we'll show you the impact of the first big storm of this rain season. "today in the bay" continues right now. wednesday morning, i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm cierra johnson. first, let's start with meteorologist kari hall timing everything out. good morning, kari. >> good morning. we saw some of the heavier rain moving through during the overnight hours and now we're left with lingering light scattered showers that we're seeing still left on stormranger, our multiple doppler radar. we're still getting a pretty steady downpower just south of san jose through morgan hill and just north of gilroy, so expect the roads to be wet on 101 if you're about to head out for work. we're also seeing the scattered rain over parts of the east bay and it's going to continue with the waves of rain that we could see coming throughout the morning into the afternoon. much of the north bay still covered with scattered light rain so we're going to see more

of this activity throughout the day. we are not done with this system, even though some of the heavier rain has shifted to the south. it's going to roll back to the north later on tonight so i'll have the timeline of that for you coming up in a few minutes. mike, what's going on right now with the commute? >> kari, we have conditions to worry about. as we look at the south bay map, i'm going to call out an early morning jack-knifed big rig. we are looking at lighter traffic obviously but slick roads are the major concern. while we're looking toward the tri-valley we also have another jack-knifed big rig blocking a number of lanes eastbound, away from castro valley and over toward the dublin grade. there's wet roadways all around the bay but flooding reported in many patches along the peninsula as well. that's why we've got my buddy, bob redell, out there. bob, there's a lot going on overnight. >> reporter: good morning.

i think the main takeaway is if you are driving into work this morning, those roads are wet. you just want to be careful. there's going to be some wind as you're crossing the bridges, like the bay bridge behind us. this is a big rig that jack-knifed overnight just before 10:00 last night on the lower deck, the eastbound direction of the bay bridge. it ended up blocking a few lanes. fortunately the driver was not hurt. chp does believe that the wind was probably more of a factor than the wet roads. this is what the drive in this morning around 3:30 looked like. this is westbound 580 through castro valley. this is when we actually saw some rain coming in. speeds were at the limit because there weren't many cars but something that chp would always remind you, even though the posted speed limit is 65 miles an hour. what it means is 65 miles an hour as conditions warrant. so if you're out there, it's raining or the roads are wet, keep an eye on your speed because that's how accidents happen, people lose control on these slick roads. just be careful as you're heading out to work.

reporting live at the bay bridge toll plaza, bob redell, "today in the bay." well, mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for some of the same areas where that czu fire tore through the santa cruz mountains. we have an updated look at those evacuation areas and it's impacting thousands of folks in that area. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is live where crews are ready to respond. >> reporter: hi there, good morning. some of these crews that are ready to respond are pg&e cruise. this is pg&e base camp in scott valley right now. no major outages reported in boulder creek, some of the mountain areas, but that could just be a matter of time. we've been expecting rain, but look at what fell in the santa cruz mountains just above saratoga. this was exciting. several inches of snow fell along highway 35 just before highway 9. but heavy rain is the concern in the mountain communities near the czu fire scar.

this is video from overnight from boulder creek. the charred hillsides barren of vegetation are now vulnerable to landslides, debris flow and flooding. also the charred land doesn't absorb the water as quickly. even as rain started to fall, crews were cutting branches hanging over homes, repairing power lines that were down over highway 9 and about 5,000 people left their homes in the danger zone. but 261 people are digging in and they are staying put. >> if you found yourself with a medical emergency, our response to be significantly delayed. it's not that we don't want to, there could be a road closed or a tree down or wires or something to that effect. >> reporter: cal fire positioned crews at trouble spots. other counties like marin also deployed their rescue crews to help if need arises. once daylight hits we'll have a

better idea of how those vulnerable are held up. bu the good news now is as you can tell, no rain in this moment. we know that's going to change. kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> that's certainly true. keep the umbrella handy, kris. well, no major outages to tell you about in and around guerneville specifically this morning, but a viewer named kent porter shot this video near there last night. crews were taking out a fir tree that fell onto some utility lines. he said by the time he shot this, the heaviest rain from the first storm had already moved on. well, we are tracking the conditions in areas that have been burned recently. pete is live in the skyhawk neighborhood of santa rosa. how are they looking there, pete? >> reporter: yeah, laura, we are getting some scattered showers. i know kari mentioned we're going to start seeing them here in the north bay as we're standing in the skyhawk park neighborhood. behind me is where the glass fire did some damage to properties in the area.

