you're driving and, of course, which bridges you're crossing. you might see some cars swerving. we always car hear that advice, keep your hands on 10 and 2. that's going to be helpful to cross the bridges. we are hearing road closures. for more of that and looking at some backups and closures, let's turn it over to anne makovec in san francisco. >> reporter: yeah, christin. you are right about the winds. they appear to have caused some serious damage to a sign here. i'm in the south end of san francisco at the transition between 101 northbound and 280 northbound. you can see crews up there on the connector ramp trying to secure the sign that tells you where the roadway splits off to northbound 280 downtown san francisco. taking a closer look at some video we showed about an hour and a half ago of that sign, looking a little precarious there. apparently, a piece 6 that sign may be a bracket -- maybe a bracket had been hanging down

since midnight. the california highway patrol thinks it was knocked down by the wind and cars were able to pass safely underneath it. but a tall truck came by and it went through that truck's windshield, major facial injuries to the driver of the truck. and at that point, they shut down that connector ramp. so the bottom line is you cannot go from 101 northbound to 280 northbound. you can either stay on 101 northbound or choose 280 northbound but you cannot go between the two. crews here from caltrans and the chp trying to secure that sign but they don't think they are going to be able to do that until about quarter to 8:00 this morning so this is definitely going to cause commute problems. that's going to be something their going to be dealing with for most of the morning commute. frank and sydnie? >> all right, anne makovec in san francisco. >> on saturday i was on a boat in the bay near angel island at 73 degrees. and then voila, look what we have, lawrence. >> winter came roaring back in the bay area. and it was about time.

we started to see some of the rain totals going below normal but we are picking up a whole lot of rain and the winds have been something else. this san jose video coming in but we have seen some trees down, rain up to 3" in some of the wetter spots already and there is more to come as we are looking at this cold front sliding through the bay area right now. all right. let's check your high-def doppler radar. you can see in toward the san jose area kind of catching a break right now. but there is still more showers around mountain view and palo alto and more scattered showers showing up around the bay area. now, it looks like it's going to become more scattered throughout the morning and in toward the afternoon, although there is some well organized stuff off the coast that will bring with it probably some the -- possibility of some thunderstorms. you can see it right here. these cold speckled clouds on the back side. those are going to start to slide in toward the bay area. could make for really interesting afternoon. you are going to see these beautiful cumulus clouds up in your skies and the possibility of some of those isolated showers and thunderstorms. yup, showers out the door this morning. temperatures in the 40s and 50s this afternoon. you're looking at the

possibility of some more of those thunderstorms. temperatures cool mainly into the 50s. yup, and we could see some snow across some of our peaks here, as well. let get a traffic check with elizabeth. >> chopper 5 just launched and they are up somewhere over the bay area. there are monitoring on stormwatch this morning. i know. we weren't able to -- can you figure out wheres ? >> over a road. >> it's over a road. looks like 880. hard to tell this time of the morning. a lot of standing water reported out there, flooding and wind advisories in effect for all of our bay area bridges some of the so we are sending chopper to a lot of areas this morning. in san francisco we have an emergency closure. you heard anne makovec just reporting on this. the connector ramp from northbound 101 to northbound 280 is completely shut down right now. and it will be until 7:45. damage to a sign in the area.

this could cause problems for people coming up 101 to the peninsula. you are going to have to continue up 101 to get into downtown san francisco. now, if you are commuting from daly city, you can continue up 280 and access downtown san francisco from there. if you are coming up from san bruno, consider using 380 as an alternate. here's a live look at the antioch bridge. you can see it's already slow through antioch. speeds under 25 miles per hour in some spots. and we are told from some members of the kcbs phone force that the drive coming out of the altamont pass especially heavy this morning as far back as 205 and heavy through livermore. more traffic coming up. meantime, back to you guys. >> thank you. stay home, folks! good advice out there. >> we're already here. >> we're here. [ laughter ] >> anyhow, we are seeing some power outages because of the storm. 3600 outages in the moss beach area and in the east bay, hundreds of outages, alamo

danville area along the oakland hills. also in lafayette 500 customers without power. you can keep on top of this storm on our website. we have realtime hi-def doppler radar for your hometown. you will find it on our weather page at cbssf.com. other news this morning, a worst-case scenario for san jose. the city's warning of massive layoffs almost unthinkable in fact. the "mercury news" is reporting the city may have to get rid of 349 police officers and 145 firefighters. about a quarter of the city's public safety employees could also be cut. san jose has a projected deficit of $110 million. the final decision probably won't be made until june. kcbs radio's matt bigler will have more coming up a little later in the show. berkeley will not be inviting some guantanomo bay detainees to move in. four councilmembers voted for the measure to welcome freed prisoners but it needed five

