right now at 4:30, an east bay community in mourning. a crossing guard and student hit by a car in front of their school. plus -- >> firefighters making headway for the caldor fire, and a grim new milestone. this is "today in the bay." good morning. thank you for joining us on this thursday. i am kris sanchez. >> i am scott mcgrew.

laura and marcus are off today. this is what we were living with, the sky turns bright orange because of the fire threat. >> these are possible thunderstorms coming in tonight and that obviously would mean more fire danger? >> right. we think about what happened last year, it was a complex of lightning that moves through the bay area that sparked all of the fires and eventually turned our skies orange, and one year later we are dealing with the same threat once again. this time tonight as we go into early tomorrow morning, we are looking at a red flag warning for areas to the north and a fire weather watch for these areas shaded in yellow, this yellow indicates that a lot of our hills across the bay area will be under this threat of

seeing not only high winds, but lightning strikes. it's a moderate to high chance in the blue that we could see lightning strikes, and that comes into the bay area. during the overnight area, really for parts of the north bay in those areas highlighted under the fire weather watch could possibly see lightning strikes, and that's very bad news because that could spark new fires. we are going to continue to look at this hour-by-hour. i will have another update coming up in a few minutes. >> kari, thank you. this is just the worst news. a crossing guard and a student were hit by an suv in front of a middle school and the crossing guard died. this happened in lafayette. neighbors say it the 45-year-old's second day as a crossing guard and he was

volunteering his time, and his child is a student at the school, and we talked to one person that knows the guard well. >> i have talked with him a few times. we talked about how we wanted to put our kids in summer school because of the pandemic. he was just a very nice guy. i think the city needs to do a lot to ensure that it doesn't happen, because i have young children and it is just really scary that this could happen to anybody. >> we know the child hit by the suv suffered minor injuries, and the investigation is still under way. president biden is rolling out a new plan to attack the pandemic and expected to focus again on getting more people vaccinated, and it could include requirements for the unvaccinated population as well. looming not far off, the looming season that is predicted could be stronger than usual.

>> researchers show this flu season could be more severe amid the covid pandemic, and 2020 was the most mildest flu season largely due to mask wearing and social distancing, but doctors fear flu cases could go up -- >> we are bracing ourselves. >> he credits masking and high covid vaccination rates. >> we are seeing a slight difference where some patients go home and they don't have to be hospitalized, and we feel more comfortable of what we can do. >> researchers at the university of pittsburgh graduate school of

public health conducted two studies. kids are back in school and since the flu was minimal last year people were not exposed to the virus undermining the protections they normally have. meanwhile, president biden is set to unveil a six-point plan on the pandemic, including private efforts to get more americans vaccinated. >> some of that will be related to access to testing and some will be related to mandates, and some would be related to how we ensure kids are protected in school. there will be new components that will impact people across the country. today, people in india are ramping up of a virus more deadly than covid. like covid, it's transmitted

from animals to humans, and the transmission usually comes through direct contact or contaminated food, so it's considered far less contagious. >> we should understand transmission is different and in that sense we should not panic but we should be aware of its occurrence. >> covid hitting india pretty hard right now, so the concern is pretty high. the nipah virus have never spread outside of asia. there is five days left to vote in the recall election. >> newsom supporters will gather in san jose today holding a rally outside superior court at

2:30 this afternoon. another poll suggests newsom opponents are facing an up-hill battle. larry elder continues to be the top replacement candidate favored by nearly 40% with no other candidate tracking even 5% support. we have an entire page dedicated to the recall section, and click on newsom recall in the trending bar. president biden is expected to also visit california to campaign for governor newsom in the recall election next week, and we know he's going to sir vote wildfire damage in our state. el dorado county, there's efforts on the ground and in the air fighting the caldor fire, and that's the parameter is secured on half of the fire, 50%

