rain, it's been sprinkles all day. there is a live radar sweep. light rainfalling in the san jose area out toward pacifica. heavier rain now showing up in the north bay. you see that darker green up toward santa rosa, napa, san rafael. we come over to the marine head lands, that's up by the cliff house in the darker areas you see a more moderate rainfall. the rain will continue to fall. it's going to fall all weekend . out on the east shore, you have moderate rainfalling. >> reporter: i can confirm, the drizzle has begun to intensify in the last hour or so. the temperature has fallen noticeably. it's now about 45 degrees unofficially here at near gillman street near 80. we talked to people today who

spent most of time getting ready for this first winter like storm of the season. >> keep in doors, probably catch up on my reading. >> am i ready for it? i just got an umbrella so hopely that helps. >> this is the worse kind of rain because it makes you really wet. but it's not hard enough to hide from. >> reporter: this evenings blustery cold weather is nothing like we had last week. they say roads are slick with rain, the winds are increasing and could be as many as four or five hours of white out conditions this weekend in the sierra. so the travel is treacherous. reporting live in berkeley, health and science editor, john

fowler ktvu news. up in the sierra it's rain and snow. ktvu's ken pritchett is live at blue canyon this evening with that part of our coverage. >> reporter: when we talked at 5:00 we had rain, a cold rain. you can see it better, you can see that rain is starting to turn in just started to turn into some flurries here. in fact, we have a little bit of ice accumulation on our truck. this is westbound interstate 80 where you can see the roadway remains wet. it turned into flurries here about half an hour ago. it has been snowing here in the summit for much of the afternoon. for snow boarders and skiers at borreal this afternoon. >> pretty breezy, pretty cold but it's fun. >> reporter: the snowfall was light but it was clear a storm was approaching. >> i can't wait. all the mountains are going to be open after this, i was stoked.

>> i was going to try to miss it. because i know once it starts snowing in tahoe it doesn't stop. >> reporter: this is not the first snowstorm to roll through the sierra this season but it should pack a big punch. >> this one is four feet. and it's all coming in pretty much in a span of 2.5 days. >> reporter: the expectation of a mayor storm has sugar bowl planning to open on wednesday. >> it's usually an early opening if we get thanksgiving. four or five years ago we opened up in halloween. that was a really early opening. we will be excited if we get open by thanksgiving. there are a number of major ski resorts opening this weekend. heavily will open until thanksgiving. if you are planning to head up, it's a good idea to check ahead while interstate 80 may look fine now, that is likely to change or will change before this weekend is out. so bring your check ahead

before you head out to the sierra. ken pritchett. thanksgiving is next thursday but that hasn't stopped some people from starting their holiday ahead of schedule. travelers were packed and ready to go this morning at san francisco international airport. officials say they expect well over a million people to pass through sfo during the next ten days and they are urging people to be mindful of the weather no matter where they are headed. >> if you're going to hawaii or mexico some where warm, that flight may have originated in chicago in rout to hear, so always touch base with your carrier. >> reporter: airport fishes also suggest passengers arrive 90 minutes early for domestic flights and two hours early for international flights. rain always slows down the evening commute. you know it's going to be a long night when you see the access road there to the left very crowded there as well. aaa is predicting more than 9 million californians will travel 50 miles or more during

the upcoming thanksgiving holiday. that's an 11% increase compared to last year. a plan to erect cell phone towers has started controversy. parents say those towers will be raised near their children's classrooms and that's raised concern. paul chamber joins us now. >> reporter: you had some very dedicated students and parents who walked a half a mile in this weather to this verizo behind us. though the city of oakland gave the company the green light to build the cell tower, parents are hoping the company will reconsider. >> education not radiation. >> reporter: today 40 concerned parents and students in near by yates elementary armed with signs and their voices. >> we're really calling for a precautionary approach, right. and calling on verizon to have

more responsible antenna placement. >> reporter: the towers will be installed across this school. in an area that is zoned for mixed use. >> no one really knows with the proliferation of cell antennas, if they are actually safe on kids. >> reporter: today verizon released this statement. verizon will operate the cell site in full compliance with all applicable rules. >> if we want to fight a battle. the pollution from automobiles is much more hazardous. probably the vapor coming out of the building materials. >> reporter: so today's protest did draw a reaction from jane

bruner who said, although the committee cannot stop these antennas from going up, they will -- a student showed a text message to a teacher, parents were alerted. police were called and a lot of students stayed home. those who did attend class say the threat may have originated from a fight earlier this week. >> it's like a gang thing. they were in a fight so -- i think it stemmed from that. >> reporter: students are off next week for the thanksgiving holiday. and administrators say they hope tensions will ease by the time classes resume. more than 100 bay area fifth graders are now armed, not with weapons but with new skills to help keep them in the straight and narrow and quite

