11:00 p.m. but again there is more weather on the way. so i wanted to give you an early preview of what we're looking at. a lot of moving parts over the next couple of days. so tonight spotty rain and small hail. a cold thanksgiving for bay area standards moving in. jacket weather over the next seven days and here is the new information, an atmospheric river will start to develop that will bring heavier rain and also travel delays. we'll pinpoint this for you. if you are here visiting i will tell you when the rain moves in and when it moves out to plan around it in about 18 minutes. >> see you soon. thank you, jeff. when a big storm hits, it always makes for eye-catching vi i dangerous. the pier and beach boulevard are closed because of large waves that are approximately 20 feet tall. the waves break over the

handrails which would drag someone into the water so you are warned to stay back. a few times a year we get this and this is beautiful every time. snow-capped mountains right here in the bay area. our sky ranger over mt. hamilton. this is high above san jose. robert handa with the heavy coat joining us from mt. hamilton now. robert? >> reporter: yes, you did go up pretty high to see the snow. about 4,000 feet. but it was a good day to see it around the observatory, especially for some people who have never been to the snow before. >> wait your turn. >> reporter: peter didn't waste much time to go to the snow and he grew up in canada and while he doesn't see snow in the negotiation in silicon valley. >> i said please god let the road be open and i got through somehow so we have to come up

when the kids saw the white snow up here, we have to get up here. >> reporter: it would be tough to take snow for granted here in the south bay. it doesn't happen that often. but you get a renewed feeling of appreciation when you see children playing in snow who have never done it before. >> first time ever seeing snow and it is -- she's a natural. >> reporter: but snow delivers challenges as well. road workers had to pull this double-decker bus out of the snow. and the chp cautions drivers to be very careful in the slick or frozen conditions, especially on tight curves. mark echoes that warning and saying his main concern was getting up here safely but it was worth it. >> getting up to tahoe is painful but it is the closest place and anywhere else it is a long plane flight and that is the closest place i could think of to experience it and it is lovely. >> reporter: lovely and now closed. it is a day to day decision on

whether caltrans and the chp open the road or not but from what i saw today, i think most of us will have to enjoy the snow scenery from afar. live in san jose, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. as you could imagine now, sierra snow has created problems along interstate 80 and highway 50. a lot of people heading up to lake tahoe for the week. chain controls were ordered as low as placerville and drivers just tried to navigate the snow-covered roads. >> they weren't kidding when they said it came in and it came in hard and you could barely see across the street. >> this is squaw valley. a foot of snow at the base and 18 inches on the upper mountains. they expect another six to 12 inches by tomorrow morning. so good news for the skiers and snowboarders. back here at home, we showed you the snow and now we'll show you in contra c county. in fact, a lot of local cities not just in coco county.

>> this bomb cyclone could be seen from space. this come from the government west satellite. this bomb cyclone off the oregon coast hit both oregon and northern california with driving rain and wind. some drivers on the roadways during that time were stranded for hours. one of the best resources for weather is the nbc bay area interactive radar. this is realtime behind me but also find it on our website by typing in your zip code to see what is going on in your neighborhood. for a quick way to reach you, check out the qr code at the corner of your screen to tak ri website. we give you another chance to scan it later in the show. you could again go to the interactive radar on our website at nbcbayarea.com. our other top story on wednesday evening, concern and fear in an east bay neighborhood. three thieves stormed their way into a home and tied up two people inside and then made them

watch as the criminals made off with their valuables. it is sending chills up the spines of people who are celebrating thanksgiving dinner with families. we are at police headquarters when we are bringing in reinforcements this week. >> reporter: they'll be relieved when they see the squad cars patrolling the neighborhood. they are trying to see if there is a link between last night's home invasion and the invasion on halloween night. but it doesn't take a detective to spot the similarities. in both of the cases they happened around dinnertime. both attacks involved three thieves with a pistol. and in both of the cases a terrified resident watched as thieves ransacked their home. >> you watch all of the shows on tv and think what would you do if someone were to break in. >> reporter: no rerun of law and order could prepare anyone for what happened at this home on

