right now at 4:30, tracking the storm. a live look outside where a steady flow of rain continues across the bay area. meteorologist vianey arana is tracking your hour-by-hour forecast and when you can expect that rain in your neighborhood. plus, airport chaos and confusion grows across the country and right here in the bay area as hundreds of flights continue to be canceled. ahead, the way one major airline is responding and the changes some passengers can expect to see in the coming days. this is "today in the bay" streaming live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. a busy tuesday morning.

thanks for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. we want to get you started with the top story, the rain falling across the bay area. in downtown mill valley several inches of rain is expected to fall. sandbags are out and ready to keep the floodwaters at bay if necessary. >> and let's take a live look at fairfax creek where we're monitoring the water levels there. that's due in part to some of the strong winds we're having blowing out some of our cameras. the creek that we're talking about has raised serious concerns, triggered flood warnings over debris buildup. >> we do have team coverage this morning. our mike inouye is tracking the slick roads. he's also monitoring possible incidents that could affect commuters. >> first, let's check in with the queen of the hour, meteorologist vianey arana. you've been tracking this storm's path. we'll give the title to the low-pressure system because that's exactly what we're seeing right now, and it's going to be coming down really right in the middle between now and 8:00 a.m. is the heaviest pocket.

you can see storm ranger scanning those areas you see highlighted in the orange and the yellow. we're seeing the biggest heavy downpours in through san francisco and some of the rain as well pushing down through the area. san francisco, south san francisco, san mateo, over along hayward and into fremont, anywhere you're driving, you'll see the ponding water. a rain shadow effect going on in parts of san jose. not as heavy just yet but we are expecting for that system to continue to push through into the early morning hours and we have plenty of rain still left to make it through. around 5:00, 6:00 a.m. we'll see the bull's eye over the santa cruz mountains and parts of the south bay as well. the atmospheric river is expected to continue to bring, of course, not only a lot of rain all at once but also those winds advisories are still in place along with the flood watches. we've already seen a lot of

ponding water out on the roadways. we're going to be monitoring, of course, the rising levels in our creeks and the burn scars which will be an area of concern especially when you see this much rain all at once. now looking ahead, i will also guide you through the additional storms we've got in the upcoming week and what to expect into your new year's eve forecast. for now let's get to that important morning commute. mike, how are the roads? you showed in dublin how messy the commute is. normally the green sensors stand out. they're not today because of the green all over the map. the wet, slick roadways. this is 242 and that cut-through had a lot of slowing. it looks like a spinout reported there has just cleared from the southbound side. slick roadways, tough to see, and the blue now showing on the map as we widen out, puddling, ponding, a lot of standing water. be very careful. hearing about lucky drive through marin county.

you want to avoid any puddles you see. stimgs there's a pothole below that. we do see slowing out of the altamont pass meaning more traffic flow through the area more than yesterday. the live camera is here off the dublin interchange but it's wet all over the bay. back to you. in the south bay authorities there providing people with sandbags to help them get ready for any possible flooding. sunnyvale police department tweeting this out, information on where residents can pick up the sandbags. those interested are asked to go through the public works building at 221 commercial street. and do you want to know when that rain or even the fog will hit your enabled or even just how long it will stick around? be sure to download our free nbc bay area app. you'll get the alerts whenever showers or changing weather

conditions are heading your way. you can also track the rain using our interactive radar. now to a live look at sfo where desperation is growing for many passengers as flight cancellations pile up by the thousands. mostly through southwest airlines. the situation now catching the attention of the u.s. department of transportation. similar circumstances it continue playing out at the oakland international airport and others across the country. one family tells us they were just trying to spend christmas with their son in san diego. their flight transferred them to oakland on sunday, and they've been stuck here ever since sleeping on benches. >> we had to sleep here. >> they didn't give any accommodations to eat or where to stay because they said it's because of bad weather. >> the airline said they've decided to only fly one-third of their scheduled flights for the next several days n. a statement they wrote in part, quote, our employees and crews scheduled to

work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. but a leaked memo from the airline states they have entered a state of operational emergency due to an unusually high number of absences. southwest also says it's taking steps to cover passengers' reasonable travel costs including hotels, rental cars and tickets on other airlines. a follow-up for you this morning. a story gaining national attention. san ramon police have arrested a colorado man for hate crimes. he's accused of harassing two people at an in-n-out on christmas eve. you may remember this story. a man walked up to two people who were eating at an in-n-out in san ramon. the suspect started to berate them with racist and homophobic slurs. the entire encounter captured on camera and posted to tiktok gaining hundreds of views in a matter of hours. the two are reflecting on how they will make sure this doesn't happen to other people. >> i think i am a lot more traumatized from this experience than i previously thought.

