Wind, that could lead to bigtime power problems, perhaps in some of the foothill communities. Great information, rob. Not looking gad along the guadeloupe throughout the weekend. Well have details on the winter storm warning for the sierra coming up later on. The rain is making a mess out of our local roadways. B. A. R. T. Riders also face delays because of the rain. For more on, that we go to Jodi Hernandez who joins us in berkeley tonight. Jodi . Reporter its been a very tough day on commuters. Ill tell you, getting to work this morning was no easy task. Things are still a little tricky out on the highway. This is interstate 80 in berkeley. But water hungry residents say theyll take the headaches on the highway, they say its worth it. For the first time this year, bay area commuters faced slick conditions this morning, as Mother Nature finally delivered a healthy dose of rain. The first rain for the bay area in quite a long time has generated what we called predictable results. Weve seen collisions spike remarkably. Reporter this accident on i80 was one of dozens of raindriven crashes. The chp says the number of accidents more than doubled during the morning commute and fear the spike will continue. Were encouraging drivers to be aware. This will stay here until sunday. Reporter the backed up freeways made many late for work. Lucy williams says her bus never showed up. She was running more than three hours late when we caught up with her. Im glad that we have rain, so im not complaining. And it could be worse and im glad that rig accident, there was no fatalities. So im okay. Reporter the Rainy Weather caused minor systemwide delays on b. A. R. T. , as well. Wet, oily tracks meant trains had to slow down their acceleration. But riders say theyre just happy to see raindrops. Finally some rain, and im just kind of, you know, excited about it. We definitely need it. I mean, its been dry and theyre calling for all kinds of rationing and mandatory rationing and stuff like that. So we definitely need the rain. Reporter you can sure say that again. Commuters seem to be okay dealing with the slowdowns. Right noushw. It is dry out here, but most folks say theyre waiting for the rain to fall again. Jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. Jodi, thank you. All of this is heavenly for skiers and snowboarders. Businesses are even more excited, considering the lack of business theyve had during this drought. This is great for business. Were local to all our ski resorts. This will be a Good Opportunity for us to get to have more new skiers in for business, and hopefully our rooms will get filled, as well. It should be a big week for heavenly, squaw, kirkwood, everyone. Fresh powder but hazardous road conditions. Chain restrictions are in place for highway 50. This is our caltrans camera. For interstate 80, chains are required for trucks. Likely tomorrow cars will need chains in the next 48 hours. We continue our weather coverage on our twitter page. Well have updates and pictures from our weather team. Only on nbc bay area, a new push in the search for sierra lamar. The teenager, as you know, disappeared almost two years ago while on her way to school in morgan hill. The sheriffs dive team is searching another lake. Damian trujillo was the only reporter with those divers as they looked for her today. Reporter the official word coming from the Sheriffs Office here is that those divers were training when our cameras caught up with them yesterday. But several highplaced sources tell me that was no training exercise, that it had everything to do with the search for sierra lamar. The dive team returned to another lake in Santa Clara County on wednesday. Nbc bay area is not naming the lake or its location to protect the integrity of the investigation. Sources tell us a tip led divers here to search for evidence in the disappearance of sierra lamar. This just underscores how important it is to find sierras body. Reporter legal analyst steven clark says suspects in the past have been convicted of murder without the body, but it is an uphill battle. Right now, the suspect sits in jail awaiting trial. Without a body this case is much more challenging for the prosecution, and theyre going to have to rely on a lot of other forensic evidence. Reporter sources tell us divers are using this new tool, a more powerful sonar that can help better detect a body underwater. Theyre out here doing something. Reporter mark garcia is helping the family find sierra. He came out to see the search. This is a place of interest. Personally, i know this has been a place of interest in the past. So no, im not surprised. Reporter not surprised the divers returned to this particular lake looking for sierra lamar. No word yet on if the divers found anything in their search yesterday. Several people have told me some of the experts, that the drought is actually helping in this search because now that the water levels, the lake levels are lower, it might be easier to find a body at the bottom of a lake. Live at sheriffs headquarters in san jose, im damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. San jose police are investigating the fifth homicide of the year. Officers found a man who had been stabbed just after midnight. That park is right across the street from the Fairmont Hotel in downtown san jose. He died at the hospital. Police have not released his name or said what led to the stabbing. Also new at 5 00, two suspected arsonists have been arrested by police. Detectives say they set three cars on fire on january 13th. The cars were behind pedros auto clinic next to 101 and shoreline. Investigators say one of the cars belonged to him, and he owed money to that auto shop. Still to come, an unusual winter request. What prompted state power officials to issue a flex alert, asking californians to conserve. I had no idea ant art. What inspired a bay area man to make a multimillion dollar donation to a local university. The world is watching. We go to sochi for the latest on the winter games. And a sneak peek at the events you can watch tonight right here on nbc bay area. And then at 6 00, a bay