Tropical Storm Alex is now very close to hurricane status. As of 5AM EDT, it has 70 mph sustained winds, and will probably hit that magic 75 mph hurricane status sometime today. It is 460 miles away from Brownsville, TX and headed just south of there sometime late Wednesday or Thursday. I see no reason why it will lose strength before landfall, unfortunately. I’ll keep you updated on the track and strength all morning. There are hurricane warnings up for south TX, so that is new for you this morning.

The rest of the country looks good. NE has clouds that will move out, Midwest looks great, but the Rockies will see the afternoon storms fire. The west coast looks like a breezy day, but no horid weather for you. All eyes are on the SE and Gulf coast with heavy rain in the forecast.

Alex probably won’t make a direct hit on the oil slick, but it will chop up the waters with big waves and strong winds. Lets just hope it doesn’t halt cleanup operations for too long.

Oh yeah, it’ me again today. Played some golf yesterday, shot the best score in about 10 years for me. 83. Legit, no mullies.

Filed under: Hurricane • Rain • tropical storm • Weather

This week's "Breakthrough Woman" is Sara Abbott, the creator of an organization called Blondes vs. Brunettes that raises money for the Alzheimer's Association, in honor of her father who passed away due to complications from the disease.  BvB is a powder-puff football game that pitts... you guessed it...

From the Blondes vs. Brunettes website:
Since 2005, Blondes vs. Brunettes has raised more than $150,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association National Capital Area Chapter. With the participation of Washington DC’s most prominent young leaders, we’ve raised awareness about the disease while raising funds for the Chapter so it may continue to provide services and programs – at no or low cost – to area residents.

Now in our fifth year, we have sparked other Alzheimer’s affiliated young professional groups around the country – such as Houston, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Buffalo, and Kansas City – to host their own games. Together over $1 million has been donated to the Alzheimer’s Association, just as the event is about to launch nationally later this year.

If you'd like to learn more about our Breakthrough Woman visit the BvB website at blondesvsbrunettes.org.

Meet all of our Morning Express "Breakthrough Women."

Filed under: Breakthrough Women

You may have seen SOME of the celebrations after Landon Donovan's game winning goal for the USA... but have you seen ALL of them!? We love this compilation made by Robby Donoho. Apparently so does Landon Donovan who has posted it on his own facebook page!

If you liked Robby's work head over to his YouTube page and let him know you heard about his video on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade."

Filed under: Soccer • Sports • Uncategorized • World Cup

Finally a quiet start to a Friday. Well, there are some storms in the upper Midwest and northern plains, but that is about it. They will turn severe later today though. MN, WI, and IA will get slammed with damaging winds today along with some large hail. The most intense storms will form this afternoon, which is typical.

The heat is gone now from the NE, with a cooler day on tap after yesterday’s strong storm action. A bunch of wind damage reports all around the NE down to NC were showing up this morning. The heat remains south of the front though, with temps nearing 100 for parts of the Carolinas and GA. Good times again.

Moisture is streaming up from NM to AZ today too with storms possible from there to TX and over to GA. Full details on that on the show.

A weak trough in the west is making for some showers in CA but they are very light.

The tropics are a little active this morning, with a weak impulse near central America, and it may become a tropical depression later today. If it does, I’ll have the info.

That’s it for me, I’m driving to SC today for a little Golf. The ball really travels when the temps are near 100 so that will rock. Later.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

He's got over one million eight hundred thousand fans! If you liked his moves, jump over to his page on YouTube and tell 'em you saw it on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade."

Filed under: Viral Video of the Day

233 wind damage reports yesterday in the Midwest. I was following that storm sequence all morning yesterday, and it even dropped a tornado in Ontario. I have the cool picture for you on the show.

Today that cold front and upper-level impulse rides into the NE. I think we will start seeing the severe storms fire early this afternoon in PA, WV, and NY. The entire NE has a shot at a severe storm, so I will show you that map.It will be hot ahead of that front again, with a high of 97 in DC, same all the way to the Carolinas. There are heat advisories, and I’ll have them for you too.

Down south we’ll get some rain and storms in the lower MS valley, and they will shoot up around Houston too. Moisture will feed into NM for some afternoon storms, and the Fog will be back for San Francisco this morning, so delays at SFO are a good bet.

Took the kids to the ‘hood pool yesterday. I wish I could say that was a relief from the heat, but the water temp was 90. I even swam to the bottom of the deep end, 9 feet down, to see if I could sense a different temp at a lower depth. Nope. People must have thought I was a corpse on the bottom I was down there for so long. Later.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Hot • Rain • Tornado • Weather

Storms, heat. That’s the main deal today. More severe weather is steaming through the Midwest and Plains, headed to the east coast. There are severe storm watches from PA back to the Dakotas, so it’s an active start. Later this afternoon the outflow from these morning storms will help generate afternoon storms in the vicinity, so I’ll show you the most likely areas for that on the big program.

The other story is the heat. It is slowly edging eastward today, but the MS valley has heat advisories/excessive heat warnings. Watch out St. Louis: 100 today, feels like 110 w/ humidity. The hot stuff is headed to Philly for tomorrow, they have heat warning posted for Wednesday now too.

The west and Rockies look to be ok today, the place I would like to be. The heat is wearing us down, no doubt. Now that we are transmitting in HD, that could be rough. It may look like George Burns doing the weather today, but it’s me. Later.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Hot • Severe Weather

It’s a new day in the HLN Weather Center. New HD graphics, and they are sharp. I’m also in HD now (sorry.)

Anyway, more storms are cranking in the Midwest and Plains. Watches and warnings are posted in NE, SD, parts of KS and MN/IA. I’ll show you the active stuff on the show. These storms are going to be around all day, and be in the same area this afternoon. I’ll show you the forecast map.

It’s hot again in the south, with heat advisories in New Orleans and Memphis. Excessive Heat warning in St. Louis too. Add the humidity, and it will be a dangerous 105-110.

The west will see more rain in WA, ID and MT, but the NE looks great.

I need to keep this short, since I still have to test my new weather machines. I have found a size 11.5 shoe fixes everything around here, when acting up.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

What a wild day on Thursday for the upper Midwest. 62 tornado reports, all in MN, ND, and IA. The storms are losing steam as I write this over the Great Lakes, but there is still a lot of rain being produced. I’ll show you the current radar pictures. The parent storm doesn’t have the zip and power like it had yesterday, and it’s moving through southern Canada. The frontal boundaries are still draped over the US,and I expect an up-tick in severe weather this afternoon in IA,WI,IL,and MO. It won’t be as bat-nuts crazy as yesterday, but a few tornadoes are still possible with the heat, humidity, and the forcing of the cold front nearby.

Other than the severe risk, it’s hot again in the south. Heat advisories are back for New Orleans, Memphis, and Little rock. It’ll feel like 105-110 this afternoon. Yeah, you won’t see my carcass out there!

The East coast looks fantastic except for sea breeze storms in FL, and the west looks typical. Lots of clouds and fog to start out the morning at the US Open Championship at Pebble, with a high of 60. Perfect golf weather, right?

Johannesburg, South Africa looks good as well, with a high around 60 for them. Time to pull out the crazy horns again and watch the US team today. Wait till you guys see how I harassed the team with the horn yesterday. Writer Keith is going to put the *video on the FB page later, so come back and check it out. I thought Rafer was going to pop me in the mouth.

*vuvuzela video coming soon!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Hot • Rain • Severe Weather • Tornado • Weather • World Cup

This got us ALL choked-up here at Morning Express! Johnathan is deaf... but watch as an implant is turned on allowing him to hear his mother's voice! You should hear the "oooohs and awwwwws" in the newsroom and the studio when the video played on TV.

If you love this video as much as we do, visit Johnathan's page at YouTube and tell his family that you saw the clip on HLN's Morning Express with Robin Meade.

Filed under: Viral Video of the Day