the individual storms. these are fairly light. the storms coming through. i think a stronger storm comes through on thursday outside, though. very slick out there. if you're traveling around, you can see that rain on and off throughout the night tonight and tomorrow to here comes cold front started to move on shore, bringing the rain and we've seen as much as a quarter of an inch of rain in some parts of the north bay lighter amounts elsewhere. but that will be continuing to push through the rest. the bay area overnight tonight. it's tomorrow morning. you see the yellow. you see orange there moving in the east bay. those pockets. some moderate amounts of rainfall that are falling now. and we're going to see that on and off throughout the night tonight and probably tomorrow morning, too. all right. the time it out for you. taking you through the night tonight, the scattered showers going to continue on and off. in fact, yeah. through the night. now you're going to see some pretty decent rainfall. and then you see these kind of picking up in the north bay as we head toward the middle of the night and then shortly after that, it moves a little for the south. so tomorrow morning we're waking up. we've got some scattered showers around the bay area. probably some slick roads out there, too. so watch out for that early on tomorrow. but it's not going to be a rain out tomorrow. you

can see those showers, maybe couple rainbows couple breaks in the clouds. and so it's not going to be just steady rain the entire day, but they're more showers and then you can already begin to see the beginning of that next system further to the north. that's going to be dropping in on thursday that one could bring a very steady rain it looks like for some time to come up all right. all that being said, that we've storms kind of just lining up out there tomorrow. more widely scattered showers. they were looking to rain on thursday. friday. yeah, you've got some more showers christmas day, a chance. some more cold showers that continues on and off well into next week and beyond. guys. all right, lawrence, appreciate lords. earlier today president biden announced that the government would be providing 500 million free rapid covid tests. >> as well as increasing support for hospitals that are under strain and he says they're going to redouble vaccination and boosting efforts all to try to fight this omicron strain which has been surging through the

country. yeah. the president said in a speech today that americans patriotic duty is to, you know, get those shots as well a wise medical step. >> you know, just go out and get vaccinated. joining us now to discuss the president's address to the nation. uc berkeley's doctor john swartzberg. good evening, doctor. all right. governor newsome has also just of mandated health workers. need to be which and boosted. yeah, most those time. what's you think this is something that's going to catch on elsewhere. >> absolutely. i think that we really ought to define immunization for covid being a 3 3 dose regimen. stop talking about a booster. >> but will that is something that other health experts have do you think that omicron could actually be a blessing in disguise here. there are people that think that because it is more transmissible even

if you're, you know, to shot, quote, unquote, fully vaccinated right now. you know, it's much easier to get even people who are boosted are getting omicron and if the severity of the symptoms are not quite as bad as delta. you know, it. is it possible that omicron helps us eventually end this pandemic. >> well, i think there are 2 issues here. the for the first is that it's clear that if you're if you're immunized in right now fully immunized is 2 jabs. we are seeing breakthrough infections. and as you said, we're seeing breakthrough infections with surge at the booster that these folks are getting very sick. the the boosters. actually the first 2 jabs are protecting people from going into the hospital having to go into the hospital and tragically, some of these people want to on a ventilator and i so there's tremendous protection there. the other issue about. it's over crime. less serious than say, delta.

i think the jury's still out on that. we've heard some encouraging news from south africa that maybe maybe it causes less severe disease and maybe it does. there was news last friday from the incur, a college in london that suggested it was pretty comparable in terms of the severity of disease. 2 don't. so we just don't know yet. know wouldn't count on it being less serious. and you know, even if it is less serious. it's so much more transmissible that it still could lead to awful lot of hospitalizations and deaths really challenger health care system. so is it a blessing in disguise. i wouldn't call any a viral infection of this severity or even even a little less severe blessing in disguise. but. it certainly also true that if you get. a covid, it's going to really nice. and so it's going to give people more immunity least those that survive it. yeah. the nightmare is that

our hospitals will become overrun. >> in part by all the people that are now infected and suffering the ill effects of that. but also health care workers. if they're if they get and they call in sick then there's no one to staff it. so back to the original question about the governor's mandate is is that what? they're trying to address. there. >> that's exactly right. you know what all this is about is trying to flatten this big surge of cases so that we have the healthcare capacity to take your the people that need it. you know, when hospitals get over 70% occupied. this is just certain rules mortality rates go up because the service is just get a little bit. you know, you have to cut corners. and as you point out, hospital workers are human beings, too. and they're going to get covid to be able to come to work and so if we have 8090% a 100% a 105% capacity like we had in new spring of

