foreign country allowed by the embassy to do a training, you do a jump with them, get a certificate and you can wear that on your uniform. >> the defenders from the sky put the toy drop every year for kids who may not get a toy. what a fun way to bring them in, too. nice to see. right now at 6:00 and all new for you this morning the fda leaders telling pfizer the covid-19 vaccination is on its way to approval after yesterday's marathon approval discussion and the go-ahead from a committee of scientists. up next what remains to be done before the final green light in the battle over who should get the medicine second after a frontline worker. and for the first time in a long time getting ready for rain and we are following the incoming system's approach. will it make a dent in the hole that we're already in? the third hour of "today in the bay" continues right now.

and a good friday morning to you. we made it to friday. thanks so much for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. we have to make it through. let's check the morning commute with mike in a little bit. vianey is in for kari this morning and really good news. we need some rain. [ no audio ] >> it looks like -- >> we need her mic to work, too. >> let's go to mike, speaking of mike. this mike is working, i think. some wouldn't call it work. i have a couple spots. sensors are looking great no major problems on the roadways at least. looking over to the castro valley y. two alerts if we pick them out. we'll zoom in to north 230. i told you about the crash involving the semi. a small integra is wedged.

good news everybody is out of vehicles. they are all right, from what i understand. right now both lanes are blocked because crews have arrived onscene north 238. no transition to 880 right now. use city streets or wait it out. i think they should be clearing in the next five to ten minutes. you don't have any problems and you can hit city streets. richmond park, also closed from an earlier crash and car fire but no major problems for the commute. just use hilltop which is your next exit and the bay bridge coming up. back to you. >> thanks, mike. a critical step within the last two hours towards ending the pandemic. the fda commissioner this morning signaling it's giving final approval for emergency use of pfizer's covid vaccine. advisers approved it yesterday. "today in the bay's" tracie potts is live for us in washington with those details and the latest election legal twists. tracie, a lot going on.

>> reporter: a lot going on. let's start with that vaccine that everyone is wondering how quickly it can get out. the fda this morning said they are working rapidly for this emergency approval and they're already putting the cdc and the government's operation warp speed on notice to get the distribution ready. another day of record covid infections and deaths. >> we have never had to treat so many sick patients at the same time. >> reporter: weighing the recommendation from advisers to approve pfizer's vaccine. >> so we do have a favorable vote. >> reporter: despite concerns about allergic reactions -- >> we saw no serious allergic reactions. >> reporter: prep kits are already being shipped nationwide. pfizer sending nearly 3 million doses in the first week protected by u.s. marshals to every state based on population. back in washington there's no

agreement yet on financial relief. >> we cannot leave here without having a piece of legislation. >> a lot of americans simply cannot afford to wait. >> reporter: more than 100 republicans are backing the long shot supreme court case led by texas to change election results. >> reporter: pennsylvania told the court texas has no standing to challenge what happened in another state. and, of course, the electoral college is set to vote on monday to finalize those results. marcus? >> tracie, speaking of that, i know we're expecting more cabinet nominations from president-elect joe biden today? >> reporter: yeah. a number are being announced. among them tom vilsack coming back as agriculture second, if confirmed. congresswoman marcia fudge to head housing and urban development.

and susan rice, who was the u.n. ambassador and national security adviser, now flipping state side to oversee domestic policy for the biden white house. >> all right. tracie potts in washington this morning, thank you. happening right now icu beds are starting to fill up rapidly and bay area hospitals are trying to prepare. good samaritan putting up an outdoor tent to expand its waiting area. three south bay hospitals say their icus are at capacity. and while the crunch intensifies san mateo is now the largest in the state not under the stay-at-home orders. "today in the bay's" jackie ward joins us live. jackie, hospitals there are filling up, too. >> reporter: laura, we've look at two different dashboards this morning. the state one says 31 icu beds available this morning. however, the county's website says there are only seven available. either way it's not a great number. however, because san mateo

county is not following that stay-at-home order right now you can still go outside to eat at a restaurant and get your haircut. those are things you cannot do in a lot of counties around the region. let's look at icu availability. alameda county has 75. santa clara, 45. contra costa, 33. napa, solano, san mateo and marin counties each have less than 15 beds available depending on what website you're looking at. sonoma county has temporarily stopped reporting their numbers. icu bed availability is the top statistic health officials are continuing to monitor. if availability drops below 15% governor newsom's regional stay-at-home order takes effect. that took down a lot of businesses. to give you some perspective on how quickly the number of icu beds available can drop, santa clara county had 63 beds available. that number plummeted to only 38

