this is cbs news bay area with reed cowan. it is a snow day. fresh snow on friday and a first alert weather day. our crews are covering all of

it in the air, on the ground and you are helping us tell the story as well as you get out and experience it. good afternoon, everybody. what a day. i'm reed cowan. we don't say this often around here but it is a snow day across much of the bay area. talking to those of you in the higher elevations, we know you are seeing a lot of fresh powder. our chopper got these views all around the region today. a beautiful, scenic blanket of white. >> there will be some selfies up this snow we peek. if you're one of the people who made it to the top, let us know. we want to see your photos. all of that wet weather is making a mess for the roads. be safe out there. that goes without saying. on the left, we noover highway 17. you can see a blanket of fog and that patchwork of snow. on the right, you can see livermore, highway 85. that is covered. we can tell you livermore, more than 100 cars got stuck while driving in

the snow. alameda county fire had to come out and help the drivers. we got it covered north to south, east to west. the video from livermore emphasizes why we are making such a big deal out of avoiding trouble through the higher elevations in the bay area. this is a live view right now from the top of mt. diablo where the snow continues to fall. mt. hamilton, the big winner with this type of system, over a foot of accumulation. just under a foot in the higher elevations around los gatos. calistoga, 9 inches of snow. lower amounts as you go down and elevation. right now, we are seeing a mix of conditions across the bay area. some of the rainfall amounts over the past 24 hours were good. this will have a beneficial impact on the long-term drought conditions. over a half inch of rain from concord to san jose . right now,

let's look at first alert doppler. some showers in the northbay. this will be the case as we had through the rest of tonight. not much around san puttinevngi motion, what is happening in the central valley will backup few minutes. let's go back up into the chopper. this is a live look at the santa cruz mountains from our chopper right now. a beautiful scene right now, picturesque. we are watching the roadways right there ended like our men and women in service down there in squad cars doing the same. we are out looking at it. highway 17 remains closed in both directions. that is all the way from highway 85 up to granite creek road. this is exclusive video of highway 17. if you know that area, you know

it is steep, winding and even more dangerous right now because of the slick snow we conditions. we talked to a lot of people who know how rare this snow is. >> it is very unusual to have to close that highway because it is such a main artery between santa cruz and here, santa clara. we have folks who can't get over here and go to work. >> our shawn chitnis shows us the conditions. >> we are able to stand in the middle of highway 17 southbound lane this morning because it has been closed all day as they were concernsabout snicand ed t dire. rlie e moin yhodifficulthe condiorewith plenty of lialg wi of rain and then you add the ice and the trees coming down. drivers have a lot to deal with as they were trying to get through this part of the santa cruz mountains. >> i woke up this morning and

it was surprising to see this much snow on the ground. i was heading out for a mountain bike ride but it doesn't like it will happen. we will see how it goes. they have been out here plowing already. >> what is the plan for the rest of the day? >> wait a couple hours and then had to work. >> we know that the snowline was around 1200 feet but we have seen snow all throughout this stretch of highway 17, even going lower than where we are currently standing. there is plenty of snow in this part of the mountains and it will take quite some time to clear the damage that has been done from this unusual winter weather. >> your mother called and said get out of the road. these earlier images show the power poles and the trees knocked down on highway 17. crews are working hard to clear the debris. no timeline for when this road will reopen. the peaks of mount tam in marin county, beautiful blanket it with snow. our cameras caught this glimpse here behind me from a distance. you can squint and see the snow

but up close it looks a lot different. snow covered the west point along old railroad road in mill valley a couple of miles off the panoramic highway. kenny choi went there. >> reporter: we are on mount tam at an elevation of about 1800 feet, a little more than that. we ran into some hikers, mountain bikers along the way and even some campers, most of whom have said they haven't seen anything quite like this. >> i am loving it. i saw that it was going to snow and i better get my butt up the hill. spectacular and really fun and unusual. i took a bunch of photos. >> it has been cold. great views. >> a bit snow we. a lot of people are excited to see snow in the bay. >> reporter: we can't quite see it from here but in the distance behind me is the east peek. that is another 800 feet in elevation. we know that there are a lot of

people who headed up there and even one snowboarder who made it all the way down. we will hear from him later tonight. >> kenny choi reporting there, your dad says get off the mountain. here are how things looked in sonoma county. cloverdale school district cancel classes for the day. you can hear the kids still cheering. this is a live look right now mt. diablo. all of the paved roads within the state park are close because of the snow. we understand some treear down ssees nes. r juet goodrich found snow in the beautiful livermore valley. >> reporter: hey, there. i wanted to scout out some snow and here it is. this is the livermore valley. we took a little road trip, just checking out the scenery. it is quite remarkable. i have never seen snow at this level in all of the years of living here. you can see the homes that