2020. it's it's going to lead to a lot of excess deaths. it could have been avoided if we had capacity to care for these folks. so that's why it's so important to do everything you can not to get infected now. and again, the key is get vaccinated. if you're fully vaccinated get boosted. so you really are fully vaccinated. >> i think a lot of people feel like they have done everything that they've been asked to do masking distancing not gathering for the holidays last year. but now they're vaccinated in many cases boosted and they want to see their families for christmas. what is year advice to people who feel like they should be able to do that. even given what omicron has dealt us the past month. >> i mean, omicron had 12 a year to pick that it could have exploded and why did pick right now. what a horrible thing to do to all of us. they were all exhausted as you point out, this is just it's very difficult. people have done what they need to do. at

least most people. and yet here we're asking you to continue to do. yeah. and even more. and it's very hard. so what do you do? well. the most important thing is it is it is terribly important to be with your loved ones. the people you really care about over these holidays. but you can do it prudently to make sure you're safe in the people you're visiting are safe. i'm not going to have anybody coming into my home. he wasn't fully vaccinated and boosted. there's nobody in my home. fortunately that is very high risk except both my wife and i are over 65 and so that adds up to a little bit more wrist. but that's one thing you can do. another thing you can do is sit is do a rapid test. before you go to someone's home. what i would suggest is, but the rapid test with you in the car drive up to the place you're going make sure the cars nice, more. the rapid

test 15 minutes later and that's negative. and you're fully vaccinated in perfectly boost it go in and visit those folks who are fully vaccinated preferably boosted tonight i know some people who are giving out test kits is christmas present. so it's probably, you know, the kind great christmas present can doctor's this thing ever going to go away. we have to vaccinate the whole world or. >> is it burn itself out. well, we need to vaccinate as many people on this planet as we can because that will prevent these new variants like omicron from popping up. >> the unvaccinated people are the vaccines, essentially the viral factories of the world and they're the. variant factories there for so that's critical. but is it going to go away. it's not going to go away like we are educated smallpox know. it's not going to be a limited like we've eliminated measles, least not the near future. but we will be able to get to that point.

and i think we can do that in 2022 get to the point where we not having these enormous spikes. and we can level it off. we can keep the hospital capacity with its enormous. we can reduce the the hospitalizations and deaths really low numbers and we can learn to live like we lived with influenza. i think that's a very realistic goal. that just call this. in denver. city is becoming endemic as opposed pademic pandemic. and i think we can get there this year. but it's going to take continued efforts. >> covid will be endemic. all right. doctor john swartzberg, appreciate your your time here. it selected your insight tonight happy holidays to you and your family. >> state, you would have people of these. it was you and stay safe. thank you. doing our best. >> still to come tonight on kron, 4 news at 5 ways is debuting a new feature for electric car drivers will show you how that works. and if you're feeling a little lonely

this holiday season. why some health experts are advising you just take a solitary walk in the woods. details on how

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and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. >> welcome back. stormtracker 4 radar is full of action here. the bay area getting another round of rain as we kick off what figures to be a week, maybe 10 days of on and off rain and the sierra is just going to get a snow explosion. chief meteorologist lawrence karnow will have the tahoe forecast when we see him in a few minutes.

