francisco. lunar new year festivities returned to chinatown. we'll take you there as the community gets ready to welcome the year of the tiger. ♪♪ look at that. from sfo to southern california, it's red and gold invasion. people are getting pumped up ahead of tomorrow's big game. we are live at sofi stadium, as the niners quest for the super bowl continues. the news at 6:00 starts now. thanks for joining us. >> i'm terry mcsweeney. the nfc championship less than 24 hours away, but the party has started for niner fans, invading los angeles. joins us live from sofi stadium. first of all, your tweets are over the top. you're bringing all the excitement in. i mean, and you've got a beautiful backdrop for you right now for this live shot. how much red and gold are you seeing down there?

>> reporter: you know, guys, first of all good evening. you would think we're in the bay area with all the red you are seeing on the streets of l.a. officially i'm in inglewood outside sofi stadium. they call this rams house, but the 49er faithful are trying to turn this place into levie south for the championship game. they call it the 49ers invasion. it kicked off earlier today in downtown l.a. they want to flood this place with a sea of red. hundreds -- and i mean hundreds -- of fans packed a local bar. they were chanting beat l.a., beat l.a. fans from the bay area and all over the country are here to root on the 49ers. the faithful took over sofi stadium in week 18, and they're hoping to do the same in tomorrow's championship game. >> we take over stadiums wherever we go. so, we're definitely going to do it again this week. >> the energy is just crazy. >> go! >> all the love and the support!

we are taking over l.a.! >> the faithful travels well. we all know that. we got the good luck charm baby right here. just excited, man. hopefully we make another super bowl run. >> you know, my trip began early this morning. driving down the 5, i saw plenty of banners and flags and plenty of rally towels, 49ers. there are a lot of fans here red do root on the 49ers in tomorrow's championship game. it's supposed to be a road game, but it's feeling more like a home game for the 49ers. coming up a little bit later in sports, we will preview tomorrow's championship game. guys, back to you in the studio. >> looking forward to it. anthony, thank you. ♪♪ the 49er fans got a special treat at the airport this morning. you can see fans high fiving sour dough sam.

united airlines organized a pep rally at sfo. that's the team's drumline known as niner noise. they live up to that. organizers say they wanted fans to be ready to root for the team by the time they land in l.a. >> we're looking forward to them pulling out a win. we've got a great fan base here. it's going to be awesome. >> yeah, go niners. >> go niners. by the looks of it, the rams attempts to keep 49er fans at home are not exactly working.

>> in chinatown today, there was a lively atmosphere. >> this is so refreshing. it's the -- it just seems like everything's alive again. >> at the wok shop on grant avenue, people were shopping, and that's welcomed news. >> we're online, so that really keeps us going. but as far as walk-in business, i would say it's down about 40%. >> nearly two years into the

pandemic. >> the yeefrt tiger. the year of the tiger officially starts february 1st. >> william g does pr for the chinese new year parade. it's set to return in february after covid cancelled it last year. other events are back too. >> we're grateful that we're partnering with the city of san francisco to allow us to actually open this event to bring back tourism to san francisco, to chinatown. we are still under pandemic, so we are trying to deliver this event as healthily and safely as possible. >> he thinks turnout today was better than expected, and visitors today were glad to support. >> it's such a great win for the community to come together and really enjoy this time of the year. >> in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. we are now learning what triggered a traffic shutdown on 580 this afternoon. we brought you this as breaking news at 5:00. chp shut down 580 in castro valley. here's a picture of the scene there. nobody on it.

you can see one police vehicle there behind another one. here's a closer look at the scene. chp says they shut down traffic for a possible bomb scare. turned out to be unfounded. officers reopened the freeway after about two and a half hours. that's because drivers also had to deal with this earlier in the day. a crash caused a pickup truck to go through a fence in the center divide and partially onto b.a.r.t. tracks. this is the exact same area as the bomb scare just hours apart. b.a.r.t. had to shut down service, and some lanes were closed while crews cleared the area. train service didn't resume until around 1:30 this afternoon. continuing to climb. today the number of covid infections in the u.s. exceeded 74 million. the milestone comes as millions of home tests are arriving in the mail across the country. the case count reached 73 million three days ago signaling a slight slowdown. in the meantime, they finally arrived today. three n95 masks from the federal