honestly change their lives. john sasaki is in oakland to explain. >> reporter: this is this one sign of the criminal element that lives in this east oakland neighborhood. just across the street is the lockwood campus where student school kids graduated from a program aimed at keeping them out of gangs. 100 oakland fifth graders graduated from the gang resistance education and training program today. it's designed to give kids the tools to succeed in a difficult environment. >> i learned to resist gangs no matter what they say. because there's always a loophole. >> reporter: christie hughes says she's concerned for her daughter's safety constantly because of where they live. >> it's scary, it's just very scary. every day you hope that you don't get that call that that's your child that got shot or killed. >> reporter: the school is situateded in a neighborhood where we have unfortunately a lot of acts of violence and the

kids are quite aware of it. the six week program officers classes for anger management. and students say getting through it was not easy task. >> it needs a lot of courage and a lot of self-discipline. >> reporter: another parent said a strong family structure is key to help kids resist the semiation of the gang life. >> they may have friends that try to influence them. what really helps a lot are programs like these. >> reporter: today it was easy to see students proud of thr accomplishments and to see parents proud of their students. i'm john sasaki, channel 2 news. more than 20 years after her kidnapping, family members of garreck said they are not giving up her segathered at the

lot where the 9-year-old disappeared 22 years ago today. her mother says she has hope of being reunited with her mother, especially after the discovery of jaycee dugard. >> mckayla may still be out there and i want her to know we're still looking for her. community activists are calling for leniency tonight for those who took to the streets. they also want those who protested following oscar grant's at the times cleared of all criminal charges. california's unemployment rate is holding steady. the employment development

department said california's jobless rate remained unchanged in october at 12.4%. this is the 15th straight month the unemployment rate has hovered over 12%. more than 2.2 million californians are unemployed. the state gained 31,000 jobs last month. most in the professional services. the financial industry shed the most jobs. the bay area's unemployment rate remains below the state average. solano and alameda county had the lowest rates. marin county has the lowest un unemployment rate at 8%. google is expanding it's work force. the internet giant is on a hiring spree. that would amount to an 18% increase in staffing. executives have said their wages a quote war for talent. well stocks nudged higher

today on wall street. investors are still worried about a slow down. at the closing bell, the dow jones was up 22 points putting the market slightly up for the week. the nasdaq gained close to four points but was down for the week. why popular painkillers are being pulled from the market. the wind and wet weather is hitting hard at this traditional san francisco holiday event. we'll take you there live coming up. diabetes testing? it's all the same. nothing changes.

[ man then try this. new and improved freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, but it's not gonna -- wow. [ beep [ man yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. [ woman did it just -- [ both target the blood? [ man yeah, drew it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of onetouch®. that is different. so freestyle lite test strips make testing... [ man easy? easy. [ man call for a special offer and go to walgreens to learn more about diabetes. and get freestyle lite test strips today. it's beginning to feel a lot like christmas in san francisco. tonight a simple flip of a switch is going to put the city in the holiday spirit. >> reporter: i want you to take a look behind me at the ice

rink here in the embarcadero. the lighter of the embarcadero center is about to begin in half an hour. you can see how the weather is pounding down on visitors here. despite the weather is show is going to go on. despite the weather and a power outage that earlier caused a few problems here. tonight's 24th annual lighting ceremony seems more like a circus than a holiday celebration. >> we're hoping to get some pony rides in and see frosty. >> reporter: all this on weather that seemed unfrightful. >> the show will go on. hopefully it's not a torrential downpour. but we're really looking forward to watch the fireworks

go off. >> every one of these lightbulbs has to be checked, replaced as they need to be and retrofitted. >> reporter: the buildings will remain lit just past new year's day. serving as bay area beacons for the holiday season. >> those are landing lights right? good, very good. >> reporter: stores are staying open late in hopes of attracting the crowds outside. >> when you're done with skating, done looking at the lightning with four buildings, come on up. >> reporter: a pg & e power failure this afternoon caused a minor melt down. it delayed performances by disney stars.