>> if you're feeling lonely, you might want to try going for a walk alone in nature. that is the advice from a new study in the journal scientific reports. researchers say the people who live in the city can feel overcrowded leading to isolation and a little dose mother nature can boost your mood by 28%. they say it is believed that the fresh air the trees and birds chirping help people feel less alone and more connected to the environment. >> navigation app. waze is making it easier for electric vehicle car owners to find charging stations anywhere in the u.s. this will also allow people to search for charging stations along your route ways is partnering with volkswagen for this feature. this may give the google owned navigation at the boost it needs to catch up with its counterpart google maps which has been displaying evie charging station since 2018, apple maps introduced a charging station feature in their ios 14 update which lets

drivers planned the route around evie charging stations and can even track drivers charged in automatically at compatible charging stations to the route if they're charged gets too low. >> and we're still tracking this storm when we come back, chief meteorologist lawrence karnow will let us know how the drive to work will be tomorrow. also, scott, that's your forecast. when we come

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disruption in the sports world. now you have a major sports league backing out of beijing nhl players are no longer going to be traveling to the olympics because of the explosion of omicron our sports director jason dumas says here run it all down for us. but. a lot going on whole lot going on. just, you know, covid is affecting. >> our lives at every single impact. like boundless at this point. but anyway, nhl players, they will not be participating in the winter olympics in 2022 as we know, a lot of olympians play in the nhl in that sport. the nhl and nhl players association day had come to an agreement to not play in beijing based on covid concerns. covid has currently paused nhl play as of december 21st nhl has postponed 50 games because of outbreaks on teams and has paused its season through christmas. apparently they've met the threshold. now. guys.

the sharks. they had 2 games. this week we're supposed to 2 teams based in canada vancouver and ottawa. even before the ban which came down 2 days ago to paul's perfect could even play those games will cause at the time nhl teams are allowed to travel into canada and canadian teams are allowed to travel into the it's just been a mess in getting these games rescheduled. i've hurries it's going to take a lot of hula hoops, but they're going to try to get it done. probably rescheduled during the olympics. yes, when they're not in china and they're here to play and have some time now, i guess. >> appreciate it. jason carroll, this okay. jason, thanks. >> of the omicron vacation or rental affected the rental company air bnb is announcing new year's eve reservation restrictions because of omicron. it. the goal is to prevent guests from hosting disruptive parties over the holiday weekend guest that history of positive reviews on air bnb platform cannot make reservations for an entire

house that may pose heightened risks for unauthorized parties. guests will also have to make their plans a few days in advance. no last-minute bookings are allowed. and coming up at 6.30. we'll be speaking with air bnb about these new policies. >> and don't forget to join kron 4 as we ring in the new year. just and i once again will be helping us countdown to 2020 to watch the bay. area's only live fireworks shows it sparkles over the bay bridge. the party starts at 1130 pm new year's eve. it's only on kron. 4. all right. rain. hopefully we don't have a new year's eve. but hopefully we have it until then because we certainly need it. and a live look outside right now. you see the raindrops there in the bay bridge toll plaza. golden gate bridge also wet san mateo bridge some heavy traffic coming into the east bay. those headlights there and sfo. it's wet all over yet. chief meteorologist lawrence karnow here joining so when it's raining down the higher elevations, it turns into the.

>> yeah. the white stuff right there. they get that. no, they're going to get a ton of snow. that will be the big problem. a lot of folks head up there for the holiday. it's just going to be all about the timing to get up there right now things are running along pretty smoothly. you're looking at donner summit right now. you see the snow off the side of the road. they're going to see a ton of snow between now in the end of the year and even the first week in the new year. i think we're talking about tremendous amount of snow. a winter storm warnings are going up to if you do plan to head to the high country. there's one up tonight starting at 10 o'clock tonight and continue until 4 o'clock in the afternoon on wednesday also in northern california had up toward the shasta area that is going to impact. i find that your head in that direction and that continues right down the clear lake to so heavy snow around the higher peaks and colder storms are on the horizon. so the snow levels will be coming down as we head in toward the weekend as well. so our snow pack is concerned. here's where we sit right now. 84 1% of normal in the northern sierra nevada. 93% in the central sierra nevada. 99% now