this is some of that burn scar area. as you look at the debris, the concern is if that rain picks up that that debris could flow. obviously at this point we're not seeing that much heavy rain, but still you've got the rain coming in. that's where the concern is and we're looking at some of this debris here in this specific burn scar area in santa rosa. we'll show you video of other impacts we're seeing around the north bay. this is where a tree went into a mobile home so there was some heavy weather you're seeing there at least overnight. and also in santa rosa, you've got some downed power lines. of course that's a concern when we're dealing with a weather system like we're seeing with this storm. here's a santa rosa fire official explaining some of the concerns that they're following throughout the day. >> the concerns with that high intensity rainfall rate is the potential that we've been hearing about and that's debris slides and mud flows. so a lot of effort has gone into helping our community prepare not only physically with whether

it's different types of measures to help control runoff and debris and sediment, especially in and around our burn scar. >> reporter: take you back out here live where you're looking at some of this debris from the glass fire that was left over following that fire. that's always a concern. we're seeing some of that scattered rain of course. we'll continue to give you updates throughout the show. reporting live, pete suratos for "today in the bay." >> thanks so much, pete. more than 36,000 pg&e customers are waking up in the dark across the bay area. in fact here's a look at the outage map. you can see about two-thirds of the total there in the east bay and in the south bay. a reminder if your power ever does go out and you want to be informed of what's going on, you can always watch us on our free nbc bay area app. it's beginning to look a lot like winter in parts of the north bay. on the left you're seeing snow on geysers road above alexander valley in sonoma county.

on the right, crews are plowing roads near middletown where lake county meets napa county. snow is being reported at elevations as low as 1,300 feet. >> wow, shows how cold this storm is as well. well, cold out there, stormy, wet, rainy, this storm really couldn't have come at a worse time for restaurants. the governor, as you know, just lifted that stay-at-home order this week meaning outdoor dining can resume but not great conditions. last night steady rain in walnut creek would normally keep a lot of people inside, but we are in the middle of a pandemic and a lot of customers were just anxious to eat somewhere else other than home. >> come hell or high water, we were going to come out and eat since they're opened up. >> even though it's rainy and cold, i think they want to come out and support us. >> and that's really really nice to support local businesses. the owners are hoping for some bigger crowds this weekend. many don't feel the rain will help the cause. as all of this rain moves

across the area, our stormranger is getting a good workout. let's take a look outside at fremont and in san rafael. you can see folks driving around. you need to be cautious out there, it is slick. but kari, is that rain going to continue through the rest of the day? >> yeah, it's going to be off and on. there will be some breaks. we're taking a look at it on stormranger and we are going to see some lighter showers moving through. boy, did it get heavy during those overnight hours with those gusty winds. if you're wondering how much rain have we measured alreadlak had over 3 inches of rain. and for fairfax, we had close to 3 inches of rain. here at san bruno mountain an inch and a half and oakland measuring a little over three-quarters of an inch of rain. we're seeing 1-inch rainfall totals across the bay area. it's been a little bit lighter for san jose and we have more

rain on the way. i'll talk about how much additional rainfall you can expect. mike, it's creating some puddles out there on the roadways. >> yeah, puddles is an understatement in some cases, kari. we have a few lanes blocked here and there around the bay. watch for signs and we'll update you on any closures. we're talking about a number of flooding reports through san mateo, north of there on 101 and into san francisco. usually your outer lanes. that's not really impacting the speed peninsula side. south bay similar situation. over in the east bay this is the bigger deal. the sig alerts or the traffic alert issued by chp for eastbound 580 is the breaking news for the morning. you're jammed up by three lanes blocked by a jack-knifed big rig heading out of castro valley and over toward the dublin interchange. back to you. still ahead at 5:25, the controversial reason one top candidate is now removing his name from the field aiming to become san jose's next police chief. on the stock market, new

investors are making but first, as we head to break, here's a live look at sfo. as you can see, the runway pretty wet out there. even this early in the morning, some slight delays are being reported at bay area airports. our storm coverage continues ahead with a full look at your forecast. 5:11 right now. we'll be right back.

right now at 5:14, we are under a microclimate weather alert as we see some atmospheric river rolling through the bay area. even though some of the heavier rain has shifted to the south, we are not done with this system just yet. there will be more rain, even getting heavier for tonight. we'll talk about the timeline and how much snow we're expecting in the sierra coming up in a few minutes. and that river causing some ponding which sticks around for many parts of the bay area, also some jack-knifed big rigs, more than one. we're looking at the bay bridge where you see that wind pushing that flag around there. just a note for folks who are crossing, slick pavement, but a smooth easy drive out of the maze. good morning and a happy wednesday to you. youtube taking more action to get rid of itself or peep claiming falsehoods about the election this morning. take a look. >> welcome back to rudy giuliani's common sense.