contained. the dixie wildfire is triggering new evacuations in the shasta county. the dixie fire is burning in five counties after starting nearly two months ago near chico. that fire has burned more than 100,000 acres. then the possibility of lightning, a new threat for fires. kari, good morning. >> good morning. we are going to see improvements in our air quality today as well, and we will get a westerly wind and it looks like the smoke and the hazy skies just push off towards the east, and it looks like we will have good air quality, that is barring that we don't have any new fires starting over the next couple of days, and that lightning risk

will be of high concern, and we do have a couple weather systems we are watching here, and the first one is the energy that will provide a chance for thunderstorms, and to the south we have moisture, and these two systems are going to meet up right over the bay area and bring us a chance of lightning, so we'll talk more about the timeline of that and what to expect as that moves in later this evening. that's coming up in a few minutes. mike, any issues for commuters heading out the door. >> good news for fremont drivers, 84 opened early so this morning you don't have to be warned by me, at least, for that. east bay highway 4, heading out of pittsburg towards antioch, we do have a trash and it's off to the shoulder and should be no problems. don't see it on the sensors.

back to you. and then images that shocked the world, smoke billowing out of the new york skyline after the 9/11 attacks, and we'll show you before and after, 20 years in the baking. the first airline to issue a vaccine mandate is giving its workers more time to get the shot, but what happens if they refuse? we'll leave you before the commercial break with the bay bridge toll plaza, and a smooth commute to work now. mike will have the latest, coming up.

in this ad pay attention to the actor's gums. gums? we don't think about them. but like skin, over time gums can get damaged. colgate gum renewal. reverses early gum damage for a beautiful, revitalized smile.

right now at 4:42, as you are heading out the door in the east bay we are checking out walnut creek, temperatures already warm in the 60s. it's not going to be as hot today but we will see more clouds. i do have another concern i'm watching, the chance of late evening thunderstorms. more of that in the forecast coming up in a few minutes. kari said no fog, and right here in this shot, a little slowing here on the golden gate bridge but first let's check in with our friend, bertha. >> i am bertha coombs from cnbc. we saw the dow and s&p 500 fall

for a third straight session yesterday, and the nasdaq snapped a four-day winning streak. we are at all-time highs and a lot of folks are probably taking a few chips on the table especially after the federal reserve noted in its monthly report that the fed says businesses are seeing rising inflation costs as well, and that's being heightened by a shortage of goods, and those costs are likely to be passed on to consumers. we will get the weekly unemployment claims coming up at 8:30 eastern time. meantime, united airlines said it will give employees who declined to get vaccinated against covid an extra couple of weeks to comply. united was the first airline to put in place a vaccination mandate.

meantime, our parent company, nbc universal recently sold 30-second ads for the super bowl for $6.5 million. that according to a company ad sales executive. the price for super bowl ads up 15% from what cbs charged this year. it will be the first time that we have got the super bowl and the winter olympics going on at the same time on the same network in february. the nfl remains one of the most valuable media properties, and in march nbc signed a ten-year extension for monday night football and that was valued at $2 billion, and we kick off tonight with the cowboys and buccaneers. i am a tom brady fan, and i am

worried, in boston, when he started winning super bowls the red sox started winning -- i want to root for him, but i really want the rays to back off so the red sox can make the playoff. it's very complicated. >> thank you so much, bertha. good luck. we are watching a chance for lightning, and that could mean more fire. meteorologist, kari hall, tracking that. >> yeah, that's very concerning. we are going to go through it hour-by-hour as our temperatures today come down a few degrees. in some spots we are in the mid to upper 80s and low 90s, but still the 60s here, and we'll talk about it more in a few

minutes. and then we'll show you where there may be slowing, a little disturbance showing up on the peninsula side.

