then i was pretty freaked out. right now. at six, a violent explosion shakes a beachside neighborhood awake on christmas morning. the investigation, now underway into what caused this

capital apartment building to go up in flames. plus, busy days ahead for bay area airports now that christmas is over. hanukkah and kwanzaa begin, and new year's eve is ahead. we're live at sfo for an update on conditions as the rush home begins. and it was a nice day. a dry holiday, that is. but rain is returning. we're seeing some of those scattered showers this morning. meteorologist kari hall, of course, is working out that timeline of when we can see that rain go away again. you're watching today in the bay. a good morning to you on this thursday. i'm marcus washington, and i'm kira klapper filling in for laura garcia. cinthia pimentel is here for mike inouye. and meteorologist kari hall is here, as always with the forecast. so yesterday we were enjoying the dry day and there were already some sprinkles this morning. yeah. so we start out with a wave of some light rain. the heavier stuff comes later on

this evening. but look at the sloppy conditions we have right now on 880 in oakland, and definitely a lot more the headlights and tail lights than we had yesterday. so people are back to work and having to use the windshield wipers for that drive also allow some extra time to get there, as our temperatures are now in the low 50s. it is a chilly morning and will only very slowly climb with those temperatures for today. so this is the first in the wave of several waves of rain that will be coming in a little bit of a break for much of the afternoon, with the exception of some very light lingering showers and then some heavier. widespread rain moves into the north bay around six. so 5 to 6:00 during the evening commute and then spreading down to the south bay during the overnight. we are looking at the potential of some pockets of heavy rain, but most of that will happen as we wake up early on fday morning and then light rain in the forecast. hit or miss showers into friday afternoon. so we're tracking all of the changes and i'll talk more about the impacts coming

up. but cynthia it is looking good for people wanting to beat the holiday travel. yeah. and as you showed right there it is slippery right now through oakland. just a few more cars on the road. so if you have to head to the airport just be careful of that. we go down and show you palo alto. maybe you're going up to sfo or coming down into san jose. that also looks clear. just be careful for some of those scattered showers that kari was talking about. the rest of the sensors look good. we did have that crash in the last hour that i told you about. 85 at winchester, but that looks to be in the clearing stages. if anything pops up, i'll be here to let you know. back to you. we know you will. cynthia. thanks. it is 602 right now, and east bay family is remembering one of their own as a hero. after a fire burned down their home on christmas morning. the family says the man who saved their lives lost his in the process. it was just after six yesterday morning when oakland firefighters responded to a fire on oak knoll road, where they found a 37 year old man unconscious inside his home. the neighbors are identifying him as

steve weatherford junior. you just saw on your screen there, his father, steve weatherford senior, told nbc bay area off camera that he lived in that home for decades. his son had jumped from his second floor bedroom window to escape the flames, but a neighbor tells us that after he helped his dad, his brother and his aunt get out safely, he went back into the burning home and didn't make it back out. he was going to propose on new years and had the ring, and apparently he went in to their family safe to get the jewelry. just an incredible guy though. really loved his dad, loved his family, you know, dedicated son. his girlfriend tells us he was an amazing man with a beautiful soul, adding that there are no words to describe how devastated they are right now. what you see there on your screen is a gofundme page that the neighbors have launched to help the family. the cause of the fire is being investigated. well, turning now to a

terrifying christmas morning for people living in one santa cruz county neighborhood, an apparent explosion at a home caught on surveillance. one man visiting family for the holidays is renting out a nearby airbnb. his family quickly forced to evacuate. we told my daughter, or, you know, a parent told my daughter, you know, santa is being really loud. so we then just got all of our stuff together as quickly as we could. there was a lot of screaming. we could hear people on both sides, you know, a lot of commotion. we jumped in our car and, you know, we could see the flames really starting to kick up this, you know, bright orange. and we drove off to my cousin's house. now, a friend says that one person was living in that home, but was thankfully out of town at the time. the cause of that fire is still under investigation. well, this morning many travelers are heading back home following christmas celebrations.ighways and airports are expected to be busy today in the bay's. thom jensen is live at sfo. and tom,

hanukkah begins. kwanzaa begins. this is the start to a busy three days of travel. it really is. good m morning. yeah, happy hanukkah, happy kwanzaa, and i hope you had a merry christmas. the tsa believes that this next three days, today, tomorrow, and saturday will be three of the busiest days as people do return home from the holidays here at sfo, they're expecting a 15% increase in travelers over the 2023 holiday season in total. triple a says nearly 120 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the holiday season this year, which is december 21st through january 1st. for their calculations, they expect this year's traveler numbers to top the record set before the pandemic. the 2019 numbers by about 64,000. airports are expected to get increasingly busier over the next three days and see record numbers of passengers, so triple