>> trump lawyer rudy giuliani has not been kicked off youtube, but he has been demonetized. that means he will not share in the revenue from ads placed before his online segments. giuliani has often made false claims about the election. he also faces a $1 billion lawsuit from dominion voting systems. there's lots going on in business. the fed will report interest rate decisions today. we don't expect any changes but it's like getting a test back from your doctor. you don't expect any changes but you're well aware the test is coming. tesla and facebook and apple will report profits after the bell today. elon musk sent shares of etsy up much higher, up about 3% briefly on tuesday after he simply tweeted he kinda loves etsy. not loves, kinda loves. but the world's richest person's opinion matters to people and they piled into etsy's stock. he made the tweet after buying a

hat for his dog. if you're thinking to yourself that there's something odd about a stock market reacting to someone buying a hat for their dog, you are not alone. there are odd things going on and exhibit a is gamestop. it's not a meltdown, it's a meltup of the stock. shares in gamestop, which is a longer suffering chain of game stores is up yesterday. many raced to get into the stock because it keeps going up. up 700% so far this year and we're only 27 days into the year. the company says it hasn't made a profit in a long time and probably will not. so there's a more complicated back story to all of this involving shorts and puts and calls. but the bottom line is people are buying the stock because people are buying the stock. >> right. word of mouth, everybody wants a piece of it. >> so interesting. thank you, scott. >> you bet.

new this morning, there will be no waiting in the cold for a taste of pliny the younger this year because of the pandemic. instead beer lovers will need fast internet. russian river brewing will sell its world famous brew only online. sales start thursday at 11:00 a.m. the brewer is making 6,000 cases, each containing four bottles of pliny the younger. each customer can only buy one case. it's $80 plus shipping and taxes. and turning back to our storm coverage now, stormranger is actively scanning the skies right now. let's get another live look outside of dublin and richmond. you don't see much precipitation. we see those headlights but we're going to check in with kari to see what driver can say expect for the rest of the morning. kari? >> yeah, we are still looking at some wet roads across the bay area. the rain is off and rain has moved on for a little while, but we can still see on

north bay. we're also seeing some of those scattere contra costa county. you can see the rain that's moving through. spots like walnut creek, san ramon moving over toward antioch and approaching brentwood. we're seeing some of the light showers there. for the north bay it's been pretty steady for southern sonoma county, moving over toward st. helena and also moving through fairfield as well. so a look at the wider view and what's going on here. so the heavier rain has pushed to the south but notice the spin. this area of low pressure, it's kind of pinwheeling and showing that we are still seeing some very active weather to the north of us, even some thunderstorms. we'll have a chance of getting in on some of those isolated thunderstorms today. meanwhile this heavy rain that's to the south of us will start to retreat back to the north as we go into tonight. a lot of the models have been showing that happening. so once again some spotty rain

today. heavier rain returning tonight with a chance of thunderstorms, some gusty winds, even some snow on some of our bay area peaks. we still may have some isolated flood issues as the rain continues to add up. as we go through this forecast, we are once again going to see some hit-or-miss showers, some breaks in between, but then the rain getting heavier for tonight and it does continue for tomorrow. we're also expecting some really heavy snow for parts of the sierra. for more on that, let's head over to vianey arana. >> there is a blizzard warning in effect for the sierra because of the dangerous whiteout conditions. several spinouts near the area. i want to show you a look at how much snow we are tracking. this is possibly one of the strongest winter storms they have seen in the sierra. take a look at the snow totals. this is pushing this all the way through today and into friday. several feet of snow, especially for the higher elevation areas. now, i want you to keep something in mind.

