thousands across the bay area. we asked pg&e what the holdup is. and a fresh look at the damage

from the powerful winds across the bay area. that down the hatches. temperatures are dropping across the bay area. the next stop on this weather roller coaster. we can tell you it is a mess out there. let's go to redwood city right now. this picture says 1000 words or more. this massive tree crashed into a roof and it is so tall that it is hanging over the neighbor's home. crews are at the scene in fremont. they are removing branches and limbs from the tree. this one affecting people along mowry avenue. now to palo alto. this tree came crashing down along the balcony and rested on the roof of that apartment building. our chopper has been out all day and it has been a busy morning and afternoon clearing the tree limbs and try to get the power back on before it

gets really cold. let's begin with first alert team coverage. the good news is is that the wind has died down somewhat. the bad news is there are still quite strong across the bay area. 23 miles an hour at sfo. most are 15 to 25 miles per hour. these are the current wind gusts as of 3:00 p.m. 35 at sfo and 31 in hayward. we are looking at these that are not strong enough to have a continuation of the wind advisory, and enough to do damage. we are tracking a few showers. santa rosa has picked up moisture in the past hour. these showers are light and sporadic, but in the higher elevations, the santa cruz mountains and hills, we've seen light snow accumulations. winter weather advisory continues for the sonoma coast ranges and the santa clara

hills. we are talking 1 to 3 inches of snow. a more impactful system is on the way late thursday. a winter storm watch is in the act for the blue shaded areas. snow amounts were range from a foot of snow in the santa clara hills to maybe a few inches in the east bay taller ranges and in marin county. the snow level dropping to about the teen hundred feet, and, another wind advisory will go into effect. more trees may go down, especially if they are weighted down by snow. we will track this hour by hour a few minutes. about 15 minutes ago we got new numbers from pg&e about power outages. look at this. a lot of green and yellow and orange and showing how many of you are affected. pg&e said more than 42,000 people are without her city. there is a plus side to this. that number they just gave us

is down about 13,000 from a few hours ago. the peninsula is still getting hit the hardest and 32,000 of those customers still without power. is having a big impact on businesses. this is in menlo park. all of these places in the dark. some customers were turned away.>> it was crazy. yesterday we went to safeway, and the whole complex was completely shut down. >> pg&e is working around the clock to turn on lights, but there are challenges. >> reporter: pg&e is dealing with some scenes like this. you can see this home and this is an area that got significant damage from the wind. you can see the roots of that tree. the tree fell over and caused significant damage to the home. we were a little bit closer and i can show you that video. we got a closer look in the

backyard of the home next to that. they will have to come and set up an entire new power pole. this area was hit and they are really working to restore power. they said they have had 78 instances of trees down and more than 100 electric post damaged. thousands are in the dark and some are getting your 24 hours since they've had power. we had the regional vice president to talk to. >> i don't have a time frame for when all the work will be completed. right now, the challenge is what additional weather and outages we will see. four there is a possibility of rain now. if they're working to restore power to those who have been without it for the longest. a lot people are frustrated. we will keep you updated. as

some of you deal with power outages, santa clara county is warning that you need to stay warm to be safe. they are giving you warming centers starting today. we have information for you on kpix.com. just look under top stories. we could actually get snow right here in the bay area. we are going to go back in history, it seems. some pretty cool pictures for you. caltrans has equipment in getting ready ahead of the expected storms. there is a real potential, especially in the santa cruz area. i spoke with an astronomer on matt hamilton about the possibility of people trying to get up there to see the snow.>> first of all, it is dangerous. people can get themselves into trouble. conditions can change rapidly at this elevation. so people tend to drive in the ice and the water freezes and

they have difficulty getting down.>> as for when and where the snow may fall, let's get more details from darren peck.>> forecasting the snow level is tricky. i will use one of the most obvious landmarks as an example. mount diablo. this sits at about 3000 feet. this is high enough to get snow. but if you look at thursday morning, we will have cold enough air in place that should be precipitating at that point, you could potentially get snow as low as 900 feet. it does not mean it will still because we don't have the precipitation lined up perfectly. you could get some light snow flurries, but it is doubtful it will cumulate. the likely time frame comes later in the friday. by then, the air has warmed and snow level is at 1800 the. that is a good conversion of