a says don't even risk cutting it close when traveling by air this year. because what we saw over thanksgiving, especially here in dc, is that traffic going to the airport is bad. a lot of people are stuck in their uber, stuck in their lifts or in their taxi, or they're getting dropped off by a family member, or they're driving, and they planned ahead and knew that they had tsa precheck. i'm not checking it back. i should be okay. driving is by far the most popular mode of holiday travel, with about 107 million people. about 90% of those holiday travelers on the roads for the holidays. but air travel is still expected to hit record numbers thanksgiving through new year's day. they're expecting 6.3 million total travelers here at sfo, again, a 15% increase over last year. oakland is forecasting a total of 500,000 passengers for all of december, and sjc says it will get about

300,000 through the gates through the 5th of january. triple a does again say that this will be a record holiday season for air travel. more than 8 million people traveling by air this year. so like they said, get to the airports early. we're live at sfo this morning. thom jensen today in the bay. always good advice there tom. thanks so much. good to see you. well, today is the first day of kwanzaa. san francisco city hall will be lit up in red, green and black in recognition of the first night of the holiday at dusk. now, the first day of kwanzaa is called umoja, which means unity in swahili. tonight, the center black candle is the first to be lit in a series of those seven candles for the seven day celebration. 608 right now. live. look outside for you in san rafael. definitely is. meteorologist kari hall said more people on the road today, and unfortunately, they missed the dry commute yesterday because now the rain is kind of already falling up north. right. and we're seeing some of the

spotty showers moving through. even if it's not raining right now. it probably did earlier and the roads are still wet. and we're starting out with temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s as we take a look at san jose. you can see the sheen on the roads from the lights that's coming off of the christmas tree there at christmas in the park. it will be cloudy throughout the day and temperatures headed for the low 60s. we'll begin to see the rain reaching the south bay later on this evening, but much earlier for the north bay, so those temperatures will be lower, only making it into the low to mid 50s farther north. upper 50s for novato and santa rosa 62 will be the high today in san francisco, with mid 60s expected in san jose. so we'll track all the changes. i'll have a closer look at when that rain comes in and how it may impact your weekend plans. cynthia has a look at where you can fill up for a little bit less. yeah, because people will be out and about with friends and family left after the holidays. so let's gas up the car with the cheapest gas prices we could find this morning, thanks to you reporting them on gasbuddy.com. we'll do

3.45 at costco on monument boulevard in concord. that will be busy for sure. and after that, we'll head to the south bay with 361 at dimond gas on winchester, across the block from the winchester mystery house, santana row, that area. and finally, maybe you're heading to the north bay, where in mill valley, you'll do 369 at the arco off of 101. let's go to the roadways right now. the sensors are still looking good. those areas you see highlighted in green through parts of the south bay, the altamont pass, just looking at some slick roadways as those showers pass on through. let's stay in the east bay. look at some concord coco gauff drive times as you make your way into alameda county as well. looking good. about a 20 minute ride if you're heading westbound on highway four. so everything looks good this morning. back to you. i like that. cynthia. thanks. 610 right now. and if you are in the market for a car, well, could soon be hard to get a new one at a decent price anyway. next year. the reason affordable vehicles in the new year will be

difficult to find. and this morning, here's a look at the futures the s&p 500 down 20 points. the dow jones industrial is well in the red nasdaq as well. as we look forward to closing out the year in trading. plus a christmas surprise. all thanks to one bay area shelter. we'll show you the adorable moment. i have to say, i really hope the parents knew this dog was coming, but it's a really cute one. and if you're still looking for a good gift, we have an incentive for you. you won't want to miss. you're watching today in the bay.

- i had health insurance before. (discouraged) so expensive. i mean, i'm helping my mom out, i don't have that kinda cash. - ugh, i know. but you can get financial help now through covered california. it's totally affordable. you'd be surprised. they've got this calculator thing that shows how much you'll pay. - for real? - yeah! what are you doing not having health insurance, man?