definitely a welcome sight. the reason for that, take a look at the sierra snowpack. about 41% of average. the sierra snowpack makes up 30% of california's water supply. so this is good news but it's very dangerous so please be careful. kari, i'll send it back to you. >> it's hard to imagine that much snow happening all at once, but we are going to see some additional rainfall totals on top of the 1 to 2 inches that we've already had. another inch or two as we go into the next several days. so in our seven-day forecast, a lot more rain headed our way. we will take a break on friday, but then there will be some more scattered showers back in the forecast through the weekend into early next week. it is good to see that we are hopefully making up for all of those deficits we've had in rain and snowfall. let's head over to you, mike. what's happening out there on the roads? >> well, my department we'd rather we make up for the deficit more gradually but we'll take it. chain controls through the

sierra and also controls down through i-5 and the grapevine. as we're looking to our local south bay, we're seeing a smooth drive. there's minor flooding, areas like 280 around 880 and also the closure, this is because of a crash and now talk about needing to clean up some of that diesel that spilled after a jack-knifed big rig still blocks south 680 connector to south 101. there's another jack-knifed big rig over in the tri-valley that is eastbound 580 getting away from that castro valley y over toward the dublin grade. still tracking a number of lanes blocked there by jet another jack-knifed big rig. back to you. mike, thank you. coronavirus and the classrooxta but first our team is always on social media. kris sanchez has been covering the fire zones in santa cruz all this week. she shared this photo of a heartfelt sign for the fire victims. be sure to follow kris on facebook, twitter and instagram for updates all morning. a lot more news ahead.

it's 5:21. you're watching "today in the bay." i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. prescription dovato is for some adults

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use effective birth control... while taking dovato. most common side effects are headache, nausea,... diarrhea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. so much goes... into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. ask your doctor about dovato—i did. developing this morning, authorities have not identified the man shot and killed by vacaville police last night. police say it started when a reckless driver ignored officers trying to stop his car. during the chase at davis and bella vista, the driver tried to

ram a patrol car and officers opened fire. the suspect died at the scene. one officer is being treated for non-life threatening injuries. the minneapolis police chief has taken himself out of the running to become san jose's next top cop. chief medaria arradondo was in charge when officers killed george floyd last year sparking nationwide protests and national conversations about race. the search for san jose's next police chief began when former chief eddie garcia retired. he now serves as chief of police in dallas. well, now for the latest on the pandemic. here's a quick update on the bay area coronavirus cases. so far the region has more than 634,000 cases since the start of the pandemic. that's in addition to more than 3,900 deaths. santa clara county is

rolling out a new mobile covid-19 testing unit at costco locations in the south bay. it will start offering appointments and drop-in testing outside costco in gilroy and san jose. the bus will be in gilroy from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. then tomorrow and saturday it will be at the east san jose costco on evergreen loop from 7:00 to 7:00. the locations will rotate every week. coming up, the testing will be vaebl available in sunnyvale, santa clara, milpitas and los gatos. the cdc says schools across the nation can resume in-person learning if proper precautions are taken. a new study suggests there's little evidence schools have led to increased community spread of covid. if schools reopen they still need to require face masks, increased physical distance and do testing. it does not recommend indoor sports. 5:26 right now. as we've been talking about restaurants throughout the bay

area got the green light to reopen and they have really been scrambling to do that. >> oakland's truffle shuffle was one of the many forced to shut down, forced to pivot to teaching online cooking class. and today's kelly clarkson show, its owners say they found a way to give back to those on the front lines of this pandemic. >> for every ingredient kit we would sell, we would cook and donate a meal to at the time frontline health care workers because hospitals were so overrun. so we were donating to hospitals. now for every ingredient kit sold, we donate a meal to someone in need in our local community. >> kelly has a surprise for these east bay heros who turned lemons into lemonade. you can tune in to find out what it is. coming up next, day one of the powerful storm hitting the bay area. we'll tell you which areas are getting pummeled with rain and the places seeing a little bit of a break from the wet weather. plus people in the north bay

leaving their homes with a moment's notice. the reason burned wildfire areas is affecting them during the storm.