votes to pass. four members abstained from voting. berkeley's city manager recommended against the proposal because federal law does not allow guantanomo detainees to be transferred here to the united states. the time now is 60 7. the major change for some south bay commuters for today and how it could make getting around easier. i knew that it had to end. i knew it had been a long time. [ crying ] >> talk about a bizarre story of deceit. why one woman let a bay area family think their teenaged daughter was missing when that woman knew where she was the whole time. >> and bernie madoff breaking his silence in jail. what the former ponzi king revealed in his first interview since his arrest three years ago. ,,,,

the next, you start one feeling a bit off.ne. the moment you feel run down or achy, nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. oscillococcinum, nip it in the bud.

0 to 60? or 60 to 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter mile? or a quarter century?

is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well. because in the end... everything matters. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the e-class. hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. hid a 15-year-old girl, whose folks, going to be digging out from this big storm making its way into the sierra nevada. we have a lot of rain here. maybe some snow on our peaks. we'll talk about that coming up in just a minute. all right, lawrence. nothing like chaining up on a stormy wednesday. 6:11, folks. a concord woman is now explaining why she hit a 15- year-old girl whose parents had reported her missing.

stephanie cudd of pacheco vanished around thanksgiving. her boyfriend's mother eva nichols was among those consoling the parents and helping with the search efforts. the girl's father hired a private detective, who eventually tracked the girl down at nichols' home. nichols' says the girl accused her father of abuse and neglect. >> seems crazy to me. it seems absurd. i did yell at stuart and stephanie. they cut school for a week. >> i believe that she was in danger. i believe that i was protecting her at the time? >> the teen was returned to her family. nichols has not been arrested but she could face some charges. a judge will start hearing evidence today on whether oakland can restrict the activities of some 40 suspected gang members. the city wants the injunction in an effort to reduce crime in the fruitvale district. it would mean curfews and limits on gatherings and even clothing. critics say it's racial

profiling. the judge could allow a preliminary injunction until the issue is decided by trial. starting today commuters can get around silicon valley with clipper cards. the vta is now accepting those cards as payment for bus and light rail trips. the cards are also in use on other local agencies including caltrain and bart. it allows passengers to prepay fares with rides deducted from the cards. the vta is phasing in the program with monthly passes available march 1. it is 6:12. it's bad out there, folks. we are continuing to follow the storm. the biggest trouble spots coming up. google wants a taste of the airline business. why it could lead to higher ticket prices for you. >> chopper 5 just spotted this problem. they are live over the macarthur maze. just one of several accidents reported right now across the bay area. standing water and wind advisories in effect for almost all bay area bridges. your traffic trouble spots coming up next. ,,,,,,,,

♪ [ male announcer ] not all steel is created equal. not all manufacturing processes are created equal. not all engineering standards are created equal. which is why not all luxury vehicles are created equal. the hard way means never taking short cuts. the hard way is how lexus inspires absolute confidence. this is the pursuit of perfection.

good morning. strong storm making its way through the bay area this morning. and bringing with it lots of heavy rain, gusty winds here. check out this! bloom canyon, this is live shot for you right now. here's the highway right here. but folks, it is covered in

snow. bring your chains. you will need them heading in that direction. couple of feet of snow expected at lake level and more in the higher peaks and gusty winds up to 100-mile-an-hour gusts over the tops of some of those mountains. here it is right now. you can see all that snow piling up in the sierra nevada. rain down further to the south. and well, it continues throughout the valley. and we have had some very heavy rainfall around the bay area overnight. some places 2" to 3" of rainfall, especially in parts of the north bay. scattered showers continuing right now. the main cold front has moved by. but behind that we have a lot of cold air that is going to keep things unsettled and wet. we'll see some sunshine in between the clouds today but yeah, it's going to keep going on and off throughout the day. so showers if you are headed out the door, some gusty winds, really blowing around the bay area. we had some gusts overnight 50 to 60 miles per hour along with the cold front moving through. probably not as strong but still gusty in spots especially when we see some of these thunderstorms rotating on by. numbers running mainly into the 40s as we head in toward the