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teen. as we get started in dublin, we are seeing a lot of cars out on the roadways, people heading back to work, and we are also seeing some spotty light showers moving through with cool temperatures. we're only now in the upper 40s headed for the upper 50s at 1:00 today. rain comes back. more widespread showers later this evening, so we'll tim that out coming up in a few minutes. let's go. 880 in oakland now. kari. we do see more cars on the road, but it is moving smoothly. just be careful. the roadsre slick there. let's stay and look at some east bay drive times. yes, the numbers are there. all i can tell you is it is good to go

drive safe. good morning. wall street is set to open lower as investors returned from the christmas holiday, with the markets closing higher in the shortened session on christmas eve. the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p 500 all rising about 1%. now. all three are positive for the week so far. the s&p just inching into positive territory for the month. the nasdaq is up more than 4%. the dow, however, is down more than 3% this month, on pace for its worst performance since april. japan's nippon steel is delaying the closing date for its planned $14 billion takeover of u.s. steel until march, and that's due to that ongoing review of the deal in washington. the move comes after a panel that looks at acquisitions for national security issues was deadlocked over whether to approve the sale, leaving the final decision to president biden. now, both he and president elect trump are

opposed to the deal. nippon steel, posting a letter on social media showing the deal has support in areas where u.s. steel mills are located, saying it hopes president biden understands the value to the u.s. economy. and netflix nfl debut kicks off without a glitch. nfl media says the christmas day broadcast was the second most popular live title on the streaming service to date. now, viewers in all 50 states tuned in within minutes of the pregame show going live, and people in nearly 200 countries watched the first game between the chiefs and the steelers. now, netflix signed a three year deal in may to broadcast nfl games on christmas, with cnbc morning business report. i'm silvana henao. all right. thanks, savannah. all right. for some bay area families, the best present they received on christmas morning was not left under the tree, but instead at their front door. we have a special delivery for you. what is it? oh my god! oh, dog! oh!

that face. classic. two families received a puppy. each of them delivered by the humane society of silicon valley. now, the parents and kids alike were so excited. deliveries like these aren't unusual for humane society workers. the facility actually caught fire just a few days ago, and it actually destroyed half of the building. no humans or animals were actually hurt in that fire. but the humane society says set back is bringing out the best in people this holiday season. have some amazing donors who stepped up and have donated all of the adoption fees until our shelter is clear. and the humane society desperately searching for homes for more than two dozen dogs. starting today, new pet owners can adopt dogs. zero cost. that is huge. and with two dogs already, i assume you're not in need. not in the rent. you're so cute. you're like, i did my part. they're so cute. trying to get the rest of us on board.

they always need, you know, volunteers, foster homes. so you're goingng to do something u don't want to fully commit? yeah. fostering is a great option. any blankets, towels, anything you have in your home? they're always looking for supplies, so you might you might not need it, but they do all the time. they do nothing with down. nothing that's filled but old quilts and blankets and things. good to know. yeah. all right. carrie's here with the forecast and those blankets and quilts. yeah, all of that. it's going to be not only raining off and on, but it's going to be cold. and that's the weather we'll see into the weekend as well. here's a live look outside in san francisco where you can see the fog and the low visibility. that's going to cause some issues as well. we already had a wave of rain that came through this morning. it is starting to now move off towards the south and east, giving us a bit of a break, but the roads are still wet and the cars in front of you as you're driving are going to be kicking up some of that water. some of the heavier rain will be coming in later on this afternoon into the evening. it's all a part of this big storm

system, this atmospheric river that for the bay area moves through fairly quickly. it is a weaker system compared to what we've seen in the past, but we are going to have some rain coming in tonight for the menorah lighting. the celebration starts at 330, the lighting at 5:00. that's exactly when we'll start to see some of these light showers really coming down and getting heavier as we go into late tonight. and we're also going to see that widespread rain covering the bay area into 11:00. we're seeing it picking up in the north bay, spreading across the rest of the bay area before sunrise, and then it just tapers off to some spotty showers that may linger through the day, even into saturday. but there will be some breaks in the activity and then some heavier rain returning late sunday night into or late saturday night into sunday. so the additional rainfall that we are going to see is anywhere from about an inch in fremont, much less for the south bay, up to an inch and a half and closer to two inches for ukiah. and that's where we are going to see

the biggest impact of all of these waves of rain. but the good thing is that it stretched out over the course of several days. so we are going to see at least a chance to recover as we get those breaks in the rain coming in for part of friday. and then saturday is mostly dry, sunday is looking pretty soggy, but then we'll have several days to enjoy sunshine and some near normal temperatures. as we wrap up 2024, we are going to also see some clear skies, and in san francisco, a bit of a soggy weekend. now, cynthia, you're seeing a good drive through the tri-valley. yeah. looking good people out and about right now. getting their start through 580 looks good in dublin. now if you are heading over the altamont pass, though, that could turn a little bit gusty. and there are the sensors that are picking up on just a little bit of ponding in some stretches, stretches of the roadway. let's go to 880 in fremont. also looking good. really proud of everybody for driving safely this morning, getting us to our family members. we just see those slick

roadways right there as we make our way through fremont and sensors look good, everything is in nice and order, so hopefully it stays that way as we carry it, not only today, but into the weekend as well. back to you. thanks, cynthia. yeah. 620 right now, up next on today in the bay nbc bay area responds. you've done the unwrapping. it's my turn to do the unboxing to help you figure out what you can and can't recycle. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. i'll show you

