a blasted of arctic air how one bay area community is bracing itself! >> why the sign of a bodies in the backyard of a marin county home is not called a homicide. >> the fight over bart's future leadership, next on ktvu channel 2 news at noon. good afternoon. we begin this noontime on

stormwatch. the bay area is bracing for an unusual blast of arctic weather over the next few days. it will include more rain and cold temperatures, and there's even a possibility of snow down to sea level. jade hernandez is in the south bay, talk to people about preparing their homes and plants for the freezing weather. but we begin with mark on more with when we can expect. >> good afternoon. rainfall on the increase over the next few hours, and temperatures will definitely be on the decrease, a rapid change in the overall weather pattern for this afternoon and evening hours. right now temperatures not so unusual. mainly in the upper 40s to lower 50s. the showers have been increasing on live storm- tracker 2 radar, and you can see some activity moving northwest bay, closer to santa rosa and right around st. helena. around the east bay we do have darker shades every green, closing in on benicia and around martinez, as you can see still the coverage here. and still rainfall to talk

about, i'll widen the view to give you the bigger perspective and more showers developing, as this picks up the snowfall will be at least a snow level coming down, here's the reason. as you can see on satellite, the main cold air that's still up to the north. you can see the speckle of the clouds here, and that will gradually sweep into the area and you'll definitely feel it later today, tonight, and especially as we do head into your friday. as a result, the national weather service issuing this, a winter weather advisory for the north bay hills, just a few hours from now this begins at 4:00, lasting until 10:00 friday morning. snowfall around two to six inches. the rest of the bay area at least for the hills, east bay hills and also for the santa cruz mountains, same advisory, winter weather advisory, this begins at 10:00 this evening, lasting until 10:00 friday. snowfall good around 2 to 6 inches, up above 2,000 feet we could have amounts easily topping 9 inches. coming up we'll look at the rainfall forecast, show you the timing for the rainfall and also the snowfall, and a two mornings in our five day with

temperatures starting out in the 20s. >> yikes. thank you, mark. so how are people preparing for the weather and possible snow heading our way? jade hernandez is in the south bay with more on that part of the story. good afternoon, jade. >> reporter: good afternoon. forecasters are reluctant to predict snow at sea level but there's one guarantee -- a huge temperature drop across the bay area. >> this is a cover you put over it. you can use burlap sacks, any of the type of insulation, towels will work. >> we checked in with orchard supply hardware and their assistant manager. the cold air could cause problems for tropical plants not used to the chill. budding plants and citrus. many customers who came into this hardware store over the past couple of days say plants were even not highest priority, pipes were. >> we've had experience here in the store where it's basically the pipes have burst.

it causes -- you have to turn the water off to fix it. you have to -- it's incredibly inconvenient and it can be dangerous. you've got water spilling out and the water freezes and you slip and it hurts. >> this woman says she watched the weather forecast this morning, and immediately contacted a friend out of town. she warned her about the temperatures about to descend on the bay area. >> looking like it will snow, and i asked did you want me to cover your plants while you're gone? she said, it's going to snow, not much you can do. they're going to be wet anyway. >> outdoor irrigation pipes also freeze. and independent contractor told me this morning he had his pipes freeze costing his hundreds of dollars last year. his advice, put a vinyl cover over he them or allow water to trickle through the pipes. subfreezing temperatures are not expecting until tomorrow night, and the temperature for saturday morning right here in san jose is going to be about 34 degrees.

