hail over the last 24 hours, so much hail that it closed down i-280 in san bruno in all directions, and then throughout petaluma this morning flash flooding and that very low snow we'll be talking about coming up. >> this major winter blast is hanging on down here to the south bay. also those of you in the east bay. some of our heaviest rainfall in the mountain cities. this includes the east bay at this point. right along 580 to 680. in the north bay, we had major flooding concerns at pp the drying looks to be on the end of things many 2500 feet and above, right back into the santa cruz mountains, we'll have more on these conditions and when it will dry out coming up later on. >> we'll see you then. flooded streets toppled trees, snowy roads as we've been discussing. the impact of this storm is

being felt in many ways and certainly all parts of the bay area. marianne favro is in san jose right now to show us how people have been dealing with this on slaught of winter weather. mary ann. >> this by pass next to the guadeloupe river is now underwater. bikers have had to hit the brakes and head for higher ground. throughout the bay area, the reactions to this storm have been as diverse as the weather itself. >> umbrellas got a workout today from san francisco to san jose. >> it's a little crazy. pretty nice for a couple weeks, almost spring like conditions, and now this it's a little strange. >> here on top of mount hamilton. elevation 4200 feet. you'll find snow flurries. hard to believe this white hillside is just 20 miles from downtown san jose. but don't brush off your sled just yet. the road to get here is closed

to the public. the waves were pumped up in pacifica. in marin county, heavy rain saturated hillsides and the golden gate bridge got a new topcoat of h 20. heavy rains caused flooding on highways throughout the bay area, causing intermittent ramp closures. alma says she won't drive more than two blocks from her home in this weather. >> you can see the rain pouring down. >> high winds, tattered flags and sent palm trees swaying. gusts are expected to reach up to 50 miles an hour tonight. despite the challenges of working in rough weather, the raindrops just rolled off kevin's back. >> it is what it is. i don't look at it as, i have to work in the rain, oh, wow. i just thank god i have a job. >> a job he's glad to do rain or shine. >> to put it in perspective, we've had more rain during these three storms than we had all of

last year. now, the biggest complaint i heard today was that it was very cold. and you are absolutely right. bundle up, it's going to get even colder tonight. temperatures are expected to drop into the 30s tonight. and tomorrow it's expected to be the coldest day of the year. reporting live from san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> marianne, thank you very much. when the weather turns bad, of course, many eyes turn to pacifica, where building officials visited the site where residents were forced to evacuate last year. pacifica building official doug rider tells us new projects are planned for a riffraff near the site to better protect the soil from excessive moisture which could lead to another bluff collapse. a coastal analyst employed by local owners says prevents further erosion is key to protecting the bluff. >> keep the bluff as dry as you

can so that the sand doesn't break up. and you have further collapses. as long as we keep the bluff dry and move the water off the street, we should be okay. >> well, last year a number of residentses along the avenue were forced to evacuate their apartments when a large chunk gave out. they haven't been able to return to their homes just yet. as our storm pushes east, it is a picture perfect time to head to the sierra. coming up, a look at the conditions just in time for the president's day weekend. a two-month-old anti-of course boy has been taken off life support. and the father has confessed to punching the baby to get him to stop crying. he was caring for the boy and his older brother tuesday night when his wife was at work. he phoned his wife to tell her the baby was hurt. she called 911, doctors say the child was unresponsive when he arrived at the hospital.

he suffered fractured bones and internal bleeding. last night the boy was declared brain dead and removed from life support. some of the biggest names in the tech industry will soon be meeting with the president. president obama will be having dinner in the bay area tonight. and on the guest list are the likes of steve jobs and mark zuckerberg. traci grant is at san francisco international where air force one is scheduled to touchdown within the hour, and that's one plan that likely won't be affected by weather delays at the airport. one never knows, though, tracy? >> it's true, you never know. a lot of the flights have been delayed today. but i can probably wager that when air force one touches down at 5:45. it will take top priority on the tarmac. these are the marines, and they are waiting to welcome air force one when it comes in in just a short time. president obama is here to break bread tonight in the silicon

valley with technology's top tier of business leaders to discuss how to promote american innovation and get people back to work. imagine being in a room with the top technology executives, steve jobs, chairman and ceo of apple. larry ellison, co-founder of oracle and mark zuckerberg, president and ceo of facebook. the biggest vip for tonight's dinner is the commander in chief. president obama is flying in from the nation's capital to the silicon valley. the dinner is supposed to be part of what the white house is calling an ongoing dialogue with the business community on how we can work together to win the future, strengthen our economy and support entrepreneurship, increasing our exports and get the american people back to work. now, tomorrow morning the president will come back here to sfo, and then he'll fly out to hillsboro, oregon, that's where