right now at 5:30, a strong storm takes aim at the bay area. our weather team issuing a microclimate weather alert for the first big storm of the season, finally bringing us some much-needed rain. this morning we're tracking

overnight problems including flash flooding, downed trees, even some damage to homes. all of this as that threat of mudslide looms in those burn zones. i suspected this is coming so i had my car loaded up. i had a chain saw, water, like basic mountain supplies that we all kind of keep. >> the latest on the evacuations under way where the heaviest rain is coming down. "today in the bay" continues right now. good wednesday morning to you. you know, we came on early this morning at 4:00 to try to get you up to speed. thanks for joining us now. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm cierra johnson in for marcus washington. first let's start with meteorologist kari hall who's timing this all out. kari. >> we're seeing some heavier rain and are left with scattered showers. we got a high resolution view on our stormranger, our mobile doppler radar showing us where the rain is coming down.

we'll see off-and-on showers continue for us and then that rain that we're seeing is now shifting to the south. we'll start to retreat back to the north as we're going to have heavier rain rolling back in. so the timeline shows that we're going to see off and on showers and the potential of a few thunderstorms along with some gusty winds. that's finally moving out friday. mike, how's the commute. >> we do have some minor flooding reported where the yellow diamond icons are around the bay with the flooded car there. it's not as bad as the icons would indicate, but a smooth drive. better news over there for castro valley. we do have all lanes that have just been cleared from an earlier jack-knifed big rig there getting in towards dublin. it's a lot easier now. but in the south bay there's another jack-knifed big rig closing one connector.

we have so much we have a team on this. back to you. >> that's right. we're all a team. look, they're all out across the bay area. live team coverage this morning. our crews are really monitoring all the current conditions. let's start out with bob redell who's live near the bay bridge looking at issues drivers are facing right now on the roads. bob. >> reporter: good morning, laura. fortunately we haven't seen any rain out here on the bay bridge, at least for me since 3:30 this morning. but we are seeing some wind. you can see the flags here blowing horizontally so this could be an issue as you're it's a light morning commute because of the pandemic but as you get on the upper elevations of the bay bridge, you might have to deal with some wind. this is a driver of a big rig last night around 10:00. chp believes it was the wind that caused it to jack-knife on the lower deck, the eastbound direction of the bay bridge, blocking a few lanes of traffic.

the driver is okay and they were able to get that cleared out. again, this happened last night. this is in the city on 80. there was some flooding overnight from the heavy rains that we saw overnight. you probably heard it while you're trying to sleep. i know i did at my home in the east bay. in san jose, this is highway 280 in both directions. this is under the winchester boulevard overpass. in spite of the severity of the storm, right now we're not hearing too much about a ton of problems that we've heard about in other storms. what i'm getting at, it seems like right now we're in a decent lull. we don't have the rain coming down. but that being said, the roads are wet. just something to keep in minding as you're heading into work this morning. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thanks, bob. well, the first wave of the series of storms is actually still moving through the south bay as well. we've got new video of rain coming down in boulder creek. let's go to "today in the bay's"

kris sanchez who's live in scots valley where thousands are under these evacuation orders. what are the conditions looking like this, chris. >> hi there, laura. just like bob i'm enjoying a bit of a break in the rain right now. it hasn't really rained much since we got to this location in scots valley but this pg&e base camp is a reminder we are not out of the woods just yet. a chief deputy tells us about 261 people refused to leave their homes in those evacuation areas in the santa cruz mountains, but about 5,000 survivors of this summer's czu fire heeded the warning to weather the storm from afar, evacuated from their homes near the burn scar. they were ordered out of areas vulnerable to landslides, debris flow and flooding. jen lost her home and she's staying at a friend's house but this new threat of rain and wind forced her to uproot again.

>> not sure that i want to stay where i'm camping because there's like seven big oak trees hanging over my place. i'm just not feeling -- i've di >> reporter: cal fire positioned crews at potential trouble spots in other counties like marin deployed rescue crews in case they're needed. work crews were trimming branches hanging over people's homes and repairing power lines that were already down ahead of this storm. here at pg&e base camp we have seen blue trucks coming and going, but it looks like the bulk of the power outages are not in the santa cruz mountains but in the whole coastal region. the lights are still on for most people, although nobody is home. in scots valley, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> let's hope people stay safe. thanks so much, kris. well, this is new cal fire