♪ you know i'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ but my heart's of gold ♪ ♪ just one more night ♪ ♪ and i'm coming off this long and winding road ♪ ♪ i'm on my way ♪ ♪ i'm on my way ♪ ♪ home sweet home ♪ there's no place like the road home. receive a $5,500 bonus on a new 2024 audi q5 plug-in hybrid during the season of audi sales event.

leftovers. the holiday leftovers, but not the food. yeah, no. if you have those piles of wrapping paper and ribbons you're hoping to recycle, can't always recycle them. our consumer investigator chris kamara has some advice. to figure out what to do with all the boxes, bows, gift bags and ribbon. we're going to use guidance from the city of san jose. let's start with bows and ribbons. san jose says all bows and ribbons cannot be recycled. they can be thrown in the trash, or you can save them and reuse them next year. wrapping paper is easy to reuse to, provided recipients are unwrapping carefully. ooh, but if it's ripped up beyond reuse, san jose says you can recycle most wrapping paper. don't worry about the tape. san jose says it's fine in the recycle bin. here's the one caveat wrapping paper that is shiny or contains

foil and metallic pieces cannot be recycled. instead, try to reuse or just trash that stuff. same goes for tissue paper. the city of san jose says tissue paper contains the wrong fibers for recycling. they're too short to recycle. you have three choices reuse it, trash it, or compost it. as for cardboard boxes, they're generally recyclable, but gift bags are a mixed bag. most of them are recyclable, but san jose says the shiny ones are part plastic, so you can't recycle them. finally, what do you do with greeting cards? san jose says they're okay in the recycle bin, but first, remove parts that have glitter, foil, metal charms, felt cutouts, and ribbons because all these items will contaminate paper recycling. here's a crafty alternative grab your scissors and use part of those greeting cards as gift tags next year. you might tickle your friends if you use part of this year's greeting card on next year's gift. that is kind of cool.

yeah, you and i are big recyclers. not not necessarily sending it to the recycle bin, but reusing it. okay. all right. look, we've got a lot more ahead for you at 630, including returning home. airports nationwide have some busy days ahead before the new year. we're going to track some of those conditions right here in the bay area. and it was a big year for all of us, but especially for outer space. we take a look back at the significant developments made in the great beyond. we'll be right back. ooh.

really loved his dad. loved his family, you know, dedicated son. right now, at 630. an east bay man dies a hero after rescuing his family from a house fire on christmas day. hear from his neighbors who are p paying tbute to him this morning. and the bay area celebrates the start of hanukkah. we're going to show you the event lighting up san francisco as people from around the world visit the city by the bay. and we are seeing scattered rain in parts of the bay area this morning. meteorologist kari hall is tracking it all for us. this is today in the bay. good thursday morning to you. i'm kira klapper in for laura garcia, and i'm marcus washington. let's get a look at what's happening with that forecast for us today. meteorologist kari hall has been

tracking the clear skies yesterday, but the incoming rain today. yeah. so it's going to be changing day by day. a lot more of the mixed bag of weather coming in as we're starting out this morning with a wave of showers that move through is tapering off, but you can still see the remnants of the showers that moved through earlier this morning, even though the rain is not coming down right now, it will be cloudy throughout the day and temperatures going from low 50s right now to only low 60s for the afternoon. and we are seeing the break in the wet weather, but some heavier, more widespread rain is set to move in later on this evening. we are going to see the rain picking up for the north bay in time for the evening commute, and then it continues during the overnight hours and may be heavy at times. so we're watching all of the changes. there will be some breaks in the rain going into the weekend, so we'll help you make those weekend plans coming up in just a few minutes. thank you. kari. well, you know, the holiday ended in tragedy for one oakland family who lost their home and the man who likely saved their lives today in the bay's kris sanchez joins us from

