that full average point. so from here, forward, cautious optimism is something that we all need to be thinking about. from ktvu. fox two news. this is the fourth we'll all that snow dumped on california just what we needed but that it dampened drought concerns. we look into it. welcome to the four i'm andre senior, and i'm greg lee. heather and alex are off today. the tahoe area is getting a bit of a break from the snow today after a record breaking december , the lake tahoe visitors authority posted this time lapse of the most recent snow sweeping across the tahoe shorelines. this was taken yesterday. you can see the clouds and snow moving through with just a few breaks of blue sky in between today, chain controls were dropped on highway 50 and i 80 the cold, wet weather has arrived in southern california to it's causing some big problems along interstate five, which has been shut down for hours over the grapevine due to the snow and ice. caltrans

closed the freeway starting around six o'clock this morning, and it remains that way. earlier today, drivers were being turned around before they headed over the past from current county into los angeles and back here locally, the wet weather did some good for our state's water supply. the sierra snowpack is in better shape than it's been for some time and today's manual reading near highway 50 found the equivalent of 20 inches of water, but it's ktvu tom baker explains. the true impact may not be revealed for months. the california department of water resources went to philip station in el dorado county, one of many places that measures sierra snow each month to understand the true size of the snowpack as of this morning. our ah automated snow sensor network is reporting that the statewide snowpack is 160% of average to date, according to uc berkeley's sierra snow lab, the current snowpack is about what's normal for march 2nd a very good depth

and hopeful for right now we have about 70% of our total, um, snowpack up here and a little bit less of our total precipitation, and we're going into those rainier and snowy or months that january and february when we could really bulk this up, but what really counts is the final measurement. at the end of the snow season. april 1st is the official measurement that everyone's after for you know what it means for our water resources for the year. so what's the biggest worry now? the big concern here is that we don't get any more precipitation , and that would obviously kind of be a worst case scenario. we also have the next three months to hope this early, big dump of snow will not be washed away by heavy rains. or melted by warm weather. that's because we need the water to feed into the reservoirs for at least into early summer. if things go well by april, the snow will be very compact id and dense depending on the density and everything,

but yeah, if you have 100 inches of snow pack 40 inches of water is pretty likely. but for now, great for skiing great for snowboarding hard to snowshoe in looking at the national weather service is three month long range precipitation outlook for the northern sierra. calls for neither above nor below precipitation, a balanced and hopeful view. tom vacar ktvu, fox two news. heavy snowfall has forced to counties and lake tahoe basin declared local emergencies. plaster and eldorado county officials say they've been hit with record snow. this is what it looks like in plaster ville the weight of the wet snow is bringing down trees and power lines and closing roads across the region. again caltrans reports interstate 80 and highway 50 are open, but vehicles must have either four wheel drive or drivers must install chains. chp is still asking people not to travel to or through the sierra if it all possible governor. newsom encouraged californians

to do the same and avoid tahoe. in a statement, he said, i want to thank all our emergency responders for working diligently through trying weather conditions to keep our communities safe. i strongly encourage all californians to avoid making the situation worse and refrain from traveling on mountain roads until conditions improve. the governor directed the office of emergency services to monitor the road and weather conditions and help coordinate assistance. well we spoke to the mayor of south lake tahoe on mornings on tuesday about conditions in the area and efforts to bounce back from the storm. that stuff we've gone through a long year, especially with the calgary fire and evacuations we had earlier this season, but our business communities resilient. our community members are resilient . and this is another storm that we know how to weather and once the once the sun comes out, and everyone can go out and enjoy the powder. for devin middlebrook says emergency crews and first responders have been working around the clock to provide supplies and restore power gas to those dealing with outages. he also encourages

visitors to wait until the weekend ahead to the area. when the weather is expected to improve. search teams continue their search today for a skier missing at the northstar ski resorts since christmas day, the plastic county sheriff's office says. 43 year old rory angela scanned his resort ski pass just before noon last saturday. but there's been no trace of him. since angela is the general manager of the sure foot ski shop at northstar. ski patrol members say they'll keep looking for him, even though they realized the odds he has survived this long are quote extremely small. they're concerned too much time has passed in the frigid conditions are hindering the search, making his survival extremely difficult. i've compiled numbers to share with you over the past seven days are rainfall totals and they are quite healthy. they are quite impressive. let's take a look at them. right now. we have over five inches of rain reported in kent fill danville forward a quarter over 3.5 in castro valley to the south bay,