crestmont drive in in a nice neighborhood. >> reporter: police say at 7:po p.m. three people snuck. a home through an open garage door and used a pistol to strong arm a man living in the house. police say the criminals tied him up and another person who lived in the home. >> one thing when people break in when they thinking no one is home but it is another thing when they know they are home. >> the three robbers paced through the home and grabbed valuable items and personal belongings. >> good people more or less kept to themselves. >> reporter: authorities say the three they haves left victims tied up and it took them hours before they were able to break free and d morning, what i would do if this happened in my house and you probably fight back out of fear of what might happen. >> reporter: greg wilson said it is a wake-up call to beef up his home security. the father of two is hosting thanksgiving dinner at his house. but before the turkey goes into the oven, he's making sure his

security cameras get a much-needed upgrade. >> it is obviously disconcerting. >> reporter: a spokesperson for the contra costa sheriff's office said it is just too soon to tell if the halloween home invasion is linked to the one that happened last night. but either way, extra deputies will patrol orinda and lafayette from today until further notice. in lafayette, i'm melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. a fairfield woman and her grandchildren are missing. investigators say sandra young last spoke to her sister on sunday and was supposed to meet up with young and 9-year-old jaiden hill and 7-year-old tamara hill in vallejo and they never showed up and haven't been heard from since. she drives a green al baghdadiurea with license place 5hlm514. a deadly hit-and-run in south san jose. shortly after 4:00 a.m. police got a call of a man face down on

the curb at foxworthy and rabino drive. the man was hit by a driver who didn't stop after the collision. investigators have no leads on the driver or what kind of car was involved in this crash. this is the 24th time this year that a car hit and killed a pedestrian in san jose. we have a search warrant for the residence. [ sirens ] >> a rude awakening in the east foothills this morning. a police chopper and s.w.a.t. team and sirens blocking off the street near story road. our cameras caught one man getting arrests but police waited hours for a different suspect. a spokesperson would only confirm officers were serving a warrant, giving us no other information. san francisco, always a popular holiday shopping destination but some are rethinking plans because of fears their cars will be broken into. christie smith spoke with a police chief about the city's

plans to keep thieves from breaking in your car this holiday season. she joins us with more. christie? >> reporter: well police tell me they're increasing the deployment even more so around the holidays. it is where people might be shopping like this and we've been walking around all day and we have seen a lot of people shopping. they seem to be in the buying mood and police also put information out about parking smart. in san francisco, cable cars, food and shopping are a holiday tradition for some. >> we got some very good deals. some early black friday shopping. >> reporter: but this family from the el dorado hills parked in a garage and only made one stop because they heard the downside. >> we've heard about too many car break-ins. i wouldn't go to multiple places if i have to leave this in the car. >> reporter: police chief bill scott said officers are taking steps to address the city's car break-in epidemic and appear to

show the efforts are paying off but very slowly. >> this year, year-to-date, almost a thousand more car break-ins than last year. >> is that true or less people reporting? >> well, i mean, there is always going to be people who don't report. so it is hard to measure what you don't know. >> reporter: he urges people to report. police are increasing deployment in shopping areas. today the chief joined to urge shoppers to support small businesses and park smart, meaning keep bags with you or out of sight. neighbors know the drill. >> don't have anything worth stealing in plain sight. that is all. that is the first thing you do. >> reporter: still you could easily find signs of the times brk in because they've been t t hit multiple times. >> you don't come downtown in a car and you take an uber or a b.a.r.t. >> reporter: they did put out a number of hits per shoppers and some around this area are easy

to do, including trying to park in a lot that does have an attendant. live in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. now if you do go shopping on black friday in san francisco and in union square it may be more hectic because more than 600 associates at macy's want to go on strike this friday. 90% of them have voted in support of the strike. most make around $20 an hour and need higher wages and health insurance. macy's say they offer fair pay and benefits and plans to open for black friday shopping strike or no strike. up next at 5:00, sorting through the piles of luggage. the major headache still happening today at oakland international airport after last night's unexplained power outage. plus -- >> i fell and i fell pretty far. >> she fell during a dangerous

climb up el capitan. the prohclimber talked about he rescue and her recovery. and mobile doppler radar continues to show areas of rainfall tonight. when you get a break before heavier rainfall returns back to the bay area. i'll have your thanksgiving forecast in about six minutes. >> ahead, the severe weather and dangerous travel facing much of the country as the long thanksgiving weekend begins and a warner about millions of dollars in cash that could be fake, tonight on "nightly news."