beds available in a single day. this as the number of covid patients continues to rise. sonoma county is joining the stay-at-home order tomorrow. however, napa and solano counties are like san mateo. they are mostly open for business. laura? >> and, jackie, hospitals around the state are sounding the alarm. >> reporter: it's a dire situation everywhere in california, to be honest. hospitals in orange county are actually telling people they cannot get elective surgeries anymore. the city of fresno under a state of emergency due to what they are calling inefficient icu beds and medical personnel. and right next to the bay area san joaquin valley is running extremely low on beds. >> yeah, yeah. fresno this morning saying they are out. it's so concerning. and only going to get worse. thanks so much, jackie. 6:07 for you that morning. criminal and social advocates allege san quentin inmates are

being asked to release the prison from viability if they catch covid-19. several inmates have come forward saying they've been asked to transfer or accept a transfer to another prison and if the inmates did not, they would have to sign a release preventing them from holding the prison responsible if they test positive for covid. hundreds became infected there over the summer. new details for you this morning, a third person is in custody. this is in connection to the killings of two young boys shot in a van in union city. this was in 2019. 11-year-old kevin hernandez and 14-year-old were shot in an elementary school parking lot. now a 20-year-old man is facing two murder counts. the shooting is linked to two street gangs. if you get a ticket in san francisco and you wonder how am i going to pay for this, there is a new cool tool that may help you out. the online site is called my citations, it allows drivers to do everything online like

request a payment plan, more time to pay or community service without having to show up in person to traffic court. mayor london breed says the goal is to help low-income drivers pay for their tickets. you have to show your financial records to get that discount. the system is also being used in santa clara county. hanukkah is officially under way. love it. this year's menorah lighting ceremony took place virtually like so many other things. a virtual lighting ceremony will continue every night through thursday. very nice. we are in the holiday season right now. california weather. it's been sunny in the afternoons. it's been lovely, but we could use some rain. when and where, vianey? that is a great question, laura. it looks like initially it's going to start in the north bay and will continue to spread southward into the afternoon. we're talking light to moderate rain. a look at the san francisco

forecast pushing forward to about 1:00 p.m. notice it is going to be in the 50s. for the menorah lighting expect to see cloudy conditions dependsing on what time that happens we could see a couple of showers push through. i do want to show you the hour by hour outlook by 4:30. notice san francisco still no real rain. half moon bay, pay low a.m. toe, san jose stays dry. by 8:00 it becomes widespread. so we could see heavier pockets. the heaviest rain will likely be ukiah, the santa rosa area where they're expected to get the bulk of rain. we'll take what we can get and then we get a second system that moves in heading into the weekend. the higher rain totals will remain in through the north bay and as we continue to push forward to about saturday 10:30 a.m. we're going to get a break from the rain before that second system moves in and i'm going to have a closer look at that plus we're talking about the snow totals and what can we expect there. first let's check in with mike. >> all right, vianey, well, we

have an issue, two traffic alerts. one is going to clear any second now because we're looking at north 238 where the crews have both lanes of that transition freeway blocked. that has one lane blocked, the second lane scheduled to clear any second. the big rig and the smaller car were wedged together. no major injuries. a big backup from 880 over to 580. again, surface streets are your alternate. green sensors for the rest of this map but then we zoom up to our second traffic alert, west 88 80 is closed. the crash and car fire still needs a cleanup to do, no major injuries. both of those slow traffic just enough to keep the light traffic clear with no metering lights. back to you. thank you, mike. can you see saturn's ring from earth?

you bet you can. we'll show you the video coming up. a way to wrap your christmas gifts to maximize people's happenness. some money coming off the table. maybe investors are out shopping. speaking of shopping, there's a paper towel shortage, a sanitary wipes shortage. this morning for you, a cookie shortage. we'll tell you the company warning their favorite treats may not be around this holiday season. 6:12 this morning. you're watching "today in the bay."