video that gives you an idea of what drivers are dealing with. this is near empire grade road in santa cruz county. caltrans is advising everyone to stay off the of the roads if than 36,000 pg&e customers are waking up in the dark across the bay area. here's a look at the outage map. about two-thirds of the total are in the east and south bay. a reminder, if your power ever goes out, you can still watch us on our free nbc bay area app. now, in the north bay, people who just lived through the glass fire are holding their breath as another series of storms moves through over the next few days. pete suratos is live in santa rosa where they're concerned about the possibility of those mudslides. pete. >> reporter: yeah, good morning to you, cierra. as you can see, the rain is in off mode right now. we were seeing a little rain throughout the morning, but we're here in that skyhawk park

area that was affected by the glass fire. this is some of the debris that was left behind. of course that's always the big concern when we're monitoring this rain to see what kind of impact it will have on this area. as you can see, the conditions are dry so we're not seeing any impact at least at this moment. but i do want to show you some tweets from the marin county sheriff's department showing localized flooding along northbound 101 near point san pedro. this is common when you're driving anywhere pretty much going towards the north bay, when you're seeing rain. so that's an example of the flooding. you want to be careful when it comes to those conditions. as we take you back out here live to skyhawk park, some of this glass fire burn scar area, that's the concern. we're not having any rain right now. we'll keep an eye on conditions to see if they change throughout the morning. of course be dangerous and deadly. you probably recall the one in southern california which

happened after a wildfire burn zone three years ago. it took out so many homes as well. remember this in sausalito as well, this happened in the winter of 2019. there was a woman actually trapped in that home. these were live pictures that we showed on the air that very morning on "today in the bay." thankfully she was okay. meteorologist kari hall looking closer at the science of some of these slides and what happens to the actual ground out there and then when the rain hits it. >> right. so that's one of the concerns we had. the reason why they issued those flood watches in advance of the heavy rain that was moving in. i've outlined some of the burn scar areas that we had from all of the august wildfires. of course when you have all of the landscape just burned, we don't have those trees to really grip hold of the soil. and so when you get heavy rain, it just makes that mud just slide downhill and some of those areas under those heavy rainfall and the downpours causes the

debris flows that we see sometimes in these heavy rain events. in the santa cruz mountains, so far we've gotten 2 to 4 inches of rain. there's the possibility still that we could have some more mudslides as this heavy rain continues. we are not done with the system just yet so that's something we're watching with the possibility of more mudslides. we will of course stay on top of all of what's going on. and of course we'll have another update coming up in a few minutes. heading over to you, mike, how's it looking right now for the commute? >> well, a lot calmer as far as the major incidents. we still have one involving a jack-knifed big rig but the one that was on 580 heading over toward the dublin grade. you see the green sensors but also yellow diamonds along peninsula in towards san francisco. that means there's minor roadway flooding reported in most cases so that will be also the case. san jose 280 around 880 and also a couple of areas around 87.

but here the closure continues because of that jack-knifed rig and the diesel fuel spill they have to clean up south 680 at 101. the connector is cled. story road or allen rock road will get you back on the highway. minor slowing for the commute builds just a tad bit in the usual spot. looking at the green highlighting around the bay, wet roadways. the bay bridge toll plaza has no backup but you can see the flags really being pushed around by the wind. that will likely be the case for larger vehicles crossing as well. back to you. the storm now slowing down the distribution of vaccines but in many cases the storm is just one problem. just ahead, the hold-up that's stalling one major city's vaccine rollout. president biden calling on and calling out russia. we'll take a look at the phone call coming up. and let's also take a live look at the beautiful san francisco skyline. we are tracking a wet morning

across the bay area that you're waking up to. our microclimate weather alert coverage will continue in just a bit. it's 5:41.

right now at 5:44, we are under a microclimate weather alert as we track this rain becoming more scattered now on stormranger, but we are seeing heavier rain returning to san francisco, moving through san rafael and extending over toward napa.

