Soon. Ski resorts, Emergency Responders and locals are bracing for whats expected to be the biggest snowstorm of the year so far in the sierra ktvu erasmus here in studio to explain the warnings and advice from emergency officials, and we can see these these conditions changing minute by minute. Yeah. And you just showed that live picture of highway 50. Were going to show you how different it is over on interstate 80. You know, those are the two main ways to get up to the sierra from the bay area and interstate 80 at Donner Summit is closed. This is showing the eastbound direction. The closures on the westbound direction, and they are turning traffic around at kingsville. And thats because of a big rig that flipped over. That happened in 9 00 this morning. The chp does not expect to open this part of interstate 80 until 1 00 or later. This afternoon. Its the kind of thing the chp is worried about with this major storm now underway in the sierra , the wind coming in with this storm is already intense. Shaking webcams overlooking olympic valley, palisades Mountain Operations Team reported on social media. There were already seeing wind gusts of 100 miles an hour at their peaks. All of our Upper Mountain lifts are closed. Excavators were already at work in their parking lot, clearing away snow. This excavator is right behind me. Hes actually clearing the snow. Uh, were actually going to be trucking out this snow to make room for this next batch of snow thats going to be coming out. That next batch of snow could be as much as eight to even ten feet in some spots in the next 72 hours. Theres going to be a lot of snow to remove. Lets just imagine we get a fraction of what theyre saying, and its three feet. Thats still a lot of snow to move off the roadways in the city, out in the county, especially caltrans up on those passes. If you dont have to travel, dont. And im really going to be blunt when it comes to it. Um, your safety is number one. And if we cannot control the weather, which we cannot, uh, its one of those things where if you can control not being on the road and not being part of the problem, then definitely stay home. People who live in the sierra stocked up at grocery and Hardware Stores this week, preparing to possibly hunker down for several days. Ive actually got a few texts already from spectrum from liberty saying prepare for Power Outages. But once the storm clears and the powder settles, conditions on the mountains will be ideal. Were a ski resort. We love it, but were going to be open all the way up until memorial day, you know . Dont get that powder fever to get up here. Uh, that well have plenty of it for the rest of the season. Yeah, plenty of time to hit the slopes in the next couple months. But for now and for this weekend, the overall message is do not go to the sierra. Do not drive there. The window to do that safely has now closed. Now that this blizzard warning is now in effect and roadways like interstate 80 closed, shut down right now at Donner Summit in the westbound direction because of that big rig crash that happened earlier this morning. Gasia and andre, well send it back to you. All right. On the other side of this. Now, the California WaterResource Department held its third snow survey of the season and showed promising results here. The snow survey started at ten this morning at the phillips station, off highway 50, in the sierra. Officials recorded 48in of snow there, about four feet. That sends the statewide snowpack average to 80, a big increase from just a month ago when it was just 58. The Sierra Snowpack makes up about a third of californias water supply. People who live in the sierra are stocking up on supplies for the weekend. Grocery and Hardware Stores are seeing brisk sales. Popular items include food, warm clothing, winter boots, snow shovels and batteries. Mount hardware and sports. And truckee is helping People Living and visiting the sierra prepare for the storm. Its the gamut. So were, uh, shovels tire chains, uh, ice melt generators, lanterns, flashlight batteries, um, anything that you can think of that somebody would need for a power outage or a severe storm , and they are coming in for it. Well, longtime residents are warning outside visitors to stay away. They say this weekend is not the time for casual visit, as the roads will be a mess if the area receives even half the amount of snow thats forecast. A High School Student from napa is in the hospital recovering from serious injuries that left him without the use of his legs. After a weekend snowboarding crash. Family members say 15 year old Blake Mendenhall spinal cord was severed still, they say his positive outlook is helping them all, even if somethings going wrong or getting hurt. What i realized from how much pain and suffering ive been through is to just never give up, never back down. And the way he handles it completely changes the way i start to think about it. And he lifts me up. Blake is in a hospital in reno after he crashed into a tree while snowboarding sunday afternoon at a tahoe ski resort. He is a talented athlete whos excelled at a number of sports at napas vintage high school. He was just awesome as a coach, whether it be football, golf or soccer. You wish he had like 20 blakes, you know, with that kind of attitude on your team, you guys back in napa, blake will be getting care at Craig Hospital in colorado, which specializes in spinal cord injuries. May take months before he can go back home to napa. New at noon. The mass shooting suspect accused of killing seven halfmoon bay farm workers was in court this morning in redwood city for arraignment. A grand jury indicted chinlung zhao and seven on seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. This morning, the attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Zhao also waived his right to a speedy trial. Prosecutors say the mass shooting in january of 2022 at two Half Moon BayMushroom Farms happened after zhao had an argument with a coworker. The judge ordered zhao to return to court in april to set a trial date. He remains in custody without bail. President biden and former President Trump are visiting the u. S. Mexico border today, as immigration remains a top issue ahead of the 2024 election. President biden arrived in brownsville, texas, about 30 minutes ago. The former president is in eagle pass, some 300 miles away. Both areas have reported high concentrations of border crossings, as foxs Connor Hanson tells us, both mr. Biden and mr. Trump have different takes on how to solve the border crisis. President biden and donald trump making dueling trips to the southern border on thursday, as polls show immigration becoming a top issue. For voters ahead of the 2024 election. An exponential growth is definitely up for alarm cause for concern both the president and former president are meeting with local leaders and border agents. Trump is an eagle pass where the Border Patrol apprehended more than 2000 migrants in recent days. 300 miles away. Biden is visiting the quieter city of brownsville, where 46 migrants have shown up in the past five days. People think, oh, theres its just mayhem, right . Its mayhem. And its really not, um, at least not brownsville. The white house says the president will be renewing his calls for Congressional Republicans to pass more border funding. Republicans rejected it. Why did they do that . They did that at the behest of the former president. Who donald trump, who asked them to not take it up, but trump and other republicans blame biden for the crisis, arguing open border policies have allowed millions of Illegal Migrants to enter the country. Joe biden is catching them and releasing them into the country, and its caused an absolute catastrophic effect, and it will continue illegal border crossings from mexico fell last month after record highs in december, but officials fear those figures could rise again in brownsville, texas. Conor hanson, fox news. The four finalists for the job of Oakland Police chief will be at a public forum tonight, but the person in charge of making the decision wont be there. Well tell you why. Coming up , lawmakers squared off with the secretary of defense today over his secret hospital. The reason why some lawmakers say this put the military chain of command in jeopardy democrats agree. Conservative republican steve garvey is the wrong choice for the senate. Our republican opponent here on this stage has voted for donald trump twice. Mr. Garvey, you voted for him twice. As your own man, what is your decision . Garvey is wrong for california. But garveys surging in the polls. Fox news says garvey would be a boost to republican control of the senate. Stop garvey. Adam schiff for senate. Im adam schiff, and i approve this message. State. According to court documents, the kidnaping was set up by the mothers cousin. Investigators say a man posed as a Delivery Driver burst through the door and punched the mother in the face. He and another intruder ziptied the mom and her two year old child and taped their mouths shut. A neighbor who didnt want her face shown talked about what she saw and heard that day. She was asking me to please help her to please let them know, to call the police. And she didnt speak any english. Um, they just moved here a week ago. There was just like, so many things that she wanted the police to know that she felt like, played a huge role in her getting her baby back. The fbi and state patrol got involved through their investigation. When officers found the suspects and the baby. The baby was not hurt. More than 100 palestinians were killed today while waiting in line for humanitarian aid in gaza city. Gazas Health Ministry says hundreds of others were hurt. Now President Joe Biden says the us is still trying to determine what happened in gaza city today, and said the strike will complicate ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire. The death toll from the israelhamas war has now surpassed more than 30,000 people, according to health officials. Closer to home, lawmakers questioned the secretary of defense today for waiting three days to tell President Biden about his hospitalization back in january. Republicans say this put the military chain of command at risk, especially as tensions were rising in the middle east. Foxs Rebecca Kaster reports. During secret hospital visits in december and january, secretary of defense lloyd austin was mia, and lawmakers in washington are demanding answers. Its totally unacceptable that it took three days to inform the president of the United States that the secretary of defense was in the hospital and not in control of the pentagon. Austin was hospitalized for complications from Prostate Cancer surgery. He chose to keep his diagnosis private, a decision he now regrets. I should have promptly informed the president , my team and congress and the American People of my of my cancer diagnosis. An internal review of the incident, released monday concluded that senior officials had no ill intent in not telling the white house about austins condition, but lawmakers are still concerned the military chain of command was put in jeopardy in question. Whether austin is actually at the helm. The chain of command doesnt work when the commander in chief doesnt know who to call. There was no question who was in charge in that time. The transfer was done in accordance with