good morning. 6:14. a look at today's headlines. a cool start to our morning, chilly in some spots but we are monitoring some showers, light to moderate, more rain into the weekend. i'll have the timing of the storms coming up in just a few minutes. mike? well, vianey, looking at a very clear, very easy drive it at the toll bridge plaza, the east shore freeway and the castro valley y where we had two traffic alerts that continue to cause the two problems we see. well, good morning. very happy friday to you. yesterday i was confused what day it was and my producer had to correct me. i always remember that it's

friday. airbnb stock went from 68 in its stock market debut to 144 by the close. airbnb, one of four big silicon valley ipos this week. the company made its debut on the nasdaq and normally if you're listing on the nasdaq you get the honor of ringing the opening bell, something we've shown you hundreds upon hundreds of times but, of course, covid. airbnb found a novel way of ringing the bell. i thought it was charming. i thought i would share it with you. we'll start the video five seconds before the open. take a look. i thought that was clever. lululemon and costco, meanwhile, profits are up in its pandemic. lululemon because who doesn't like sitting around in stretchy stuff and sweatshirts. costco because if you're going to risk a trip to the grocery

store you may as well get everything all at once and frankly the stuff you buy at costco makes the stretchy pants all that much more necessary. lululemon sales up 17%. at costco year over year up 22%. negotiations on a relief bill go nowhere and everybody deserves the blame we can't pass what is a disaster relief bill. during a disaster is one concern. remember, the government itself runs out of money. if the very same congress doesn't pass a spending bill or continuing resolution. both sides certainly have good points. nancy pelosi and the democrats want help for state and local governments. mcconnell calls that a blue state bailout. moody's says seven out of the ten most broke states are run by republicans. mcconnell wants liability protection for businesses and universities. if you get covid it's not the grocery store's fault, he says.

if your presents are not that well wrapped it's okay. a scientific study in "the journal of consumer psychology" shows if you're giving a gift nice but not amazing, wrapping it beautifully sets people's expectations too high. a beautiful present, people think they're getting more. but the study which tested 180 people, marcus and laura, found people were more grateful if a missed gift came in not that well of a wrapped box. i wrapped this myself and i did -- i think the women are like, it's a present. the men are like, dude. it took several tries. >> i'm like ooh. >> ribbons and tied them together. >> i was going to say that study was conducted by a lazy guy. people don't like nicely wrapped presents. >> there's not a single man gift

under my christmas tree. >> thanks, scott. 6:18. an alarming new warning that may affect you when you leave cookies out for santa. campbell's, the parent company for pepperidge farms, you may have a hard time finding those milano and chessmen companies a. reduced work for because of the pandemic. my mom will be so upset. >> i'm upset. milanos are some of my favorites. 2020! all right. let's take a moment. pretty stunning images of saturn and its rings. a news chopper captured that video last night. you actually want to keep an eye on the sky over the next ten days. saturn and jupiter are appearing closer together than they've been in centuries.

on december 21st stargazers may see the lights combined in the sky as their paths cross being called the great conjunction of 2020. the last time the two planets were so close back in 1623. actually was talking about this with my kids last night because they're saying this would be the same star like the great star that the three wise men followed to bethlehem. and you don't see it like in 800 years. >> oh, wow. >> that will be the brightness of it. >> it is cool and scary at the same time. >> stay six to ten feet away from each other. >> that wasn't supposed to happen again. >> it's been an interesting year. >> absolutely. up in the skies today we'll see something we haven't seen in a long time, rain coming down. right, vianey? >> rain. yeah, rain. and it is going to increase our

humidity heading into this afternoon. 48 degrees right now in san francisco. it's going to get cloudy and i want to take a look at doppler radar and satellite because you can see the system, there it is to our north off in the pacific. the timing of this rain. so by 4:30 santa rosa, ukiah, the north bay going to see it first. areas in concord, hayward, fair field, push that time line forward to 8:00 and it becomes more widespread and we are going to see the possibility of finally seeing some rain even though, you know, i wish we could get several inches. by about 10:30 a.m. we see the first system sort of take a little bit of a break that moves out, so it will be pretty dry and then again on sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. a second system making its arrival this could carry heavier pockets of rain at times. that's going to continue to push on saturday and then by sunday night the rain moves out and that's going to make way for a drier week ahead. we have unsettled weather. the sierra snow, we do have a couple inches of snow expected

saturday and sunday. so if you have any reason to travel to lake tahoe for essential reasons, of course, check the road conditions. seven-day forecast right now. 50s through the weekend and notice next wednesday there is a shower chance. we're looking good when it comes to a little bit of rain. mike, over to you. vianey, unfortunately, we still have two active traffic alerts. the first one, the big backup out of the castro valley y, look at the map, north 238. one of your two lanes in the transition freeway closed because of a crash involving a semitruck and a smaller vehicle wedged underneath it. anywhere south besides that looks great. north of the bay bridge, the one is your second traffic alert. the off ramp continues to be closed. waiting for enough tow trucks and car fire. no major injuries. richmond parkway is closed.