the newsroom. with this life cut far too short. it is just so sad, chris, and there are so many layers to this tragedy. there's the fire that forced the family from their home and the hero who did not survive it. the oakland fire department started fighting that fire before 615 christmas morning on oak knoll boulevard. but even before firefighters arrived, there were rescues underway. neighbors tell us steve weatherford, junior, jumped from a second floor window to escape. the flames went back into the house to help his father, brother and aunt get out safely. then the 37 year old weatherford went back into the burning house one last time, and a neighbor told us he was likely thinking about his future. he was going to propose on new years and had the ring, and apparently he went in to their family safe to get the jewelry. how his girlfriend described weatherford to us as an amazing man with a beautiful soul, and she told us there are no words

to describe their devastation or how they will ever recover from the tragedy. at this point, the cause of the fire is under investigation, but weatherford's father told us that he fears it could have been the christmas tree. neighbors launched a gofundme page for the family to help put weatherford to rest. kira. oh gosh kris, thanks so much for that story. hopefully people can help with that gofundme. it is 31 past the hour right now. on a lighter note, many celebrated the beginning of hanukkah and christmas on the same day across the bay area last night. the last two times, the first day of hanukkah and christmas day lined up together was nearly 20 years ago, in 2005. today, in the bay's emma gaugh shows us how people in san francisco celebrated the festival of lights. it was a happy first night of hanukkah in union square, where several hundred people sang the hanukkah blessings and watched as the first candle on the 22 foot tall bill graham menorah was lit with

help from senator scott wiener and omer fine of the foreign trade administration. father and son rabbis yosef and moshe langer of the san francisco chabad led the festivities, keeping up a 49 year san francisco tradition. being here with so many other people, all happy, all celebrating, i think it's just a good feeling. lee's lifelong friends came to the menorah lighting together. it's my first time i've been here before and enjoyed sufganiyot jelly donuts, a favorite hanukkah treat. just steps away. families snapped photos under the union square christmas tree. it's really nice to have both holidays, l like thers some community and connection about that. that seems very appropriate for the time of year that we're in. nearby, san francisco's city hall lit up blue and white in honor of hanukkah. in cole valley, volunteers wrote hanukkah cards and packed more than 100 gift bags meant for jewish seniors

living in retirement homes and nursing facilities around san francisco. and in the back, there's a menorah. there's candles that they can have on their shelf, and then a dreidel and a cookie and just a beautiful handwritten hanukkah card. chabad rabbi nosson potash, the director of community for jewish seniors, will make the deliveries. these volunteers here are bringing light and joy to so many seniors throughout san francisco. emma goss for today in the bay. so cute. and rabbi potash will make those deliveries later today. well, happening today, the san francisco flower market is saying goodbye to its home of 58 years. after today, the market will close its doors on the corner of sixth and brannan streets. the warehouse in soma has been its home since 1956. next week, the flower market is set to open a new location at 16th street in potrero hill. 27 of the current flower market

tenants will be making the move. 13 of them have decided to retire or strike out on their own. well, turning now to a live look at sfo for you this morning, where airports are expected to get busy again today as christmas wraps up. tsa expecting today, friday and saturday to be some of the busiest travel days as far as this season. sfo says that they have 15% more passengers this year compared to last season. oakland airport says they're expecting to see more than 500,000 people through december, and sjc says it will get about 300,000 passengers through january 5th. now, if you are trying to catch a flight, of course, no doubt you want to know potential delays. meteorologist kari hall, of course, been monitoring that. we always know that the weather happening here can certainly affect us over here. right, because those planes are coming from somewhere, right? so it just causes a ripple effect. we are seeing some thunderstorms developing around dallas that may cause some delays. it did definitely yesterday. but we also have this new storm system that is moving into the west coast, the pacific, the pacific

northwest, seeing some heavy rain right now. and then we also have a wave of showers that's moving across the midwest down to florida. so there are many areas that may have some weather related delays. but as of now, all of the major airports are reporting that things are flying on time. so that's some good news on this busy travel day. if you're not going anywhere, or maybe you have some people coming in town, you might want to check out downtown ice this evening. although we start out with some dry weather and it will be cloudy as we go later into the evening, the rain chances will increase and we're expecting that as well across much of the rest of the bay area. maybe this weekend you're headed to napa. we are going to see some cloudy skies for tomorrow, and then the rain increasing and becoming more widespread from late saturday into sunday. and if your weekend plans take you to the sierra, we will have to watch out for those windows of travel. because as of right now, we have the chain controls in effect and there will be snow throughout the day