intense new video shows firefighters battling the cave fire. it broke out monday and so far has burned 4,300 acres, rain and chilly temps helped firefighters get a handle on the fire. right now it is to% contained. firefighters will have all evacuation orders lifted and that puts everyone back in homes in time for thanksgiving. every year during thanksgiving week we have major travel headaches. this week oakland airport, last night's power outage is still causing headaches today. hundreds of passengers who had thanksgiving plans redirected spent this morning back at the airport sorting things out. let's bring in scott budman joining us live from oakland international. scott, still a big question there. what happened last night? >> reporter: you're right, at oakland airport officials don't know why the power went out during one of the biggest travel times of the year.

among the dozens of people here to reclaim their luggage after last night's blackout -- savannah heath who traveled across the country from college only to be diverted when the power went out. >> had to get switched and they left my bag in las vegas so i was here last night until probably midnight and then i had to come today. >> reporter: several flights were switched so more than a thousand people and their belongings had to wait to be reunited. some eventually allowed to step over the rope and search for themselves. >> oh, yeah, it was insane. >> this is our final destination so we made it. >> reporter: all eventually like savannah making it home for thanksgiving. >> we got it. yeah! we'll have clothes for thanksgiving.

>> reporter: and officials are trying to figure out why the power went out. meanwhile they say all flights are back to normal. live in oakland, scott budman, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, scott. a lot of headaches but you're with friends and family hopefully by tomorrow. well busy day at sfo before thanksgiving as well. a live picture from the airport from our nbc cam right at the airlines there. long lines of cars coming to pick people up and thoupds of others flooding the airport to try to get to their final destination. this year travelers are breaking records. airlines for america said the sunday after thanksgiving is the single busiest u.s. air travel day in history. an update from the climber who fell from el capitan over the weekend. emil i harington will be okay despite a deadly drop. she fell scaling the peak in yosemite. she bounced down the side of the mountain. >> i actually feel better than i

thought i would. i was in pain and scared but i could feel my fingers and toes so i kind of knew that things were not super, super serious. >> after her fall some climbers including alex honl rescued her. she is a climbing champion and today she said the accident is something she'll learn from. >> fearless. el capitan and i knew it wasn't super serious. very just fell from el capitan. >> and such incredible athletic conditioning is in sane. >> jeff is back with us now. we feel the energy. i love the energy of thanksgiving. everybody talking about getting to where they need to go and the rain. >> and i'm feeling the pressure. on my shoulders. no, it is all good. >> what do you have for us? >> information is power, right? and we are sandwiched in between two wet weather systems as we head to the next couple of days. we'll get you prepared if you are doing any kind of

thanksgiving travel. under the microclimate weather alert because this is the first big storm we have seen so far this season and the roadways continue to be wet. on storm ranger, the mobile doppler radar the only one in the bay area and it is better because it is live data and it is also closer to the ground so it gives us a more accurate scan of what is happening. and you could see the spotty areas of rainfall at the current moment. now the air is so cold aloft that we could just get a little bit of up lift and then freezes and creates small hail pellets you see through tonight. this batch of rain moving off to the east and picking up in san jose by 5:47 and the other spot here is right over mt. diablo with a rain snow mix for the highest part and that would bring rainfall to brentwood by 5:38. through tonight, spotty hit and miss activity and maybe isolated hail and snow at lake tahoe and keep the chance of an isolated er morning.

