Morning Express with Robin Meade

At least six people, including four children, were killed early Monday morning in a raging house fire in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Local media report a two-year-old, a three-year-old, a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old were killed.

I’m tracking Tropical Storm Katia again this morning, as she has gained some power. Max sustained winds are creeping toward hurricane strength (above 74 mph) at 65 mph, and that trend unfortunately will continue as it rolls over warmer water and light wind shear. The direction hasn’t changed yet, still moving at a quick 21 mph to the WNW. There will be no landfall for anybody (including the Leeward Islands) for at least the next five days. As Katia moves closer to North America, the steering will start to be influenced by whatever high pressure or trough is over the region next week. It’s still too early to tell exactly what the US weather will be in seven days, so the track can’t be nailed down beyond five days at this point.

There’s also an interesting cluster of storms over the Southern Gulf/Western Caribbean this morning that may affect the US weather this weekend. The NHC is giving it only a 10% chance of turning into a tropical depression, but a few computer models develop it into a big storm that could affect LA/TX. This could mean beneficial rain for the weekend, but could mean damaging winds as well. That’s all speculative anyway since the thing hasn’t even formed yet. I’ll tweet what happens with this thing.

It's hot, baby. If you go work or play outside in the MW today without proper hydration, you'll pay for it. Just like flippin' the bird in Judge Perry's courtroom, you'll pay for it.

Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings have been posted for a huge chunk of the MW, including Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita. Mix the temperature with the humidity, and it'll feel like 105-110 degrees for the afternoon. The high-pressure region that can support this kind of heat has to be large, and this one is. It essentially stretches from the Four Corners (Phoenix hits 114 today) to the MW, and everywhere in between. This should be anchored in place through the 4th of July weekend.

It's hot, baby. If you go work or play outside in the MW today without proper hydration, you'll pay for it. Just like flippin' the bird in Judge Perry's courtroom, you'll pay for it.

Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings have been posted for a huge chunk of the MW, including Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita. Mix the temperature with the humidity, and it'll feel like 105-110 degrees for the afternoon. The high-pressure region that can support this kind of heat has to be large, and this one is. It essentially stretches from the Four Corners (Phoenix hits 114 today) to the MW, and everywhere in between. This should be anchored in place through the 4th of July weekend.

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

*Meteorologist Jim Kosek from accuweather.com is filling in for "Morning Express with Robin Meade's" Bob Van Dillen this morning:

FIRST WEEKEND OF SUMMER HAS STARTED AND HAPPY B-DAY CHOPPER!

MidWesterners, especially in the Chicago area, are still mopping up after a wild weather night.

I mean, it was crazier than a NJ Housewife’s Thanksgiving! Thunderstorm winds clocked in at over 80 mph in Cook County, and delays mounted in O’Hare and Midway airports. Three hundred flights were canceled at O'Hare alone! Wind damage reports came in all over the MW, but things are quieter this morning. The rain is still swirling by the Great Lakes around the large-scale storm now, and I’ll show you the radar. I hate seeing it - Minot, ND, is under water and the rain just keeps falling in the same region.

Summer starts at 1:16 pm EDT today, but don’t tell that to most of the people living in the South. We’ve been sweatin’ like Tracey Morgan in Nashville, just puddlin’ up for a month now! The heat is back for the Low Country of SC and GA, too, and an excessive heat watch is up for tomorrow in the Phoenix area, where temperatures will reach about 115 degrees.

The Plains really got hammered yesterday with tornado-making storms, and that unseasonably strong storm is wrapping up into the upper MW this morning. The energy won’t be quit as potent, but the storms are firing now over the MW and S. I’ll show you the active radar on the show. The storms this afternoon will take up a lot of real estate, from the S to the MW and NE. Check out the map.