it is a cold wet night in the bay area with another blast of arctic cold just hours away. good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. we're on weather watch with snow, yeah, snow in the weather. we begin outdoors with ktvu's lloyd lacuesta who's at the

summit of highway 17. lloyd. >> reporter: frank the summit of 17 is at about the 2,000- foot level. that's high enough to have snow p it's cold enough. but right now all we're experiencing is a cold, cold rain. >> the it's going to get crazy up here. it's going to be some accidents, hopefully not too many. >> reporter: tow truck driver cole jennings was already towing one vehicle. signs of slippery roadways had been turned on and caltrans had dumped a pile of sand at a turn out should crews have to start sending to highway. plows were also ready to push any snow off the highway. it's already slippery. at the santa clara county, firefighters were getting snow

chains ready just in case. firefighters know that besides accidents, snow has other problems. >> a lot of trees coming down. a lot of trees up here aren't used to having the snow load. they start breaking and tumbling. >> reporter: conditions have been to be right in order for snow to fall and stick to the ground. that's already happening in mount hamilton. temperatures have to drop to the 30s, precipitation has to be falling and the ground has to be chilled so the snow won't melt. >> i'm from the midwest, it's kind of nice to see. as long as i don't have to shovel my driveway to go to work, that's okay. >> reporter: so far no snow, but if highway 17 is a highway you use to commute, slow down tomorrow. live in the santa cruz mountains, lloyd lacuesta, ktvu channel 2 news. in that really cold arctic air is not here yet, we're

waiting for it. those snow levels come down. we go outside to live storm tracker 2. you see the rainfalling. i just got off the phone with a friend out in the eastern district. it's raining hard out in the hills. the weather advisory is in effect and it'll last through tomorrow. that snow advisory goes up tomorrow night. check out the snow accumulation at one now feet. about an inch of snow possible. that covers a lot of the east bay coastal hills. about 2-inches at 500 feet. the cold air is not here yet but it is coming and when it gets here that snow is coming down. we have record low temperatures for february that we were talking to you about. in the north bay we found people stocking up on supplies today. was store had sandbags -- one store had sandbags ready to go.

there has even been a run on snow shovels in marin. snow at sea level in san francisco is extremely rare. it hasn't happened in years. but today ktvu's david stevenson found city workers already preparing for the possibility of snow this weekend. >> reporter: as san franciscans gear for the weekend, one visitor says that snow would be neat. it's a first time experience for many dpw workers. >> i've often wondered if what would do if it really snowed in the city. just being with all of our

hills and stuff. >> reporter: the city's emergency department coordinated conference calls today with more than a half dozens public agencies to prepare for problems. >> instead of having to make a reservation to the shelter and go through the normal procedures, people can just show up right at the shelter and access a bed if it is vacant. >> just goes right over. >> reporter: at sloat's number reu, people are buying products to protect their plants. >> we have people who have had buganvia's that they've had for ten years or so. or plants they just planted last week. >> reporter: sandbags are available for people worried about flooding. so we've been digging through the ktvu archives and found evidence of just how cold it can get in san francisco.

this is christmas eve 1990. people were actually ice skating in golden gate park. a pond froze near the polo field hard enough for folks to skate on and fall down in some cases right in front of the camera. and a few dogs seemed to enjoy running around in the ice as well. a viewer sent us these photos, she says this photo was taken in san anselmo. we would like to see your historical photos of rare snow in the bay area. you can e-mail them to photos @ ktvu.com, we may show some of them on the air. the sierra is suffering a rare winter ather warning. it's coming down well and covering cars and tree branches and tonight chains are required on roads to tahoe.

we just checked with caltranss and learned that chain controls on interstate 80 begin on colfax. and on twin bridges. here is a look tonight on tahoe city. this caltrans camera shows highway 89, flows were out earlier but the snow continues to fall. we've been monitoring this camera. motorists appear to be taking it slow. what if small sensors can revolutionize how that data is collected. creating a state of the art wireless system to better monitor the sierra. stay with ktvu for continuing coverage. bill martin will bring us updates throughout the hour. tomorrow morning, they'll be tracking the storm and how it's affecting the roads. ktvu morning news begins at 4:30. it's official tonight, the bay area's largest city has a

new top cop. chris moore began san jose's chief this morning at a swearing in. he brings experience in patrol, street crime and internal affairs. one of the toughest jobs he will face is city patrol. the president of the police union says that more than 2,000 officers could still be let go. there is a new twist tonight in the case of janine harms the woman who vanished ten years ago in the south bay. the man who once considered a suspect was killed by harms brother in san jose.