government were stocked up at bay area pharmacies. you can see some customers leaving rite aid with masks. the free masks are limited to three per customer. they were supposed to arrive at bay area pharmacies and grocery stores yesterday, but we couldn't find any. stores said they were having delivery issues but expected the shipments to come within the next few days. and you see here they are. >> here they are. we're staying on top of everything you need to know about masks, testing, and vaccines. we're answering popular questions as well about changing rules and mandates. all you have to do is head to the website nbcbayarea.com and click on covid-19 faq in the trending bar. volunteers and donors gathered today for a relief event benefitting victims of the tongan volcano eruption. food, water, clothes, and money. several other local organizations pitched in to help. the bay area is home to a significant tongan dmien, making this drive personal for many.

>> -- weeks. they usually talk on a weekly basis. that's kind of worrisome. so, you know, they have no water system out there. and, you know, a lot of their crops got damaged and stuff like that. we're just doing our part. >> the not hearing is the worst. it will take about a month because of how travel and shipment has been impacted by this disaster. the need effort will continue as long as there is a need. >> crews are continuing to make great progress on the colorado fire, which is almost out. the fire has burned more than 700 akers in monterey county. but it is now 85% contains. firefighters say they believe the fire will be fully contained by wednesday. one of the truly crazy stories of the day. a wild scene in the north bay early this morning. the chp says a driver of a blue car cost control about 5:00 this morning, ended up crashing through a shed, hitting three

work trucks and coming to a rest on top of a shed and cargo container, up on top. and get this, it all happened at a storage yard that saw damage from a similar crash a year ago. >> this one was something out of the movies, seeing a car on top of the container. that was something else to -- different view early in the morning. but, you know, it's -- the last one was last year. it took out a couple trucks, didn't come to my side. >> the driver, the only person in the car, the only one hurt. and chp says that 20-year-old man was take ton the hospital for minor injuries and then arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. officers had to call a crane to flip that car down to the ground. coming up something you might not have seen before, the winter in an unusual place. plus addressing the rumors. what is up with san mateo native tom brady? is he going to play some more

football? is he going to retire? is he going to try to get in the super bowl again? the conversation ahead with his family. right now seeing clear skies at strksfo airport. looking for patchy fog setting up tonight and more. near 70 degree temperatures in parts of the bay area tomorrow. closer look when we come right back. first psoriasis, then psoriatic arthritis. it was really holding me back. standing up... ...even walking was tough. my joints hurt. i was afraid things were going to get worse. i was always hiding, and that's just not me.

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actually won top honors for being home to companies where employees like to work. businesses based in san francisco and san jose claimed 30 spots on glass door's list of best places to work. people mentioned flexible work environments, benefits, and access to strong leadership. favorite companies, nvidia, box, and google. some other top metro areas were new york, boston, and los angeles. meanwhile the company meta opened a new public park today on the peninsula. the park is named meta park and is next to the menlo park campus. it's two akers large, including a path with bridges, and a pedestrian bridge connecting to the beach rail and bay front park. the park is part of meta's ongoing agreement to improve the city of menlo park. take a look at this, not something you usually see, snow coming down on the beach. you think of the beach as a nice

place to bask in the sun. not this one. the wintry weather showing up in an unlikely place this morning. this is wilmington, north carolina. the snow didn't tick around long but it did get there. it is in parts of the northeast where some places are seeing whiteout conditions. this is video in a place called long island, maine. not that long island, this long island, up in maine. wishing you could be there. >> do i? do i? no. i'm good where i'm at. >> this is boston. you're looking at their storm ranger. they got one too. looks just like ours. but ours is looking for something to do. and theirs has found something to do. it's covered in snow. >> i was keeping in touch with some of my buddies there who work in boston. they said they have about 23 inches out there right now. >> wow. >> the most since 2018 i think was the last time they got similar amount of snow out there. >> and it's still coming down. it's going sideways. you saw that with the nbc boston storm ranger there in the wind and wind chill numbers.