afternoon. this cold front moving through but behind that, we have a lot of cold air diving in right from the gulf of alaska in toward the bay area. so that is going to keep things unsettled and wet throughout the day. models picking up on that. the main code of cold front headed eastward but behind that the possibility of more scattered showers throughout the day today so don't be fooled. you may see some sunny breaks but then here comes that rain again. could see another half inch of rain in parts of the north bay, about three-quarters in the santa cruz mountains. if you look closely, you will see a couple of flakes over the mountaintops there. expecting the possibility of some snow across some of our higher peaks, as well. it will be cool, brisk and wet around the bay area today. the possibility of isolated thunderstorms, more showers expected as we head into thursday and friday and possibly saturday morning before a brief break. then more rain on the way to begin your next week. and, of course, that can make a mess of the traffic out there. to tell us more about that here's elizabeth. >> it already has, unfortunately, lawrence. let's go out to chopper 5 live

over the bay bridge which doesn't look too bad across the span. we have a high wind advisory in effect and reports of flooding actually near the metering lights which are off. so no big wait so far at the bay bridge toll plaza. but yeah, take it extra slow this morning. this is going to be what did you call it? a white knuckle day. windy and wet out there. all right. thank you, chopper 5. one of our biggest problems right now we are talking about this all morning, the emergency closure coming into san francisco. the northbound 101 ramp to northbound 280 remains shut down due to an overnight accident and damage to an overhead sign. they are saying close to 8:00 this morning when they are going to have that ramp re- opened. we have live pictures. we have some live pictures from this scene i believe. this is a popular route for people heading into san francisco. there you can see they are still working to fix it right now. so again, if you are coming up from the peninsula up northbound 101, you cannot cannot to 280. we just got a call from jerry with the kcbs phone force, he says so far traffic on 101 is

moving okay but we expect this to cause some big backups later on in the morning commute. let's look elsewhere. we have been getting lots of reports of standing water. lot of reports of flooding across the bay area including near the golden gate bridge. highway 1 near the macarthur tunnel, lots of standing water there. we saw some cars making big splashes. so far, so good though on southbound 101 across the span at the golden gate bridge. no big delays right now through marin county. and the nimitz nimitz 880 through oakland looks -- looks okay past the coliseum. here's a look at cars approaching the pay gates. again, no metering lights yet so no big delays but you will notice that standing water where it tends to gather in the middle lanes. good day to listen to our radio partners, remember our radio partners when you hit the roads, kcbs 740-am and 106.9- fm. let's take a look at today's top stories. oakland's superintendent is warning teachers and staff that significant layoffs could be coming next fall. the oakland tribune reports a

letter was posted on the district's website. the deadline to notify teachers and staff is march 15. burglary travelers flying united -- bay area travelers flying united may see only minor delays today but yesterday they grounded 100 planes nationwide for unscheduled maintenance checks including some flights out of san francisco. an airline spokesman says right now, though, there are no systemwide delays or cancellations. and today president obama meeting with senate democrats to talk about potential budget cuts. on the house side, republicans are moving ahead with their plan to cut $61 billion from the current budget. that's expected to pass by the end of the week and then face likely defeat in the senate. the time now is 6:21. cbs news reporter lara logan is in the hospital recovering after a mob of egyptians assaulted her. this was a photo taken in cairo's tahrir square on friday just moments before the attack. logan was reporting on

president hosni mubarak's resignation when she became separated from her crew. cbs news says a mob of 200 people surrounded her and logan suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating. cbs says she was saved by a group of egyptian women and soldiers. logan is now back here in the united states. she is expected to be released from the hospital soon. we're getting an inside look this morning at the recovery of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. >> you know, she is just working really hard and progressing. it's paying off and every day, there's new progress that you see. so, you know, we feel very hopeful at her recovery. >> giffords' chief of staff spoke to "the early show" this morning. she says giffords knows there was a traumatic event but does not know the details of the tucson shooting rampage. giffords has been undergoing intense rehabilitation and is relearning how to speak. just a remarkable recovery. >> it is.

it is 6:22. bernie madoff breaks his silence. why he says the banks had to know about his ponzi scheme before he was caught. >> and the winner is... how history was made at the world's biggest dog show. it's all coming up next. ,,,,,,,,

♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ shouldn't be hard work or cost more money. now there's simple nutrition, only at safeway. green tags throughout the store call out what matters most to you.