what you need. we will have a snow at around 900 feet and enough precipitation and it should accumulate at that elevation.>> we want to look at some of the past snowfalls in the area. the snow fall of 1976. this was a family in san mateo county. it looks more like tahoe. these cars were coated with powder. it came down to heavy across the east bay. this is what it looked like an san leandro. let's go back even farther. this was in 1887. 3.7 inches of snow fell in downtown san francisco. it snowed for a couple of hours early in the morning. this photograph was taken between 20th and 21st streets. stay with cbs news bay area for our first alert coverage and we are always on kpix.com.

this week barbara lee made it official that she is launching a bid to replace dianne feinstein. today we learned more about her campaign strategy. i spoke with her a few hours ago about who she hopes will get out the vote.>> i have hope in young people. i have a lot of gen zers helping me and they know the climate is burning and they know there is the climate crisis. they understand what real public safety is. they understand what economic justices and racial justice is. these young people are phenomenal. i'm telling you, they give me hope. we have to give them hope, and part of my campaign is engaging young people to make sure that they know that our democracy is very fragile. we have to fight to preserve it.>> she went on to tell me she has a strong online fundraising effort. her competitors have millions

of dollars. she is choosing to target donors who can give five to $10 per month. let's take a look at this. this center will open in 2025 on the santa clara valley medical center campus. they will offer behavioral health services. and the new engineering headquarters for tesla will be in palo alto. elon musk made the announcement with governor gavin newsom today. even though tesla headquarters are in texas, plenty of the operations are still in california. this will take over the old headquarters of hewlett- packard. still ahead, why seacliff has such special meaning to so many of us in the bay area. we are tracking temperatures and the next chance of rain on this first

aler

welcome back, everybody. we are bracing for cold temperatures, but we are following the destruction from last set of storms. this beloved pier is getting ready to be torn down. it could collapse at any

moment. and people are saying goodbye. the deep connection that so many of us have this landmark. >> reporter: there's not much of this pier that is left standing, and what is their could come down at any point. that is why there are plans to demolish this beloved landmark. even a quick look at this pier tells you virtually everything you need to know. almost everything.>> we love the ocean. this is eply etial. as deep as a daughter's love. one her father died in 2007, her family had a commemorative wrench dedicated in his honor and it was overlooking the ocean.>> people have gravesites and we have a bench. sometimes you're having issues, you may go and sit at the

pension talk. >> reporter: they were worried that it may not survive the powerful winter storm that took a chunk out of the pier and left the rest sagging and close to collapsing. the pier was too badly damaged to say.>> the damage from this past january was immense, and when we consulted with experts including engineers, they surmised that it was too much to rebuild. >> reporter: the parks department will cleanup the trees first and broken bits of the seawall that litter the beach. and then they will begin to demolish the pier itself. rangers promised they will do the best to save the bench. but what happens next is anyone's guess.>> we were thinking that if they are not going to do anything with them, we would just have it in my

sister's backyard. >> reporter: one of the lingering questions is, what happens now? there are no plans to remove this at all. this has become part of the marine environment in the 100 years it has been in place.>> such a personal touchstone. time for the the forecast. hopefully, we will avoid any additional damage along the coast or elsewhere. the wind is still dusting. let's look at the big picture. this is going to squeeze the atmosphere over the bay area and result in gusty winds tomorrow night. the bigger impact will be the ability to grab additional moisture. off-and-on showers will linger into friday. snow levels will drop because the storm system has cold air

and it pushes down lower in the atmosphere. the snow level will drop down to about 1500 feet. let's look at what is on first alert doppler radar. we have some sporadic showers. there is snow in the northern mountains of sonoma county. we are just seeing this hit-or- miss activity. this will be the case tonight. occasional passing showers into thursday morning. and the snow line will be above 2000 feet. it will be very patchy to begin the day thursday. that will change by the late afternoon. i would plan on a sloppy thursday evening commute. maybe the rain will hold off until after everybody is home, but the snow levels will drop, and we will see quite a bit of rain at lower elevations as well. it looks like the heaviest whitcher will be on the southern half of the eroffriday