and then a break for tomorrow afternoon into early saturday. so we're watching everything for you. cynthia has been keeping an eye on holiday weekend traffic, and it's going to continue this weekend in san francisco for people going to union square. we have the hanukkah festival there through january 1st, but of course we have the ice skating rink, all of the shopping and people just enjoying the sights through san francisco. so public transit and also just a little bit of patience as we go on and see all the things to enjoy in the city. we come down here tomorrow night. sharks game at the sap center 730. expect some traffic around parts of the alameda, maybe some other traffic building up from christmas in the park and all of the other activities in downtown san jose. we go back to the city and talk about chase center on saturday night. that's the warriors game at 530, so expect some traffic to 8101 and maybe even across and coming in from the bay bridge, as we have a lot of people visiting in town. one more for you. let's finish this long holiday weekend at the

niners ge on monday. we could see some backups around 237. also, the great america parkway exit and people coming down 80. making that connection right there to levi's stadium. back to you. thanks, cynthia. 637 right now, a big year for outer space from those two americans still stuck in space to competition from another country. ahead, we take a look back at the out of this world events that took place in 2024. plus jolene, jolene, i'm warning you, don't come for my friend. they're calling it the beyonce bowl. it's stealing the show from the nfl. did you? did it go off without a hitch? well, that's the question we're going to talk about when we return. you're watching today in the bay. take it away, beyonce. i heard that your beauty is beyond compare. takes more than beauty and seductive scent to come. between a family and a

good morning. right now at 640, we are taking a live look outside at palo alto. and we had some rain earlier this morning, but as of now it stopped falling and it's mostly cloudy. there will only be some peeks of sunshine as we go from low 50s to low 60s for the afternoon, and rai ramps back up again tonight. we'll talk more about that coming up in a few minutes. and we go over to check on 580

in dublin. busy headlights coming towards us. but look at those taillights. i see a little bit of slowing right around there, top left of your screen. i'm going to check it out and get back to you when i see you again. we continue to follow news out of arizona, where there was a shooting and a stabbing at the airport last night. it happened at sky harbor in phoenix. three people are now hospitalized after the shooting, and a fourth person was hospitalized with a stab wound. it happened inside a terminal outside of a restaurant. but that restaurant was just outside the security checkpoint. the terminal was temporarily closed. however, officials say airport operations have since resumed to normal. early information suggests that a group of people got into a fight when one of them drew a handgun. police did arrest a man and a younger woman in the parking garage. well, 2024 certainly has been an eventful one for a lot of folks, including those in space with

major advancements in amazing feats for engineering, including a giant leap for one of america's rivals. there's a lot in store for the new year as well. nbc senior correspondent tom costello telling us he has a look back, as well as a look forward. america's 2024 space odyssey had drama boeing starliner is back home from space overnight, but it came back with an empty cabin. breakthrough technologies. and international intrigue. but above all, it was yet another year of triumph for elon musk's space x test, flying six uncrewed starship rockets that one day will carry astronauts to the moon and maybe mars with stunning new capture technology for the booster rocket. spacex will soon provide the ride home for astronauts sunny williams and butch wilmore, whose ten day

mission last june to the space station will last nine months until at least late march. after nasa brought the troubled boeing starliner spaceship home empty, concerned it wasn't safe for the astronauts. we're both, you know, navy. we've both been on deployments. we're not surprised when deployments get changed. that are 2024 was also another big year for the chinese space program, landing a second robotic mission on the far side of the moon, then returning home with soil samples that suggest ancient volcanic activity. china is moving at full throttle to land its own astronauts on the moon by 2030. that's also nasa's goal for its artemis program, and it is vital for us to land on the south pole so that we do not cede portions of that south lunar south pole to the chinese.

but nasa is now delaying an artemis loop around the moon until 2026 to improve the heat shields needed for reentry. the goal now. a moon landing in 2027. new astronaut doctor chris williams. have you dreamed of being among the first to return to the moon? i absolutely hope it's me and you know, and that i get the chance to do that. jared. now opening dragon resilience into space. jared isaacman became the first commercial astronaut to perform a space walk in 2024. brooks curry looks like a perfect world. he's now president elect. trump's choice to lead nasa. there were more space tourist flights in 24, and a private probe named odysseus landed on the moon, but then tipped over. 2025 will be a year of private business and china pushing to go farther, faster. for today, tom

costello, nbc news, washington. well, christmas day meant many things for bay area sports fans, including warriors basketball and nfl football. this year, though, no niners, the games were streaming on netflix. as we told you yesterday morning, the first one sawhe super bowl champion kansas city chiefs beat the pittsburgh steelers with a final score of 29 to 10, and marcus's beloved baltimore ravens flew away with the lead against the houston texans. final score was 31 to 2. but for many of those watching, including marcus, the real highlight of the game was the halftime show. the texas ain't no hold on. lay your cards down, down, down, down. but as marcus pointed out, it is texas. it was in houston. this is the first time beyonce has performed songs from her newest album, cowboy carter. people have been waiting months for this moment. at one