would you look at this. the bay bridge, looking so lovely right now. we know there has been smoke and haze but now we have lightning possibly in the forecast. we'll check with meteorologist, kari hall, for the timing on

that. >> it's very concerning to see the two weather systems coming together, and now the national weather service issued this fire weather watch for parts of the north bay as well as the inland east bay, all the way down to the south county. now, we're watching for the possibility of thunderstorms and the dry lightning risks. when we say dry lightning that is basically a thunderstorm without the rain and you have the lightning left over and that could hit landscape and spark new fires. we could see locally gusty winds, and it makes the winds erratic when you have dry lightning storms, and we have the dry fuels, that's the vegetation. we're what is happening. we have a weather assist upl approaching from the pacific northwest and it's move into our coastal systems and it's going to meet up with a cluster of showers, the remanence of a tropical system that will

converge over the bay area, and we have the energy and moisture coming together, and that moisture for much of the bay area will be drying out as it comes here. this is early this afternoon, and we start to see blue here further to the north indicating some isolated thunderstorms that could fire up under the afternoon heat, but then go into tonight, still some of the energy will be leftover and we can see it moving over parts of contra costa county at about 10:00 tonight, and then really continuing into the 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 hours in the morning, and there still will be a chance that we could see some of the lightning moving through. as far as we could see any rain, it looks like there could be slight showers passing by especially for the north bay, and there still could be rain drying up as the system pushes off towards the east. with that we will once again have the concern that we could

see lightning. what we need for wildfires, the conditions that have to come together, low humidity and dry vegetation and gusting winds, and also lightning could spark that and that could be the potential -- that could be what fuels and starts these fires as we go into the next couple of days and our vegetation, once again, extremely dry. very concerning. this is what happened last year and we are hoping it doesn't happen this time around and we will be watching that. mike, what are you watching for the morning commute? >> first of all, we can't control the lightning, but we could control the human caused ones. use caution. a beautiful view of the city and of the bridge, no delay across the bay bridge. i did see a little slowing across the golden gate bridge and that is a nice drive there. contra costa county, no delays

here, and just a little bit in altamont. a reunion, more sweet than better 20 years after the 9/11 attacks, centering around a camp for young people that lost family members on that fateful day. america's camp ran for ten years after the attacks, helping a lot of young people through some very difficult times. >> just tell me what that place meant to you? >> it just brought out so much light and sunshine for me. i just felt like it was a gift my dad gave to me, because he always called me sunshine. >> many of the one-time campers gathered for a special reunion this year. out of the ashes, ground zero in new york city has undergone immense changes, and nbc has

posted an interactive display over the area to show how much it has changed over two decades. we'll look at that, and then along with the interactive image are among exclusive reports nbc is doing this week as we remember 20 years later. and then it's back. macy's thanksgiving day parade returning to normal, sort of. what you need to know before you book your ticket. and nbc and telemundo is looking at clearing the shelters. a potential new tool in the fight against what some are

calling a twindemic. novavax, phase one and two will be conducted in australia. participants will be receiving injections of a covid vaccine and a flu shot. novavax expect the trial results in the first half of next year. we'll be right back.

it's 4:57 on your thursday morning. an annual macy's day parade will look a lot more like its old self this year. they will return to the traditional route and people will be back lining the streets

of manhattan, and marching bands are back and face mask will be mandatory, and staff will be vaccinated. so much more ahead on "today in the bay," including an update on a really tragic zen in the east bay that left a crossing guard dead right in front of the school. we'll be live at 5:00 with the latest. and meteorologist, kari hall, tracking a chance of lightning. >> yeah, we will watch out for that as we go through tonight. cooler temperatures move into the bay area as well as the weekend that looks mild and seasonable, and hopefully will be quiet. we'll have more on this in the forecast coming up in a few minutes.

california! during a flex alert, let's keep our power up and running. set ac cooler and use big appliances before 4pm. then from 4-9pm reduce use and take it easy on our energy. sign up today.

right now at 5:00, an east bay community in mourning. a crossing guard and a student hit by a car right in front of their school. we'll tell you what we are learning about the guard who was killed. we have more work to do, and we are still at war with the virus. >> president biden expected to announce a new plan to tackle rising covid cases. we'll take you live to d.c. to break down what it could mean for your family. this is "today in the bay." thanks for joining us on this thursday morning. we're off to a mild start so far. i'm kris sanchez. >> i am