now narms family has given police items found in harms home. tests are being done to see if they long to janine harms -- they belong to janine harms. -- jury selection is set to begin next month in the chauncey bailey trial. in the nevado wet weather is slowing the recovery of a body buried in the backyard of a home. ktvu's debra villalon is at the scene, where she has learned that it'll be until noon tomorrow until those bones are excavated. >> reporter: remains presume to be 48-year-old dale smith buried here in his own yard. still unclear how he died, and his wife's role.

it's a construction job, shoring up the 6-foot square trench, four feet deep where the body lies. from the mast on our news van, 50 feet up we see progress made by an fbi forensic team. but rain hasn't helped. >> puts water in the soil which then makes the soil -- raises the risk of soil falling into the hole. >> reporter: so technicians stopped their excavation, packing up what they can to resume tomorrow, when the digging may be more stable. >> we want to make sure that we cover all the bases and we do everything proper so that we preserve all evidence as we move forward. >> reporter: evidence along with more found inside the home this afternoon after a search warrant was issued that could implicate smith east 's wife of 17 years, evelyn with him buried in the back. >> she said he was on a trip.

>> reporter: a trip that family says never happened. >> it was all out like, this isn't sounding right. >> reporter: presuming it's smith under the patio, we asked evelyn's attorney, how did he die? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: expect to say that evelyn smith is still in the bay area. tonight by phone her attorney added this was not a homicide. dale smith is said to be in failing health. if he did died naturally though, no call was ever made to the coroner. we should learn more tomorrow, when the remains are finally pulled from this property. reporting live in nevado, debra villalon, ktvu. a string of burglaries in one bay area neighborhood. we'll show you videos of this

crime in progress. and storm tracker 2 shows know. this picture takes on 880 near oakland. the rain is coming down. we'll show you the latest computer model. how closely are you

new at 10:00 tonight we're going to show you a crime in

progress. we learned of a string of burglaries and even have pictures of the crooks. we have amber lee with the story. >> i was thinking that's my travel bag. it's full of my things. >> reporter: homeowner jorge gredillo says he and his partner's homes is one of three that have been burglarized. he says before the break-in, his surveillance camera shows a young woman coming to the front door. >> this is the first video that the camera picks up of the woman coming to check out the home. >> reporter: gadillo told his cameras, i pod, and other

valuables were stolen along with identification cards and checkbooks. >> every day we find things missing. things you didn't realize you were missing. >> i've been frustrated. i've been depressed. it's just so many mixed emotions when you see how somebody can turn your life upside down. >> reporter: at the home next door, we saw police officers leaving this evening. the homeowner told us he was there to take fingerprints after a young woman tried to break in yesterday evening. karen smith says she was home at the time. >> she took the whole screen off to try to open the window. >> and you caught her on the other side. >> yeah, yeah. she was running out, i was running out the front door, chasing her. >> smith was unable to catch up to the woman, but said she resembles one of the woman who appears in her neighbor's surveillance footage. and that there was a second woman waiting in a red honda civic who was the get away driver. the homeowners say they won't have peace of mind until they catch the burglars. amber lee, ktvu channel 2 news.