he's going to tour the campus where he will take a look at a semiconductor manufacturing facility. live at sfo, tracy grant, bay area news. democrats warned of a government shutdown, the cuts are in some cases significant, $21 million slashed from the national endowment for the arts, 400 million in cuts for heating subsidies. teacher grants reduced by half a million dollars. speaker john boehner's plan to slash $1 million from the budget could mean the loss of many jobs. >> i don't want anyone to lose their job, but come on, we're broke. >> boehner agreed to short term funding so the government doesn't shut down in two weeks, but so far, no deal. the lawrence livermore national lab tonight is the subject of a different kind of

drug bust. the lab is not adequately keeping track of its dangerous drug samples. tracking of the drugs were lax to the extent that some of of them were missing entirely. administrators say they've taken immediate action in response, among the drugs identified as not properly monitors are cocaine, methamphetamines, opium and black tar heroin. the drugs are used for biomedical research and forensic science. san francisco police are hoping surveillance video will help them find a man who stabbed a teenager on a muny bus. it happened yesterday afternoon. the 18-year-old got into a fight with another man who pulled out a knife. the suspect jumped off the bus with another woman. the victim was taken to the hospital and listed in critical condition. next at 5:00, why one of the top selling cars on the market needs to go back to the dealer. >> it really means a lot. this opens up weight loss

surgery to millions of americans. >> it's not just for the extremely obese any more. the new qualifications for weight loss surgery that could help millions shed unwanted pounds and improve their health too. social networking yourself to depression? what many people are doing on facebook that could be bringing them down. and good evening, i'm jeff ra ranieri, a wild wet and windy day here across the bay area. los gatos topping out with 30 mile an hour gusts. cold air already in the 40s, we're tracki on the radar for you, let you know how long this majok heom winup.inilst ound comg up.

just a week after unemployment claims reached a three-year low, applications for unemployment suddenly jumped. the labor department reports that 410,000 people applied for unemployment assistance last week. that's an increase of 25,000 from the previous week, well below the 651 applications in march of 200. applications need to dip consistently to 375,000 or lower to indicate a steady decline in unemployment. more grim news today for bay area homeowners as housing prices continue their turbulent ride. data quick information system says the bay area's median home price dipped more than 3% last month to $338,000. compared to january last year when the median price was $350,000. foreclosures accounted for about

35% of last month's sales and fewer high end homes are selling, which also drags down the median price. for the third day in a row, thousands of witness with us state employees are clogging the halls protesting a phil that would substantially weaken unions. legislation proposed by the state's republican governor. the bill would strip all employees of collective bargaining rights and require state workers to make higher pension and health care contributions. legislators are symbolically protesting the bill. no democrats showed up to the vote couldn't be taken today. if the legislation does pass and stands up in court, it could have far reaching implications for employee unions all across the country. honda is recalling almost 700,000 vehicles worldwide. the honda fit is being recalled due to a faulty spring that could cause the engine to fail to restart.

the springs may bend or break over time. honda is urging owners to take their car to a dealer once they get a notification in the mail next month. the other models affected, the freed and the city are sold in asia. fopping our health watch tonight. more than 26 million americans are now eligible to get the famous lap-band surgery for weight loss. this opens a new door for people who just can't seem to lose weight through diet and exercise. erica edwards has more. >> the band is in place. >> lap-band surgery has been a treatment for the severely obese. a ring placed around the upper part of the stomach makes patients feel full more quickly and can lead to significant weight loss. >> it really mines a lot, because this opens up weight loss surgery to millions of americans. >> adults who have a body mass index of 30 down from 35 can now

undergo surgery. they must also have a health condition like diabetes or high blood pressure. >> it offers an opportunity for a lot of people who have been struggling with weight loss and have been unsuccessful. >> otherwise health y adults ca have the surgery done if their bmi is over 40. patients must commit to lifestyle changes like regular exercise and healthy diet. insurance will cover the procedure but there are several hurdles. >> the major requirements require nutritional evaluation. a medical necessity letter from the patient's physician. >> reporter: for the millions of americans who until now did not have a surgical option, it could be worth the extra work. erica edwards, nbc news. a congressional committee met to talk about a startling number of small children getting injured in cribs. researchers told lawmakers that cribs must be held to a higher standard in order to avoid injuries. children getting hurt this way

more often than are getting hurt this way more often than thought. in a 20 year study, researchers at ohio state university found that almost 10,000 children a year are being rushed to emergency rooms for crib related injuries. >> most of these were falls from the crib when the child climbed out, about one fifth of the injuries were injuries to the head, some were concussions. we know those can be quite serious, especially among young children. >> the study also looked at children injured in play pen and bassen et accidents. there were reports at 10 bassen ets collapsing while the children were inside. a report on the study will appear in the journal pediatrics next month. let's get back to our weather story tonight. winter has certainly returned to the sierra. wind and blowing snow created whiteout conditions with lowell vagus. it was not fit for manor beast in el dorado county. the beast was having more fun as we saw in this picture. truck drivers were forced to

