areas. some just dealing with the wind. over the knot bay the rain is falling. in the last 12 hours santa rosa has picked up a half inch of rain. it's definitely being felt in many areas. hung up over the north bay. slowly sliding south. we have heavier rain over areas like clearlake and middleton. st. helena seeing pretty good rain. guerneville you are wet. we slide along the coastline we are wet. if we cruise along highway 101, notice petaluma you are seeing heavy rain here. this is just the beginning. as we progress to the morning drive we will watch this as it shifts south. we are picking up light scattered showers along novato and highway 101. the winds are blowing. we have a wind advisory in place for some areas. i'll share that with you and show you what to expect for your weekend coming up. good morning, sal. good morning, rosemary.

traffic is doing pretty well. you mentioned the winds rosemary, it might be trouble for you if you drive a small car on the bay area bridge. just use extra care or an a causeway like this one. you might feel the wind blowing on your car a little bit. it's one of the small cars pretty small. no major problems reported at the bay bridge toll plaza. it's 4:30 let's go back to the desk. san francisco international airport is gearing up for what could be the busiest day holiday travel day of the season. allie rasmus is live there at the airport with information on how many passengers could pass the airport today. >> reporter: it's supposed to be one of the busiest travel days of the year for san francisco international airport with 130,000 passengers making their way in and out of the terminals here in a single day. even at 4:30 in the morning you can see there is more foot traffic. there is more activity than we expect to see here on a friday

morning. you can see a number of cars and passengers unloading their stuff out of the taxis. making their way into terminal two. inside we just checked the board, we're happy to report there are no delays or canceled flights out of sfo. in fact, we saw one flight was leaving ten minutes early. that was heading to washington. that could all change as the day goes on because of the weather. rain is supposed to move in through the bay area later this morning. that usually creates delays at sfo. again it's not raining. there is also a winter storm in the midwest. that could effect connecting flights. but passengers we talked to this morning hope to make it out of here before the weather hits. >> getting there right before means i don't have to go through everything like canceled flights and delayed flights and having connections that wouldn't work. >> i guess i didn't look to see if it was going to rain this morning. i saw my flight was on time.

>> reporter: snow and turbulent weather in other parts of the country did lead to canceled flights out of sfo. again no cancellations or delays to report this morning. but keep in mind that could change as the weather changes here in the bay area. and across the country. so far so good out here. live in sfo allie rasmus ktvu channel 2 news. we have new details on a powerful storm system that brought blizzard conditions to the central u.s. and spawned a tornado. three people were killed including two in iowa. the storm knocked out power to 400,000 homes and businesses in 13 states and produced a tornado in mobile, alabama. airlines were forced to cancel 600 flights at chicago o'hare international airport. firefighters says it

appears no one was inside the house when it the fire started. firefighters believe a candle or cigarette may have started that fire. a is woman in the hospital after life threatening injuries after a car hit a group of people. the four victims were walking near a scenic outlook when a car went speeding by. one managed to get out of the way. the others appear to have been hit by the car. >> the fire department responded to the medical call and the victims were about 30 feet down the hill. they had to bring him up the hill. >> one victim told ktvu he was walking with his mother and two friends visiting from wisconsin when the car hit him. the car was found nearby. four people were inside. one injured. police detained the driver and we're checking to see if she was under the influence. another hit and run driver this one in vallejo. the man was a 64-year-old named thomas. he was on his regular morning

walk with his dog when they were hit. thomas died at the north bay hospital. his dog died at the scene. thomas' friends say he was well known in the neighborhood. >> every saturday morning at the farmers market came back home with his flowers in his backpack for his wife. so he was a good man and loved by everybody. >> neighbors say too many cars speed down studder street to avoid sonoma boulevard. police want to hear from anyone with information about the driver or car. there will be a nation-wide moment of silence for the victims of the newtown shooting. this marks a week since the school tragedy. connecticut churches will ring their bell 26 times for the 20 children and six adults killed last friday. governor jerry brown is asking all californians to join in the moment of silence. and last night in san jose