evergreen would just about 3.5 inches of rain. oakland over three inches. san francisco protein, three inches of rain over the last seven days and over the last week sent to rosa 2.5 look at san francisco got more rain than to the north and santa rosa and san jose. very impressive, with nearly 2.5 inches of rain. now, i wanted to share that with you, because as we take a look at our drought update, this is the official update by noah. just 10 days ago we were in extreme drought. now with the current rainfall totals . we are up to severe drought throughout northern california, the southwest and the pacific northwest. we have seen much improvement will continue to conserve on our water habits and perhaps begin the new year on a better note. right now. it's so pristine outside. this is a gorgeous yeah, i'm just going to get out of the way golden gate bridge at its finest lots of clear skies visibility unlimited santa rosa in the fifties. same in san francisco, oakland,

livermore and in san jose, the winter starting to increase and pretty much rotate around to the northwest fairfield now at 10 through travis, otherwise half moon basement, picking up some gusty afternoon winds sustained when at 13 mph. these winds will remain up to 15 throughout the evening hours. we've got clipped by little bit of precipitation across the northwestern quadrant of the state of california. otherwise our system for yesterday is now they're over seven california the base in there. we have foot advisories, in effect. heck, if it drizzles and los angeles they have flood advisories, but nevertheless 2 to 3 inches of rain anticipated and throughout the valley. there we do have that snow at the grapevine with dense fog. also, it's running at the tallahatchie be passed as you make your way out of bakersfield into the desert southwest. and we will see snow later for us. bright sunshine tomorrow and a cold night slated as we welcome in the new year. saturday is going to be pristine, gorgeous anyway,

you want to say it's going to be delightful and then sunday turns partly cloudy that will lead to some rain showers. i'll tell you exactly when that rain will arrive. and andre greg. that's coming up next time around. i look forward to it, roberta. thank you out of the latest on the coronavirus. new data from the california department of public health shows the daily average of new cases is above 12,000 that's up from 10,000 earlier this week. that's nearly 39 positive covid cases per 100,000 residents test positivity has risen to 12.9% from just over 11% the day before the state is averaging 45 deaths per day. but these numbers are still far below the average is we saw during the surge in january? the steep rise in cases in the bay area, and the state has some local hospitals taking measures to make sure they're prepared for an increase in the number of patients. statewide hospitalizations are up by 300 patients from yesterday. 2 55 100. but they are far below the peak in january before vaccines

were widely available, and when more than 22,000 people were hospitalized in california, john your health tells us they have canceled some elective surgeries that require overnight stays as precaution. so far, they say they are not seeing a sharp upward trend in hospitalizations. well, the new year is, of course, nearly here in for many families, that means students will be heading back to class after the holiday break. ktvu christien kafton joins us live from san francisco and christian schools are a patchwork of requirements. andre from school district school district from elementary school to college. what you need to do to go back to school depends on where you go to school. as 2021 draws to a close students will be returning to class next week and are facing returning to school amidst the surge of the omicron variant in oakland school resumes january 3rd and all students 12 years and older will be required to be fully vaccinated to return to class after the holiday break. place

the swab into the tube. oakland unified also sent home 41,000 at home test kits with online instructions on how to use them. and are strongly encouraging families to test their students before they resume in person instruction across the bay in san francisco school also resumes january 3rd. the district is strongly encouraging students five years and older to get their vaccination shots and then we're also sharing information about how to access testing. we are strongly encouraging but not requiring that people get tested before coming back to school. on monday. one students come back, the district will be hosting a series of testing clinics open for ongoing testing. we've expanded our opportunities for people to get tested. we're offering mobile rapid testing beginning this sunday, january 2nd through january 9th at locations throughout the school district. college students are also navigating the path back to class following the winter break. university of california's president issued a letter to the 10 uc chancellors

to come up with a plan for back to school. you see wide students are required to be vaccinated and boosted as soon as they're able, u. c berkeley says it expects everyone to get tested for covid before returning to campus when it comes to ongoing testing, quote for vaccinated students, faculty and staff. surveillance testing is not required for 180 days from the date you are fully vaccinated. kahane wilhite attends uc santa cruz. it's still a bit stressful. to go to campus and interact with people without knowing for sure, she says she's planning on returning to her apartment next week. the school is also strongly encouraging tests but finding a testing location or even an at home test is proving nearly impossible. every place is filled up right now, with the test. there's no available to us for the rest of the week. however i want to go back to campus this week. um kaiser doesn't have it. cbs. in