♪ there are 22 different nutritional benefits highlighted. ♪ and with our low prices, now safeway makes bringing home the right choices easier than ever. that's simple nutrition. ♪ that's ingredients for life. safeway. first interview since his 2008 arrest. good morning. here's a live look at chopper 5 over the bay bridge toll plaza where the metering lights were

just turned on so traffic is just beginning to stack up. we are following several hot spots this morning including the closure of a major connector ramp coming into san francisco. flooding reports near the golden gate bridge. we'll tell you how to get around this nasty start to our morning commute coming up. thank you, elizabeth. bernie madoff is breaking his silence giving his first interview since his 2008 arrest. former ponzi king tells the "new york times" that wall street banks and hedge funds, quote, to know about his scheme long before it collapsed. he also insisted his friends, family and clients never knew anything about his crimes. he is serving a 150 year sentence for bilking investors out of $65 billion. google is moving into the online travel business wanting to join forces with the web's top airline fare tracker ita software meaning major competition for existing online travel sites like kayak,

expedia and travelocity. and some people worry that it could drive up ticket prices. the u.s. justice department is expected to decide soon whether to let google buy ita for $700 million. well, if you have never seen or heard of a scottish deerhound before, now is the time to learn about them. >> i guess so. that's because a scottish deerhound was named best in show last night at the westminster kennel club dog show. it is the first time that breed of dog took the show's top prize. i guess it's kind of cute. >> that's hickory. >> yeah. that is hickory. time now is 6:26. coming up, this winter storm packing quite a punch. >> we are going to take you live to the sierra where blowing snow causing misery for drivers and our reporter up there. the conditions ahead of a big ski weekend. stay with us. and it's not just rain here in the bay area. the weather conditions that could put a hitch in your morning commute. >> crews are working to secure a sign that was dangling overnight and went through a

driver's windshield and now threatening some big problems for the morning commute. the latest coming up. the most rain we have seen in a while, 2" in santa rosa, over an inch in oakland. still more to come. we'll have details in just a minute. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald.

caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com good morning. it's wednesday, february 16. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm sydnie kohara. thanks so much for joining us. your time is 6:30. we have team coverage of the storm on this wednesday. christin ayers is live at the bay bridge. but we are going to begin this morning with anne makovec, who is in san francisco. anne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that's right. we have a weather-related traffic issue that's going to cause some problems for the morning commute. i'm in the southern end of san francisco right now right where highway 101 northbound branches off into 280 northbound. the bottom line for drivers is you're not going to be able to do that this morning until about 7:45 a.m. crews are up there working to scare a sign. part of the sign had fallen down overnight and caused a major accident. let's look at the video that we shot a couple of hours ago up there on the ramp. this is a sign that says 280 northbound to downtown san

francisco right off of 101 northbound. apparently, part of it came loose and it was hanging just high enough so that cars could safely pass below it. but a truck, a higher truck, passed and it went through the windshield of that truck, did some major facial damage, facial injuries to the driver of that truck. he is expected to live. but also, some major damage to the truck. obviously, the chp and caltrans had to take care of that sign and that's what they have been doing since they shut down that ramp and they have been trying to secure that sign. but they think they are going to have that transition ramp closed until about 7:40. so be aware of that. let head to christin ayers, she is on the bay bridge, very windy out there. hey, christin. >> reporter: good morning, anne. it was a combination earlier today of the wind, a little bit of rain and then also some slick roads. that's all died down. we have very little moisture coming down right now just sort

of on and off at the moment. but the big problem out here is definitely going to be that wind as the morning commute is getting under way. traffic is crawling over the bridge right now. earlier, though, we saw cars zipping through some of the puddles that had accumulated on the highway. cars are forced to take it slowly on the highway. but that certainly was an issue with traction earlier today. the problem that you're goingen to counter as you cross really any of the major bridges in the bay area today is going to be those high winds or high wind advisories here on the san francisco bay bridge. we have heard advisories on the dumbarton bridge and san mateo, as well. you really want to -- going to want to try to keep from swerving. that's going to be the issue. crosswinds could put a hitch as you cross. authorities are asking you to slow down and put your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel and take it slowly as you cross the bridges. again, it applies to bridges all over the bay area so keep

that in mind as you are crossing today. and we know this weather has been on and off so keeping in mind those traction issues and the wind, as well. back to you, frank and sydnie. >> thank you, christin ayers at the bay bridge toll plaza. not sure this is an official weather term but my mother would call this a pewy day. >> what do you think, lawrence? >> that works. it just stinks. this is not fun. but hey as a weather guy this is exciting stuff. especially as we have been talking about some warm and dry conditions for some time. things getting going outside. the main cold front has moved through. but behind that we are seeing some very cold, unstable air so we are getting these pockets, these storms that continue to erupt across the bay area. you see one cell in through the redwood city area. this is going to be a neat day for clouds in the bay area.

you will have sunshine, occasional showers, even the possibility of isolated thunderstorms. of course, the storm system is piling up in the sierra nevada where we are looking at very heavy snow if you are headed in that direction and then the cold air behind it right here just kind of wrapping in on the back side. that will keep things unsettled and wet throughout the day today. so yes, if you are getting ready for the day, expect some gusty winds to go along with that. scattered showers continuing this morning. temperatures in the 40s and 50s. by the afternoon, could see isolated thunderstorms. we have a couple of strikes off the coast. the possibility of more thunderstorms toward the afternoon and, of course, you get caught under one of those it will be windy at times, too. all right. let's get a traffic check on this messy day around the bay area. elizabeth? >> yeah, messy for everyone driving in it. you're giddy, though, lawrence. >> i love it! >> here's a very pretty shot. here's live look from chopper 5 at the golden gate bridge. so far, so good across the span. but yeah, we have been hearing a lot of flooding reports, lots of accidents out there so definitely the morning to take it slow. chopper 5 is actually searching for this.

let's go to our maps. it's heading towards the golden gate bridge. we saw some earlier flooding, cars making really big splashes. this is northbound park presidio at doyle drive. at last check, traffic was down to one lane and caltrans crews were out there trying to fix that mess. again, we'll show you one more live look at the golden gate bridge. traffic there heading towards the toll plaza. so far, so good across the span. this is one of our biggest problems this morning. we have had our reporter anne makovec on the scene all morning. if you are coming into san francisco from 101 along the peninsula, we still have that ramp closed to the northbound 280 extension. we have a new estimated time of opening now of 8:00 so this is going to cause a lot of heavy traffic up northbound 101 heading into downtown san francisco. expect delays. that's your traffic. back to you. >> thank you. if you are headed to work and you want to keep on top of the storm, just go to our website. we have real-time hi-def doppler radar. all you have to do is go to our weather page, cbssf.com.

check it out. 6:36. a worst-case scenario for san jose: hundreds of cops and firefighters could be laid off. let's go to kcbs radio's matt bigler who joins us now from downtown with more on these threatened layoffs. matt, good morning. give us the numbers. what are we talking about here? >> reporter: yeah. these layoff numbers are pretty staggering. we're talking about 349 san jose police officers and 145 firefighters who could be laid off this year as a result of the city's $110 million deficit. now, as you said, this is a worst-case scenario that the city is projecting as a result of the deficit. nonetheless, very concerning. we talked to san jose police chief the -- new police chief, chris moore. he tells kcbs that obviously he is very concerned about the layoff projections and the possibility of losing roughly 28% of his officers. >> i just cannot imagine us going to that level. but at the same time, the city manager, mayor and council have worked with me trying to get it a position where i'm not sure

what the ultimate outcome is going to be but we'll try to retain as many officers if not all of them if it's at all possible. >> reporter: now, the see if is once again asking all employees' unions to take 10% reductions in pay and benefits. but even if they make those con sections the police and fire departments are still facing layoffs. those numbers 87 firefighters could lose their jobs and more than 200 police officers. last year, san jose had to lay off 49 firefighters because the union refused to give in to any concessions. negotiations with the unions are under way. the final decision on layoffs should be made sometime in june. that's the latest from here in san jose. back to you guys. >> so they have a couple of months to negotiate. thank you, matt bigler. and layoffs could hit oakland schools, as well. the superintendent warning that lots 6 teachers and other employ -- lots of teachers and other employees could get pink

slips and some others might be in new positions. the deadline to warn for layoffs is march 15. tough times out there. it is 6:38. the pimp your ride, the gadget that can even make a clunker seem high-tech. >> plus, while we are getting rain here, the sierra is getting a huge amount of snow. we are going to have a live report on the dangerous driving conditions and what you skiers can expect ahead of the holiday weekend. ,, rocket scientists! you gave us the space age... but your savings accounts are stuck in the stone age! earn more commodore with interestplus savings at capitalone.com. that's new school banking, baby! [ laughs ] instead of earning zilch, your savings will be earning three times the national average. three times more? roger that! go online and sign up at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet?!

i tore both my rotator cuffs. first i injured this shoulder, then this one, then this one two more times. playing with my kids was not an option. when a lot of doctors could have gone in and just said, "no, can't fix it." but he didn't give up. today i can throw my kids around in the pool. i can still coach rugby and share my love of the game. announcer: at sutter health, our story is you. for more stories, visit sutterhealth.org.

