there is our good friend brian hickey. getting ready for his next run out in the snow. this. hey, brian. snow in the high country. ♪ [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. >> house republicans are taking turns taking the knife to the federal budget. brian is live with the latest on the budget battle. >> reporter: well, the long and short of it is the house and the white house have until march 4 to work out their differences. the house is work on a huge spending cutting bill for this budget wreer year, 400 amendm t amendments they have to get through. it would add up to $115 billion in cuts, a long story short, there is a lot of fighting ahead. >> thank you very much, brian. time is 5:44. good morning. i'm

skiers across the bay area are rejoicing. >> including brian hickey from our sister station. he's at blue canyon. a look at the late christmas gift from mother nature. good morning, brian. >> reporter: good morning. it's funny you should mention that. speaking of christmas gift, frozen in the ground i have mine with me. i've been waiting to try these skis. big fat powder skis. a month of ice and hard snow doesn't count. i'm ready for powder. today is christmas all over in the sierra. 5200 feet, it's dumping, it's doing this all morning ever since we started our day at the crazy hour of 1:30 this morning. it's dumping here. and interstate 80, chains in effect. it's a four-wheel drive up the mountain. it's an off road experience in the middle of the freeway with piles of snow. it's a bumpy go with white-out conditions at times. treacherous but today, tomorrow, through the weekend for skiers and snowboarders this is what we wait for over a month. clearly the snowpack and water supply need this is heavy dose of snow. for now it's a heavy dose of reality for anyone coming in. get

brian hickey, back to you. >> that's great for the skiing.l a little bit, if it makes its way to the sacramento area, will there be enough for an accumulation or just a dusting? or should you think about how to clear roads down in the valley? >> reporter: well, down there they call for, at best, a dusting. that would be along the foothills of the foothills. they are not expecting it to go down to sacramento. it could, but they don't expect any accumulation there, just a dusting. >> i think the same thing here, people are excited to see it. thank you, brian. >>> we could see a lot of police at a b.a.r.t. station today. if you do, don't be alarmed. local law enforcement, b.a.r.t. police and the fbi are doing training exercises. they will practice tack tigs to check communications between agencies. today ease exercises will take place at the millbrae b.a.r.t. station. it is stet for 11:00 this morning. and the training is supposed to take place at an out of service platform and train, so it should be away from the regular service area. so hopefu

. >> yes, let's go to brian hickey from our nbc station in sacramento up in applegate this morning. elevations is pretty dangerous this morning. tell a lot of bay area folks to put it off until tomorrow. >> reporter: yeah, we are actually below 2,000 feet here. and it has been snowing and now kind of a rain/snow mix. but that's been enough to shut down interstate 80 to truck drivers at this point. earlier this morning it was shut down to all drivers because of spinouts and just nasty conditions. you can see all the big rigs lining the freeway here at applegate along i-80 in both directions as they are trying to get over the mountain here this morning. right now cars with four-wheel drive and snow tires and chained-up vehicles are allowed to go through all the way over the top. they were holding the cars at colfax up until an hour ago and allowed them all through. but still very low for chain controls in the sierra. very cold here. we are expecting the snow levels to drop even lower. auburn, maybe even lower than that, closer to the valley floor once the colder air moves in later tod

reporter brian hickey is live now in grass valley with what people are face this is morning. brian, you look like you're on a mountain of snow. >> reporter: you would think i was in downtown truckee but no we're in grass valley. this pile of snow here from yesterday and this morning it's crusty and icy. even down here on the grounds it looks nice and soft, but you can walk across the top of it. over here a crew that is getting ready to go out, huge chainsaws hired by pg&e to go out and start re moving address that came down, and everybody we're you go this morning walking very gingerly. park is lots and roads just frozen of ice. pg&e trucks from as far as southern california to come up and help battle some 30 different outages that are affecting some 10,000 customers right here in nevada city and grass valley. we're across the street from the pg&e yard. a place that's going to be very busy today. so busy, they've brought in traffic control to get the trucks in and outs of that lot. while they go out if try to fix all these lines. big, huge pine trees coming down yesterday in t

. >> "today in the bay's" brian hickey is live once again this morning. urn just up the hill a little bit outside of sacramento with a look at how people are getting ready. brian, i understand they might get a decent amount of snow where you are. >> reporter: yeah, here in auburn, all along the highway 49 corridor, they are expecting significant snow here in the foothills. and then even down in the sacramento area, they could see a dusting of snow down to the valley floor. it will be a cold an interesting storm, 39 degrees on the bank side of the street with a light wind that's making it chilly here in auburn this morning. nowhere near as cold as it is about to get with the cold storm coming straight out of canada right into the u.s. it is in seattle now. we are bracing for it here in the foothills. yesterday in placerville the city department spent the day hauling out changes. they are repairing their chains to make sure every truck is ready to go. they expect the number of roads they have to plow to double should the snow fall as low as it is forecasted.

brian hickey in a cold area this morning. at least we can see you. yesterday the snow was coming down on you. >> reporter: yes. did you guys say powder day weekend? >> could be. >> reporter: it is awesome up here. a nice hot cup of coffee sound good. here in colfax, 2,500 feet. it has been snowing all morning long. in fact, on the ground we have picked up almost an inch of snow at this lower elevation. we encountered snow at the 1,800 foot level. it is making for a beautiful sight in the foothills. for motorists you are changing up in colfax, a long run on chains up interstate 80 this morning. i can tell you that i went up yesterday and skied at sugar bowl. the powder is awesome. finally we have powder to talk about that is deep and plentiful. 12 to 18 more today. so great news for the ski areas this weekend. a huge deal for the economy in the sierra. they would love for you to come up to spend your money. i can tell you it is money well spent because the snow is awesome. use caution getting up there. no major problems on 80. we'll try to keep it tha