preparation for back to school. the state has announced that due to the surgeon omicron cases, it will be distributing some six million tests to k through 12th graders as they returned from winter break. education leaders are strongly encouraging families to report the results to the school and to the state so they can keep tabs on the progress of covid through the education community where live in san francisco christian captain ktvu. fox two news and those tests will provide some relief to parents and students as well, christian thank you. we will have more coverage of the omicron variants spread in the bay area coming up at 4 30. we'll speak with the local infectious disease expert. about those increasing case numbers. san francisco fire department is dealing with a covid outbreak. the chronicle reports that there have been as many as 60 cases this month in the department that includes at least 40 active cases right now. the fire department spokesperson says the covid cases have not impacted the department's operations. san francisco fire department has around 1700 employees. those

holiday travel woes still lingering thousands of flights canceled or delayed nationwide is staffing shortages and whether continues to drive headaches for passengers will tell you how the bay area is faring. plus if you're still planning on partying it up years eve, the chp has a stern reminder. do not drink and drive next, how officers are preparing to ramp up enforcement. and wind whipped flames forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. the situation this hour and to denver suburbs.

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and family-safe browsing gives parents one less thing to worry about.xtra co. arrested more than 700 people, and this afternoon, the agency gearing up to once again stop and period drivers before they hurt anyone. or even themselves . joining us now is chp officer edgar bega. officer vega. thank you so much for joining us first. tell us about what you call the maximum enforcement period here. hi good afternoon. thanks for having me. um maximum

enforcement period for us is a time when we take the maximum amount of officers available. and we placed the mountain patrol and we're basically looking for primary collision factors such as speed, unsafe lane changes and driving under the influence of alcohol. tell us about the operation when you have this maximum enforcement. is it something where you call? every available chp officer into work overtime and patrol the highways across california. that's correct. we have every available officer and we pre schedule that during this maximum enforcement period time to make sure that the roadways are going to be saturated with patrol officers. uh to basically look out for these, um these violations during this highly transited time of the year. you know when you when you were talking about 700 over 709, i think was a number last year. what are some of the common excuses you hear from people? because we warned about this every year. do not get behind

the wheel and drink a driveway. it's 56 people died last year over new year's eve. what are some of the excuses? some of these folks are giving you for getting behind the wheel. and that's correct. it was 709 arrests like you mentioned and we did lose 56 people. unfortunately last year, it's difficult. a lot of people you know, failed to plan ahead for the festivities. we don't discourage anybody from going out and celebrating. you know, we want everybody to spend this time with their with their family and friends and their loved ones. um but we just ask people to be responsible and make a plan ahead. right if you're if you're going out, and you're going to celebrate, um either designated driver or use one of the many available ride sharing apps or taxes throughout the bay area. it's an urban area, so there's lots of availability for public transportation. if you do want to go out and celebrate, so when does all of this start when you start, the officers start hitting the road in earnest kind of watching. for all the folks who may be drinking at my well so it's gonna be friday, which is today at 601 is when the

maximum enforcement period stops for starts. and it's gonna go through sunday ending at 11 59 is when we have this maximum saturation. officers out on the on the barrier roadways, and that's going to be throughout the state of california as well, because we talk about this every year. give us another warning to those people who do not plan ahead who get behind the wheel. what do you want to say to them today? our main message to the public is we want everybody to be safe. we want everybody to enjoy this time. responsibly uh , this is a time that is meant for everyone to spend with their families and celebrate. i know for us. this is a it's a rough time because we lost a fellow colleague, um during during the christmas period due to unfortunate, unfortunate accident, which was related with , you know, driving under the influence, so all we ask people is to be responsible to kind of head to prevent these tragedies from happening. this is a time meant for celebration and not warning, so we want to make sure

everybody out there is enjoying this time of being safe as well. and so, officer vega i know driving up 5 88 80 by night. you see all kinds of craziness. if you're just a driver going about your business, you're being the law and you see a driver acting strangely on the road driving strange down the road. what can the normal driver do? is there a quick number they can call? so we want. we want that witness. obviously to regard their own safety first, make sure you're taking care of yourself. you know, your own safety is primordial here. however if you do witness any kind of activity, you can always call 911. be a good witness provided vehicle description. if a license place available provide that and kind of give us a general location of where you where you're at. uh hopefully there is available officer that we can dispatch that location and hopefully stop the erratic driving. all right. what are the important things that you mentioned in? all of this is to plan ahead so you don't get caught off guard. and having the hop behind the wheel.