this next story out of walnut creek could mark a new low. police tell us that someone burglarized a home during today's burial service for a teenager who drowned in a rafting mishap. investigators say the burglary happened while matt miller's parents were burying their son. when the miller's returned they found a front door broken into and items missing if from their house. police say it happened between 10:00 this morning and 12:30 this afternoon. miller and his friend gavin powell died last saturday. according to a teacher in los lomas high, today would have been gavin's 18th birthday. the commission voted 6-1 to allow the department to examine the use and dangers of tasers. the vote came after hours of debate and one year after the

commission voted down a similar proposal. the city's interim police chief needs to present his findings to the commission in 90 days. the panel will then decide to implement a pilot program introducing tasers. and space shuttle discovery lasts blasts off for it's final time. discovery is taking equipment to the international space station. this is discovery's 39th mission. a small earthquake that registered 3.6 rattled hawaii today and scientists don't know what caused it. the quake was centered in the

channel was felt in honolulu. most quakes in hawaii are small and center around the active volcano in the big island. but this one at least right now cannot be explained. in new zealand the death toll rose to 113 today. 228 people are still missing. more than half of them are in the tv station building that collapsed. another 80 were at a foreign language school, most of them were from japan. 70 people have been rescued alive but none since yesterday afternoon. search teams are conducting grid searches of the city. it is estimated the quake caused about $11 billion in damage. oil rich libya is about the size of alaska and 90% of its 6 million people live along the coast. the eastern part of the country is now broken from control of gudahfi but he is still in control in the capital where today he made some wild accusations. rita williams has more. >> reporter: this demonstration in libya's second largest city

is illegal. no surprise there. consumed by conspiracy fears, gahdafi in 1973 outlawed gathering of three or more to avoid any attempt to topple him. morgues are full of body, but locals in this seaside city are already forming their own government. everyone as gadahfi remains in power in tripoli. today he called state police and said that osama bin laden is behind the uprising feeding the protesters halusinagens. >> i don't think anybody knows for sure how it's going to end. >> reporter: other arab regimes are trying to hold up risings

that toppled egypt and has libya's teetering. >> i would say yemen and algeria is at risk. >> reporter: algeria just lifted a state of emergency. and yemen's u.s. backed president after 32 years formed a committee to talk to protesters demanding his ouster, but is it too little too late? rita williams, ktvu channel two news. the unrest in north africa this week has shaken wall street investors but trading did stabilize a bit today. the dow was down 132 points at one point during the day but gained some ground closing with a loss of 32 points. the nasdaq finished in positive territory gaining 13 points. moderate rainfall right now in the bay area. this live storm tracker 2. you see heavier showers in san

jose. moderate to light rain showing up through much of the south central region. showers are light in the north bay. overnight lows is not that cold. the cold air is not here yet. the record cold is going to be saturday morning, sunday morning. that's the best chance for snow is saturday morning. tomorrow morning or late tonight you're going to see the rain pick up in the south bay. as you get ready for your morning commute at 7:00 a.m. it's really raining pretty hard in south central bay. lighter in the north bay. then by lunchtime less water, nor cold air. that's when the cold air gets here and that's when those low spill levels will come. we will look at your five day forecast here in just a bit. and renovations are being delayed by all of this bad weather. the complex was set to reopen in mid-march but will now be closed at least an additional eight weeks. the polo fields are used for a number of sports including rug

rugby and soccer. they've been closed while they make repairs and get rid of gophers. my body is feeling strong and my heart more hurt. >> reporter: why a mother still hospitalized months later is breaking her silence about the accident that killed her taughter. plus we told you about him last

a mother from the north bay is speaking out about the accident that killed her 2-year- old daughter and left her seriously injured. rob roth tells us why she came to him and said she wanted to go public with her story. >> reporter: almost three months after the accident on december 1st, lynn murray is still in a rehabilitation

hospital. >> my body is feeling strong, and my heart more hurt. >> reporter: mary suffered two shattered legs, a broken pelvis and she has 14 screws in her arm. she doesn't remember being struck by the car that took the life of her daughter kelly. >> i always make sure there's no car, and we crossed the street. but i didn't see the car. >> reporter: kelly's death and lynne's injury are the result of a distracted driver, cate middleway. middleway told police she was used her ontime. either texting or talking on it. the murray's called me to share their story to warn of the warnings of texting and driving. >> if the phone call is that important, pull over. nothing is more important than

a life. >> reporter: lynne murray has a long road to recovery. on monday she walked her first steps. >> the emotional aspect is something we will never get over. >> i miss my daughter. the roner park community is holding a special day for kelly murray on sunday to raise awareness of the dangers of driving while distracted. rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. bart station agents today asked the transit agency to do more to protect them from assaults by riders. the station agents say they are being spit at, shoved, punched and threatened. they are can go the agency to fortify their booth with bullet- proof glass. they also want bart to take a tougher stance against those who attack agents. bart officials say they are looking into ways to better protect their agents. now an update to our story last night about an oakland man