reporting live, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. a horrifying discovery in the north bay, police are trying to identify a body that was found in the backyard of a novato home owned by an older couple, and the male homeowner has not been seen for months. kraig debro has more. good afternoon, kraig. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. just got an update from police and an attorney with evelyn smith. a grisly scene. a team of crime scene investigators are digging up the skeletal remains of a body. it's a crime scene but not yet a homicide. >> oh, my gosh! this is really close by. you just never think your neighbor -- you know, something like that is going on next door. >> shock and then horror on rebecca court. a body found in the backyard of a man no onhere remembers

seeing since last september. 74-year-old dale smith's wife told police she doesn't know where her husband is, but it was a neighbor who filed a missing persons report two weeks ago, not smith. >> he wasn't here at the time. >> she didn't know where he was? >> at that time, no. didn't know where he was. >> gone on vacation in the past together and have asked me to pick their mail up. but this time there was no mention of that, and he was the only one to take off according to her, to see his brother or something. >> this morning an fbi evidence response team joined local police. the mission -- exhume human remains in a 4-foot deep hole. last night members of the same team were led to a recently constructed patio in the backyard, of the smith home, by cadaver dogs. >> the handlers felt it wasn't conclusive, but there was some activity in the area as the dogs did their search. >> police say evelyn smith gave permission for the search but once police found the body, police got a search warrant for

the rest of the property. evelyn smith got an attorney and now they're speaking on her behalf. police say she's a person of interest. >> she's concerned. she's very concerned about this. >> police say they expect to have the body exhumed today. and to get it to the coroner's for a positive id. reporting live, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, kraig. in texas, the fbi has arrested a college student accusing him of planning terrorist attacks in the u.s., including the assassination of former president george w. bush. investigators say 20-year-old khalid ali a student from saudi arabia bought explosives, chemicals over the internet. the fbi says he was plotting to blow up dams, nuclear power plants, and former president bush's north dallas home. he is in the u.s. on an opportunity visa attending

south plains college in loveland, texas. he is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and will be in court tomorrow. bart's board of directors formally acknowledged this morning that they acted illegally two weeks ago in the no-confidence vote for the general manager. in a unanimous vote they admitted five of the nine board members violated the brown act when they voted for dorothy dugger to resign without putting the item on the agenda. that came after a local expert lectured them in today's meeting, saying the five board members had done a disservice to the manager and staff. >> balanced budget with a surplus, find any other manager who can say that at this point. certainly not in the region. i don't think in the world. she has delivered -- she works tirelessly for this agency and staff. and it's unclear if the five board members will continue to pursue her resignation and if so, what steps they might take.

in christchurch, new zealand rescuers are forced to make tough decisions in their search for earthquake survivors. they continue to dig through rubble with heavy machinery and sometimes their bare hands to help free survivors trapped by collapsed buildings. officials must decide when to call off a search for the missing. that includes a number of foreign students who were inside the canterbury television building when it was flattened. the death toll from tuesday's 6.3 earthquake is 98. 226 others are still mating. u.s. officials are throwing their weight behind a european effort to expel libya from the human rights body this. is video taken on a cell phone in the streets of tripoli yesterday. hundreds are believed to have been killed by moammar gaddafi's regime. earlier today, he spoke on state tv and blamed osama bin laden for the uprising, saying al-qaeda put hallucinogenic pills in the coffee of anti-

government protestors. the exodus from libya continues by tens of thousands of foreigners, among them about 600 americans still stranded on a ferry, waiting for calmer seas to make the trip to the island of malta. the violence in libya is sending crude oil prices to their highest level in three years to $100 a barrel. reports that oil companies are shutting down in libya to protect their workers are sending crude oil prices surging around the world. analysts warn if violence in the middle east continues, and libya and algeria halt production together, crude oil prices could double. >> because libya supplies the majority of the oil to europe. about that gets shut off, then europe will start to seek oil resources in other areas, and that's going to start to affect our able to get our oil, and then the prices will starting to up. >> the sharp rise has many drivers worried about gas prices. right now the national average is $3.19 a gallon, almost a dollar higher than at this time