in the southern sierra nevada. but we've got a ton of snow coming our way. in fact, i want to show you this forecast model. this gives you an idea of some of the snow expected to pile up. this is as we head through time here that for storm system. yeah. maybe bringing a couple of feet of snow across some of the higher peaks in the south lake tahoe area. and then as we head through time well, the weekend you start to see that big wide area beginning to expand. and as we get into friday of next week. some of the models, a painting as much as 14 and a half feet of snow across the high country. that would be tremendous if that all comes together and it looks like the series of storms coming through kind of cold out there to get that nice. powdery snow across the high country here in the bay area. we've got more rain kind of on and through the end of the week into the christmas holiday and well, the on toward the new year. >> all right, lawrence. coming up on kron 4 news. how one bay area food bank is tackling hunger. this new year's eve and in this new year's

eve kron 4 is partnering up with the souper bowl of caring once again, we have a national nonprofit puts a spotlight on local food banks across america. kron four's ella sogomonian tells us how. >> your donation would help here in the bay area. >> local researchers recently found that nearly 1 million people living in the bay area are making poverty wages. they're now struggling to pay for groceries after inflation as supply chain issue california's drop along with

the pandemic caused prices for groceries of all kinds to soar all the more so kron 4 is committed to continuing our mission to help this new year's eve. we're encouraging you to donate to the san francisco-marin food bank one dollar means to meals and hour of your time. you can make a lot of good happened. >> before covid-19 crosby says the food bank was a lifeline for 100, 40,000 people every week since then she says about 60,000 more have come to them for their next meal. >> the pandemic shine a light on food insecurity before the pandemic one in 5 of our neighbors, experiencing food insecurity. food is everything. it's nice in it's community. it's fuel learning. and so that's why it's so important that you get involved. the effort is part of a national campaign called super bowl for caring, which unites all communities across the country to tackle hunger using the energy of big events like sports and new year's eve. >> so no one goes without a bowl of soup. a map on their

website. directs you to the run food bank where donations can be made reporting in san francisco. i'm ella sogomonian kron 4 news kron 4 is teaming up with the souper bowl of caring to help support local food charities. if you'd like to donate, you can use your phone to scan the qr code on your screen there or text and y e donate. >> to 2, 6, 9, 8, 9, you can also visit tackle hunger dot org and pick a local charity to help. and that wraps up kron 4 news at 5. thank you for being with us this hour. but keep it here. a lot more news is still to come on kron 4 news at 6 ken and pam are here with all that. hello. hello good evening. thank you both. coming up tonight at 6 o'clock. >> president biden issuing a stark warning to unvaccinated americans as covid cases, including the omicron variant continue to the president's new plan of attack says ahead in a live report and concerns over the new covid variant already affecting local businesses and restaurants and bars that are temporarily closing. i'm ken wayne. i'm

pam moore. the news at 6 is next.

entresto is the number one heart failure brand prescribed by cardiologists and has helped over one million people. it was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. >> from the bay area's local news station. you're watching kron 4 news at 6.

>> now 6. the winter solstice is bringing some christmas time rainfall to the bay area. showers started earlier today. but tonight's evening commute is going to be a wet one. good evening. thanks for joining us for kron 4 news at 6. >> i'm ken wayne and i'm pam moore. mother nature bringing us some rainfall to usher in the new season with showers. now through christmas. the wet weather during such a busy travel period means that drivers should be extra alert and the more time to get to destinations. this is a look outside from our live cameras around the bay area right now. and you can see it all of the locations. there's rain on the lens except for the richmond, sandra fell. but the street is wet. so it's pretty wet everywhere. get right to it with our chief meteorologist lawrence karnow. he has more on this winter storm rolling through morning. yeah, we're getting things going tonight, but it's kind of interesting in the long range forecast. i'm finding it hard to find a day that we're not going to get. >> some kind of rain. so the kind of lineup out there right now. we're going to see this on and off not only just to christmas, but i think maybe through the