buddhist monks joined a grown up of leaders for a newtown memorial. it featured a christmas tree with the photos of each first grader and educator shot and killed. >> presents under your christmas trees at home that are waiting for you but you are no longer here to open them. >> the tree will remain up through the end of the year. the public is encouraged to leave condolence messages and hang home made ornaments. the national rifle association has scheduled a news conference to weigh in on the debate over gun control. the powerful gun lobby says it's prepared to offer meaningful contributions to prevent mass shootings. this will be the nra first public response to the school shooting. imagine much of the internet going dark as a attribute to the sandy hook tragedy. coming up at 4:45 the famous

names and silicon valley companies behind the name. retailers are preparing for a busy weekend as shoppers finish their holiday gift buying. tomorrow is expected to be the busiest shopping day. one expert says super saturday could be a bigger shopping day than black friday was. some stores are cutting prices so they don't end up with merchandise after the holidays. coming up on the 5:00 hour sal, how does traffic look? >> it looks good. i think right now we're off to a decent start. no major problems. let's take a look at the pictures we have for you. 80 westbound that looks pretty good heading out to the mccarthur maze. no major problems driving over to the bay bridge toll plaza. it should be light. if we don't have light traffic today, you will have to wait until next week but i'm sure we will have light traffic next week. next week tuesday is christmas. we'll see what happens this morning. moving along to one more thing. that would be westbound i think

my maps are not working here. westbound 580 as you drive from livermore to castro valley no major problems. let's two to rosemary. good morning, to you. it is winter. the first day. the winter solstice arriving at 3:12 this morning. we are looking at pretty stormy weather for your weekend. get a look north of santa rosa. the clear lake area seeing pretty good rain. we are seeing light to moderate showers over parts of the north bay. it's been sitting here for several hours. santa rosa half inch of rain in the last 12 hours. this is the first in three rounds of rain we will see just in time for the weekend. so pretty heavy rain right over clearlake this morning and at this hour anywhere from half inch to an inch falling per hour in that area along highway 101 you will find it a steady rain. visibilities down at times and breezy at times. north bay had a wind advisory that expired. and the winds and rain will

continue for your area throughout the morning drive. and this is slowly shifting south so over the last hour or so i've watched it move from santa rosa down into petaluma. and now beginning to move into areas of novato. this will slide to near areas of the richmond and san rafael bridge. at the moment the richmond san rafael bridge very dry. this is the parent system. this will bring us several rounds of rain. it looks like another system rolling out on saturday. i'm picking it up this morning in the 6:00 hour. now along the peninsula through the delta along i-80 it shifts a little farther into #. san jose you are dry until 8:00 or so and through the afternoon we'll break away to scattered showers. i have a winter storm warning for the sierra. if you're beginning to be traveling this holiday weekend

-- if you're going to be traveling this holiday weekend, we have issues going on. if you have a holiday party to go to, you will be dealing with this as well. and saturday and sunday we have more rain on the way. quick look at the winds before we toss it back. right now oakland reporting 24 miles an hour. 15 at mountain view. calm in areas right around livermore. sfo around 15 miles an hour. on the flip side because of the clouds we're not as cold this morning. i'll have a look at your current temperatures and what you can expect in the extended forecast coming up. a northern california police officer is under arrest. the attack he's accused of against an elderly woman that landed him behind bars. today is what is rumored to be the end of the world. celebrations world-wide including here in the bay area. good morning. northbound 101 traffic looks pretty good as you approach san francisco. we'll tell you more about the morning commute and the bay area weather.