the law. Austin was put in the icu on january 1st, but did not transfer authority to his Deputy Defense secretary, kathleen hicks, until january 2nd. The president wasnt notified until january fourth, the same day the us conducted an airstrike in baghdad. And the big issue for me here is either the president is that aloof or you are irrelevant. The president is not aloof. At no time during my treatment or recovery were there any gaps in authorities. Several top republicans, including former president donald trump, have called for austin to be removed. But President Biden has stood by his defense secretary in washington, Rebecca Kaster ktvu, fox two news. All right, turning back to news locally now and that is the weather ktvu meteorologist mark tamayo is tracking the rain thats moving into our area. Mark. Yeah thats right. Some light to maybe some moderate rain moving into portions of the north bay already. But things will be changing later on today as the main front comes on board. Not a major storm, but this is kind of setting up the pattern that could bring in some more thunderstorms as we head into friday and into a saturday. So the storm impacts. As you can see, once again, weve been focusing on the rainfall. Some gusty winds. Winds could be over 30, maybe approaching 40 miles an hour and definitely a drop off in the snow levels here in the bay area, possibly down to around 2000 2500ft. So heres a look at the forecast model showing you the rainfall expectations. And then look out toward the sierra. So heres the pause through 4 00 tomorrow afternoon. Those numbers adding up. But look what happens beyond friday afternoon. Those numbers really going up. And this is just through the weekend. So this is essentially today friday saturday. And its a sunday. Look at those snowfall totals. Really get jumping up in the mountains. So rain returns today. It is a cold pattern. And of course weve been talking about the sierra setting up as well with a blizzard warning in place right now as we fly across out to the east and showing you this. So major accumulations with with the winds gusting over 75 approaching 100 miles an hour for the highest peaks of the sierra. So look at that 5 to 12ft. That would be a lot just within a week. But keep this in mind. Were essentially just talking about today, tomorrow and into saturday. So thats a kind of a short window, a small window to get all that major snowfall as a result, as you would guess, a blizzard warning is in place until 10 a. M. On sunday and the Snowfall Forecast could be around 5 to 12ft. As weve been talking about the conditions out there and the roadway travel could be impossible over the next couple of days, showing you this, the satellite and the radar coming in closer to the bay area. Radar right now. Still some green to show you kind of scattered around portions of the region. As you can see up in the north bay, up towards santa rosa, closer to fairfield, and then in the south bay, it looks like some activity closer to a Santa Cruz County and a few scattered showers, but the main front still has to get here and that will probably be later on this afternoon heading into the evening hours. In fact, here is that front showing up on the satellite and behind it. Its called the cold front for a reason because we have some cold air tucked in behind it. That will definitely be moving in. Heres our live camera. This afternoon, looking out toward the oakland estuary. Lots of cloud cover and some raindrops on the camera lens. Current numbers in the 50 and the lower 60s. Big pattern change as you can see, this is what we have been watching develop over the next over the past day or so. And this will be definitely moving in with the rain and snow in the forecast. So here we go with the 4 00 hour this afternoon. Theres that front coming on board. The constant will be of course out toward the sierra. Major accumulations. This is tomorrow morning. Whats interesting later in the day friday well be off and on rain showers tomorrow. But the main activity could pick up friday evening, so this could lead to some thunderstorms, some heavier downpours, maybe some hail. And then saturday, still some off and on, scattered showers, swinging through the region. And that will continue into sunday as well. So temperatures this afternoon not so. Not like yesterday a big, big time cooling for today only in the upper 50s to the 60s. Periods of rain. As you can see for your friday showers and thunderstorms into saturday off and on. Scattered showers in a sunday and a slight chance into early next week. So this is just the beginning of what will be a very unsettled, cold, damp pattern here in the bay area. Mark. Thank you. Coming up, celebrating the legacy of black cowboys here in the bay area. Still to come, a look at a rodeo tradition thats rooted in the bay area overflowing with ideas and energy. Thats the San Francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. Porter is easily the most impressive candidate. Known for her grilling of corporate executives. With deep policy knowledge. Katie porters housing plan has bipartisanfriendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down. And the chronicle praises her ideas to end soft corruption in politics. Lets shake up the senate. With democrat katie porter. Im katie porter and i approve this message. Air wick. How far would you go to set the ambience of your space . Try the air wick way with air wick essential mist. Infused with natural essential oils to fill your moment with immersive fragrance for up to 45 days. Now thats a breath of fresh air wick. This van just hit me out of nowhere. I thought i was dead. 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