right here is pretty easy if you're close to home pretty cheap as well. so that's a good warning for everyone out there. officer edgar vega with chp. thank you. so much for your insight and big warning about the saturation patrols that are ahead appreciate. thank you for your time and happy holidays to everyone by boys and breaking news in colorado, where thousands of people and communities near denver are under evacuation orders because of wildfire. take a look at this video, ferocious flames fueled by howling winds this afternoon. this video is from boulder county, where the sheriff just said as many as 580 homes are either damaged or destroyed. one officer is injured tens of thousands of residents in the cities of louisville and superior were ordered to leave because of multiple fires. part of a highway shut down. the fires are blamed on sparking power lines down by winds gusting at more than 100 mph. back at home or windsor under 15 mph, for the most part. good

afternoon, everybody. we have no rain today and no rain tomorrow or on saturday. wow look at this . are those hills green or what ? that's what good rainfall would do for you right now. temperatures are chilly. it's 49 degrees in novato. it doesn't feel as raw as yesterday when it was so been raining outside temperatures were just maybe a couple degrees cooler than this at this hour. it is now 52 degrees in walnut creek, also in danville and alamo, blackhawk as well so fifties from livermore all the way backing through pleasant in and to dublin, 52 degrees in newark and in fremont, 53. sfo through burlingame into belmont redwood cities in the mid forties. now, as we take a look at our satellite imagery, we do have a little bit of precipitation just off the coast from eureka, but that was very short lived. otherwise we have our eyes and attention on that right there. that is our storm from yesterday

and his plowing into southern california, primarily around santa clarita, all the way back through los angeles and orange county long beach and go to be drifting into san diego later on this evening, so meanwhile, we're watching our future cats and you see what absolutely nothing clear skies tonight and without that blanket of clouds overhead. we're going to have colder temperatures because, remember, we had the passage of a cold front, so it's drawing in that colder air mass truck. he's not reporting it officially, but i got a good idea. it's 32 degrees there. 33 south lake tahoe 37 degrees and grass valley. a few flurries tomorrow morning from a little impulse that's going to be an inside slider, otherwise, no accumulation and lots of sunshine. but did you see those single digits for overnight lows and tahoe on saturday and sunday , though, is going to be some of the coldest temperatures in the past five years. for us under the freezing point in santa rosa , pets, plants and pipes. you

got to protect him fifties across the board for us tomorrow, except for 48 degrees in livermore. and there you have your new year's day forecast bright sunshine as we welcome in the new year, greg and andre reporter. thank you. police in santa rosa asking people to be on the lookout for a missing 11 year old girl. riley flatter bow was last seen last night at her home near washoe court and nia thomas avenue. her family says when they woke up this morning she was not there. police say there is indication of a crime. riley is five ft three inches tall and weighs £100. she has brown hair and blue eyes. she was wearing a black adidas hoodie and blue tie dye sweat pants. coming up more potential lawsuits following the lane. maxwell is guilty verdict. people connected jeffrey epstein , who could soon face legal trouble.

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the horse was one of two that got loose and was involved in an accident with a car. it happened monday night north of tracy. the other horse was killed. this horse was secured without injury . anyone who recognizes the horse is asked to call the county's animal services division. british socialite and former jeffrey epstein. associate delayed maxwell could spend decades behind bars after that guilty verdict in her sex trafficking case and is alexis mcadams reports more people connected with epstein could soon face legal troubles as well. glenn maxwell could spend the rest of her life in federal prison. the former girlfriend of jeffrey epstein, facing up to 65 years behind bars after a jury found her guilty on five federal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, an attorney for epstein's victims, calling yesterday's verdict a monumental day for justice. what is more wrong than the sexual abuse of little girls? dillane went to a summer camp for children and recruited and

enticed these children and brought them to jeffrey epstein , where they were then sexually abused. the jury deliberating for about 40 hours before reaching its decision, the british socialite stoic as that verdict was read in court, maxwell's attorneys maintaining her innocence, saying they plan to appeal. we are very disappointed with the verdict. we have already started working on the appeal, and we are confident that she will be vindicated and more legal trouble related to this case is on the way maxwell still awaiting trial and two counts of perjury. meanwhile a woman not involved in this trial, virginia jeffrey says she was sexually abused by britain's prince andrew on multiple occasions. one instance, allegedly occurring at maxwell's house and london. that lawsuit not expected to come to trial, though, for several months there are other people to be held accountable. and it'll be over #### or high water that the state doesn't prosecute. other man prince andrew's attorneys

are expected to argue for a dismissal of do for his lawsuit next week in new york. alexis mcadams ktvu fox two news colorado governor jared polis has shortened the prison sentence of a truck driver convicted in a deadly explosive crash to 10 years, drastically reducing his original 110 year term that drew widespread outrage. the decision on rachael agility medeiros. his sentence was among several end of the year commutations and pardons issued by the governor. the move comes days after a judge scheduled a hearing for next month to reconsider the sentence. at the request of the district attorney who would plan to ask that it be reduced to 20 to 30 years. 2019 crash killed four people. well coming up new year's eve celebrations are moving forward as planned in new york city. the police department is preparing for thousands of spectators to flood times square. covid cases are shooting up across the bay area driven by the highly contagious macron variant. after the break, we'll

speak with the chair of ucsf's department of medicine about what we can expect over the next few weeks.