wait it out. it's the second day in a row for this school bus driver. >> shovel iing. it's not that bad. it's kind of soft. today it's not that bad, it's not that deep. >> people heading up to the ski resorts will have great snow for president's day weekend that's for sure. the area is not reporting any power outages or downed trees. let's turn things over to jeff ranieri. a lot of people heading up for the president's day weekend. how difficult is that going to be with the rain. >> it's going to be slick, snow levels throughout the sacramento valley to 3,000 feet. it's going to be treacherous down there. right now on our sky camera network. we're tracking a little bit of sun that's trying to come out this afternoon. it's been a mixed bag after that

heavy rainfall this morning. let's take a look at one of my favorite clips when it comes to the weather we've been seeing. jean ellie has this. >> we are on the crystal springs overpass on i-280. look at this, cars and cars and cars covered with hail. i mean, this looks like a good two inches of hail. it looks like snow. imagine this down below here. >> and you know, that was the scene there last night as i-280 was shut down in both directions for over an hour. cars going down about 5 to 10 miles an hour as raindrops froze turned into hail and covered the road with one to two inches in some cases. back here at home, we're still finding the system pushing to the south. it's driving in the south bay, we're going to continue to find this moderate rainfall from redwood city down into san jose as we continue throughout

tonight. pockets of heavier rainfall at times that will continue, so we're not in the clear yet, although most of you have seen some of the heaviest rainfall move out. still moderate rainfall in the east bay from walnut creek to danville. for the north bay we have dried out after our flash flooding concerns this morning in petaluma. that's certainly good news for those of you there, we're watching that water rise extremely quickly. as we noted earlier, sierra snow happening right now. when all is said and done, we're looking at four feet of snow, from the three storm stills we have had this week. an uj believable flip from a week ago, when temperatures were in the 60s and 70s. current temperatures cold. 49 in san jose, 4 in gilroy. plenty of 40s into the north bay. you know what that means, another cold night on tap with temperatures dropping into the 30s. with the air starting to become a little dryer out there, it's going to get to your bones tonight. you're going to be needing the extra layers and cranking on the

heat. friday, the storm system will be pushing to the south and gradually weakening, there's so much instability and cold air here across the entire west, it's going to be enough to keep the chance of rain in the forecast for friday at this point. temperatures inland only in the 40s. unbelievable. for the weekend we're going to get gradual drying and sunshine in here. for the afternoon and evening hours as we look at our fwut tour cast, you can see tomorrow morning we're going to find the rainfall most consistent in the east and south bay, scattered rainfall, it's going to kind of linger here as the system has a hard time leaving the area by the morning hours on friday. overall, about another quarter to close to a half inch expected in the south bay and for the east bay as we head toward the next 24 hours. 6:00 a.m. starting off with those mid to upper 30s and rain still in the mix for tomorrow. tonight dropping down to 20s in

los gatos. look at these numbers tomorrow, this is as we heard earlier, the coldest air of the year coming our way for tomorrow. i am conservative on my numbers here. many of these spots will be struggling to get out of the upper 40s tomorrow from the south bay to the north bay, it really doesn't matter if you're at the coastline or inland for this matter. 48 in sonoma, 48 in san rafael. seven-day forecast, chance of rain tomorrow, gradual drying saturday with the surgeon. our next dry day as we head into sunday -- >> bbq time. >> yes. >> get out. >> jeff, thank you very much. coming up at 5:00, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. charlie sheen reaching out to lindsay lohan, giving her advice on how to get her life back on track. it's time to log off, what all that time spent on facebook could be causing you in terms of

your health.

actor charlie sheen is back in the news. and stunning as it might seem. he apparently has some advice for lindsay lohan. he's twice called the dan patrick show talking about everything from alcoholics anonymous to how to get her life back on track. >> what would be your advice? >> work on your impulse control. >> because charlie sheen does that so famously. sheen also told patrick he's not in alcoholics anonymous nor does he believe in it. addiction specialists say sheen is not taking his own problems seriously. he's at home on hiatus from his tv show after several wild benders. we'll be right back with the facebook factor after this.

is there such a thing as friend overload? there's new research that suggests having a lot of facebook friends could stress you out. hundreds of students were examined on their use of the social networking site. the neg fish effects could outway the positive benefits of staying in touch with friends and family. some of the respondents reported they felt anxious when they used the site. others said they felt guilty and uncomfortable after they rejected friend requests. and those with more friends are the most likely to be stressed because they've invested the most time in the site.

other stresses include envy of other's lifestyles. that's why i have only two friends. >> just with facebook? >> in general.