who's prosthetic leg was stolen. three companies, including the company who first manufactured are offering to replace it. he told us the leg costs thousands of dollars and medical will only pay for a new prosthetic leg every three years. 1,500 cameras and growing. we investigate how closely you are being follow at san francisco airport. wireless technology similar to what you find in your cell phone could provide answers

a steady rain has been falling in the bay area tonight with a blast of arctic cold heading our way. chief meteorologist bill martin is keeping us up to date. >> reporter: waiting on the cold. live storm tracker two is showing rain throughout the bay area. but temperatures are still on the wild side. check out santa rosa or the mod -l here -- model here, or the rain beginning to fall. the cold air is not here yet. that cold air is going to be delayed when it gets here that's when the snow levels really come down. right now rain moderate in hayward and fremont. as we head south of san jose you see these yellow returns, don't panic that's moderate rainfall just looks heavier because of the low freezing level. the radar is picking it up as something more. it's exaggerating the falling rain. it'll be wet everywhere, and those snow levels will come down. we'll have all the details on

our computer model back here in just a few minutes. now tonight's special report. from the freeway to your flight just how closely are you monitored? ktvu's claudine wong takes us behind the scenes to show us just how extensive the camera system is to keep track of everyone that goes through the airport every day. >> reporter: hundreds of people go through -- hundreds of people we talked to realize how closely they are being watched. most say they never even look. >> nice, nice. >> i will now. >> reporter: more than 1,500 cameras watch everyone who comes in and out. >> it's a lot. i just wonder how many people can watch that many cameras right. >> they have cameras hanging off every rooftop does not make me feel any more secure. it's what they do with that data at the end of the day. >> reporter: that very issue is

what makes sfo different from other airports. tonight we look at sfo's security center. here two groups of security amists watch a wall of monitors. the tsa watches a check point and sfo security workers watch everything else. >> we're focused over all, if we have an incident any where here we want to have a view of that. >> reporter: there are only a handful of airports in the world with this type of set up. >> i think just for the fact that we've been able to have a focus group of folks in our security operation able to do that has made us a little different. >> people look at that room and assume every airport has a room like that may be wrong. >> you're correct. >> reporter: $20 million worth of cameras are already in use. $1.5million more are being put into this new terminal which opens in a couple of months. >> yeah, we keep adding every month. every day. >> reporter: and with all those dollars and all those cameras, how closely are we being

watched? sfo said they show us just how closely so we drove in. parked at the curb, went through security and even walked through a gate all while folks in this room watched and recorded. despite repeated requests, we never actually got the video of our walk through this terminal. it's the tsa that has to approve the release of a video and they wouldn't do it. why? well, it appears that even with more than 1,500 cameras there are still holes and the tsa doesn't want anyone to see what they can't see. so we can only tell you this, we saw at least 20 cameras on our drive in, our walk in through security, and in the terminal. we know there were cameras we didn't see because we were told we are caught on more than 30 cameras. but we also know that at one point when i changed paths, they lost me. >> i think we might have missed

you for like three seconds. we know they can see you when you get off the freeway, get off b.a.r.t. we know they can't watch everyone all the time. but if you start a fight at a gate. they can figure out if you got drunk at a bar beforehand. if you go through security and accuse an agent of stealing, they can find out if it actually happened. and yes even the employees know they are being watched. >> thefts have gone down, because people know they can all watch them. >> i told you they are always watching. >> reporter: but we've always learned that with multiple agencies, tsa, sfo and sfpd all in charge of making sfo safe, technology learns best when agencies work together. at sfo, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. you can learn more about sfo's cameras at ktvu.com. just look for the special reports tab where you can get a

behind the scenes picture tour. the air force today awarded a $35 billion contract. one of the biggest defense contracts ever to boeing. the contract can board 200 refueling planes. general motors is backen back on the road to profitability. it announced that it earned $4.7 billion over the entire year. it is the company's first profitable year since 2004. general motors revival is being seen and heard in san jose tonight. capital chevrolet celebrated it's change of ownership with a little party. the del grand dealer group has bought out the dealership.