wall street opening for business just about 11 minutes ago and as you can see, all the indices in positive territory. the dow jones industrial average up almost 35 points. but there is a bankruptcy, big bankruptcy to tell you about. jason brooks will be along in just a minute to tell us about that. >> good day on the markets not so much for mother nature. pouring rain here but a lot of snow up in the sierra now. >> nick janes is in blue canyon with you driving is treacherous to say the least. >> good morning. it is treacherous, it is terrible. whatever description you would mike to use, it's tough up here. snow continues to fall. we are getting a bit of a break in the wind right now. so conditions marginally better than when we last talked an hour ago. but i do have to tell you,

traffic was being held at eastbound 80 in gold run because there is a big rig that had lost its chains, spun out on the road and so that was blocking traffic. they have since cleared that out. we have another report of a car hitting a tree in crystal springs and finally a third report, this time a vehicle striking a pedestrian in the truckee area on the freeway. so lots of activity up here because the roads are just simply awful. you really can't see much. in fact, as we pulled up to the blue canyon exit, we missed it because the snow was blowing so much, that we didn't see the sign until we actually had gone past it a couple of feet. as you look here at some of the video, the stronger snow we have seen all morning long here, snow levels holding around 4500 feet or so. but it will get colder, snow levels will drop. and so by the time this is all said and done you can see a foot or two of fresh powder where we are in blue canyon which is about 5300 feet. two to four fresh feet of snow way up in the ski resorts. they can use it. it's been a couple of weeks since they have had a decent amount of snowfall. this is certainly.

that and you have also the low snow which could bring snow to places like placerville, pollock pines and auburn. it's going to be a cold storm moving in so the roads are terrible. you want to get up and enjoy it and enjoy the skiing because there is so much on the ground but maybe you wait a couple of days for this to pass through because it's going to be quite treacherous. one last look for you. i'd like to show you guys how much we having on. we have been shoveling around the truck because we are worried about getting stuck again. you probably have a foot of fresh powder on the ground. there is more on the way. this is one of the bigger storms i have seen up here in quite a while. >> you could be there for quite some time. maybe we'll see you during the noon show. [ laughter ] >> maybe tomorrow! [ laughter ] >> stay safe and warm. nick janes in blue canyon this morning. >> weather-wise, i think we not story. rain, rain and more rain. lawrence. >> a series of storms that are lined up off the coastline. so we have more rain to come.

really winter just coming back. roaring back in the bay area and overnight it was howling in spots. you still have pockets of heavier amounts of rainfall in dublin. more showers continuing toward union city. now, things are going to stay unsettled, wet on and off throughout the day today. you are going to see the sun out there for just a little bit and all of a sudden clouds will come pouring through with the possibility we could see thunderstorms. expect for this scattered showers on and off throughout the day, expect more scattered showers. we'll keep things unsettled with the possibility of gusty winds continuing, although not like last might. we had 60-mile-an-hour gusts. won't be that strong. high surf advisory along the coast as we expect big swells. waves up to 17 feet. the possibility of isolated thunderstorms. the showers on and off throughout the day. cold front passing on through. it has made its way through the bay area this morning. now just headed eastward. behind that we have a lot of cold air, some very unstable

air, that is likely to move through today to keep things unsettled and keep those showers going. computer models picking up on it pretty weather. you see scattered showers moving on and off throughout the day in the bay area. so bring that umbrella with you. jacket. it is going to be windy and wet outside. and you will occasionally sneak in a little sunshine, too. rain totals another half inch in parts of the north bay and three-quarters into the santa cruz mountains. and about a .25" into san jose. and cold enough we could see some snow on our local peaks. temperatures mainly running into the 50s outside and we are not done with the rain just yet. we have more rain and showers expected for tomorrow. possibly into friday. maybe even the first part of saturday. i think we catch a brief break come sunday but by monday and tuesday, here comes another round of wet weather in the bay area. all right. let's get a load of the traffic conditions. quite a mess out there today, elizabeth. >> i forgot my jacket today, lawrence. >> did you? >> i did. >> i will have one for you. >> thank you, lawrence. let's go to chopper 5. they found this flooding on park

presidio boulevard. if you are heading towards the golden gate bridge, this is right by doyle drive near the macarthur tunnel. this is a construction zone and they don't have drainage so caltrans is out there trying to fix it. but as you can see traffic is only getting by in one lane. so we have seen a little improvement in the last half hour but kind of a mess across the bay area. let's go towards the bay bridge toll plaza where traffic is backing up. the metering lights are on. so it is backed up just towards that first overcrossing there you see in the distance. earlier we got flooding reports just east of the metering lights. haven't heard anything lately though. so far okay across the bay bridge but all the bridges this morning including the bay bridge and benicia bridge all have wind advisories this morning. so it's a two-handed day on the steering wheel white knuckle day as lawrence likes to call it. all right. several accidents coming in. this is a new one just reported in hayward. southbound 880 right before the