you combine the wind speeds and air temperature into the single digits and below zero. meantime our storm ranger atop sam bruno mountain would love to be scanning for rain drops. nothing out there at least for now, and it might stay that way a little while longer. what's happening now is all the stormy winter is on the east coast. winds wrapping in from the northeast, low tracking offshore. it's a big snow event for new england and you see boston. down to the 12 degrees with the wind and snow. out towards california, mid to upper 60s. thanks to strong high pressure, the opposite of the east coast. 55 degrees in emeryville. out towards sfo airport 58. and in to san jose also in the mid 50s right now. hazy skies. we may have to watch out for a little bit of patchy fog trying to set up around contra costa county. maybe around the bay. more hazy sunshine and obviously

storm ranger is going to be staying dry for a while longer. to wrap up the weekend, sunshine, storms for now continue to stay off to the north amid the clearing skies and dry air in place. that means we could still see some mid 30s for the morning. so, at least this part of the morning forecast still looks like january with mid 30s around santa rosa to start the day. 40s elsewhere. and my lunchtime mid to upper 50s. we should see mid 60s close to the afternoon and perhaps close to 70 for tomorrow afternoon, upper 60s for areas around areas south of san jose, upper 50s and low 60s bay side to wrap up the weekend. so, the long range weather forecast, as you see the seven-day forecast at the bottom of the screen and the ten-day rainfall outlet doesn't show anything, in what typically is one of the busier times of the year. the storms are bypassing us moving off to the north, high pressure instead of weakening, and moving to the west keeps building back toward california.

so, that does not allow any rain to come through. and any low pressure systems that drop over the ridge down towards eastern southern california set us up for dry winds at times. and it looks like we might see another one of those windy episodes picking up for tuesday, as you notice those areas in the north bay hills. we'll have to watch that closely. gusty north wind at times as we get into tuesday and wednesday. if you like sunshine and chilly mornings, you're going to like the next seven days. san francisco trends a bit more mild as we wrap up the week. watching wind for the hills midweek tuesday through thursday. and more mid 60s heading toward the weekend. we're hopeful by mid month we'll see rain chances returning once that high moves out. but obviously nothing happening right now in that seven-day forecast. >> folks back in boston says, hm, california looks good. still ahead, the final countdown is on. we'll take you to beijing for a behind the scenes look as winter olympians start to arrive.

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when i'm in the start, i'm nervous. and i just use it. >> i know exactly what i want out of skating. >> join us for journey to the winter games tonight at 6:30 on nbc bay area. the united states olympic delegation has arrived in beijing. you see them right there. the athletes flew in last night and were quickly cleared for entry at beijing capital international airport. other teams as well as officials and support personnel are also arriving this weekend. customs officers have been working around the clock. they'll be greeting our very own gentlemen nell wang and robbie deese m who will be arriving soon. new video from inside the olympic park today. you can see it's empty. that's because no spectators are allowed due to tight covid protocols. some early competitions do get underway on thursday, and then the opening ceremony is

happening friday. and we are your olympic station. you can watch the opening ceremony right here on nbc bay area. before the games begin, we are telling the story of how bay area-lake tahoe olympians made team usa, the struggles and success. make sure to join us for our special "journey to the winter games" tonight on nbc bay area. the 49ers are not the only team playing in a big game this weekend. the u.s. men's soccer team moved closer to qualifying for the world cup. they have another qualifying match against canada. that is tomorrow. the match is at 11:30 a.m. you can watch it on telemundo 48, our spanish language partners here at nbc bay area. all kind of controversy about possibly the greatest career in pro football history coming to an end. yes, tom brady, retiring? that's what some people said. espn was reporting that tom was going to be retiring from the

nfl after 22 seasons. and yet, i spoke with brady's mom. she told me those reports are not true. on top of that, brady himself reached out to the buccaneer general manager after the initial reports to say he has not made a decision yet. he may be retiring. he hasn't decided, folks. but his agent, who's got skin in the game, folks, also said, without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what's being reported, tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. so, the seven-time super bowl champ may retire or maybe after one more super bowl. we shall see. we do know his folks are down there in san mateo and got a chance to talk to his mom today. >> yes. >> and she had to be bombarded by phone calls. she took my call, and she was totally cool about it. she was like, the family's going to know before anyone else, and we don't know. and i'm his mom. >> she's so gracious about it. i think the family is just kind of used to rumors being thrown out there over these past years. people have been talking about him possibly retiring for years

now. >> you probably got a dose of that back in boston. >> yeah, it's all about tom brady, the g.o.a.t., out in boston all the time. even when he moved to the bucs, people out there will love him forever. >> that's one football story. here's another football story. let's get back live to los angeles. anthony florez never looked better, and that's really saying something, talking ability tomorrow's game. anthony? >> reporter: hey guys, you know, from the outside, this stadium is beautiful. there is a pond right in front. tomorrow inside they're expecting a sea of red, as the 49ers invade sofi stadium. we've heard from the fans. now it's teem to get the players' thoughts on tomorrow's nfc championship. stick around. sports is next.