then there's another crash. now three vehicles on the shoulder is enough distraction to cause you slowing but not enough at the bay bridge toll plaza. 6:22 right now. well, it is official. legendary actor harrison ford is getting ready to bring back one of his iconic characters. new details straight ahead. you're watching "today in the bay."

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6:25 for you this morning. and the legacy of the black panther will live on but not with someone new in the iconic role. >> this never gets old. we all know chadwick boseman died after his battle with cancer. yesterday marvel studios announcing it will not recast boseman. instead a new black panther will be there to be played by someone else. the sequel will be released in july of 2022 and will again be written and directed. the ball is rolling again, harrison ford says he's going to return as indiana jones for a fifth and final film. the 78-year-old actor first played indiana jones in 1981 in raiders of the last ark. the new movie is expected to come out in the summer of 2022. very cool. >> i hope it's his last one.

i love them. 6:27. so when will we get that final vaccine approval? the latest development. plus, we all know frontline health care workers, vulnerable seniors are getting vaccinated first. who will be next in line? up next the group some bay area leaders believe should top the list. we'll talk about it. you're watching "today in the bay." safely shop floor and decor your way!

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right now at 6:30. wet weather looming for the bay area. a live look at san francisco and san jose where it's dry right now. >> but not for long. tracking the rain. when you're going to need to grab that umbrella straight ahead. good friday morning to you. thank you for joining us. >> and i'm marcus washington. let's start with a look at the forecast for today. how is it looking out there? it's looking good. we are looking at the radar and that we can track the timing of the rain. it's pretty dry overall. 44 in livermore. taking a look at the temperature trend topping out in the upper 50s. we're going to start out cool and cloudy by the later portion of today we're going to see the showers move from north to south and into the weekend. we're talking about light to moderate rainfall and overall we

can expect to see at least a little over an inch for the north bay. higher rain totals and less than that for us here in the bay area. a closer look at the timing, how much rain and cierra snow in a few minutes. let's check in with mike. no backup on the bay bridge. the recovery for westbound 80 right in that area, a crash and three vehicles on the shoulder. less slowing, less distraction. we are still in that area and have the traffic alert for the richmond parkway closure. closed because of the crash and car fire. the upper east shore and this traffic alert has cleared. so has northbound 238. we still see slowing off the castro valley y approaching 880.

both lanes are cleared and so is the freeway. thank you very much, mike. developments on the pfizer covid vaccine coming fast and furious this morning. it follows yesterday's approval by independent advisers. vaccinations could start as soon as monday. "today in the bay's" sharon katsuda joins us live in contra costa county tracking the fda and the latest developments. sharon, just a couple hours ago the commissioner announced that all parties are being notified, the fda will soon start granting that emergency use authorization for the first vaccine. >> reporter: that's right, laura. it's good to see that the fda is moving quickly on this and now it looks like governor newsom and local leaders have their homework to do decide wlg teachers should be called essential workers and get vaccinated to help schools reopen. i watched a hearing with public comments on the pfizer vaccine. once the eight-hour debate was over the endorsement came to

grant emergency approval of pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. >> our plan is to take their recommendation noose account for our decision making and make a decision shortly thereafter. >> reporter: the fda has to give an approval and then operation warp speed moves into high gear once the cdc signs off. the early doses expected to go to frontline medics. san francisco health experts say the plans are to use all 327,000 doses for the first dose and then when the next shipment comes in give people their second dose. san francisco supervisor hillary ronen with elected leaders are calling on the governor to make teachers a vaccination priority so kids can get back to school. >> so far has only announced its first priority group and educators are not part of the first priority group. we are asking that they be the next in line for the vaccine.