area congregation in shock after the arrest of its pastor for sexual assault. I dont think he did it. Now the churchs Senior Pastor reveals what he thinks really happened. Thats new at 6 00. Game on. The olympics have begun. On your right, a live look at the medals plaza in sochi where its early friday morning. The olympic cauldron will be lit tomorrow. The games couldnt start soon with all the negative coverage. Jack, we got you up before dawn. Good morning to you. Reporter we just stay up through the night out here. Thats our shift. The first olympic medals will not be handed out until saturday. But day one of competition went off without a hitch. Quelling some, but not all the crazy stories coming out of sochi. Were one day away from the opening ceremony, but competition has already begun. Coming up tonight in primetime, get a look at the firstever snowboarding event. Just try to make it to the next round. Reporter and the first Team Figure Skating events. And ladies mogales. Its a challenging course. Reporter many participants are still arriving in sochi, and getting settled in at the athletes village. Team usa held its welcome ceremony today. The olympic flame is also in the host city as it continues its 40,000 mile journey toward the Olympic Stadium for tomorrows opening ceremony. Both u. S. And russian officials sought to reassure the public ahead of the games marquee moment. These games are no different than any other games. Translator the level of security in sochi is absolutely the same than in new york, london, washington or boston. Reporter one difference is that you can eat this yogurt in new york. The russian government is blocking a large shipment of the high protein snack intended to feed u. S. Athletes because of a paperwork error. Regardless of whether the yogurt makes it to sochi, the world will turn its attention here as the curtain goes up on the 22nd Winter Olympics tomorrow night. Another dilemma for some athletes is whether or not to walk in opening ceremonies. Thats a difficult decision for those that have to compete early on saturday when the games really get rolling. My question for you, how can we expect americans to win medals when they dont have their yogurt. They need that yogurt. Thank you. You can watch all the highlights on our primetime coverage. But right now were about to reveal some of those results from earlier today. Heres your spoiler alert. If you do not want to know the results, close your eyes and wait for the music to end. Okay. Were going to turn off the music. The spoiler alert is over. You can look back at your screen. All i have to tell you is youll want to watch. Paulina edmonds tweeted this picture of her Training Session in germany. Another picture, her gear from team usa. Shes going to be staying in munich for just a few days before that short flight to sochi for the actual competition. If you want to celebrate the olympics with a lot of other people in the bay area, sharks eye where she trains is hosting a watch party tomorrow night. There will be a torch parade and youll get to meet some bay area olympians from previous games. Many of our athlete also be wearing the latest fashion made right here in the bay area. Designers met with the athletes to get the right style and figure out what the right fit would be. A lot of what we heard was, we want to look like ninjas, scary to the other countries. Can we wear all black . No, no, you have to wear red, white and blue. If you want to dress like an olympian, they sell what they call the international collection, based on those olympic designs. Tomorrow, the opening ceremony, but tonight, a lot of action. Our primetime coverage begins at 8 00. Well see Team Figure Skating, the Mens Short Program and the pairs short program. Also, slope style snowboarding. Bob kostas joins us at 8 00 tonight. In the bay area, were surrounded by world class athletes, world class education and world class wealth. Tonight, we hear the personal story behind a donation. Garvin thomas joins us. Reporter the person behind the donation is ed dowd. His legacy, he wants it town in art. Reporter a good bit of advice for my College Student to hear is that the road of life ahead of them will likely not be a straight one. They should expect many twists and turns. At least thats what ed dowd would tell them. I look back on it and i go, geez. How did that happen . Reporter in eds case, a stint in the military in the late 60s was followed by a degree from Santa Clara University, which was followed by a staggeringly successful career in real estate. A career, though, he would have to dial back once diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Ed filled the void left by work with art. An unlikely choice for him. I had never been to a museum. I had never been to a gallery before. Reporter still, ed collected it, displayed it and studied it, but didnt learn the true power of art until he donated it. This piece in particular. Ed thought an iconic sculpture would attract top flight medical talent to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in mountain view. He didnt think about the patients. At least that is until they let him know what the art meant to them. Dozens of cards, letters and emails came in thanking ed for making the arrival for often unpleasant medical procedures a little more pleasant. I had no idea that there would be a benefit. Reporter the experience influenced ed so much, hes now committed to sharing the influence of art in a very big way. 12 million to Santa Clara University toward construction of a new art and art history building. Loved hearing his story, talking to him about his past. He decided he was an airman in the air force and he got tired of saluting people, so he said im going to be an officer. He decided to go to college to go back to be an officer, but he never went back in the air force. Thank you, garvin. Lets bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri with our forecast. Our storm this morning has now moved to the south but all eyes are pointed to this stronger storm out in the pacific. Once that gets here, we are expecting some heavier rounds of