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dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection, and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma? just ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. welcome back. i'm anthony florez live at sofi stadium in inglewood. tomorrow the 49ers play the biggest game of their season

when they beat the rams in the nfc championship game. the winner will move on to super sunday. this will be the second meeting between the two teams in the past three weeks. the niners rallied from 17 down, clinching a spot in the playoffs. lately the niners have dominated the rams, winning six straight against l.a. this will be the third meeting of the year between the two division rivals. but both sides say there are no secrets between the two teams. >> when you have something like that, i think it makes for a little bit more fun in a football game because it's truly what it's about. it's just a football game and everyone's going to go out there. a lot is on the line. we're going to play as hard as we can. we're going to see who makes the most plays and who makes the least mistakes. >> the rams are a fantastic football team, they're as dangerous as ever with stars all over the field. that's all we're focused on. >> the faithful have challenged tremendously. you can feel it on the sidelines. it's not something you can put your finger on. you can't see it specifically, but you can see it, you can feel

it. our team responds well to that. hopefully the faithful will be out there loud and proud. >> reporter: yeah, the faithful were loud and proud in week 18. and you heard jimmy. they're expecting that same type of atmosphere for tomorrow's nfc championship game. and yet so much for the home field advantage for the rams. despite the stumbles against the 49ers, l.a. comes into this game with plenty of confidence after knocking out tom brady and the defending super bowl champion buccaneers. san francisco has swept the season series from the rams in each of the past three years. early this week, rams head coach sean mcvay was asked if 49ers head coach kyle shanahan was in his head after losing six in a row to the niners. here's his answer. >> no. what i do is respect for these guys. they've done a great job. you know, we're competing and preparing to the best of our ability to go out and see if we can advance. this is a really good team. kyle's an excellent coach. they've got great players, great coaches, good schemes. it's why they're in the nfc

championship. both teams are very familiar. there's good schemes. there's great players. it's why we're in this position. let's roll it out and see who plays the best in that three and a half hour window and gives themselves the chance to advance. >> reporter: kyle shanahan was also asked about that question. he was a little embarrassed. he said, you're giving the coaches too much credit. it's all about the players who will be playing tomorrow. and the players say the team who wins tomorrow will be the team who executes the best. back to you in the studio. terry, i know you're always nervous, but until the rams prove they can beat the 49ers, you have to go with the 49ers, right? >> you got a score for me? >> of course. >> i've got a score. the winner will be the team that has the most points. 49ers are going to win. >> good answer. >> anthony, thank you so much. >> terry, i'm wearing red just for you. >> looking good, anthony. >> we'll be right back. when you have xfinity, you have entertainment built in. which is kind of nice.

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after using xiidra, wait fifteen minutes before reinserting contacts. talk to an eye doctor about xiidra. i prefer you didn't. xiidra. not today, dry eye. "saturday night live" had its last new show this weekend before taking a few weeks off for the winter olympics. >> and it's going to be a really good one. actor willem dafoe will be hosting with musical guest katy perry. green goblin in spider-man no way home, but dafoe is calling on his theater roots for "snl." >> i'm a theater animal, so i love a live audience. of course this is very different because it's, you know, largely

sketch comedy, and i'm not so used to that. so, i'm looking forward to it. >> he's being humble. he's going to be really good. you can catch tonight's episode on nbc bay area 8:30 and again at 11:30. >> we're telling the stories of how bay area and lake tahoe olympians made the journey to the winter games. it's up next. >> she has nailed it! >> every day in training you dream about being introduced as the olympic champion, and when it happens it is the biggest rush of your life. ♪♪ ♪♪ good evening, everyone.