>> reporter: along with other groups, they feel they belong closer to the front of the line including food service and grocery workers who have been hard hit by this virus. here in contra costa county expecting about 10,000 doses and the freezers are ready to take those doses. reporting live, i'm sharon katsuda, "today in the bay." the city of fresno has declared a state of emergency. it has now completely run out of icu beds. the entire county has only a handful of beds available. the situation is really starting to become a reality in some bay area counties as well. this updated map. this is the state where nine counties are with available beds. these are numbers not percentages. san mateo is up to 31. san francisco cut almost in half

last night to 45, down from 81. hospitals say the numbers are fluid changing by the hour as patients are released and then admitted. more than 3,100 deaths yesterday broke the record set the day prior and that's in addition to nearly 230,000 new infections. california confirming 220 additional deaths. the overall count has passed 20,000. confirmed cases will surpass 1.5 million. a sort of hunger games playing out for a lot of bay area restaurants reportedly changing course to survive. one los gatos restaurant is luring people to order takeout after they visited a fantasy of lights celebration. they've set up holiday tents with treats in the parking lot of flight restaurants. another owner contemplated

defying the order by keeping her outdoor dining open. >> our plan was to take the fines and possibly -- i mean, even if it came down to being arrested but once it comes to my business i can't lose my business, too. so many people losing work just ahead of christmas and no sign of a federal stimulus bill. the growing number of people not following the health order despite getting cited. one restaurant owner in danville says he got a $250 fine for continuing to serve customers outdoors. >> i'm going to do what i have to do to pay my rent because i'm legally obligated by a contract for the next seven years on my lease. >> the restaurant owner says he plans to appeal the citation because he believes the sidewalk area where his tables are set up is a public space. wildfire victims seeking

federal assistance can apply for fema grants with the small business administration, victims of the czu, scu, lnu, august and north complex fires. fema can pay for rent, medical expenses and home repairs. people need to have photos of the damage and save those receipts for repair work. head over to nbcbayarea.com for a link to apply. bay area sports still trying to march on despite the pandemic. san jose state's football team is not allowed to play locally with the orders in effect. but if they can beat reno tonight they would play their conference championship game. tonight's game is being played in las vegas. the warriors tomorrow play their first game in nine months. they never made it to the bubble. they host a preseason game at chase center against denver. coming up next, kris sanchez

is back and will continue her reporting on the arrival of a vaccine. >> you're asking the big question. >> reporter: yeah, are you going to get the vaccine? people have a lot of concern but confidence is growing. >> at this point i'd say 90%, yes, i'm okay with it. >> reporter: we talked with a lot of folks around the bay area about their concerns and see if there are the same concerns you have and what the scientists say about them. plus, president trump's supporters attacking some of their own republican allies to the point some had to say we're not communists. we'll take a look at the debate coming up. ♪ ♪ the more you say the less i know ♪ all right, swifties, your girl did it again. she dropped another album out for you this morning. this is called "ever more."

the first video out called "willow." some are wondering if the wedding gown in the video is a clue she may have wedding bells in her future or even better, did she secretly get married? we'll keep you posted. you're watching "today in the bay."

good morning. it is 6:41. beautiful morning views over san francisco. how is that for a good start? it is dry now but rain moving in just in time for the weekend. i'll talk about the timing, how much of it we're expecting coming up in just a few minutes. mike? the bay bridge toll plaza looks great. i distract you with this beautiful great shot where we have a traffic alert on the east shore freeway. we're tracking that and a no-no for the nimitz also coming up. "time" magazine's person of the year, president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris. the honor revealed last night on nbc. the editor in chief notes it's the first time a vice presidential pick has been on the cover. one of the most powerful newspapers in america is speaking out against joe biden's pick for secretary of defense. >> no one doubts lloyd austin is well qualified for the job. >> he's incredibly well

qualified and let the fight in iraq and afghanistan as the commander of central command. america needs to ask itself how seriously are we going to take our commitment. the general has not been out of the military long enough to be secretary of defense. now we've talked about this before. congress can set the law barring him aside, but are reluctant to do so. "the new york times" editorial board adding to that it's a powerful influence in democratic circles. it says congress should not approve the waiver needed to allow austin to take the job. we're learning more information about the federal tax investigation into joe biden's son hunter biden. it was the younger biden himself who revealed the investigation in a statement on pennsylvania. conservative news outlets are howling in anger the investigation was hidden during the election. president trump tweeted, why didn't the fake news media, the