more showers rotating in friday night and even into early saturday. this model shows we will hold on to these after saturday. we are talking about enough snow to cause problems on the roadways above 1500 feet in elevation, especially in the santa cruz mountains. anyone that will be trying to make their way toward matt hamilton will have a rough go at it. exercise caution. you have to be careful. and the snow level will bring in the potential for ridgeline accumulations. some snow in the mountains of the north bay and more snow further inland into lake county. most of us will see rain with

snow accumulating in the distance. about 2 inches of rain. h i would be surprised if san jose picked up 8 inches of rain, but maybe over an inch. this would have a beneficial impact on the drought situation. and there's another chance of rain after break on saturday. more rain sunday into monday and maybe lingering into tuesday of next week. right now, this is what we have been seeing. a mix of clouds and sunshine. it will be cold air by early tomorrow morning. temperatures into the 30s. even san francisco dropping below 40. we don't warm up a lot on thursday. back up to the upper 40s to around 50 degrees. the clouds will thicken and the rain becomes much more likely.

also the potential for snow to slow things down about 1500 feet. and more rain by sunday and monday. even lingering into tuesday. below average temperatures will be with us for a while. the warmest day is the last day of the 7-day forecast. and temperatures will be 9 degrees below normal for the first day of march. still ahead, a former commander in chief and a bridgebuilder. how one neighborhood celebrates the work of president jimmy carter outside of the oval office. here's a look outside. this is a staggering number and a harsh reality. how can you protect yourself and your loved ones? this is a personal alarm system. you can hang it on your backpack or your purse or carry

it with you when you go out. it is lightweight, easy, and when you pull the top off, it signals at 130 decibels. i will show you how it works. just a warning, it is a little loud. no one is missing that. it creates a diversion so you can get out of harms way. the founders want you to trust your gut. if you feel like you are in danger, get out of there. this device isidea r one yocaab kids goto college, a friend on a blind date, your parents, your siblings likes to jog. i got this as a gift from one of my girlfriends. she knows i like to walk my dog and hike, and i'm happy to have this device. i can do all the things i love on my own without worrying. it gives me that independence. right now on cbsdeals.com we are offering 25% off this personal alarm system.

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we need more of us coming together for a common good. today we highlight a former leader of the nation. and for many, he is recognized

for his work with habitat for humanity. president jimmy carter is in hospice care. americans are reflecting on his decades of service outside of the oval office, including this. in 1997 he helped to build homes here. this woman has lived here for the last 25 years. she said what he did was a blessing in her life.>> he was here every single day. he was here from 6:00 a.m. until they decided to quit when it was almost dark at night. he put his hands on and build.>> this plaque was put up in the neighborhood to honor his work outside of the nation's capital. coming up, these newlyweds did not quite make it to the after party. why they needed to be rescued. and tomorrow we invite you to watch our special, black in the bay,

where we will showcase trail blazers across the region. it starts at

parking garage on the bottom. rooms on top. this is one of the most common type of buildings. one of the most vulnerable to collapse during the earthquake. now, a race to reinforce the structures is coming up i'm cbs evening news. and for new

immigrants learning english, not always easy or accessible. we will meet a woman who is making sure as many people as possible have the opportunity to learn. a couple has a story to tell about what happened after their wedding. the bride and groom and wedding party were going to the after party in the hotel when they got stuck in an elevator. crews got everybody out and the bride had to climb up a ladder. two and half hours later, everybody was out safely. by then, the after party was over.>> it sounds like a good excuse to get the after party going. but i would say, the elevator got stuck. how about you keep the bar going.>> how about free drinks until 2050. thank you so much for

watching. ♪ ♪ 's be on tonight a state of emergency in minnesota as a monster winter storm threatens near record-breaking snowfall. more than 75 million people in its path. here today is top headlines. ♪ ♪ speak of the projections show an unprecedented three day weather event. >> norah: schools closed and flight canceled. >> stay home, stay warm, stay safe. >> norah: president biden wraps up his visit to poland and ukraine, and a pledge to protect in nato's eastern flank from russian aggression. >> we will defend every inch of nato. ♪ ♪ [chanting "trump"] >> norah: former president donald trump visits the ohio town