it really established the fact this can happen again and obviously as much of a relief as it is, i'm still kind of scared. >> i want to bring more awareness. there's a lot of charities, a lot of organizations out there. we're going to be doing our best to direct attention from the video to that from a smaller scale to a bigger scale. >> the suspect now being held in a martinez jail for violating california hate crimes. happening tomorrow the man accused of breaking into the home of house speaker nancy pelosi and assaulting her husband with a hammer returns to court. earlier this month a judge ruled there is enough evidence david depape to stand trial on a series of charges including attempted murder and threatening the family of a public official. during the hearing new details emerged about the moment police confronted him and his alleged confession. if convicted on all charges he could face more than 50 years in prison. 4:37 for you this morning, promising holiday sales. next on "today in the bay," the

shift in spending this year and the reason financial experts believe shoppers were a lot more cautious. stick around. much more ahead. you're wating "today in the ch

and it is 4:40 right now. we are under a microclimate weather alert. we have heavy rain coming down and we're expecting for that to continue through your morning commute. a live look in downtown san jose, expect for the winds to pick up. also as the cold front passes,

i'll take you through the timing of it all in my full forecast. a live look at the golden gate bridge. folks are driving cautiously across the span because there's rain and a wind advisory. look at that, the wind and blowing the rain across the screen here like across much of the bay. we're hearing about spinouts and standing water, big puddles and flooding. we'll bring you the latest coming up. good morning. i'm silvana henao from cnbc. wall street is set to open higher kicking off the final trading week of the year. investors are debating whether the traditional santa claus rally will appear and lift a market that's been bogged down by worries about a recession. stocks rising on friday but the s&p 500 and nasdaq still fell for the third week in a row. the dow, nasdaq and s&p are on track for their worst month since september and worst year since 2008. in focus home prices and

consumer confidence. restaurants are staffing up again. the industry has erased most of the job losses from the pandemic. the labor department reporting restaurants and bars nearly doubled the number of employees working at pandemic lows in april 2020 adding 62,000 jobs. restaurant owners and workers say several factors including higher pay, better working conditions and fewer opportunities elsewhere. retail sales rose 7.6% during the holiday season as deep discounts lured consumers hunkered for deals. mastercard said that's lower than the 8.5% sales growth last year but higher than the 7.1 forecast back in september. spending was fueled by restaurants and clothing, mastercard says online sales jumped more than 10% and in-person spending was up about 7%, guys. i know i did my shopping online. >> you did your fair share.

maybe that nice new jacket you have. >> i sure did. >> thanks, silvana. from bennifer to swifties taking on ticketmaster. still ahead on "today in the bay," we look back at some of the biggest holiday stori from 2022es.

and here we go tuesday morning, a wet start for you. we take a live look out at the bay bridge. you can see there cars moving along but certainly wet roads out there.

mike has been keeping track of what we can expect out there. wet roads, i can see that much. >> slow it down. >> accuracy in reporting, thank you both. that's exactly right. you saw the bay bridge. here is the san mateo bridge. we can't clearly see it because of all the mist, the rain, the water kicking up and the wind blowing things around as well. it's disappeared into murkiness. now the sensors do show 92 across the water moving just fine. if you continue down half moon bay and north highway 1 just outside the tunnel that has a tree down across highway 1. it sounds like folks were able to squeeze by on either side. we don't have the slides blocking because they put the tunnel in. now there's a tree outside the tunnel. in the same latitude as we get over into the east bay looking at another disabled truck. it might still be sticking out

in lanes or activity might be distracting folks. a new crash right around the dublin interchange, perhaps some flashing lights might be why there's slowing or distraction or it may be folks are slowing, perhaps some standing water in lanes that make the transition onto 580 and 680. you see the conditions in dublin. vianey, we're looking at this issue as folks are traveling west into the dublin interchange. we saw that slowing, no flooded lanes but there's water in lanes. stay to the middle lanes where there's an arch in the roadway and that is a big help. puddling and ponding, vianey, in the blue areas, the most water has hit the roadways. you have activity all over the bay. that's one of the biggest dangers when we see rain is the commute and right now storm ranger is still scanning some pretty decent pockets moving in through novato. light rain through petaluma. where you see this orange and yellow glow is where we see heavy downpours at times and it's pretty much widespread down

through santa cruz and monterey. zooming this in closer to san francisco you could see a line of showers right now in south san francisco, san mateo, hayward, danville, livermore, fremont, palo alto, moving closer to the south bay. now we're starting to see the heavier rain push in through san jose as well. a little bit of that shadowing and we'll see the rain at least for the next two to three hours as far as the heaviness goes because you can see now that system continuing to track a little bit further south. so let's take a look at some of the watches actively in place. now that flood watch did go into effect as of 1:00 a.m. and we're talking about mountains seeing the potential from 2 to 5 inches. most of the bay area will see from 1 to 3 inches. we'll be monitoring the creeks and streams as we'll see a rapid rise with all of this rain. also, wind advisory in effect through 7:00 a.m. today, gusts 35 to 50 miles an hour around

the coastline and also some of the higher elevation areas. the peak wind happening between now and 7:00 a.m. for most of the bay area. when is the rain going to move out? notice the time stamp as it pushes forward to 7:00 a.m. if you look closely san jose, morgan hill, but santa cruz, we will be seeing that bull's eye of still heavy downpours. areas north of this, san francisco, san rafael, oakland, we'll get a couple of scattered showers including the north bay as well. once i push the time stamp forward, that rain becomes more scattered and that system begins to completely make its exit leaving behind by about 2:00, 3:00, some light, scattered activity and mostly cloudy conditions this is a very fast moving system, but because of that subtropical moisture it did allow for a lot of rain in just that short period of time. of course we'll have a closer look at the rainfall totals once we get the numbers in. for now more rain on thursday