highway 92 interchange, busy commute spot. up to two lanes blocked and stacking up towards 238. if you are heading towards the san mateo bridge we got word of an accident just before the toll plaza there. so watch out for that. here's a look at 880 through oakland. you can see our camera jiggling a little bit. obviously still some windy conditions out there as you make your way past the coliseum and up into downtown oakland. mass transit, use it. everything is on time. and remember our radio partners when you hit the roads, kcbs 740-am and 106.9-fm. back to you. >> thank you. time now 6:47. the final chapter for borders? this morning it's filing for bankruptcy. let's go to jason brooks with kcbs and cbsmoneywatch.com for the latest on that and the markets. jason, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. tough if you are a borders customer. there is a decent chance that your particular store could be affected in a few weeks. borders under its bankruptcy reorganization says it's going to close about a third of its locations, about 200 stores in

the coming weeks. borders has just struggled in recent years hasn't made a profit since 2006. revenue is down about $1 billion since that time as it's not only lost ground in overall book sales which continue to drive further down, but also in the digital market as amazon has blown past it and even barnes & noble with its nook ereader has done better than borders. a couple of economic signals this morning, one encouraging for the housing industry of all things. housing starts in january jumped 10.5% from december to a rate that was much more than expected. that is good news as the housing industries does try to come back. looks like much of this was done on apartment buildings rather than single-family homes. also, a sign of future activity. building permits that did fall about 10%. actually the housing starts were up over 14%. housing starts were down over 10% from the prior month. also getting a read on inflation on the wholesale side

of things. the producer price index was up .8% in january. a lot of that coming from rising gas prices. when you strip out gas and food, the core rate which is what economists really focus on, that was up a .5%. that was more than double what was expected. a lot of that coming from a big rise in pharmaceutical prices. they were up 1.4%. the biggest gain in three years. some positive earnings from companies like dell, comcast and deer helping out the market rebound this morning. dow is up by 36. nasdaq picking up 10. and right now the s&p is up by 4. frank and sydnie? >> all right, jason brooks with kcbs and cbsmoneywatch.com. thank you very much. it is 6:49. well, these days so many cars are loaded with all sorts of technology, everything from navigation to audio commands. >> that's right. and brian cooley editor at large with cnet joins us now with something that's really cool. we just talked about it for a couple of seconds. >> this is a thing coming out of the mobile world congress in

barcelona the biggest cell phone show in the world called the komodo console. we see this on the screen. it's a cool smart phone device that would you mount in your car -- that would you mount in your car. >> like a mini ipad. >> on its side. here's another shot installed in the car. it goes on this nice brushed aluminum stalk. you would pay $20 or $30 to the company that's introducing it per month and you get this all put in free. it's like a subsidy plan. what it gives you is navigation, hands-free calling, backup camera, all kinds of gps -- >> so we can see if you wanted like streaming music -- >> you can get like pandora or any other streaming service instead of having to pay for satellite radio which is what, $13 a month? it's a nice cost savings but also it adds all the tech people love in cars today in one fell swoop into any car. >> wow. how about distractions? i imagine the authorities are not a big fan of this. >> i was thinking about that. >> more accidents. >> i'll get to that light in a minute but first... i have 100 apps to play with. >> the key here is that this

sort of thing has to be tuned so it's going to be contextually oriented towards driving. you can't just browse the web on this. there is no web browser. it wouldn't put up an email program for you. it would do things in a way shaped for the car so that it's visually big and easy to see and oriented toward automotive- specific features. >> it has voice command built in so you drive all these functions that way. >> a smart phone today a lot of them have this same functionality and have an automotive screen like this one. but this rolls in things like backup camera and more that you don't find in a smart phone so it's kind of a first of its kind. >> how big? is it as big as an iphone? >> about 4.5" in screen size so bigger than an iphone and smaller than an ipad. >> when will we see this in the u.s.? >> it's an israeli company. they are just rolling it out in the israeli market first but pushing hard to get it in the u.s. now. they are talking to volvo and possibly audi so it would be a

nice and-on to cars but they are also going after-market with this. that's the key to be able to get it at best buy? >> the name is called komod console. >> write it on your christmas wish list. >> might be outed by end of the year. >> thank you. -- might be out by the end of the year. >> thank you. 6:52. heavy rain and wind making for a nasty commute on bay area roads. >> a wind related accident closing a major connector in san francisco. when it's expected to open coming up. >> and if you have a story idea or comment to share with us? email brian@cbs5.com. switching to progressive could mean hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

cars that park themselves. an unmanned car driven by a search engine company. we've seen that movie. it ends with robots harvesting our bodies for energy. [ engine revs ] this is the all new 2011 dodge charger. leader of the human resistance.

