Morning Express with Robin Meade

Hurricane Ophelia has gained strength this morning with winds around 100 mph. Bermuda is under a tropical storm watch now, and the big waves will build for the south shore. Winds will approach tropical storm strength by Saturday afternoon, and I think the’ll get around an inch of rain. The storm will book it to the north and gradually lose tropical characteristics, but should slam into Newfoundland as a powerful post-tropical storm Monday.

Check out the new Great Lakes storm! Same as the old Great Lakes storm. Actually, the current rain maker over MI, IN and OH booted the old one out to ME last night. The wind behind this new one is howling, with gusts over 40 mph from WI/MI to IL, IN and OH. Radar won’t show the 15-20’ waves on Lake MI and Huron this morning. If you are flying to the MW today, it’ll be a two-bagger for you with all the rocking winds.

It’s Friday and you wear it well!!
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On the show today:
See how Michael Jackson’s chef defended not calling an ambulance right away the day Michael Jackson died.
And: Was Michael Jackson’s doctor torn between trying to save his famous patient, and trying to hide the drugs that killed him?
More from the dramatic trial behind what killed Michael Jackson.
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Outrage!
One of the nation’s biggest banks has the nerve to charge you $5 a month to use your debit card! Is this the only bank trying this? Or are others thinking the same way?
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Possibly coming soon:
Marriage in 2-year increments. See where some want to treat is as a renewable contract.
Wowza.
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Does parenting make you fat?
(Or is it the leftover kid-friendly food you are eating?)
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Alrighty! Check out my Twitter feed for pics from my album//book signing yesterday in Atlanta. Btw, u can still get my debut record at Target stores, target.com or on iTunes. Enjoy!

A weather pattern shift is finally going to take place today for the MW and NE. That stubborn, slow-moving storm that has dumped heavy rain for days on the region will get the bum’s rush out the door to the East by a sharp cold front dropping down from Canada.

Check out the map. The brown solid lines are isobars (lines of equal surface air pressure), the green lines are forecasted rainy spots, and you can see the blue cold fronts and red warm fronts. That cold front over WI to KS is the one that will boot the Low (Red L) from it’s perch over Ontario!

*meet and greet details at the end of this preview:

This trial is something else, isn’t it?!

Like Jason Voorhees, Ophelia refuses to die. Remember Ophelia? It was that tropical storm that lost strength over the south Atlantic this past weekend as it approached the Leeward Islands. The winds slackened under tropical depression strength, but still managed to retain some of its circulation after it was downgraded to “remnants of Ophelia”. That circulation has some good thunderstorm development to along with it this morning and the NHC has upgraded the disturbance into a tropical depression again. It gets the name Ophelia back, so we now have the rare ‘named tropical depression’. Remember, a storm doesn’t get a name until it turns into a tropical storm, except in this instance. Cool, right?

The huge, slow-moving storm over the Midwest has only moved 300 miles or so east of Chicago, but the clouds and rain are falling in the same spot as yesterday. With all that spinning in the atmosphere today, I expect some severe storms to fire in the Mid Atlantic states, mainly VA and into Central PA. A few tornadoes are possible in that area today. Delays will mount at the NYC, Philly, DC and Chicago airports with the poor visibility today. Flood watches are uup for the Delaware Valley in PA and NJ, I’ll have the map for you.