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vaccination status, the cdc says the omicron variant spreads easily between people in close quarters on ships and the chance of getting covid is very high. the cdc says it has more than 90 cruise ships under investigation or observation as a result of covid-19 cases. passengers who do crews are asked to get tested

and quarantined for five days after returning even if they are vaccinated, boosted and have no symptoms. as we've been telling you, the u. s continues to shatter records for new daily coronavirus cases here in california cases also surpassing the last winter surge. all of it driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant. it's prompting warnings from health officials who are urging people to scale back those new year's plans. as we still await the full impact of holiday gatherings, hospitalizations in the state have steadily climbed the state health department reports just over 5500 people hospitalized with covid. that's up by 3 18 patients from the day before a 6% spike, and it's up more than 50% from december 1st when 3500 and 30 patients were hospitalized, but it's far below the january surge. when we saw more than 22,000 people in the hospital for a better explanation of what the trend lines tell us. we're joined by dr bob walker, the chair of ucsf's department of medicine. dr. walker always appreciate your time. let me start with this this time last year, we

were worried about running out of hospital beds. this year. the concern seems to be about staff . not only are these brave men and women exhausted, but they're getting all macron your thoughts. yeah they're not getting it from the hospital. they're getting it from real life. they're out there like the rest of us and trying to be careful. but this new variant is so incredibly infectious that we are seeing. a fair number of doctors and nurses and others come down sick, and that makes it difficult to staff our hospitals now that that may be one of the greatest worries that we have now what we have enough doctors and nurses for the and for the floors. and for the emergency room. dr walker. you just posted a tweet about 10 minutes ago, saying it's likely one in 12. people in san francisco without symptoms have covid, the fda said this week at home tests worth less sensitive to detecting arm across you and others had a very strong reaction to that, since it really is one of our best tools here. yeah i wish they hadn't said that. i mean, it is true that they are a little bit less sensitive with omicron. there's

some evidence that on your first day of infectivity the rapid test with our macron the rapid tests sometimes test negative, but by day to it almost always test positive. i still think the rapid tests are very valuable tool to set to tell if someone is infectious. so if you're getting together with people who and you want to be sure that there's nobody infectious using the rapid test. i think it's very valuable to, although it's not, it's not absolutely perfect . the one in 12 number comes from ucsf. we test all of our people who are coming in for anything. if you're coming in for symptoms of covid, obviously we test you, but you also test you if you're having heart surgery or cancer surgery or colonoscopy, and that's the group right now. 8% of those folks who have no symptoms of covid whatsoever. are testing positive for covid so implies that about one in 12. people who feel fine are currently carrying covid with them and might very well be infectious. so it's a it's a wild number far higher than any time we've seen in the

last two years. a reminder to be careful. obviously your twitter is very popular one of your threads, providing some hope for the near future. and as we look at trends in south africa plateau and saying in february we could be in a happy place. tell us what that means from your perspective. yeah, i'm the first thing to realize is that's february. the next six weeks could be quite terrible and probably will be a ton of new cases and some particularly unvaccinated people getting quite sick going to the hospital and a fair number of people will die. so i don't think we're in a happy place now, and i think we have to be super careful. but by february, i think we're going to be in a position where, if judging by south africa and now looking at what's happening in london, which is starting to plateau cases will probably be coming down. this thing seems to go up fast and come down fast. and by that time you're either going to be vaccinated or if you're not vaccinated. you're almost certainly going to be infected with omicron and assuming you survive that most of the population will be immune. there will also be the new fighter drug. that cuts the rate of serious illness down by 90% it should be more generally

available, so i think by february we may see cases falling the availability of an oral of a pill that you can take if you do get covid, and you're at high risk that lowers your chances of a bad outcome, so we may find ourselves in a pretty and a pretty good place. doctor you talked about fighter the fda set to authorize the fighter booster for 12 to 15 year olds this amidst a major increase in unvaccinated children in the hospital. how much of a difference will this make? i think it's really important. it is very clear that the kids need to be vaccinated and that the data as it comes in is increasingly clear that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe in the kids. and any kid who ends up in the hospital, virtually all of them the cdc show today. virtually all of them were unvaccinated, so it's not even a close call in terms of the risks versus the benefits of the vaccine. and if we want to keep our schools open, and we do the kids need to be vaccinated. we should be concentrating on doing that. ucsf's doctor bob walker, always