christin ayers is at the bay bridge toll plaza with advice rain across the bay area on this wednesday morning making for a messy commute. let's go to christian karl gerhartsreiter christin ayers at the bay bridge toll plaza. >> reporter: thins have dried up and slowed down a bit heading into the toll plaza here, but there are still some weather issues out here that people want to be cautious of. the roads are slightly damp but the big factor is going to be wind. earlier today, we did see some

slick roads and some drivers struggling to get traction as they were entering the toll plaza as you were seeing video from earlier this morning people with big puddles and splash back. things are slowed down quite a bit so people not moving quite so quickly out here. but the big problem is wind as you cross all of the major bridges in the bay area. you're going to feel crosswinds in the range of about 20 miles an hour that could sort of push you off court. so be very care to feel drive for the conditions. keep your hands on 10:00 and 2:00 to get across the bridges safely this morning. >> get an earlier start, too. thank you, christin ayers at the bay bridge toll plaza. we're hearing it could be at least another 45 minutes before the 101/280 connector is back open in san francisco. the storm left part of that sign you see there dangling over the ramp. the sign hit the windshield of

the passing truck injuring the driver. he is expected to be okay. crews are trying to work on securing the sign. the storm is also causing power outages. 440 people without power down in the moss beach area and in danville in the east bay 135 customers lost power after a car hit a pole there and a few hundred customers lost power in orinda, oakland and millbrae. 6:57. before you head out, let's get one last look at weather and traffic. and lawrence, i love seeing your hi-def doppler! >> do you? yeah. >> yeah! >> we are going to be giving it quite the first display all day long as it's going to be busy as we have a lot of rain showing up. the main cold front has moved by but we have the cells behind it that are going to keep things active today. we are going to see more of this on and off throughout the day and you will see these guys wandering by some storms pushing through could have so

thunderstorms and some hail. looks like cold temperatures to go with that. highs only in the 50s. cold enough here in the bay area expecting some snow down on our local peaks. now, the showers likely to continue on thursday and friday. possibly into saturday morning. then a brief break. but more storms expected to move in the beginning of this next week. all right. let's get a check of the traffic out there right now. >> yeah. chopper 5 is continuing its jaunt across the bay area. another hotspot this is a great highway in san francisco closed this morning due to flooding in both directions between lincoln way and sloat. we often see closures during bad weather but one chp unit out there right now. thank you, chopper 5. they were very busy this morning. we are still dealing with these emergency closures. if you are coming into 16, frank just mentioned this the northbound 101 ramp to northbound 280 shut down still until 7:45, 8:00. they have been giving us different times but they are working to repair some damage to an overhead sign. so if you are heading into downtown san francisco, from the peninsula, you are going to

have to use 101 instead, which as we can see from our live sensors, it is already starting to get backed up. now, you can access the 280 extension if you are coming up from 280 itself like from daly city. all right. outside, live look at the bay bridge toll plaza, as christin ayers said, things are calming down a little bit. not too bad of a backup actually anymore, just backed up to the very end. parking lot. the metering lights are on. that's your traffic. back to you guys. >> thank you. thanks for watching cbs 5 early edition. we'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning at 4:30. and to stay updated on the weather, just go to cbssf.com. >> and we leave you now with some beautiful pictures from the sierra. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com good morning. boiling over. political unrest continues to spread throughout the middle east. protesters now taking to the streets in libya joining

demonstrators in at least half a dozen other countries across the region. will the u.s. step in to aid in their fight for freedom? brerny madoff speaks to you for the first time since hi arrest indicating big banks and hedge funds in his multibillion dollar ponzi scheme. we will tell you what else he had to say from behind bars. and grounded. united taking its fleet of 757s out of service to check for a possible computer glitch. what does this mean if you are set to travel this morning? we will tell you what is behind the problem and whether officials are concerned it could, in fact, be more widespread "early" this wednesday morning, february 16th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs good morning to you on this wednesday.