welcome back. good morning. we are looking at steady rain over the north bay at this hour. slowly pushing south during the morning drive. welcome back. house speaker john boehner sent members of congress home for the holidays after he was forced to cancel a vote on his fiscal cliff plan b. boehner canceled the vote after realizing he didn't have enough support from his party members to pass the measure. it would have increased taxes on households earning more than a million dollars. boehner says it's now up to president obama and democratic senate majority leader harry reed to work out a way to avoid the fiscal cliff. chevron corporation is moving as many as 800 of its employees from the bay area to texas. chevron says it will remane based in here. most of the workers being moved

are in technical positions. 4:43 now. veteran sacramento police officer has been arrested on charges he sexually assaulted an elderly woman while off duty. gary baker is accused of assaulting a 76-year-old woman on three occasions. they made the arrest after reviewing surveillance video of the woman's home and recognizing baker as a suspect. baker worked as a police officer for 22 years. he was fired from the sacramento police department yesterday. san francisco supervisors are expecting to take up a proposal next month. mayor ed lee and police chief greg suhr announced the first of its kind law. >> ammunition that has been designed especially by law enforcement for military use has no reason to be in our homes and on our streets.

>> officials also want to require gun dealers to notify police of any who buys more than 500 rounds of ammunition at one time. mayor ed lee acknowledged it could face legal challenges but something has to be done to reduce violence in the city. some bay mayor leaders are calling on president obama to enact stronger gun control laws. they sent a letter to the president asking him to ban assault weapons and high capacity weapons. they also want a national background check system. 11 mayors signed the letter. key state lawmaker is calling for an expansion of -- state senate pro tem darrell steinberg is sending a letter to vice president joe biden who is the leader of a task force.

proposition 63. traffic on the internet could plummet in two hours from now. gun control supporters have created a website calling for a web blackout at 6:30 this morning pacific time. it's an online moment of silence for the newtown shooting victims. companies taking part include aol and adobe and celebrities also taking part include arnold schwarzenegger, joe montana, and mc hammer. former marine applauded for voluntarily guarding a school near modesto apparently lied about his service. craig pussly said he wanted to protect children following the school shooting so he showed up to hughson elementary school. he was a sergeant in the marine reserve. but the u.s. marine corp says he never served overseas and discharged as a private. >> i'm in shock. i'm really in shock.

this is serious and it's scary. >> he told the marine corp times he had been misquoted by the medesto bee. he did apologize for the situation and wearing his uniform outside the school which is a violation of marine corp policy. the marine corp has not said if he will face any rep cushions. dozens of schools are canceling classes today. there are rumors and alleged threats of student revolt if schools stayed open. they are taking the threats seriously. especially in the wake of last friday's connecticut shooting. rumors of trouble became a distraction and it was easier to close the schools. happening now in mexico, thousands of people are marking the end of the mayan era. this is new video of a huge

crowd overnight. city built by the mayan civilluation. and while somberly this means the end of the civilization these people say the sunrise will bring a new and better age. here in the bay area people gathered to celebrate what some thought to be their last few hours on earth. the owner of the uptown nightclub hosted a doomsday party last night. the mood was light hearted. there was a prediction that the world would end at midnight and midnight came and nothing. >> i think it's fun to think about. new zealand is still around so i think we will be okay. >> at berkeley surplus more people have been buying survival gear for the end of the world of days. and the u.s. geological survey says nothing out of the ordinary has been detected on or around earth. 4:48 now. end of the world not here. that means people have to go to work, sal.

sorry about that. [ laughter ] >> yes, we are here, brian. and it's looking pretty good out there. some people probably don't want to go to work today. some people won't go to work today. let's take a look at what we have now on 80 westbound coming out to the mccarthur maze. no major problems and it continues to look good. if you are driving to the toll plaza we continue to watch that. this is going to be my curiosity spot this morning. we'll see what it looks like at 6:30. if it's light then, it will be light for the rest of the morning. it's just the way it goes. if you are driving on northbound 280 in san jose, the traffic is looking pretty good. filling in for steve it's rosemary. good morning, to you and happy friday. giving you a look at storm track earn 2. continuing to watch moderate rainfall over parts of the north bay. clearlake and middleton all seeing pretty good rain. all coming down into the overnight hours. meanwhile, our drive along highway 101 through the north bay will be a messy one. petaluma all the way down into