point she brought out her eldest daughter. you see right there, blue ivy, to perform right alongside her, as ll as country star shaboozey and post malone. if you miss a performance, don't worry. netflix says it will release the show as a standalone special, but no release date yet. nfl media says the entire broadcast kicked off without a hitch. it was the second most popular live title on the streaming service to date. my assumption is the tyson paul fight was the most popular streamed sport before that, but with a lot of glitches. so they they really improved yesterday. they must be quite pleased with themselves. i'm sure they are over at netflix. i'm sure baltimore is standing up to. oh yeah. all right. a live look at the sierra this morning. chain controls are in effect along i-80 as the wintry conditions are making for treacherous roads. oh, yeah. can't see a lot out there, but caltrans crews, they actually spent christmas eve and morning clearing the roads here nonstop. this is until that snow has stopped falling. all of this is also to just make sure that

travelers can spend the holidays with their families. that included one family visiting the sierra from australia, the only white we have in our christmases at the beach. so to have a white snow christmas is pretty magical for us. clearing ice and snow, making a really easy and safe trip for us is gives us the opportunity to have this. caltrans says that the main focus here is making sure that people can get to where they need to go, especially at christmas time. it looks like so much fun. that little baby was so cute. he was like, what's that? what is that white stuff? well, cynthia has traffic in just a moment, but first, meteorologist kari hall is here. it's almost like people should have driven up yesterday. yeah, i mean it. there's the small windows. you just have to be prepared for everything. and always bring the tire chains in the winter time, because you just might need them. even if it's not snowing. the roads may ice over. and we are looking at this beautiful view of the fresh coating of snow at palisades

tahoe. even early this morning. we can see that today we are going to see the next round of snow coming in and temperatures holding steady in the 30s, so it may, in some elevations, change back and forth from rain to snow just depending on where you are. and then over the next couple of days, we're going to see those temperatures warming up on friday, causing much of what comes down in the form of rain. but if the temperatures do dip below freezing, we could see that freezing. so you do have to be very careful. most of the snow comes down toward the tail end of this storm system on sunday, and we could see about nine to possibly 22in of snow for the just the last few days of this year into the new year. so right now there is a winter weather advisory in effect through noon on friday. there may at times be some chain controls in effect. and then here at home, we're seeing some pretty slick road conditions with the light rain that's coming down. this is a look at the approach of the bay bridge toll plaza. as we are seeing a few more cars out there. we had

some rain earlier this morning and still some lingering showers for the north bay, san francisco and near the coast. much more of this storm system will be arriving later on this evening and into early tomorrow morning. all a part of an atmospheric river that's fairly moving quickly for the bay area. so we're going to see this system in and out of here. but there is a lot of that system that's going to be affecting the region with some wet weather. we are seeing some widespread rain that will be coming in late tonight and into friday morning. it tapers off to some spotty showers, but still a a chance of rain in the forecast through saturday. so here's a look at how much rain we could see throughout the weekend. and then it ends by monday. we could get another one to possibly two inches of rainfall in some spots. so with all of that rainfall, that may make the roads very slippery, but the fact that it comes over the course of several days really helps us out, and hopefully we don't see any major impacts here. early next week we'll be in the upper 50s for highs. look at those lows in the upper 30s.

we will welcome in the new year with some dry weather, but we do have to make it there. throughout the weekend. there will be some waves of rain coming through. and cynthia, you were hearing about a crash by the golden gate bridge. yeah. and thiss interesting. and new. the southbound lanes didn't have some cars coming through it for the last couple of minutes. and right behind that is where the activity first started. southbound direction of 101. not quite sure if it was in the tunnel or after you go through the robin williams tunnel, but they did have one of the lanes blocked there. you can see the sensors turning into that orange and red color on your screen, backing up a little bit of that traffic through parts of the hills there in sausalito.. so we'll keep watching that one. you saw the camera there. it was pretty slippery still on the road after those morning showers. there is another crash to let you know about. this one is eastbound 580 as you make your way through livermore. that was on the first street on ramp. that one looks to be pretty in the clearing stages, as the sensors are still picking up on traffic moving through the area, but you see it highlighted there