we'll be tracking waves of this and another round of heavier rain moving in tonight. details in the forecast coming up. and we did see an update for highway 101. i'll sort out the details but i believe it involves water on the roadway. we also see traffic shaping up. water on the roadway for 101 in san jose where we saw a little slowing just creep up just south of here, 680 to southbound 101 we have a closure for a continued jack-knifed big rig and diesel spill, laura. back to you. thanks for keeping tabs on that, mike. it's quarter to 6:00 right now. now to the pandemic. california's post-holiday surge is still tapering off. but another 17,000 cases were added yesterday bringing the overall total closer to 3.2 million. more than 37,000 people in california sadly have died. the weather only adding frustration levels in san francisco when it comes to the

city's vaccine rollout. this new drive-through vaccination site at ccf will be closed today and tomorrow as the storm moves through. san francisco mayor london breed says two more mass vaccination sites are pretty much locked and loaded and ready to go. the only thing they're missing is enough vaccines. >> so far the amount of vaccines we are receiving from the state and federal government is inconsistent, and unpredictable. >> the state admits the rollout has been slow and there are changes in the works to improve distribution, including a more centralized system. nurses around the nation are holding a national day of action today calling for patients first and greater staffing levels. rallies are being organized outside more than half a dozen bay area hospitals. in the meantime, policy changes have now been made at san jose's good samaritan hospital. the facility is no longer receiving new covid vaccines as administering shots to los gatos

school district teachers and staff. an executive has now been disciplined. according to the county, school workers were told to classify themselves as health care workers to move to the front of the line. the hospital now admits it broke protocol. it plans to provide a revised vaccination plan by the end of the week as it works through its remaining supply. new details in the recent deployment of national guard troops in sacramento. "the examiner" reports the city college of san francisco board member has come down with covid after protecting the state capitol for more than a week. trustee alan wong came down with symptoms three days after his return. he says he's extra concerned for his extended family member who say live with him and he has a new appreciation for frontline workers out there each and every day. democrats are trying to balance the trial of donald trump over the attacks on the u.s. capitol with really just getting other business done.

>> yeah, scott mcgrew, we do have a new secretary of state. >> we do. good morning to you. the senate approving the nomination of antony blinken. doing so with a bipartisan vote, 78-22. to your other point, lawmakers are also hearing from the head of the new capitol police who apologized to members of congress for the force's collapse during the attack on the capitol three weeks ago today. we do expect there will be a number of hearings on this issue. the fbi announcing it's pursuing very serious sedition charges against as many as 400 people. the new head of the capitol police force said the force only had 170 officers in riot gear ready to go versus what she estimates as many as 10,000 people surrounding the capitol and the 170 simply could not hold their ground. in one of the very same chambers where there was that attack, senators were sworn in

in the impeachment trial that will take place next month. now, they're still arguing over whether impeaching someone who isn't in office should be permitted. >> if the accused is no longer president, where is the constitutional power to impeach him? private citizens don't get impeached. impeachment is for removal from office. >> i have reviewed at some length the academic literature with regards to the impeachment of a former president. the weight of opinion is that impeachment is constitutional and i would intend reach that conclusion at this stage. >> now, as we have spoken about before, the senate has held an impeachment trial for a private citizen who was no longer in office, and the constitution has no prohibition against it. as for the business at hand, today president biden's coronavirus task force will make its first public comments as a team. it will be virtual, of course. president biden says the federal

government has secured a purchase of more vaccines as well. president biden also spoke with russian president vladimir putin on the phone. the white house says biden spoke to the russian leader about the poisoning of one of putin's rivals, alexi navalny, the russian plot to pay insurgents to harm american soldiers and the massive attack against american government computers. these are all subjects the white house readout show the previous administration had not touched on phone calls. russian television reported the phone call but mentioned none of the things. mostly mentioned the two talked about extending a treaty on limiting nuclear weapons. the white house says that's true as well. we're watching everything that's happening in washington and doing it on twitter. you can follow me on twitter, i'm @scottm former facebook executive is now trying to become the face of the movement to recall governor newsom. he is endorsing the recall

effort. not only that, he's announcing a potential run for governor. he now runs a venture capital company. he has not yet filed the papers for a formal candidacy. san francisco school board members have approved the renaming of 44 schools, all of which are linked to legacies some argue are dishonorable. they include lincoln high school, washington high school, and roosevelt middle school. some argue lincoln high should be renamed because of his treatment to native americans. each school now has until april to come up with a new name. hey, let's take a live look in the sierra. this is along interstate 80 this morning near crystal springs road. for anyone thinking about heading up to tahoe right now, you better know a blizzard warning is in effect. expect whiteout conditions, possible closures over the next 36 to 48 hours. in fact avalanche controls will