areas near san rafael picking up a few scattered showers at times near lucas valley. again you will continue to see this through the morning hours. it will be working its way south throughout the morning drive. so by 6:00, 7:00 it will be over the central bay. and then by 8:00 into 9:00 down into the south bay. in addition to the rain we are watching the winds pick up along with the front. the north bay had the winds quite strong at times in the overnight hours. wind advisory for you has expired. it continues into san francisco. half-moon bay reporting gusts to 35 miles an hour i'm picking up gusts near m.d. m.d -- mt. diablo. also for the sierra are you going to be doing traveling? there is a winter storm warning that moves into place this morning and last until 10:00 on sunday. be prepared for that winter weather there.

again mentioned it earlier with the cloud cover overhead we're not as cold. 40s to mid 50s is what we're seeing. a few showers will remain for the afternoon. a cool day in the forecast. we will get breaks in the rain for your afternoon with mostly cloudy skies. the second storm rolls in early saturday morning. a third storm on tap for sunday. it is going to be wet for your weekend. on and off throughout the entire holiday weekend. we are going to leave unsettled weather in the forecast for christmas eve as well as christmas day. i will show you that timeline. i'll show you how much rain to expect in the next 24 hours coming up. after complaints from thousands of users the change of heart by instagram about a controversial photo sharing policy and pg&e charging people for its failure. the changes you may see in your bill because of the 2010 san bruno pipeline explosion.

welcome back. instar gram is backtracking on some of its new policies after an intense backlash from users. instagram announced it will keep its advertising section in the original form. advertisers will not be able to instagram photos and not pay them to use them.

police in san rafael are searching for a man who robbed a downtown bank. this is surveillance video of the suspect inside the city bank branch yesterday afternoon. he's described as a white man in his 20s. he has a shaved head and tattoos. news chopper 2 flew over the scene just minutes after the robbery. we saw police searching for evidence with their flashlights. pg&e customers will see their bills to go up and pay for improvements related to the gas pipeline explosion. state regulators have approved a plan for a two year rate increase that is expected to bring $299 million. the funds will replace and upgrades hundreds of miles of gas transmission lines. the explosion killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. >> pg&e will profit. they will actually make money. $130million because of what happened in san bruno and they shouldn't be allowed to do

that. >> residential customers will see their monthly bills go up an average of 88 cents next year. 4:54 now. let's take a last look at least for this half hour on traffic. >> it looks pretty good out there. i would say if you're trying to get around the bay area, it should be a pretty good drive. let's go outside and see what we have here. this is a look at the east shore freeway. no major problems. it's a little windy as rosemary has been saying. bay bridge toll plaza not a bad drive at all. it's a nice drive across into san francisco and this is 280 in san jose. is that a christmas tree at the top right there? i think it is. traffic is moving along pretty well getting up to highway 17. 4:55 let's go to rosemary. good morning, to you. happy holidays as well. we have rain continuing over parts of the forth bay. it will take awhile before it

shifts south. now i'm beginning to see a few sprinkles. picking up some moderate rain near himself burg at this time. petaluma beginning to shift east over adobe road there. you can see light rain. novato along highway 101 mostly gray at the moment with a few sprinkles over areas near san rafael. this will shift south. here's the parent low. it will send us several rounds of rain. it looks like saturday as well as sunday in store for each day. picking it up this morning by 7:00 it's now beginning shifting down along the peninsula. areas near livermore, san jose still dry. 8:00 or so we begin to see more rain. scattered showers in the afternoon and then into the evening hours we'll continue with the scattered showers. saturday morning it looks like while we're sleeping it will move through. on sunday here comes the next round. so again a storm for each day. we are looking at anywhere from a tenth of an inch of rain to

an inch with today's storm. and we have that wind advisory through 10:00 this morning. snow levels above 3,000 feet prepare for winter driving if you are going to the sierra. there is your extended forecast on and off rain through the entire weekend. unsettled weather for christmas evening christmas day. we are following several new stories from overnight. in antioch a car burst into flames. plus a fire at a house in san pablo. what may have sparked the flames overnight.