in green. there are still some slick roadways through the altamont pass. could also be gusty at times, so just take it easy. take it slow. even if there's not a lot of traffic, we still need to get to where we need to go this holiday season. back to you. all right cynthia, thanks. happening. now we are learning new details about a deadly car crash in san francisco. it hapned around four yesterday afternoon in golden gate park on crossover drive, which connects to park presidio in 19th avenue. police say it was a solo car crash. the car caught fire. officers closed surrounding roads for a few hours and police are still investigating the cause. and we're back in just minutes with a look at our top stories, including an east bay family remembering a man who died in a fire after rescuing his family. now, neighbors are remembering him and helping the family. holiday travel starting to ramp up before the end of the year. what you need to know if you're hitting the skies or the roads this weekend. but first, here's willie geist and laird dodd

yared. good morning. coming up here on today, a record breaking number of travelers are starting to make the journey home after the holidays. but will severe storms in parts of the country create a travel mess? we are live with what you need to know. also ahead, the latest on that devastating christmas day plane crash in kazakhstan that killed dozens. what investigators believe may have happened and how nearly 30 people managed to survive. those stories, plus an epic christmas day of nfl games, the kansas city chiefs and baltimore ravens celebrating blowout wins. but it was beyonce's halftime performance that stole the show. the beyonce bowl, they're calling it. all that and everything you need to know about holiday returns, the deadlines, receipt requirements and some important alternatives for a stress free experience. that's all ahead. we see you coming up

welcome back. we are moving you forward with a look at the top stories on today in the bay, including an east bay family remembering one of their own as a hero after he saved their lives when a fire burned down

their home just after six yesterday morning, oakland firefighters responded to this fire on oak knoll boulevard. this is where they found a 37 year old man unconscious inside that home. now neighbors are identifying him as steven weatherford junior, his father from his second floor bedroom window to escape the flames. the neighborays that after steven junior helped his dad, brother and aunt get out safely, he went back into that burning home but didn't make it out. at this point, the cause of that fire is under investigation, but weatherford's father fears that it could have been the christmas tree. another terrifying christmas morning. these this one for people living in one santa cruz county neighborhood. an apparent explosion at a home was caught on surveillance. a friend says one person was living in the home but thankfully was out of town at the time. the cause of that fire is still under investigation. well, turning now to a live look at sfo airports, expecting to

get busy again today as christmas wraps up. tsa expecting today, friday and saturday to be some of the busiest travel days so far as this season goes. sfo says they have a 15% more passenger that they've seen go through there this year compared to last year. oakland airport says it's expecting somewhere around more than 500,000 through december. sjc says it will get about 300,000 passengers through january 5th. i always say this, but it's one silver lining to working during the holidays is we don't have to deal with, you know, packing into airports and traveling. yeah, it's a silver lining. and being with you. all right. yeah. but the one thing is that, you know, we're able to,ike, time out our travel based on the weather. and we are seeing some more showers coming back to the bay area later today. we had a wave earlier this morning. it will be mostly cloudy. rain picks up tonight into early tomorrow and then some more dry weather on saturday, but another storm

system arriving early on sunday with some sunshine for much of next week. and the southbound lanes right now of the golden gate bridge. ooh, that looks slippery. are moving. after there was a crash reported north those lanes. and right there, southbound 101, it is picking up. so the sensors were a little red. now they're flowing back into that yellow. so good news there we come down into san jose. we see those cloudy skies, but traffic is moving well through 101 in the south bay. no major delays. that's good. all right. you know what i just realized? you all were very silent when i said, you know, it's good to be here with you all. it's good to. it's good to be here with you. yeah. i mean, we're here all the time. i know you're like, yeah, we're here all it is. good to have you in. no, no, i just meant, you know, at work. crickets again. today's show is just ahead. however, for more local news, stay with today in the bay, streaming now on roku, pluto and other platforms including nbcbayarea.com live at

eight. making a move will take you inside the san francisco flower mart. its final days at its home of 58 years, where it's headed where you'll soon be able to buy your next bouquet. yeah, sad to see it go, but you know what? i'm so happy to be at work. yes, i know, i didn't mean with me. i just meant, like, you know, it worked. yeah. we're so happy to be here. and you know what? we're back here tomorrow. are you? and saturday and sunday. i'm not here tomorrow, but i'll be back on saturday and sunday. i doo get one day off. hey, you have next week off. don't tell my business. that's what's happening. today in the bay. we love you a good thursday morning good thursday morning. it is the day after christmas and millions of americans are getting ready to begin the long journey home. >> but will severe storms across the country put a wrench in your travel plans? it's december 26th.