fbi and the doj report the biden matter before the election? oh, well, it's okay. we won the election anyway, 75 million votes. well, he did not win the election. also, he's rounding up, it was 74,200,000 votes, if you're rounding you'd round round down and the other guy got more votes. to his question, why didn't the justice department reveal the tax investigation into hundter biden before the election? were they hiding it? yes, yes, they were. that's what doj policy is about investigations, especially investigations that might affect an election. "the wall street journal" has great reporting from inside bill barr's office showing barr was well aware of the biden investigation and kept it under wraps. the four states accused of texas' attorney general of somehow messing up the election have responded with their own court filings. texas' attorney general wants

the supreme court to overturn the presidential election, something nearly every expert says is a fantasy. pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia and michigan say texas has no business telling them how to run an election. there are lots of reasons that the lawsuit is flawed, experts say, but one is timing. if texas were so concerned about the changes other states made in their election rules, why didn't texas say something before the election? there are lots of flaws inside the lawsuit itself. the suit says trump got 75 million votes. again, rounding. but doesn't mention how many votes the other guy got. it was more. and we don't elect a president that way anyway. it says no candidate in american history has won ohio and florida but lost the election. that's irrelevant. you can win all the other states and still win. it's also incorrect. nixon won florida and ohio but lost to kennedy. we're examining that lawsuit and the state's response to it. we're talking about it on twitter. i'm @scottmcgrew. >> scott, thank you.

well, about all that's left before the pfizer vaccine rolls out, approval. some now say by monday doses may start to be distributed. every dose is spoken for but with the moderna vaccine up for approval next week as well, the possibility of a vaccine from all of us is within sight now. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is live for us in san jose looking into what regular folks are saying about getting the vaccine. kris? >> reporter: hi there, marcus. we talked to a lot of folks around the bay area and over and over again heard that concern about how fast the vaccine was developed. and it was developed at a record pace. for reference, the last fastest development was four years. however, we also her people say they have faith in the fda's process and also faith in the science. so we can show you a new survey that shows that confidence in the vaccine is starting to grow. 60% of people surveyed say they would definitely or probably get

the vaccine. 9% say they probably or definitely would not, however, of those probables, they say they would reconsider with more safety data. we did a survey of our own and here is what people told us. >> if it's fda approved, i'll get it. >> for it to be made within a year i'm like, no, not going to do it. >> i want to see what's going on and what the side effects and things like that before i decide yes for sure. >> i have two little ones at home. if you do get sick when you first get the vaccine, i don't have extra help. >> for those of us on the younger side or healthier side i think it should be optional. >> i'm one of those seniors but first medical staff should get it. >> i don't know how we'll get it under control without vaccines. >> i will but i will not take the first one. i would not like to take two injections. i would only like to take one.

>> reporter: now while there are a few one-shot vaccines in the works the pfizer vaccine takes two doses and all 327,000 heading to california are intended for health care workers and staff. we got in touch with all of our counties. santa clara 17,500 followed by alameda county at 13,650. san francisco's coming in at 12,000. contra costa county about 10,000 and you can see the other counties there on your screen. now the fda, as you mentioned, will consider approval for the moderna vaccine on thursday and the data from that will inform us and the data for the pfizer vaccine and the fda will take that into consideration as well. marcus and laura? >> that's right, kris, because studying the vaccine it's not over just because it's approved

by the fda. >> reporter: yeah, and what we don't know at this point because they did use the abbreviated data process is whether or not this will provide us immunity for life like we get when we take the measles vaccine, for example, or if we're going to have to have a regular, reteen shot like with the flu. because of emergency use authorization, they can pull that at anytime. if something starts to go south they can stop it and we also know that the uk is using the same, canada also approved it. so that data will inform the system. >> all right, kris, thank you. let's talk a little holiday cheer this morning. talking about golden gate park. the christmas lights were flipped on last night, a 91-year tradition. onlookers love the small return

to normalcy. >> anything we can pull together for continuity and years and seasons helps out. >> during covid this is just wonderful to stand here even six feet apart from people. >> that's right. you have to enjoy the little things. also new in golden gate park an art installation. like an enchanted nighttime forest. known for million 2 million trees. the first superintendent of golden gate park. beautiful there, too. vianey, rain? >> rain is a beautiful site. even though some people may not like the rain, we need it. we're in a serious deficit after a pretty dry year overall and we have a good look at the radar.

