well, the storm is here as we are getting ready to head out the door. i will have a look at the forecast, coming up. stopping the surge as omicron variant spreads, the new rules being announced today right here in the bay area. thousands of california college students not returning to the classroom in the new year, and this is "today in the

bay." traditionally broadcasting to your television, but we are also streaming online at nbcbayarea.com. >> talk about good sleep last night. >> yeah, i know. >> team coverage starts right now. we will check in with vianey on the traffic, but first we are going to check in with kari. >> right now it's areas from san francisco to the east bay on southward. it's getting a little lighter for the north bay right now. scattered showers light showers up around marin county, and we are going to zoom in to around the oakland area, heading over towards lafayette and san ramon right now, and also for the south bay. we're looking at the morgan hill and san martin looking lighter

there, and lighter as you head toward gilroy. as we deal with this very weak atmospheric river we are seeing steady light rain that will continue into today, but still we have a couple more systems in the works that will keep it soggy over the next several days. as we go day by day, even with a light rain, we will look at what we are expecting the rest of the morning. we will continue to see pockets of rain and overall widespread light rain. there are will breaks by this afternoon at 2:00 to 3:00, we could see break before heavier rain moves in by early tomorrow morning. there will be heavier waves of rain coming in. we will talk more about how much rain to expect, coming up. how is this affecting the morning commute? >> we are seeing ponding and the roadways are slick this morning.

you can see the rain on the camera, and i have a radar overlaid on the speed sensors and traffic maps, so the green in through here is where you are seeing wet roadways. there's a crash that happened just a few hours ago now working to clear. this is southbound 80 near the industrial exit. you can see a couple delays at the interchange of 92, and it looks like that cleared out but it's ponding out there so please be safe and slow down. i'll send it back to you. and creek levels are relatively low right now and the forecasted rain is not expected to cause regional flooding, but crews are on standby. >> we have a generator just in case the town goes dark, we want to be the kind of central place where people foe we are open and

are safe. our nbc bay area storm ranger continuing to scan san bruno mountain. stay updated with our nbc bay area news app. the cdc says right now in california the highly contagious strain of covid makes up 60% of new infections, about 60% of new infections, and while that is concerning, the rest of the country is lower. 73% of the cases that we are seeing right there, these are the new cases across the nation. this morning governor newsom will announce new measures to

stop the spread of the virus and one of them requiring health care workers across the state to get booster shots. >> when alameda county governor gavin newsom tweeted it's necessary to make sure our hospitals are prepared. >> we're stepping up our efforts to get people vaccinated and boosted. >> prevention measures are essential and it looks forward to reviewing more information on governor newsom's recent announcement. the latest numbers statewide show deaths are trending down but positivity is up to 3%, and also requiring city employees to get a booster shot, and the rules would apply to anybody entering buildings owned by the

city like the sap center. >> we have not seen the surge in cases, and we can expect that to happen in the days and weeks ahead. it's society entire community can be safe kwur. >> and doctors and scientists in charge of caging the spread of omicron, this chart shows what hospitalizations might be if we keep seeing the rate of people getting booster shots as we are now. you can see a potential surge in the middle of january. the chart on the right is what hospitalizations are projected to be if we see double the amount of people getting booster shots. >> there are suggestions it could be less severe than delta, and that would be great. if it leads to a huge increase in cases, and even half as severe as delta, it can still lead to lots of people in the hospital. >> president biden saying

500,000 rapid tests will become available. >> that announcement expected just before 11:00 a.m. we will have more of that for you during our midday newscast. and then for the time being distance learning will be back in effect. winter quarter classes will start remotely for at least the two weeks. students will return january 18th at the earliest instead. berkeley is taking a wait and see approach on covid data. uc davis will be remote only for the first quarter. on the roads

castle peak. hope you found those windows of opportunity to get up there. locals are preparing for the rush of activity, and they are clearing the highways around the clock. one of only two tire shops around town are wanting visitors to prepare your car before you come up. >> if you need something before you come up please get prepared. buy your chains and check your tire condition because it's not easy to get a flat repair or new tires. >> and chains are cheaper down here. >> all the snow up there and all the rain here in the bay area this morning. kari hall is tracking all that. look at all the green behind you? >> yeah, it's pretty much everywhere. at this point we are seeing it

not happening in santa rosa as well as parts of nap kau county. as we widen out the view you can see all the rain covering much of the bay area, and it's starting out light and we will see that continue. as you are driving to work in pleasant hill or getting ready to get on the train this morning, it will be in the mid-40s. we are going to see additional rainfall over the next several days that we will measure in several inches. we will take a closer look at this and an hour-by-hour breakdown coming up. vianey, how is it looking for the commute? >> we have seen a couple spinouts in the traffic reports, and the radar is tracking where some of the ponding water is currently at. the first crash, southbound 880. it looks like it was a solo spinout. we have one along westbound 580, if you are traveling along the westbound area, i would say take park boulevard to avoid that

short stretch of highway, but please slow it down out there. >> very good advice. coming up here on "today in the bay," the rule delta airlines is asking the cdc to let up on as the omicron variant surges. and then a message to anybody still on the fence, and the plea one man is making as he battles covid. and kari was just talking about this, the radar lit up in green. it's just the beginning of several days of rain. how much has it dumped and how much is coming? our team is covering that this morning. we'll be right back.