still have the snow on the ground. some homeowners said it is pretty hard feeding their chickens this morning because they did not expect to have all of this snow. it is quite remarkable in the livermore valley. you can see the vineyards down there with some cows and the whole area covered in white snowcapped. >> thank you so much. now to berkeley where snow blanketed grassy areas and trees along grizzly peak. the snow was a big draw for a lot of you to walk around with your pups and snap some photos of the trails. >> i am at a loss for words. this is amazing. >> it is freezing cold. >> i need some hot chocolate. >> as you might imagine, snow is all everybody seems to be talking about on the social media. we know you have been sending in photos all day long. i know the person who is catching those photos. anne makovec with what you are seeing. >> we are getting different vantage points all over the area. let's start and los gatos and

check out this view from diane caldwell. you can see the snow covering every inch of this deck and all over the surrounding trees. she also sent us these pictures of summit road right across her driveway, calling it beautiful but scary. downed trees and power lines toppled over, they are blocking off the road. diane said she heard the sound of the branches breaking and falling. here is a much calmer picture on twitter. somebody snapped this shot of mt. diablo. you can see the reflection of the lake below. check this out. a brave guy walking around the top of mission peak in fremont. he tweeted out this video of whiteout conditions writing, quote, it was a bit windy at the top. and, we save the best for last. an apple winery turned into a ski resort. that is a man snowboarding down the driveway of cad estate winery. keep sending us your pictures. you can tweet us, #kpix.

>> i got a complaint. nobody is doing snow angels. >> i am sure they are out there. we need photographic evidence. a check on the sierra snow conditions as some of you may be planning a weekend getaway. where our bay area outages stand as people work to get the

taking you up to see the beautiful live views of the snowcapped mountains. we already live in a beautiful area but this gave us a few more brushstrokes. it is a snowy first alert weather day. this is video of the tri-valley hills from our dublin camera. paul is back with our full forecast in just a few minutes. let's talk about oakland. police announce an arrest in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 100-year-old man. oakland resident. police released the photos of the suspect's car earlier, hoping to lead them to the suspect. the crash happened sunday near lake merritt at 19th and harrison. let's go to santa clara county. covid-19 vaccination and testing locations are starting to close now. the county says it is because there is a widespread testing and vaccination availability from other providers. the county can pull back now from its covid-19 prevention efforts.

testing at the santa clara county fairgrounds, those of you that are used to taking advantage of that need to know that but vaccinations will be available through tomorrow. power outages a problem in parts of the bay area following strong winds this week. we just got an update from pg&e a couple of minutes ago. at last check, nearly 13,000 customers are still in the dark. we stopped in east palo alto to talk to families having a tough time without electricity. they have been in the dark in the freezing cold without hot water. some said they have been getting mixed messages from pg&e about when the power will come back on. >> no good at all. there is no heat. the house is really, really cold. i am worried about my kids because there is no light around . we don't trust anywhere. >> that is selena who works

nights. she has been worried about leaving her family alone in the cold and the dark. i-80 in the sierra now open after big closure that kept a lot of you from getting home from your ski week vacations yesterday. reporter rachel wulff was in colfax this morning before the road reopened and said some drivers had to get creative. >> reporter: one guy charged his car in auburn, slept in his car at a charging station. he said they charged him extra. i thought, that is a 2023 snow story i have not covered yet. >> this was another issue in the sierra. fire and ice, quite literally. a commercial truck caught fire but nobody got hurt. it did slope traffic earlier today. uc berkeley central sierra snow lab this morning got 26 inches of the white stuff, bringing their three-day total to 45 inches. they are expecting another 7 to 14 inches today before a break in the snow tomorrow.

the weather is creating dangerous driving conditions in parts of southern california. one problem is in the town pass in the san bernardino mountains. delivery driver says he has never seen anything like this. >> this is unusual. i have lived in california my whole life. i've never been in a snow flurry before. >> crews say they have mostly been dealing with minor accidents and spin outs in that area. let's come home now back to our bay area. you can see there a creature spotted right up there. this is a coyote spotted around 2:00. this animal looking around saying, wait a minute, this is supposed to be california. we have been getting these sweeping views of the snowy peaks all afternoon. watch out for that coyote. we captured quite a few animals and natural habitats including deer right there in the diablo range. time now for a look at our forecast with first alert chief meteorologist paul heggen. >> if only deer run coyote could shrug their shoulders.