the great shot of san jose. you can see the clouds overhead as the sun begins to rise. 39 degrees. check out the relative humidity. 48 degrees right now. a closer look at satellite radar making its i proech and this will continue to develop. we do have our very own storm ranger up. the 50s. so definitely a little bit cooler compared to yesterday. let's get to the timing of this. your hour by hour outlook, the rain will move from north to south. some of the first to see it by about 4:30 look at concord, hayward, fast forward to about 8:00 and widespread rain.

light to moderate. a little bit of a break on saturday. and then guess what happens. we're going to see higher rain totals in the north bay. by sunday evening we see the rain that moves out. snowfall totals also expected between 12 to 18 inches. over the next seven days we have 50s for the next three days and then we stay dry for monday and tuesday but by wednesday we get a little bit of a system that might bring us a chance of seeing just a couple of showers. the temperatures are finally starting to feel more normal. i'll send it over to you mike. all right, vianey. great news i will share with our producer as well. no more traffic alerts. we've cleared them all now over in san pablo. the richmond parkway exit has just been reopened as vianey was making her report. the earlier crash and car fire cleared. there's still a little slowing through richmond.

alearlier crash and some paperwork likely done. no backup and a great flow of traffic there. still very slow in one key spot. most of the bay not a problem but in fremont south bay 880. the no-no was at thornton, i believe it was, reports of someone darting across from the center divide. don't run especially across the nimitz, very fast vehicles going there even though it looks like you have enough space, you do not have time to cross. back to you, marcus. >> thanks, mike. happening now the search is under way off the coast of southern california for a possible sailor overboard. the navy says it happened on the "uss theodore roosevelt" conducting that search and has since discovered one sailor missing. three welcomhelicopters assists the effort. up next on "today in the

bay" a quick look at our top stories including icu beds quickly filling up. a live report on the availability as well as the vaccine's arrival. you're watching "today in the bay."

welcome back. here is a quick look at our top stories on this friday morning including new word from the fda that the federal agencies are being notified that pfizer's vaccine will be approved. >> fewer icu beds are available for bay area patients who need treatment right now. "today in the bay's" jackie ward is live for us on the peninsula this morning. jackie? >> reporter: here in san mateo county we've looked at two different dashboards. the state says 31 available. the county's website says there are only seven left. it's not a good situation. you can still go out to he's in a restaurant and get a haircut. this is what the icu bed

situation looks like. alameda county has 75. santa clara 45. contra costa, 43. others less than 15 beds available depending on what web sooid you're looking at. sonoma county has temporarily stopped reporting numbers. the top statistic health officials are continuing to monitor. availability drops below 15%. governor newsom's stay-at-home order will shut down a lot of businesses. in sonoma county they're adapting stay-at-home orders starting tomorrow. napa and solano counties are just like here in san mateo county where they have not used the stay-at-home order yet. live in burlingame, jackie ward. it's friday and hanukkah is officially under way. the first candle was lit last night because of covid-19 this

year's lighting took place virtually. it will continue every night through thursday. a quick check of weather and traffic together. vianey is in for kari. we're going to get evening showers becoming widespread. light to moderate at times. another round of rain expected sunday. less than an inch. wish we could get more but we'll take what we can get. mike? more traffic coming down with those headlights southbound past auto mall right here. the earlier crash is at thornton and at stevenson. looks like they have cleared from lanes. there was a quick traffic break and that's why we saw so many slowing at thornton. 880 should recover down to tesla. all right, thanks so much. and that will do it for us on this friday morning. take a look here, a live

look at storm ranger. fire it up right now tracking that incoming rain. nbc bay area to know what to expect from all that rain coming our way. we'll have more for you later during our midday newscast. until then, have a great weekend. we'll see you back here monday morning. good morning good morning. smashing records. the u.s. logs the most lethal y week yet of the pandemic. more than 16,000 deaths in the last seven days and it's about to get worse. >> probably for the next 60 and 90 days we'll have more deaths per day than in 9/11 or pearl harbor. >> hospitals around the countr overwhelmed and on the brink. >> what i'm worried about is we can't keep up. >> with the christmas holidays still upon us, the new pleas from the desperate front line workers.