appreciate your insights, sir. and all the work. you and your team are doing happy new year to you. thank you to you as well. the comedy festival, scheduled for next month in san francisco, has been postponed. sketch fist was scheduled to run from january 7th to the 23rd. but a statement on its website says the rising numbers of covid cases is forced them to postpone the some of the artists have expressed concern about traveling and performing. a new date has not yet been set. organizers say ticket holders will get details soon. the festival, by the way is and its 20th year. well despite calls from the manhattan city council health committee chair 15,000 people still expected to fill the times square tomorrow night as matt king reports, the new york police department says. they're ready. there are no independent threats. there's no credible threat so that right off the top but this year is a little different. at a news conference thursday, police commissioner dermot shea expanded his department's typical interpretation of safety

at the annual times square new year's eve celebration to also include health. you're going to wear a mask, and that's the expectation for everyone. just 15,000 masked and vaccinated. revelers will travel first through vaccine checking stations friday before entering the nypd counterterrorism checkpoints. magnetometers explosive trace detection machines, heavy weapons and explosive detection canines. the quarter of a normal years crowd standing behind barricades and the not so cold friday evening won't get to hear or see l l cool j, who tested positive for covid or chloe, who reneged and performing friday night, but they may see their next mayor forced to cancel his indoor king's theater swearing in ceremony scheduled for saturday night due to the ongoing and still growing omicron surge. mayor elect eric adams plans to take the oath of office in times square. shortly after the ball drop, nypd brass promised revelers would also see the usual full contingent of police officers. some you will see and some you will not say department canceled all vacation days, taking on new year's eve and new year's day by healthy cops to fill shifts vacated by the 21%

of the forest, joining the many mta nurses, doctors, train operators, pilots, flight attendants and every other kind of new yorker now out of work due to covid infection. we're at the highest level that i've ever seen in my career before broadcasting the near £12,000 waterford crystal orb 77 ft descent to the roof of one time square to a billion people around the world officials tested the custom industrial winch that lowers the ball down its poll thursday, a day after practicing some much less technical and probably less necessary, confetti throwing. we don't want to see alcohol, no lawn chairs. no large bags, backpacks. that was matt king reporting for us from new york city here in the bay area. if you're heading out for new year's eve tomorrow, be sure to stay up to date on the winter weather by downloading the ktvu weather app. you can download it for free. on your phone. coming up the holiday travel troubles aren't over yet. how many flights were delayed across the country today for the seventh day in iraq?

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today, with winter weather and the democrat variant, causing havoc on schedules. here's a live look now at sfo in their 59 flight cancelations being reported. across the country flight aware showing more than 1000 cancelations and over 5000 delayed flights. does he look their life at the airport? alright. the trip through the other major bay area airports a little smoother today. there are only seven cancelations in oakland airport and 15 flights were scrapped san jose airport you heard andre say it there for the seventh day in a row. more than 1000 flights have been canceled in us as the 12 punch of winter weather and covid takes a major toll on air travel foxes david lee miller has more from laguardia airport in new york city. spent a couple hours

on the line, and they said, no room for me, and he's not alone . thousands of air travelers across the country remain stranded after seven days of major disruptions. on thursday, more than 1000 more cancelations and 2000 delays as airlines deal with the aftermath of major storms in the west and staffing shortages brought on by the fast spread of the cranberries. some passengers have been sleeping in airports for days after missing connecting flights. i was supposed to come home. sunday my plan was supposed to land in seattle is sex. it was canceled. we've been trying to get home. since then. west coast airports have been particularly hard hit ceatec in seattle, canceling more than a quarter of all flights on thursday. it's a hub for alaska airlines, which grounded about 14% of its flights. largely due to de icing issues that created a backlog of passengers and jetblue has already started the process of canceling about 1200 flights through mid january. earlier this week, the cdc shortened quarantine times for covid exposures. we should provide some relief to overwork staffers

and some lawmakers say they're looking at another way to help get america moving again safely . he has said it is if you went to visit someone, you're still waiting for that plane to take off because of the quarantine rules versus lot of the airplanes. airline staff are not able to work on and if you're looking to fly on new year's eve, make sure you check with your airline. 500 flights have already been canceled in new york. david lee miller fox news it's been so impressive whether here in the bay area that i went ahead and compiled totals for you so you could see just how much rain we had fallen here in the bay area in the past seven days. look at ben lomond over 6.5 inches of rain in the santa cruz mountains, mount tam in the north bay approaching six inches , st mary's in the east bay over five inches and along the coast and along the peninsula, sam bruno with over five full inches of rain. you couple that up now , with the snowfall totals 206. 84 inches, which is 22 ft of