>> i think their expressions say at all. let's take a look at what is happening. this is going to drift uth asd through 24 hrs. it will pull the moisture away from us by tomorrow afternoon. as it moves to the south, the wind direction will blow counterclockwise around this area of low pressure. the showers in the central bay right now will back up toward the bay area. you can see the beginnings of that trundled ready on the radar loop. showers moving more or less south and north and they are eventually going to move from east to west. let's switch over to futurecast and track that through the next couple of days. we have lingering showers in the forecast and i put the snow level hovering around 1500 feet to the rest of the overnight hours. it will not last all day tomorrow. more rain further down the

line. lingering showers on saturday. we will be drying out toward midday and into the afternoon. the dry break continues saturday night but the next wave of moisture will be knocking on our doorstep as the sun is coming up on sunday and that rain will move through the bay area especially from late morning into the afternoon on sunday. this will be a quick hitting storm system. there will be some brief heavy downpours and small hail. yes, there could be a rm sunday around midday into the afternoon. and other dry break sunday night. that will not last very long because the next wave of rain will be moving in on monday. that looks like it will be more intense and more long-lasting. let's set up the rain. the first batch of showers we will see lingering tonight will be hit or miss. some locations may be picking up an additional quarter inch or so of rainfall. the rain that moves through on sunday, another quarter inch of rain. it moves through quickly and

that limits how much it can drop on us. then we see more rain monday into tuesday. we are talking between 1 inch and 2 inches of additional rainfall across the higher bay area. add that to what we picked up over the last 24 hours and this is a very beneficial on the long-term drought conditions. in the high sierra, still a winter storm warning in effect with a winter weather advisory around lake tahoe through tomorrow morning. lake level, another several inches of snow but we are talking another two and half feet of snow at the highest peaks. there will be some light snow showers and then the winter storm watch goes into effect tuesday. another foot or two of snow. some of the ridgelines getting 90 miles per hour wind gusts. travel will be strongly discouraged. temperatures are still cold, mid to upper 40s across the entire bay area. it is nice to see the sunshine breaking through but it has not

made a difference in terms of temperatures today. temperatures tonight dropping down mostly to the 30s. highs tomorrow once again a good 15 degrees below normal. we will top out around 50 degrees. let's check out the 7-day forecast. temperatures will not change a lot until we get the rain chance behind us and that won't happen until the middle of next week. we will start off the month of march with three dry days, wednesday, thursday, and friday but temperatures will be running substantially before normal with the rain chances sunday, monday, and tuesday. i don't think we will see that impact that this last system brought us. >> you mentioned temperatures running. something else is running as well. highway 17 is back open in both directions. good news for those people who need that to get in and out of the weekend. once again, highway 17, that steep winding

mountain road through the santa cruz mountains is now open. coming up, it is not all business. see how some of our reporters had some fun in the snow today. if you missed it, we invite you to watch the encore showing of our one-hour special, black in the bay.

a beautiful live picture there. here is video from chopper 5 that takes us to the south bay. they say crews have been busy plowing the snow and trying to keep up with the snowball. caltrans plans to keep mt. hamilton road closed until at least sunday. you can see the backhoe moving the white stuff. all day long we have been bringing you pictures of the snowy conditions across the bay area including these conditions from grizzly peak in the east bay. here is what our crew went through to bring you these pictures. this is a time lapse of justin andrews trying to catch a little snow on his tongue this morning. check out how much sn collected on his jacket in the span of 25 minutes. our thanks to justin and his photojournalist for toughing it out.

one of the reporters from our sister station in auburn built a snowman today. this is a time lapse video. you can see that i walk by wearing shorts. he says it is no big deal to wear shorts but if he stood out there long enough, he might find out otherwise. still ahead, details on a year deal from the giants this season. you can watch us any time on our streaming service, cbs bay area plus news and weather updates all day on the cbs news app or pluto tv on channel 397. tonight on the cbs evening news, china is engaged in the largest military buildup since world war ii. how is the u.s. navy preparing? we fly in a helicopter to find out just what they a

welcome back, friends. coming up, we will take you to wine country to see how people there are dealing with the snow in napa county. can you say iced wine? looking live at oracle park right now, they have a break for baseball fans. the giants say beer at the ballpark will cost $9. that is down from $14. you heard me say $9 and thought

ouch. doing a little better. that is for a 14 ounce domestic draft at the doggie diner stands throughout the park. on this friday, the st. louis zoo has an escape artist on its hands. from beer to bears, by the way. despair broke out of his outdoor habitat on thursday for the second time this month. the first time he meddled with the steel mesh of his habitat, causing the cable to give way. the zoo then added security to the enclosure. apparently that is not enough either. this time the bear went out and guests and staff were taken to indoor facilities for one hour until the bear was secure. i think they will change his name to houdini. >> smarter than your average bear. >> i guess so. >> that comes as a plus from my past. >> yogi. >> we did not practice that, nor should we have done it on my tv. >> it is friday, everybody.

>> something stuck from our childhood. >> learning? no. yogi? sure. local streaming continues on cbs bay area. ♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, a special edition of the "cbs evening news" from here aboard the uss nimitz. a nuclear powered aircraft carrier that is one of the mostl warships in the world. tonight, our exclusive access and interview with top gun pilots, what happened in a confrontation with china. plus, the one-year anniversary of the war in ukraine. presidt zelekyy pledges victory against russia by years end, as nations show their support for ukraine. >> we are unbreakable. the people of ukraine are unbreakable. ♪ ♪ >> we are one of the few countries that can pull this off. >> norah: our exclu