otherwise, we start off with cloudy skies and keep some of this gray overcast through the day on thanksgiving. overall i think tomorrow is pretty good. it is going to feel like the holidays. but do yourself a favor, find a heavier jacket if you have not, you'll be thanking me tomorrow because check out these temperatures. down into the 30s, widespread 30s for the bay area. south bay 37 and the tri-valley at 34. san francisco does not get this cold. 39 degrees in the north bay, possibly patchy frost and 32. and here is the thing, while we start off chilly, as we move through the day tomorrow it won't warm up a whole lot. mr. turkey looking cold as we bring you down to the south bay. you'll see only 53 in morgan hill. 51 in san jose, 59 in east san jose. numbers similar across the bay area. upper upper 40s to low 50s. for the peninsula, 49 redwood city and 47 in the embarcadero

and 48 here in napa. so we get a break right now. but what i'm watching is a major change. look at this. it is an atmospheric river. it is a subtropical tap of moisture and basically a river of moisture pointed at the bay area. this will bring us some heavier rain on saturday with four-day rain totals that might exceed one to two inches. so saturday through tuesday we're looking at this atmospheric river lining up. so thanksgiving we'ro okay. friday okay. wet on saturday through monday. and we'll have 40s and 50s in san francisco. inland valley, jacket weather is here. so be ready for it. and if you are going to lake tahoe, the next round of snow is coming saturday, sunday and monday. another one to three feet. higher snow level with that atmospheric river, around 5,000 to 6,000 feet. it is really bad on sunday if you are doing any traveling. >> and even is doing traveling. >> yes. on sunday.

the worst time. >> don't be mad at me. i warned you now. >> thank you. up next at ac, san jose mayor literally rolling up sleeves to help solve the housing crisis in that city. we'll explain next.

> seven-month investigation by our team and nbc news is leaving questions about the vulnerability in the country's studio veeso program that could pose a national security risk. we explain. >> f-is visas allow foreign students to study at american universities and work at three years at american companies to gain technical experience but we found the top employers may be

providing false employment records so foreign students could stay in the country after graduation. mixed in with the legitimate silicon valley tech giants that employee hundreds of f-1 visa holders we found a dozen other suspicious companies and some only exist on paper. 99% of the workers on each of those companies were chinese nationals. >> could this be a security risk to national security? >> any time you have people in the united states that are doing something other than what they've told us what they are doing there is a risk and that is why we look at the companies very carefully and do data analytics and do investigations. >> we found a local company that claimed to employee hundreds of foreign students at a home in mountain view so we decided to check it out. we'll show you what we found and hear from the foremost experts on national security in high-tech tonight at sec. i'll see you then. >> we'll see you at 11:00. up next, the updates thanksgiving travel forecast. a lot coming our way. stay with us. here, it all starts with a simple...

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tonight at 6:00, bumper-to-bumper back-ups because of the weather. the problems that shut down parts of interstate 5 leaving people and trucks stranded on

the freeway for more than half a day. that story and how things look now coming up on our 6:00 newscast. and a minute from now, "nightly news" and tom costello takes us inside of the faa command center so to see how they're dealing with the wild weather delays nationwide on thanksgiving eve. >> new steps to fight homelessness in san jose. the mayor sam liccardo was there with a helping hand, the tiny home community is on bay merry street near the flee market. and they built shelves and beds and the mayor said this is one of the solutions to help the homeless. this community will house about 40 people each of these homes cost around $6,500 to build. >> those are pretty cool. >> that is great. >> before we go, jeff will tell us what to expect in the next 24 hours. >> overall, thursday and friday a little bit of a break. it is cold for thanksgiving. then atmospheric river saturday

through tuesday. a lot of rain. >> kristen welker is up next with "nightly news." thank you for joining us here at 5:00. >> bye. breaking news tonight, the one-two punch of storms snarling travel on one of the busiest days of the year the deadly storms sweeping through the east and the bomb cyclones from the west alerts for hundreds of people. record-breaking snow and heavy rain chaos n the roads. hundreds of crashes. thousands of flights delayed a man saved from rushing flood waters, tornados striking a path of destruction and will the wind ground the macy's thanksgiving day parade balloons? also breaking, the new explosion rocking a texas chemical plant hours after the massive first blast. the fireball caught on doorbell cam. >> boom. then glass and the windows come flying in the house.