snow right now this season and the greater lake tahoe area for the month of december. look at the difference for the month of december 17 ft of snow. so when you put that altogether, noah came out with the very latest drought update. and it does say that we have improved. we were at extreme drought just 10 days ago. now we are at severe drought, so keep on conserving and maybe we'll be off to really good start in the new year. this is our live weather camera looking out towards the city of san francisco across the san francisco bay temperatures are in the fifties. the winds are under 15 mph. we've got clipped by little impulse early this morning across the northwestern quadrant of the state, otherwise to the south, we are tracking the rain and the snow falling in southern california as we zoom on in and take a better look here. anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain around the los angeles basin. looks like we have some localized snow in the southern california mountains as well as you make your trip up the cajon pass into the mojave desert. this is our future cast,

and this illustrates clear sky and when we had that kind of clarity with the passage of a cold front, you know our temperatures are going to take a big dip right now. thirties and south lake tahoe about 32 degrees in truckee grass valley, also in the thirties, but i want you to see their forecasts because on saturday night and sunday night into monday morning . we haven't seen those kind of temperatures in nearly five years. 30 degrees overnight tonight in santa rosa, which is below freezing, protect your pets, plants and pipes upper thirties in oakland through elevator into el cerrito, 42. san mateo 35. morgan hill tomorrow's temperatures in the upper forties and fifties. there will be a chill in the air, and then it's going to be cold for bringing in the new year. tomorrow night up to saturday morning. bright sunshine. the string of sunny days will continue with clouding up by sunday night. a chance of rain monday and definitely we will be

wet. on tuesday. andre and greg returns and we still needed to thank you. are coming up. you can now buy fresh dungeness crab right off the boat. fresh off the boat, you can test out the new pilot program at fisherman's war. plus with cases of covid at record breaking levels, hospitals are bracing for a potential surgeon patients coming up to five. doctors explain what changes are being made in my bed space is not the biggest problem. plus we'll tell you why the golden state warriors will not be suiting up tonight. when you have xfinity xfi, you have peace of mind built in at no extra cost. advanced security helps keep your family protected online. pause wifi whenever for ultimate control with the xfinity app.

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. you can buy it right off the boat this afternoon. ktvu relief tells us about this new change, deciding both crab fisherman and seafood lovers as well. for the first time in decades, consumers are now able to buy #### directly from fishermen off their boats. we love crowd, so whenever crop season comes around, we're always grabbing

crab. we love to make it fresh from, you know the live craft, and we do it, and it's a family tradition. right? thank you so much. thank you. and the porter . san francisco hopes it will become a new year's eve tradition. on this day, the kickoff to a one year pilot program, adding dungeness crab to the list of species that commercial fishermen may sell to the public directly. it's a way to get people to come to fisherman's warf. the pandemic was was pretty pretty brutal for the businesses down here, and we hope that this may provide a little bit of economic recovery to the area. nice little offload here. this is video given to me by crab fisherman matt wanda's who went out on the bay early in the morning to bring in crabs to sell to the public. 10 regular size. okay on this day, wanna sold the crab at $10 a pound cash only despite the rain business exceeded expectations. i was surprised at how many people showed up and supported us. i was really shocked. $60

wanna says there's nothing that beats getting crapped fresh off the boat you bought from the store who knows where it came from, or how long it sacked on new year's eve. fresh craft off the boat will be sold here at pier 47. from two pm to five pm and starting new year's day the public can buy fresh crab this way every saturday afternoon in san francisco, amberleigh ktvu. fox two news. it is not just tesla and waymo that are the self driving vehicle game. many companies are working on semi trucks that drive themselves. reporter stephanie bennett shows us what might be the future of trucking. we're approaching the burger front commercial vehicles . first, it was driverless cars , but now we're upgrading to driverless semi trucks just in time as the country is facing a severe truck driver shortage we're using more and more on demand economy, e commerce and so we need more things delivered to us faster. and so that's really creating a long term

problem. and uh, that is the goal that we hope to solve. with our thomas technology. the semi truck completed the 80 mile route with no human on board, using technology developed by two simple if you can make autonomous trucks self driving, then you're creating new free capacity and we're solving this demand supply problem, and the trip started at a rail yard in tucson and ended at a distribution center in phoenix to ensure safety elite vehicles scouted the route about five miles ahead of the truck for unexpected obstacles and a vehicle trailed behind and was prepared to intervene if necessary. along with several unmarked police vehicles. it didn't interfere with traffic, right? we don't want this to be a test tube kind of test. we want this to be a real open road driving experience. all in all, the trucks successfully navigated the interstate used to traffic signals, made lane changes and used on and off ramps. the company to simple says this will soon become the new normal. possibly having them

ready to use by 2024. we have today about close to 7000 thomas truck reservations from very large customers, and the most recent one will be announced was what the shell which, of course, is a very global that justice player. are coming up. americans are on track to end the year with a lot of credit card debt. how the holiday season will leave many in threat.