heading into saturday and sunday, this is what we're monitoring as far as your new year's eve forecast because it does look like we'll see a system lining up that will bring wind. as far as when it will make its exit, we'll know as we inch closer. be prepared for there to be a chance of pretty gusty winds leading us into the first day of 2023. if you notice on monday, the first week of january, we have more rain in the forecast. we have a lot going on in our atmosphere. very normal for december. it is nice to see which brings me to our climate in crisis. today's storm is one of many that will help boost our water rain and sierra snowpack. before we get the final tally from this week's storms, let's take a look at the latest water rain update. we're still in a deficit in santa rosa, san francisco. we're doing good in the south bay, san jose right now at about

104% of average. santa rosa at about 51%. keep in mind these percentages don't take into account the rain we are seeing today and also we're going to be seeing a lot of sierra snow, winter storm watches and warnings are in effect along with high wind warnings for the sierra. right now statewide average of about 152%. now the sierra snowpack accounts for california's one-third of their water supply. whenever we see april rolling around we get concerned because that snow pretty much melts and fills our reservoirs including our local streams that flow into some of our reservoirs. snow estimates with that winter storm warning is looking good. take a look all the way through january 6th at kirkwood. 95 inches of potential additional snowfall by the time the next seven days end. that will bring a large boost to our sierra snowpack, something we need when it comes to our drought conditions.

i'll have a closer look at the timing for the rest of the week coming up. of course make sure to check out our climate in crisis tab at nbcbayarea.com. we have more stories just like this one. >> thanks, vianey. 4:51. 2022 was a rough year for hollywood. some more memorable but all making worldwide headlines. >> this started with the slap heard around the world and then continued with the headline grabbing defamation trial, troubling behavior and concert ticket buying woes. joe fryer breaks down some of the biggest entertainment stories for us. >> reporter: the year began with a bang or more specifically a slap. actor will smith stormed the oscar stage in march hitting chris rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about smith's wife, jada. the ugly incident overshadowing smith's best actor win just moments later. he was later banned from the oscars for ten years and posted a lengthy apology.

>> chris, i apologize to you. >> reporter: no such apologies were issued after the closely watched defamation trial between johnny depp and amber heard. the divorced stars spent weeks in court accusing each other of disturbing incidents of domestic abuse. >> he just hit me over and over and over again. >> i never struck a woman in my life. >> reporter: both were found guilty but more damages awarded to depp. heard appealed the decision but settled this month. and then there was the year in ye. the rapper formerly known as kanye west. early in 2022 launched an instagram campaign against comedian pete davidson who was dating his ex-wife, kim kardashian, and stunned observers by wearing a white lives matter t-shirt during paris fashion week but anti-semitic comments sparked even more backlash losing ye

lucrative partnership deals. taylor swift had bad blood with ticketmaster. high demand for the pop star's upcoming tour led to a botched presale with error messages, long waits and outrageous prices. >> i am really upset with ticketmaster today. >> reporter: ticketmaster later apologized saying demand for tickets reached 3.5 billion system requests, a record on its site. tom brady is sporting one less ring, his wedding ring. the football g.o.a.t. and supermodel gisele bundchen finalized their divorce after 13 years of marriage. it was a rocky year for the couple after brady returned to the football field following a short 40-day retirement. of all the negative entertainment news of 2022, there was one hopeful note for celebrity watchers and romantics, the return of bennifer. >> i'm engaged!

>> in april jennifer lopez and ben affleck announced they would be married nearly two decades after their first engagement was called off. jennifer walked down the aisle not once but twice moving that yesterday's headlines could be tomorrow's hope for hollywood. >> and what a year it has been. 4:55 for you right now. happening now, b.a.r.t. is getting ready to provide extra service for riders on new year's eve. trains will run later than normal. three lines will be going after midnight -- the yellow, orange and blue lines. the final eastbound train will leave san francisco around 1:30 a.m. and the final southbound train will leave the city around 2:10 a.m.

4:57 for you. how would you like to start off the new year as a millionaire several times over? >> yes, yes, yes, yes! tonight's mega million jackpot is $565 million. it is the sixth largest prize in the jackpot's history after no one hit all six numbers last friday. and this morning our team is continuing to track that storm. we'll have more for you coming up at 5:00 this morning.

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now openen in northehern californiaia. right now at 5:00, heavy rains. live team coverage timing out your full microclimate weather alert and when you can expect to see rain in your neighborhood. this is "today in the bay" streaming live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. and a good tuesday morning to you. a wet start to our morning. i'm marcus washington. >> it sure is. it's soggy out there. i'm laura garcia. the storm already causing some issues across the bay area. in fact, we have new video to show you just in to our newsroom. there's a rock slide in the north bay. it happened early this morning on highway 116 just south of guerneville. >> a live look at fairfax creek where we're monitoring water levels there. so in the past this creek has raised some serious concerns and triggered a lot of flood warnings over debris building up there.