. the lnu complex in the north bay has burned more than 347,000 acres. more than 1,000 structures damaged or destroyed. four people have died. that fire is 21% contained. and in the south bay the scu complex has grown nearly 344,000 acres with 10% containment. evacuation warnings are now in place for parts of the tri-valley. in santa cruz and san mateo counties, the czu fire has claimed the life of a 70-year-old man. that fire scorching 74,000 acres and is only 8% contained. more than 160 structures have been lost in the fire.lyard not about the fire all weekend long with the smoky conditions out there and even when you see winds picked up.

your heart went out to all the people evacuated, the firefighters. could be a rough week as well, right, kari? yeah, it's definitely going to be a rough week when you talk about some changing weather for the bay area. we are seeing higher humidity, the surge of tropical moisture. as of now for the bay area it's not as busy as it was last monday at this time, and when we think about the fact we've seen three lightning storms over the course of a week and normally we only have about two to three thunderstorm days per year, this has been highly unusual in the month of august. as we look at what's going on right now, some spotty rain mostly for the north bay. the lightning strikes off the coast or over parts of the central valley in the sierra. we can see how busy this is and this is able to detect the lightning as it happens so we can see what's going on and we'll, of course, let you know if we do see any more lightning strikes. the potential will start to go

down later on this morning mostly for the north bay but still that overhead surge of that tropical moisture moving in, so there will still be that chance of lightning without the rain. we call that dry lightning. as we go hour by hour, we will start to see things quieting down overnight. then the fog returning near the coast which is a good thing. as we look at our air quality, though, it's been really bad throughout the weekend and not being able to go outside when we're in the pandemic and the kids home schooling, it's been really rough as we lock at how unhealthy this is in parts of the east bay, as you look at danville, the most unhealthy air quality that we have across the bay area. also pretty bad in hayward right now. all of us are either orange or red which is unhealthy for anybody, not just people with breathing problems. so as we look at our high temperatures for today we'll see some 60s near the coast and in san francisco. inland it's still going to be pretty warm with highs reaching into the 90s. and i wanted to give you an

update on marco and laura. moving into pensacola and then into louisiana the next couple of days. then as we loo a cago stronger than marcus as we go into the day. we're looking at two hurricanes, a toeropical storm and a hurrice in louisiana, and that area over the next 48 hours. as we look at our weather still active weather as that red flag warning continues until this evening and temperatures will be in the 90s all weeklong for the inland areas. san francisco will be cooler and i'll be so glad to see that fog coming back later on tonight along the coast. mike, how is it looking for the commute? kari, you're extremely busy with all of that going on. on the roadways as far as incidents go, pretty calm.

look at the live camera. fremont shows you traffic moving very smoothly through the area. there's a glow. it's not fog. it's haze in the air. all that fog, the particulate matter, that is an issue as far as breathing concerns. keep that in mind. a smooth drive, continued closures in the red zone area and to the north bay continued closures for the lightning complex as well, the lnu fire. we're following all of this, of course. back to you. and there is breaking news we're following in wisconsin. a tense night between officers and protesters after a black man was shot by police officers. these are live looks outside of the kenosha courthouse. you see spray paint on the wall there. this is about 20 miles south of milwaukee. the county tweeting out there was damage done to the building. you can clearly see it for yourself. it all happened overnight.

they will be closed today. police say officers opened fire after responding to a domestic violence call. there's reportedly a video on social media that shows the shooting. nbc news has not obtained the video just yet. of course, if we do we'll review it. the man is in serious condition overnight. dozens of people showed up to his house and around the city clashing with officers and setting fires. new details for you as soon as today state supreme court justices may rule on the death penalty appeal filed by scott peterson. he is on death row for the 2002 murder of his wife laci and their son. this was moved to redwood city. his appeal, his attorney argued it should have been moved even further away. he also argued that jurors were improperly discharged. moving on to decision 2020 later today the republican national convention kicks off in charlotte.

over the weekend protesters gathered and police made one arrest. a lot of the convention will be virtual, president trump will appear there in person today to accept his party's nomination. several hundred delegates will be there as well. party leaders insist all in-person events will be safe. >> we tested everybody before they came to charlotte. we have been testing people on site. >> the president is expected to head back to the white house for the rest of the convention. protesters are vowing to gather every night in charlotte until the convention ends on thursday. a one-two punch, many of the evacuees across the state are now dealing with the pandemic, of course, as well. next on "today in the bay," the county just taken off the state's covid-19 watch list and what it means for business. but first, something good amid the ongoing fires over the weekend. the san jose elks lodge held a food drive for those of the czu

complex. they got a good response. in three hours they filled up a box truck with items to help out. really nice to see. >> absolutely. happening now for you, south korea's capital, seoul, mandates the wearing of masks in indoor and outdoor public places for the first time. the country has seen triple digit daily increases in the virus cases. the governor extended social distancing rules banning in-person church meetings and closing nightclubs, buffets and cyber cafes. (birds chirping)

(woman chattering) - [narrator] ordering dinner for the family? (family gasps) rewarded with a side of quiet. (baby murmuring) grubhub rewards you, (scooter horn honking) get a free delivery perk when you order. (doorbell rings) - [group] grubhub.

4:57, welcome back to you. orange county is now off the state's watch list. that move now starts the countdown to reopening, possibly even public schools. before the schools can reopen

the county must be off the watch list for 15 days. meanwhile governor newsom says that he is watching san francisco closely. it could be one of the next counties off the watch list. californians who have lost their jobs during the pandemic will soon be able to tap into an extra $300 in benefits. the state approved the new federal assistance program launched by the white house. congress could not agree to a new stimulus plan. the extra money will come out of the federal disaster relief budget for a limited time. back to our top stories, wildfires across the bay area moving across. the help california firefighters are getting -- across the world to help put out those flames.

you can see houses on brink of being burnt down. >> right now at 5:00, thousands of homes and entire towns remain in extreme danger as bay area wildfires grow to consume nearly 700,000 acres. that is six times the size of san jose. and worries are only mounting as the new round of lightning threatens northern california. kari hall tracking lightning strikes and live team coverage from the fire zones just moments away. "today in the bay" continues right now. and a good morning to you. thanks for starting your morning with us. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. we