a band played and a spotlight shined in the drizzle. -- it took fire crews more than four hours to contain the fire, at piedmont lumber and mill company. the fire cost $6 million in damage. pg & e could face penalties over it's san bruno pipeline explosion. a federal investigation found pg & e incorrectly identified the pipe adds seemless when actual little it was seemed and welded. san francisco renters seeking damages from landlords have to take them to court and not to the city's rent board. last night the city's appeal court turned down proposition m that allowed the board to lower the rent of ten in tenants who

are harassed by their landlords. he may have been targeting a former u.s. president, what we now know about a saudi student who is due in court tomorrow on terror charges. we have moderate to heavy rainfalls. that cold air isn't here yet but it will be soon. i'll have all the details. up first, parents

male narrator: one in five are on their way to getting it. it kills more americans each year than breast cancer and aids combined. one in thirteen have it. one in four of those don't know it yet. find out how you can share, act, learn, give, and help stop diabetes. palo alto parents are taking a their desire for a

charter school to the district board. so many people came some actually had to sit on the floor. rocket ship schools specialize in helping elementary school students in high poverty areas reach high proficiency levels. >> i think the kids would be excited to attend the schools and have their teachers invested in them. >> reporter: the school board will decide at a later date whether to grant a title. rocket ship currently operating two schools in san jose. a livermore woman is heading to prison after she pled guilty to charges of having sex with two teenage boys. christine hubbs pled guilty to four felonies including unlawful sex with a minor. she will be officially sentenced on march 25th. in texas, a college student from saudi arabia was arrested today on charges of attempted

use of a weapon of mass destruction against a former president. 20-year-old khalid aldawsari is due in court tomorrow. he wanted to blow up the dallas home of former president george w. bush. one of the companies he bought chemicals from tipped off the authorities. in news of the world tonight, in london a judge ruled today that wikileaks founder assange can be extradited to sweden for a sex crimes investigation. he has said he is innocent. he has a week to appeal. assange claims the u.s. wants to try him for releasing secret government documents. in mexico, police paraded six drug gang suspects before cameras today including the man wanted for the killing of an american immigration and customs enforcement agent. julian espinoza also known as

teety bird is accused of killing an american i.c.e. agent and injured another. first robots are racing sort to speak around a 110-yard track again and again to cover 26 miles. sometimes they fall down. but then they get up again. they aren't expected to finish the race until sunday. the idea is to show the robots durability and maneuverability. today's action brings their investigation to an end. vehicles being recalled are late model year lexus gs, rx and ls cars along with toyota

high landers, four runners and r sax v4. surveying california's snow pack, right now it's done by hand. but we're learning technology is revolutionizing the proc

the gentle sound of a mix of rain and snow could be heard. some people in higher elevations came down to see what they don't usually see at their home. it may be the first of its kind in the world.

and it may revolutionize the way we measure california water totals. jana katsuyama has the story. >> reporter: this is a pretty cool project. they took us in their lab and showed us how they're putting hundreds of these little sensors on how they measure snowfall in live time. >> it's about 70% of our drinking water comes from snow melt. >> reporter: steven glacer has partnered with professor bale to create a state of the art water measuring system. >> this is the largest ecological wireless network in the world. >> reporter: the team has installed a network in the southern sierra with some 300

sensors that sent data through tiny transmitters. the team can get snow pack data almost instantly. >> right now we're looking at about, a meter and a half looks like at this particular point. >> reporter: that information isn't just important to scientists, most of the state's 25 million californians depend on the sierra for drinking water and it's valuable information for agriculture with nearly 1 million acres of farmland statewide. >> to people like farmers it's going to make a big difference. because they can decide if tay going the plant a -- decide if they're going to plant a number of crops this year. >> they're stopping floods, storing drinking water, that's pretty tremendous. >> reporter: professor glacer hopes to get future funding to add more transmitters to the sierra to get a more complete picture of the state's water