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right now at 4:42, we are under a microclimate weather alert as rain pours across the area. we are in the low 40s right now for the tri-valley as well as parts of the north bay. we will watch this with a look at storm ranger coming up in a couple minutes. we have a couple spinouts possibly because of the weather right now along southbound 880 and near the embarcadero. there are a couple delays because of an earlier crash. we will look at your drive times, but first let's check in with business and tech. >> good morning, vianey. good morning, to you. i am bertha coombs from cnbc.

nasdaq is pointing a little lower. yesterday we saw markets rebound from a three-day losing streak. the dow jumped 560 points. the nasdaq was up merely 2.5%. gains pushing all three indexes into the green for the week. remember, it's a short week because markets will be closed this year on christmas eve. investors snapped upbeaten down stocks like the travel sector stocks, delta, united and carnival, those all surged. later we will look at consumer confidence and the estimate on the third quarter economic growth. in a letter delta cites the

impact the current guidelines are having on the workforce, and people have to go out for too long, so he's asking for the quarantine period to be reduced from ten days to five days, and suggests that those individuals could end isolation with appropriate testing. the cdc has not commented on that request yet. meantime, amazon, facebook, twitter, pinterest, t-mobile among those companies dropping plans to send teens in person to the electronic show as concerns grow about the omicron variant. consumer technology association that runs ces says the show will go on in person from january 5th through january 8th. there will be strict guidelines in place. we are seeing a lot of companies starting to pull back.

others like sony and google say they are planning to attend, at least for now. and they are going to unveil the new chevy silver audio pickup truck there. but it's a day-to-day thing. >> exactly. they are saying in mid january, when the show is, is when we could see the big surge from the holidays. we'll wait and see. just stay safe, bertha. thank you. it's 4:46 for you this morning. coming up here on "today in the bay," kari, you claimed it. the rain is here. >> yeah, and it's making it very hard for people who are trying to travel for the holidays. widespread rain that will continue not only today but the next several days. we will take a closer look at this and how much rain you can expect, coming up. and commuters, you always want to take extra time on a

rainy day. at the bay bridge toll plaza, no lights on just yet but cars starting to slow down out there, and i'll have a closer look at your drive times coming up. and then the reason one host thought they did everything right amid the pandemic, and it still went wrong.

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very slick roadways. you got to allow a little extra time because you see some ponding and you don't want to hydroplane out there. let's check in with vianey. she's in for mike looking at the roadways. >> that rain keeps coming and meteorologist, kari hall, is monitoring how it looks out there. >> yeah, here's a look at storm ranger. that's our mobile doppler radar. it's scanning across the area. looks like we could see a break in the activity this evening and another round of heavy rain moving in tomorrow. in all, an inch and a half to three inches for the santa cruz mountains, as well as the north bay. the sierra on track to get another four to eight feet of snow over the next several days. taking a look at storm ranger,

that's the red scan there parked on san bruno mountain. as you head across marin county into contra costa county, alameda county, anywhere south of there we are seeing showers moving through. as we get a closer look right now in oakland as well as hayward, san ramon seeing some of the rain moving in. once again, most of it a lighter green so that indicates lighter rain. as you are driving to work this morning, many of the microclimates have measured half an inch of rain. take a look at our 7:00 timeframe. we are still seeing pockets of slightly heavier rain. we start to see some of the activity continuing to taper off for the north bay at 9:30, 10:00. much more of the bay area will take a break around noon to 2:00 to 3:00, and then tomorrow morning another wave of heavier

rain comes in. this is what we are expecting. there may be several hours of a break or or there the next several days, and then another storm comes. some of the highest amounts of rain will be near the coastline and some of our hilly areas. for the sierra we are still looking at huge snow totals here and a big dumping of snow, once again, four to eight feet of snow. and then as santa comes in late friday night into early saturday morning, the rain will continue possibly through next tuesday, and we are looking at a very weather pattern. vianey, you are saying the wet commute could slow people down? >> absolutely. already seen a couple overnight spinouts. and you can see the conditions right now. no metering lights on now, and

they usually come on at 5:00 to 5:30. an overall look at our map. i want to zoom in on a couple hot spots. the first one westbound 580, looks like there was a little flooding of water, and a solo spinout on southbound 580 near the industrial exit and embarcadero exit. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. now to a study showing how fast the omicron variant is spreading. that outbreak happened after a party at a marin restaurant. about 60 people attended that event ten days ago at the farmhouse local, and city leaders say half of those attendees have tested positive

for the coronavirus. if you are fully vaccinated and you have chronic health conditions, you could consider the risk before gathering for the holidays. one man spent more than a month in the hospital battling covid, and when he got covid he lost 40 pounds and currently needs oxygen to help him breathe. castro was unvaccinated due to adverse reactions to medications while being treated for pancreatitis. >> whether you get vaxxed, it's your decision. you need to look at your family and everybody around you and decide what you value in your life. >> after improving, doctors say he can head home for the holidays. coming up next on "today in

the bay," positive signs on the horizon for san francisco commuters. the date is set for the long-awaited opening for the muni central light-rail, and the major costs coming with it. and now a spacex dragon capsule docked with the international space station. it has turkey, fruit cake and even some christmas presents for those astronauts living there. we'll be right back. 4:55. ray loves vacations. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know.

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much-anticipate extension through china town. >> the original goal was to open in 2019, and of course we are past that, and the project is also coming in about $200 million over budget. cha-ching. >> there you go. coming up here on "today in the bay," we are in the middle of a microclimate weather alert as that storm has arrived. >> more team coverage as we are just beginning several days of much-needed rain, and we're tracking it all.

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with holiday spirit all season long. connect to nature this season. stormranger. right now at 5:00, tracking the storm as rain saturates the bay area. we have live team coverage including the new efforts to prevent potential havoc when it comes to your potential holiday plans. >> we're still in it. this is a critical moment. >> a bold new plan to stop the omicron surge. we're live in washington with federal agencies looking to deliver on president biden's promises ahead of the holidays. the free kits being offered today and tomorrow right here on "today in the bay." in the bay