and coming up, captain sullen b urger will flip the switch. mayor chuck reed is among those slated to attend tomorrow's ribbon cutting ceremony. the new 7,000 square feet station replaces the current number 19 station on piedmont road. city officials say the older station will eventually be torn down. back to the weather. we saw that it's raining in san francisco and things are changing as we speak over to our chief meteorologist now bill martin. for more on what's going on here, bill. >> the last couple of hours the rain has come on. it's not torrential but it is raining out there. it is pretty much as anticipated. we talked about the heaviest rain being in the afternoon commute and that's what's happening. heaviest rain up in salsalito, you have showers, windshield

wipers are on moderate. out toward redwood city and mountain view you see those darker greens. that's a little bit heavier rain. this is going to be the way it goes all weekend. we're going to have periods of light rain, periods of stronger rain and basically cool conditions right through the weekend. clearing for the week weekend. we have a very cold weather system, as it does it sets up saturday as the wettest day. i think saturday night, should be the wettest period probably between 4:00, 9:00 saturday night. we're going to get pretty significant rain half an inch. sunday, occasional showers, sunday will be wet like it was today though. just drizzling, kinds of miserable. here's the break out. 4:00 to 10:00, heaviest rain on saturday. that's how it goes right now. temperatures in the 50s, of course those snow levels are low. mountain travel will be a bit of a drag this weekend. weather services say, you don't have to go i would agree with that. if you don't want to go, i

would stay clear. computer models, tonight at 10:00 showers. here we go into saturday, not so bad. the cal game gets ready to start into the game -- about toward the end of the game rain may pick up. it's going to be light rain with heavier rain late on saturday. here's the main event there it went. saturday night into sunday morning. sunday will be more light scattered showers. my buddy mark tamayo will be here this weekend and he'll be updating this fluid situation. this is not a huge storm, it's not out of control. it's just a cool storm. it feels a lot more like december. considering the last four days ago the story was record heat in the area. these are unusual circumstances. sunday might be the best day in the weekend if you want to have to do anything outside. >> new maps at 10:00 tonight. >> i'm going to update the models at 10:00. >> thanks, bill. a man from san jose got an unwelcomed visit in his driveway from a 3-foot long python.

as he came out to his car yesterday and found a snake in his highway. he called vector control but says it took a while for them to arrive so arkin captured the snake in a bucket. >> we realized it didn't belong here. >> reporter: the snake is named picasso and belonged to arkin's neighbor. she says that she plans to build a more secure enclosure for him now. the fda wants the widely used painkillers darvon and darvist pulled. the drugs are used to treat mild to moderate pain and have been on the market for 50 years. the warning comes after a study showed the drugs put patients

at risk for erratic heart rate. san francisco officials are hoping to host the america's cup. plan a was to redevelop three pier south of the bay bridge. but a budget analyst report shows that shifting to telegraph hill would save money and give people a lot better view of the bay. the event could cost the city up to $143 million but at the same time it could also generate $1.4 billion in revenue. a decision on naming the host city is expected by the end of the year. coming up, classic machines, high tech twists and daredevil stunts. where you can catch it all this week end. ocooer feoel cort eeit t totr r

the san mateo county event center is the place to be this weekend if you love motorcycles. live stunts are among the attractions at the international motorcycle show. >> put on every bit of gear you can put on if this is something you are interested in. take it some where to a closed course area, like a parking lot

where you can get out and you're not going to endanger anyone else, and get at it. >> they have classics to new bikes with high tech features. that was really cool. >> those guys are good. mark is off tonight. fred is here, who would think middle of november raiders are in first place going for win number four in a row. >> they are hot right now and they have had a week off as well. the raiders might be the healthiest they've been all season. and they'll need everyone on board sunday when they try to beat the steelers in pittsburgh for the second straight year. give some credit to the raiders offensive line, number 70 that's walker, a sanford graduate. obviously winning is the best medicine. >> it definitely makes your car ride home or plane ride home a whole lot better. makes meetings, you have fun in

the locker room, you have fun at practice. it's when you have success, everybody feels good. big game. >> big game, cal hasn't exactly had the best season. but you know this is the big game. you know anything can happen. and i think we're at home. so you know all you cal bear fans come out and support. i'll definitely be watching from pittsburgh. >> yes the 113th edition of the game kicks off in berkeley tomorrow. the cardinal, favorite by a touchdown but cals won seven of the last eight games including last year at stanford 34-28. it's a good idea but the first college football game since 1938 that's been played in wrigley field needs a little tweaking. tomorrow's game will mean they'll both play in one direction. after one team loses

possession. the ball will be repossessed. it's believed this is the first game ever that the teams both lead toward the same end zone. >> oh my gosh, that's great. thanks greg. coming up on tv 36. we're going to take you to the cutting edge of the car industry right here in the bay area. >> green technology joins the san francisco auto show this year, coming up we'll show you some of the hottest cars that are on the floor. again that's in 30 minutes on tv 36. that is our report for now. have a good evening everyone. >> good night. the black widow spider's severe bite

can cause coma and even death. the african black mamba can kill a man with one bite. but there's an even deadlier predator cigarettes, produced by big tobacco, which take a life every six point five seconds. don't be big tobacco's next victim.