last year. the current price in san francisco is 45 cents higher than that. some say if the instability in the middle east becomes widespread, we could be paying more than $5 a gallon. toyota a recalling another two million vehicles because of gas pedals that could get stuck in floor mats. the world's number one automaker announced the new recall this morning. it includes three models, the forerunner suffer, compact suv, and the lexus lx570. toyota has now recalled more than 14 million vehicles world- wide since 2009. and you can learn more about the recall by going to the channel 2 website, ktvu.com. just look for the toyota tab on the front page. a vallejo family is without a home and their pet chihuahua is missing after a early morning fire this morning on sheraden street. firefighters say two teenagers were the only ones at home and they escaped when smoke

detectors woke them up. they say the teens knocked on nearby doors for help, but no one responded. the mother says her car broke down and she was walking home when she spotted her teens. >> as i got home, my boys were coming -- i saw them coming from the fire department, and they were knocking on all the neighbors' doors, nobody would open them. >> firefighters say the delay in notification probably caused the fire to get two to three times bigger. a curling iron left on the bed is the cause of the fire. but she disputes that. no one was hurt, but the family still cannot find their puppy. and massive flames gutted an industrial warehouse overnight in sacramento. the fire started yesterday evening by the stations tells us crews were still on the scene late this morning watching for hot spots. the building was evacuated, and no one was hurt. a tense situation this morning as a plane came in for a landing in the bay area.

also a proposal to change the name of a bay area airport for some might say financial reasons. mark will be back with more details on the cold storm headed this way. also -- >> i think we're seeing a lot more birds than we ever did in the other season. and they do make a bit of a mess. >> birds invade a bay area neighborhood. how it is working on ways to get rid of them.

adam: we need a good night's sleep. kim: which means a little heat to keep us warm. and a good dose of support for my back. some over the top comfort couldn't hurt.

and our perfect dream factory's been built. i'm feeling sleepy already. nighty night.

this morning a private jet came into the oakland airport for an emergency landing. you saw it live on mornings on 2. the pilot had radioed in about hydraulic problems. the jet landed safely and taxied off the runway on its own power. there were four passengers onboard. no one was hurt. a san jose city council committee will meet this afternoon to talk about changing the name of the airport making it even longer. right now it's officially called the normal minuetsa san jose international airport in honor of the mayor, congressman and transportation secretary. but in an effort to spurt business the committee will consider making it the norman

minuetsa san jose silicon valley international airport. >> as long as the code doesn't change i have to book my flight, i don't care. that's fine with me. >> way too long. it's too complicated and too difficult to remember, too difficult to type in in the computer. so many reasons. >> among the factors the committee will consider is what benefits the name change might bring versus what it could cost. the decision would be made up to the city council. san jose's new police chief will be sworn in tonight at city hall. a ceremony for chief chris moore starts at 5. san jose mayor chuck reed will deliver opening remarks. the chief has plenty of experience, he took over as acting chief in october after former chief rob davis stepped down and he has also been working as a police officer for the last 29 years. the san francisco police commission has given the green light for a detailed study on the use of tasers and other

less lethal weapons. after hours of debate at 11:30 lasts night the commissioners voted 6-1 to allow the department to study the use of the weapons. this comes almost a year after the commission voted down a similar proposal from former police chief george gascon. new chief is happy with the change heart. now chief will search the -- research the dangers and use of tasers and present his findings to the commission. in just about an hour and a half, nasa's most traveled space shuttle is scheduled to lift off at the kennedy space center in florida. it will be the space shuttle discovery's 39th and final trip into space. not long ago, six astronauts climbed aboard and weather conditions are reported to be nearly ideal. the launch was originally scheduled for last november, but fuel leaks postponed it until now. the shuttle will carry supplies and a robot to the international space station. it is set to launch at 1:50 our time this afternoon.

the major weather change happening right now. so far the rainshowers have been increasing looking towards the golden gate bridge. you can see the cloud cover. the coolest air still yet to arrive. temperatures right now only in the upper 40s to lower 50s. but temperatures a significant drop off expected tonight, also into tomorrow. as far as the rainshowers, we do have activity up in the north bay for santa rosa and petaluma we have some light rainfall to report in that area. and also still the rainfall has been increasing mostly on the light side but also still some reports of some moderate cells as well. so here we come in closer, we'll look at some of the activity and show you some action developing in this area. looks like we lost the radar here. but we'll try to bring it back up. there you can see in the north bay also down in the south bay, there's the live sweep. also you can pick up coverage. nothing too extreme but here we go with more activity right around fremont, union city, more moderate cells closer to