also be in play at some of the higher elevations up there. by friday morning some parts of the sierra may see up to 100 inches of new snow. that's over 8 feet, which is amazing. it would be nice to see. but getting up there could be dangerous, so we better wait until after the storm before we try to get in some skiing, kari. >> yeah, let's wait until the snow is done, they have cleared the roads. give it a little bit of time, you'll be able to see it and there will be possibly a lot more snow as we continue to go through our very busy season. now, we're going to start to see some of the showers tapering off for much of the bay area as we go through the morning. in spots of the north bay we're seeing a bit of a break as well as in san closer look with our stormranger giving us a very detailed view of exactly where it's raining as it moves through just areas south of san rafael into san

francisco, crossing that richmond-san rafael bridge. so we're going to see it continuing throughout the morning with some breaks in between, but we're not done with this system yet. some of that heavier rain rolled through overnight. we see all of the heavy snow coming down in the sierra and the potential of some thunderstorms will continue as we see the system getting closer and moving through today. if you're wondering how much rain have we had, parts of the santa cruz mountains getting 3.5 to 4 inches of rain but we've also seen heavy rainfall in napa county, with lake county measuring almost 3 inches of rain. in fairfax, san bruno mountain had an inch and a half and oakland as well as san francisco getting about 0.8 of an inch of rain. for santa rosa, more than an inch and a half there. antioch reaching an inch and

three-quarters. this is what we're expecting, some spotty rain and thunderstorms, heavier rain moving in tonight with gusty winds. snow will be capping a lot of our bay area peaks and we're still watching out for the potential of some isolated flooding. so as we go through this timeline, we are still expecting some additional rainfall. once again, it will get heavier as we go into tonight. with more on how much additional rain we could see, let's head over to to vianey arana tracking the snowfall totals. >> we were talking about the blizzard warning up in the sierra. we've already seen several feet of snow as the storm passes through in the overnight hours and we've got more snow on the way. we're talking about dangerous road travel of course. i'm going to push the timeline through you can see we're still expecting several feet of snow. those inches add up, especially for the high elevation areas. they're also seeing lower elevation snow which is what's making that dangerous travel.

the flash flood watch is in effect at least until tomorrow and all of the areas that you see highlighted in red are burn scars from fires. you can see in the area of the czu fire, it's been one of big concern. here's the reason why. these are estimated rain totals. these are on top of what we've already seen come down, pushing this all the way through friday. you can see we're still seeing the possibility of an additional maybe 2.5 to possibly 3 inches of rain so we'll keep an eye on that very, very closely and i know kari will too, of course. sending it bac to you. >> thank you. let's get a look at the rest of the forecast as we are going to see some scattered showers moving through today. heavier rain tonight and it's going to be off and on throughout the day tomorrow. we should get a break on friday, but we do have more rain in the forecast for the weekend into early next week. our temperatures staying in the 50s over the next several days. and, mike, you've been watching the impact of all of this the c.

>> yeah, definitely a note about standing water puddles, right? we'll look up to the south bay where that often happens around 280/880. the chp got called about roadway flooding there. there's a closure because of diesel on the roadway and a jack-knifed big rig that happened about 3:00 this morning closing that connector. you can see a little slowing from north 101 but this connector affects the opposite direction off of 680. we continue to follow that. you can get over to story road, allen rock to get you back over to 101. standing out on the rest of the map, the green sensors and green highlighting. the green sensors means show and the highlighting means wet roadways. the yellow diamonds showing some flooding reported on roadways. no problem at the bay bridge. centreville, one report of flooding as well. 101 southbound with taillights away from us, but on the lens itself you see the prism effect from the water on the lens.

that is a factor there as well as getting down toward the golden gate bridge as well we have a smooth drive. in san jose, a smooth flow of traffic as well, no major problems. there's richmond coming from the north bay to the east way, light traffic. back over to you. well, happening now, it's not only the bay area that's getting wild winter weather, in arizona, powerful storms are rolling through the state bringing rain, hail and even snow. flagstaff saw 15 to 25 inches of snow and the arizona department of transportation says the snow has already caused several accidents. las vegas also getting snow, leaving roads slick and dangerous. there's much more ahead on this wednesday morning, including the rain not stopping the return of outdoor dining in the east bay. take a look, customers were out despite some chilly temperatures as well. we'll take you there next and tell you how those small businesses are doing. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 6:00, a break from the heavy rain, but drivers on highways and roads across the bay area certainly feeling the impact of all that steady overnight downpour.