supply. jana katsuyama, ktvu news. if it gets really cold in the next few days some outdoor plans may be damaged. when we checked in at the outdoor supply store, it was selling products to protect plants. outdoor irrigation pipes are also a concern because they can freeze. at bay area airplanes they are also watching the temperatures. san jose and oakland international told ktvu that airlines are prepared to deice planes but that it probably won't be necessary. san francisco international airport says it doesn't plan to bring in de-icing equipment. in this unusual air mass, this arctic air mass is upon us. this is the leading edge of it but the real cold air is just

about 1,200 miles away. out in the head lands you see moderate rainfall. rainfall accumulations have been relatively light. if this was a typical mid- latitude storm, we would be looking at probably an inch of rain by now. but this cold air is less, it's basically moisture starved. as the colder air gets here they'll be less and less moisture to work with. best bet for that, saturday late into saturday morning. your morning commute is going to be wet. as this system slides south tomorrow, rain will continue to move through. then the cold air gets here and that's on saturday and sunday morning. it's going to be clear. but overnight on saturday, and overnight on sunday we're looking at temperatures that could easily break records for february. that is cold air when you break records in february. so tonight at 3:00 a.m., the

computer models show the heaviest of the activity moving through. still not a lot of snow. there'll be snow on hamilton. it's getting a little heavy. it's wet out there. it's a slow morning commute at 7:00 a.m. clears out quick. now what's happened? the cool air has moved in fast. now the model is picking up rain or snow in mount hamilton. it's picking up a little bit of snow in mount arenas. friday night, sienna crews mountain. that's snow to about 1,000 feet up around mill vaca and vacaville. now it's real cold but look what's happening. we're losing moisture. so now it's a lot drier but at 9:00 p.m. on friday, looks pretty interesting down here in the santa cruz mountains. mount diablo and out into the east bay. the moisture is gone 10:00 p.m.

this is the best chance for snow. you get the picture, when the real cold arctic air gets here. it has to have some moisture to work with. this computer model says, no, we're not going to have a lot. sea level is going to be hard to get if that moisture leaves before that cold gets here. this is all about friday night into saturday morning. in the meantime you have a wet morning commute. probably a bit of wet in the afternoon tomorrow. i think friday morning's commute real wet. snow level about 1,000 feet. motorola's version of the computer tablet zoom has been released. the new computer is going death

sentence going against -- is going against the i pad. and apple updates it's line of portable computers each year. the latest version includes a faster processer and higher resolution camera. the price tag ranges from $2,000 up to almost $2,500 for the 17-inch mac book.

mark is here now with sportsful great game but what a heartbreak. >> i guess the good news for st. mary's is they are still tied for first place with gone gonzaga, i tell you the stars are aligned just not on the court. at gonzaga career night, keeping the gales in it. gales up three. 1:11 left. a lose ball saved nicely. but carter gets it, pops his own three with a guy from

spokane. we got overtime 76-76. only one mickey mcconnel driving, he could have put the gales up in the final seconds. we say the two teams now tied for the top with one game left. up in the hill usf a couple of free throws from green with 1.2 second left. dawns over on pepper dine by the slimmest of margins. out on the road and by down by as many as 16. couldn't blame a cal fan for flipping a channel on this one. if you did, you will be pleasantly surprised to know that they end up winning on the road no less. gutierez has a lot to do with it. probably the ugliest court in the history of college basketball up there. nice turn of a steal into a quick and easy. alan crab bobs away for three.

seven point lead left. seals it seven times in a row. and stanford is not enjoying it. and in the giants would like to repeat, how about another rookie infusing the line up with energy and talent. giants think they have just the guy in brandon bell. has a good chance of making the team. but if not, it appears to be one of those it's just a matter of time prospect. >> if they think i'm ready to come up, i'll come up. if they don't i'm , i'm not. i'm just going to focus on what i need to do. from all indications he looks like the real deal. one time or another he'll be up with the big team this year. that's the sporting life for now.

>> mark, thank you. for the very latest on the arctic chill blowing into the arctic chill blowing into the area, tune atst fwa.ean ougog t bk. arctic chill blowing into the area, tune wi cseuidesi yr arho, u stnaa cte,hise a de. ougog t bk. arctic chill blowing into the area, tune wi cke sp rwd yr arho,