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which is kind of nice. ah, what is happening. binge-watching is in the bag, when you find all your apps, all in one place. find live sports faster just by using your voice... sports on now. touchdown irish! [cheering] that was awesome. and, the hits won't quit, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. all that entertainment built in. xfinity. a way better way to watch. includes model three and model s cars from the 2000 and 17 2020 model year because of a trunk issue that could increase the possibility of a crash. some model threes could have a rear camera issue caused by opening and closing the trunk. model s cars could have a front trunk latch problem, which could cause

a hood to open and obstruct driver's vision. tesla says it will inspect the effective cars and make any necessary fixes free of charge. alright more bad news here. liquor stores are reporting an alcohol shortage ahead of new year's eve celebrations. retailers across the country, saying there is a shortage on wines rums tequila as cognac and sparkling wines. whiskies doing alright, experts say supply chain issues are holding up liquor being imported from outside the country, while the coronavirus and a rise in positive cases is slowing down alcohol being shipped within the country. store is likely have enough to get partygoers through the new year, but you might have to sacrifice certain specific brands cost you more. that's right. americans are on track to end the year with more than $70 billion in credit card debt after spending more than they actually have this holiday season, fox is jeff flock is in lancaster, pennsylvania. with what you could call this holiday hangover. strolling through the park city mall here in lancaster , pennsylvania, was a good

christmas here and another malls around the country. but the problem is a lot of us went into debt in order to make that happen. take a look at the numbers from wallet hub, they say this year. 36% of americans went into debt to finance christmas. that compares to just 31% a year ago. fortunately the debt was a little bit smaller about 1200, plus dollars this year compared to 1300 plus last year, but a lot of his did it in a new way. something called bnp l. something called buy now pay later. these are firms that allow you to get the item that you want. upfront and then pay for it over time, not a credit card, but they just basically spiel out your payments over time member of these firms are now under investigation by the consumer. financial protection bureau. they include a firm after pay the swedish firm clark to as well as zip and paypal. retailers of course, like the

concept is, it enables people to have something sooner than they otherwise wouldn't get paid in. the retailers get paid up front. we talked to the founders of ledbury, the noted a shirt makers. here's what they said. i think it is helpful for some people that are maybe making like larger purchases if they're coming to ledbury, and they're re kidding out their wardrobe for the year. maybe they went by six or seven shirts all at once. but with the latest sort of option buy now pay later, they might do that. some pressure on retailers, though in the form of those dreaded returns. a lot of retailers extended the period of time in which consumers could return their purchases, for example. the folks at nordstrom rack 45 days, nike extended to 60 days and macy's walmart and sacks up to 90 days. unfortunately, the number of returns is predicted to be an all time record this year, perhaps as high as $114 billion . that is an increase in the number of returns by between 24

to 27. so good news and bad news at christmas from the mall park city mall here in lancaster, pennsylvania. back to you. ktvu fox two news at five starts now. the virus continues to throw curveballs that even the people with the best predictive models couldn't have forecast. now five hospitals once overflowing with covid patients are preparing to prevent a similar post holiday surge and navigating the path back to class after the holidays depends on where you go to school. we're taking a look at what you need to know about. the challenges that you may run into also the sierras first snow survey of the season, giving us an idea of how beneficial the winter storms actually were. good evening, everyone i'm julie julie haener, and i'm heather holmes in again tonight for frank. there's a steep rise in covid cases in the bay area and really all across the state , and it has some hospitals taking measures to make sure

that they are prepared. for an influx of patients. investigative reporter brooks jarocz is live for us this afternoon in the newsroom and brooke. so far we've seen 300 new patients hospitalized statewide, and that's just since yesterday. that's right, heather , but doctors say hospitalizations are only a quarter of what they were during last winter's surge. still they often lag behind by a couple of weeks after cases spike right now, hospitals are preparing and making changes to prevent any capacity issues. i think we're going to be very busy. unfortunately as covid cases skyrocket, there's also an uptick of patients at california's hospitals. steam data shows more than 5500 right now, an increase of 6% since the previous day, doctors and healthcare workers anticipate a sharp rise in the next couple of weeks similar to other surges. we've always been vigilant. and we've always also always been cautious. i mean, the virus continues to throw curveballs that even the people with the best