880 and back the maps out closer to the peninsula and widen on the perspective for san francisco and also for ocean beach. so here we go with the weather story. first current numbers mainly in the upper 40s to the lower 50s. san francisco right now 50 degrees. fairfield 51. and santa rosa at 48. for today i'm expecting rainfall will continue to develop tonight more rain, the cool air moves in, tomorrow cold rain and very low snow levels. as far as the satellite and radar, just moisture out in advance of the main system. that is up here to the north so there's the cold front. showers begin to cool down as well. and then into friday the coolest air moves in, very low snow levels. as far as snow at sea level, i'm thinking the best bet is friday after 5 p.m., all the way up until early saturday morning and 5 a.m. saturday morning. that could be the possibility. here we go. this evening at 7:00 rainshowers on the increase and also into early tomorrow morning. could have significant

downpours first thing tomorrow morning. and then throughout the afternoon hours some more breaks in the action but the cold air still going to move into and this is what snow levels come down. for today, 3:00, showers likely. low to mid-50s. rainfall continues to pick up. at 6:00, 43 to 48 degrees. 43 to 48. and temperatures this evening mainly in the low to mid-40s. as far as afternoon highs, we're almost there. san jose right around 55. san mateo 53. and here's a look ahead with your 5-day forecast. off and on rain and snow once again for the hills. especially up above 1,000 feet for your friday. the chance of a shower on saturday, mostly for the morning hours but the moisture will be moving out by that time frame. but some very cold mornings, freeze watches in effect for the north bay saturday morning and a good bet sunday morning as well. so you'll notice that significant cooldown especially over the next 12 hours. >> bundle up! thank you, mark. tonight you can weigh in on the america's cup how it could impact the bay. there will be a public hearing at pier one in two years the

world's top racing teams will compete for the oldest trophy in sports before an estimated half million people. environmental groups are concerned about the bay and the massive construction plans for the waterfront. the city will build several viewing sites at fisherman's wharf at&t park and other places. a san jose neighborhood is being invaded by seagulls with scenes that could have come outs that classic movie. the birds show up in a school on dartmouth driver every morning around 8. biologists say they're probably attracted to nearby ponds used to refill underground wells. but residents say they're a nuisance, leaving droppings and squawking all day. >> we do sometimes get a smell over here, and they do make a bit of a mess. >> they're not sure what can be done with the problem. the ponds are needed for groundwater but the seagulls can cause long-term damage especially since their numbers

are growing. last year 46,000 were counted in the south bay alone. now they're worried the gulls will wipe out the other birds. still ahead, another proposed state law dealing with marijuana in california.

today's report on new home

sales last month shows they fell 12.6%. the commerce department says 284,000 homes were sold in january. that's down from 325,000 homes in december. analysts expected sales to be down just 8.8%. economists say the lower numbers are a sign that the housing industry has not improved after the worst year for home sales in nearly a half century. a new legislation is under consideration in sacramento to produce penalties for growing marijuana. the current law makes growing pot a felony, and imposes a sentence of up to three years in state prison. but a proposal introduced by san francisco assemblyman would reduce the sentence of one year in county jail. it would also allow district attorneys to decide whether to charge growers with a felony or a misdemeanor. coming up on ktvu channel 2 news at 5, these are the pictures we brought you of mount diablo after the snowstorm earlier this week,

and now another polar express is roaring towards the bay area, bringing precipitation very cold temperatures, possibly even snow down to sea level. our crews are tracking the storm all day and all around the bay. that coming up in our next newscast at 5. thank you for watching. have a great day!