rain. More on the timing of that coming up in about 45 seconds. Well take you outside right now. Although the storm is gone from this morning, we eastern not done yet. We have widespread cloud cover, drizzle and mist so thick across the east bay, you cant even make out the bay bridge at this point. Light winds at 5 miles per hour. Well go ahead and take you into our microclimate forecast. I want to get you into the storm system were tracking. It continues to develop out here in the pacific. Its all about that subtropical moisture moving in from the south thats what is going to amp up this storm system as we head throughout saturday and also sunday for the potential of some flooding rains to come our way. So take you to the timing on this. This is really unbelievable. We probably havent seen wet weather like were going to see in over a year at this point. Tonight, a few showers lingering with us. Then were really not going to see anything in terms of measurable rainfall until 6 00 p. M. On friday. Then watch this throughout saturday morning, it still stays wet. This is when the flooding concern also be heightened at 7 00 a. M. On saturday. As we advance this, the rainfall keeps come, with this Atmospheric River of moisture moving throughout saturday at 6 00 p. M. And continuing even into sundays forecast at this point. So overall, what you can expect, well have wide ranging impacts with this weather. With that round of rain coming this weekend, totals range from 1. 5 inches to 6 inches. Keep in mind, the highest threat of flooding will be in the north bay where we could have that 3 to 6 inches of wet weather. Small creeks, rivers and streams will be rising quickly, so well have to watch out for isolated flooding and dangerous roads. So napa, marni and sonoma counties is where you need to watch out. A few breaks of sun on friday. A chance of showers and rain increasing throughout the evening. San jose at 57. Redwood city 59. San francisco also in the mid 50s. Not too many differences in our temperatures for that friday forecast. Take a jacket and the umbrella with you. Napa, santa rosa will have the best chance of that rain target early on. You can see for the east bay and the try valley, mid to upper 50s. Snow throughout the sierra. That could total one to maybe three feet as we head throughout the next three days. Winter storm warning in place. If youre traveling up that way, you could see traffic jams four to six hours throughout saturday. Again, i want to stress that with this heavier rain coming in through sunday, where totals will be the highest up in the north bay, we have flooding concerns and well be tracking it all weekend long. Thank you, jeff. Still ahead, a request thats typically made in the summer. Why state power officials are urging californiaens to conserve energy right now. And the crane accident that sent a construction work tore the hospital in san francisco. A construction worker was hurt in an accident today in san francisco. This is one of the many projects south of market. A spokesperson said it happened around 8 00 this morning. Apparently a crane malfunctioned causing the man to fall about 15 feet. Firefighters did say he was alert on the way to the hospital. All work involvie ining cranes stopped at that point. A 19member task force is set to meet to tackle racism and new policies to prevent hate crimes. Four students were charged with a hate crime for bullying an africanamerican student for weeks. He was their roommate. The report released last week found san jose state staff did act quickly after they pound out. Not every student feels theres a Racial Climate at the school. Its pretty good. We didnt feel anything uncomfortable and i just came last year to u. S. I didnt feel anything like that. Tonights meeting is open to the public and will also be streamed. Task force recommendations are due by the end of april. Just in to our newsroom, a fedex plane took off from oakland and made an Emergency Landing in a field. The cessna caravans engine lost power. The pilot had to land in a field four miles from the tracy airport. No one hurt. All is well. Happening now, a rare winter flex alert. Californias power grid leaders called for people to conserve power today and tonight because of the extreme weather in the rest of the country, including canada. Flex alerts are normally reserved for the summer, but frigid temperatures in other parts of north america have created natural gas sort short amgs. A fond farewell. What is in the works for jay len s last night . Well be back in half an hour. Coming up at 6 00, i sit down with the new uc president as she discusses what the Biggest Challenges are on the job. The fundamental problem is not me. I think i become the personification of a greater frustration. Work she says Congress Still has to do on immigration and how that debate is shaping her goals. Not only do the olympics begin here on nbc tonight, but its jay lenos final night hosting the tonight show. Disney has lit up one of their buildings saying thanks, jay. Leppo is being replaced by jimmy fallon, who is moving the show to new york beginning february 17. So just a short while from now. Billy crystal returns for tonights finale. Coming up, Brian Williams anchors from sochi with updates on security and the start of the game. A live look, friday morning in sochi. See you at 6 00. On our broadcast tonight, the games begin. Day one of competition here in sochi, and even before the opening ceremony, there is a new worry about security. And tonight the tsa now has an advisory for all u. S. Airlines headed here. Knocked out. The big storm in the east has left hundreds of thousands without power heading into another bitter cold night. And to the west, a dangerous situation on the roads means big trouble in dallas. Preventing strokes. The new guidelines just released specifically for women to cut the risk and save a lot of lives. The contenders. Our look at some of the americans to watch at these games. Tonight, the veterans, rookies, and the potential for some new stars. And tonight is the night we say goodbye to one of our own stars. Nightly news begins now