Morning Express with Robin Meade

The NASCAR prayer everyone's been talking about has now been turned into a song! Check it, pastor Joe Nelms may be a future pop-star thanks to the talented folks at songify. They're the people who used auto-tune to make Antoine Dodson 'internet famous' with the "Bed Intruder Song!!!" Personally I think this one is a little catchier!

Tropical storm Don is edging closer to the South Texas coast this morning - and should hit land sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning between Brownsville and Matagorda. The storm itself looks healthier on this morning's satellite, but it's still facing some wind shear on the northern side that is helping to keep it from developing further. Add in the dry air near the Texas coastline in the upper levels (tropical systems feed on moist air, too), and Don should only get to about 65 mph before it hits the beach. The steering winds for the storm are from the huge high pressure ridge over the S/MW/SW blowing it WNW. That ridge is actually gaining strength this morning, causing Don to turn westward... meaning the chance of good rain is almost out the door for Northern/Central Texas. My fingers are crossed, but the rain field just doesn’t look too big. Three to five inches are likely for southern Texas.

The upper half of the nation is active this morning, too. There are plenty of impulses running through the atmosphere from the MW to the NE, and tough storms with heavy rain and frequent lightning have been hitting from Chicago to Buffalo and beyond. Ill have the forecast for you on the show.

Tropical storm Don is headed towards the coast of TX, and should make a landfall somewhere near Corpus Christi late Fri night or early Sat morning. Right now the winds are around 40 mph, but it doesn’t look very organized on the radar. It will start to churn into warmer water as it heads to the Western Gulf of Mexico that will help it intensify, and the National Hurricane Center brings it up to a 60 mph storm by Fri night (hurricane force winds are 75 mph). This could be some great news for parched TX, b/c it has the potential to bring a good 3-6” of rain with it, possibly a little more. It will also cool the temps down for a day or two as far north as lower OK. We’ll see how strong he gets, and what the weather will be like for the Western Gulf over the next few days.

Tropical Storm DON

Quick look at the Wednesday forecast for you, right here.

The stubborn ridge of high pressure over the middle of the Lower 48 hasn’t moved much in the last three weeks, and today is no different. That means the ridge will still crank out the heat over the Mid Mississippi Valley and parts of the Midwest. I’ll show you the temperatures, but it's safe to say Dallas will reach 102 today (at DFW) making it the 26th consecutive day of 100 or better. There may be some relief for the Lone Star State, though, with a developing tropical system near Cuba. There is a good chance this will turn into at least a tropical depression, and maybe a tropical storm. All the tracking models take this thing into Northern Mexico or Texas by late Friday or over the weekend. I expect it to bring good rain and cooler temperatures to Eastern/Central Texas... I just hope it doesn’t blow up into a full-blown hurricane. I’ll keep you posted.