Morning Express with Robin Meade

Gooooooood Morning! Allow me to thrill you with some sports!

Charlie Sheen took steroids to prepare for his role as a pitcher in the movie Major League!! Sheen tells si.com that the steroids made his fastball faster... and his mood a little edgier. Sheen admits he didn't experience full-on rood rage because he claims he didn't take enough of the performance enhancing drug... But he did stay on steroids for about 8 weeks while filming. He says it's the only time he's ever taken THAT drug.

TS Arlene made landfall early this morning near Cabo Rojo, Mexico with 65 mph winds. That's a strong tropical storm, and some of that rain is making it into South TX. Any rain the Lone Star State gets is welcome, with that ongoing drought there.

Other than that, there aren't many huge rainmakers for today. The dominant weather feature is a growing region of high pressure over the South and MW. Under this sinking air, the temps. are going to boil. Heat advisories and warnings extend from MN and the Dakotas all the way down to OK this afternoon, with a heat index between 100 and 110 for a few hours this afternoon. That heat gradually edges to the East, and the warm air will spread to the coast by the 4th of July. I'll show you the warned areas.

appy Hump Day all of you Robin Meade fans!! Let’s talk sports!

USA!! USA!! The American Women’s Soccer Team got a big win yesterday in their first World Cup match. It was like a collective sigh of relief to get through that first game with a victory. The American women said it themselves… that they were stumbling into World Cup with inconsistent play… But yesterday’s 2-0 win over North Korea is a huge shot of confidence. Lauren Cheney used her head for the Americans' first goal… Rachel Buller added some insurance later… And the women will have some support from the White House in their next match… President Obama has announced that a Presidential Delegation will attend the women’s next World Cup match on Saturday against Columbia in Germany.

Tropical Storm Arlene has formed over the Bay of Campeche, in the southern Gulf of Mexico. As of the 5 am update, she had winds around 40 mph. The center is moving to the WNW around 8 mph, so it should blow into the Mexican coast early tomorrow morning. I think south TX will get some rain out of this, but not much. Brownsville may see a ½” at the most, but hopefully that changes. TX needs rain! By the way, Arlene was the first named storm of the 2005 season as well, since the list of names gets repeated every 6 years (unless it does major damage, or creates massive loss of life, such as Katrina- then the name gets retired from the list).

Tropical Storm ARLENE

Here we go again in the MW and Mid South. Storms are rolling into AR and TN early today, ahead of a cold front that will bring more severe weather to the South this afternoon. The main thing I can see now is the constant lightning over the TN River Valley, and that whole schmear will refire today in MS, AL, GA, and the Carolinas. Watch out for damaging wind gusts, too. You can see those conditions on today's map:

NOAA Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts