right on schedule, it's starting to get sporty along the outer banks of north carolina where al roker is in kill devil hills. al, i don't need to tell you, just a difference of one degree and you're going to have 110 mile an hour winds coming in right over top of your head. >> reporter: that's right, brian. you can see the sea is getting pretty angry out there right now. the hurricane-force winds extend out about 70 miles from the center of the storm but tropical force winds over 200 miles from the center. whether it makes landfall or not we are still going to be looking at some action here. when it gets close here, a three to five-foot storm surge when we expect it to come across is about the same time as high tide, about 3:00 a.m. that water will be rushing up to these dunes as that storm surge comes on shore. we're looking for up to seven inches of rain as the system moves past. again, the big problem is going to be the storm surge, the winds, hurricane-force winds probably will rake this part of the outer banks as it makes its way up toward long island and on into cape cod. brian?

the local forecast from al roker, who's just across the way from me now at cafe du monde. al? >> that dance move also include the overbite? all right, thanks a lot, matt. hey, you know, we've got another tropical storm to talk about. tropical torm igor, depending on how youic pronounce it or yo watch young frankenstein. 70 miles south of the cape verde islands. 70-mile-per-hour winds, just about stationary. you look at the track of this thing, and we'll be talking about this on into next week. it's right now predicted to become a hurricane sometime early next week. a minimal hurricane, but still a hurricane nonetheless. by tuesday early morning we're talking about a category 2 with 100-mile-per-hour winds out in the atlantic. >>> here's a look at san francisco right now. some low clouds and some misty skies in a few spots around the bay area. temperatures this afternoon a bit warmer than yesterday, but for early september this is mild. 60s and 70s inland. mid 60s san francisco. low 70s today in san jose. tomorrow we warm up for inland valleys with upper 70s to mid 80s inland.

i'm al roker.

hurricane watch, live reports from the east coast, including al roker with the forecast. and acid attack, a stranger tosses acid in the face of a young woman, hear what the victim has to say. keep it on this channel for continued local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry, thanks for watching "early today," your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

now back to "al roker reporting, >>> 13 states have passed laws decriminalizing marijuana for medicalo state is like california, the only one with more than 300 dispensaries, places where people with doctors' recommendations can openly go to buy it. while organizations like the american college of physicians are calling for further research into numerous potential medical uses for marijuana, the food and drug administration says it has no accepted medical value. in the eyes of the federal government, it remains illegal in any form. so how does this all play out in california? long considered ground zero of the medical marijuana movement. >> this is the future. >> at the pharmacy, a dispensary in westwood, california, the general manager says the doors are open. >> we don't feel we have anything to hide or anything to be embarrassed about. >> here, with a doctor's recommendation, you can buy medical marijuana or cannabis in just about any form you like, in gelato, in chocolate bars, cold drinks, even lollipops. >> there are three xs on this particular chocolate cake. that means there a

something we all need to think about. >> they're cute, but you're also kind of scared of them. >>> al roker tracking hurricane earl. al, good morning again. >> reporter: and again as we mentioned, ocrocoke island and hatteras island under mandatory evacuations here in advance of earl. we know that it's going to move through here pretty quickly, it should be out of here in time for at least late saturday. but as we look at the week ahead, we have got sunshine basically along the eastern seaboard, on northern new england and parts of the great lakes, wet weather in the pacific northwest, the heat continues, mid-atlantic and into the ohio valley, sizzling in the southwest. sunday, sunday, sunny and cool in the northeast, and we have got some showers again around the eastern great lakes, showers around the eastern plains. showers and thundershowers down into the southwest. we're looking at a lot of sunshine and heat in the gulf coast >>> it's a beautiful view looking back to san francisco. we don't have anything in the way of low clouds getting in the way of the view this morning. and for this

al roker tracks earl as the hurricane closes in on the carolina coast. >>> and hostage horror. the latest details on yesterday's deadly hostage situation outside washington, d.c. >>> well, now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>>> and "today's" first jobs, al roker gives his first gig another try. >>> and now keep it on this channelnews, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. have a good one.

we're going to start with al roker where it's a beautiful night off the coast of north carolina as if not to know what lurks offshore. al, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. over my shoulder you can see the red flag flying telling folks, no swimming out there, because the riptides are getting even worse. here's the latest on hurricane earl. currently it is 630 miles south-southe pt of cape hatteras. 135 miles per hour winds.iscaa . the hurricane warnings are up now along the north carolina shoreline. we have also got hurricane watches in effect and tropical storm watches as far north as the marimack river in new england and tropical storm warnings down to cape fear. the path of the storm brings it alongshore along the carolinas by early friday morning as a category four storm. as that happens, we've got to remember, even if it's not a direct hit it is a strong enough storm, the hurricane force winds extend out 90 miles. tropical winds out 200 miles as a category three storm off the r shoreline that could cause major damage. it makes its way friday afternoon into saturday

al roker witnessed its arrival. >> right now, we're getting the worst of these feeder bands and i've got -- oh, my gosh. the winds are really whipping. >> reporter: punishing winds and rain pounded the coast. the weather channel's jim cantore was in cape hatteras. >> as you can see, we are still taking it on the chin. this water is compliments of pamlico sound and it continues to push up with these strong northerly winds. >> reporter: dawn revealed roads that looked like rivers and a beach full of tires that were submerged for decades as an artificial reef. but because earl's strongest winds never reached shore, damage was remarkably limited. with no reports of major injury and only scattered power outages. by midday, earl had weakened to a category one storm, but remained dangerous. on the jersey shore, a 20-year-old man is presumed dead after he disappeared while swimming thursday night. those powerful waves are still hammering away at long island, new york. >> obviously the surf has come up a lot. there is definitely a riptide out there. we're starting to see a lot of beach erosio

. >> al roker is tracking igor as well. good morning to you. >> good morning, it's 135 miles north of bermuda. winds 75 miles an hour. down to a category 1 storm. moving north/northeast at 17 miles an hour. for us, the big problem is going to be the rip currents. we have got dangerous rip currents stretching from west palm beach all the way to cape cod. yesterday in florida, they had 30 beach rescues just there alone. and it's going to be even worse "today." now the path of igor takes it way off, maybe brushing nova scotia, not a bick problem, but we're not out of the woods yet. we are watching a low pressure area that could become a tropical depression and in the next few days could become tropical storm lisa, so we'll continue to track what's going on in the atlantic. > . >>> now to politics, with the midterm elections just six weeks away, most candidates are having to deal with the impact of the pea party. >> the president's trying to help democrats hold on to a vulnerable senate seat in pennsylvania "todatoday campaig a

we have got al roker and tamron hall out here in the rain.e president. we're going to meet a man who survived a very frightening accident when he fell asleep at the wheel and impaled his suv on a guardrail. >> september is prostate cancer awareness month, what are the warning signs? at what age should men start being screened? we have got some important life saving information coming up. >> and the five best places to retire, interesting topic "today." >> tamron does not like to be outside in the rain. >> i like the rain. > >>> one of the stars of nbc's new show. >> nice to see you. we have jason vitter on just last week. he's an adorable young man. he doesn't know the plot, he doesn't know where this thing is going, but rumor has it you know where this thing is going, is that true? >> yes, i have all the secrets. i can't divulge anything. >> at the end of last week's episode, there's a lot more to tell. >> there's so much more to reveal tonight in episodes two and three and we're having a blast making the show wonderful, writers, directors,

. >> i'm meredith viera along with matt lauer and al roker. up with tori spelling who's starring in a romance reality show with her husband, now she's taking a crack at writing children's b k books, we're going to talk to her about that and other thing. >>> mario is leer and he's got a great idea, everybody's so busy at this time of year. he's got some great dishes you can make now, you can assemble now and pop them in the u oven at a later date and feed them to your family. >> i was away last week, so i was googling and saw some video of your interview with jon hamm. i guess jay lean knly leno was too. >> meredith viera, she was very cute. she had jon hamm on, and maybe it's me, but i think she was smitten with him. she looked like she was flirting with him. again, you be the judge, watch this. >> you're from st. louis originally and this has catapulted you -- >> i think that's over the line. >> ladies, do you blame me? no, exactly. i didn't do that. >> it was on tape. >> let's go inside, tamron hall is filling in for ann at the news desk "to

. >> al roker is tracking the storm, and he's upstairs with more. >> right now it's 190 miles south/southwest of miami. 35-mile-per-hour winds, it's moving north/northeast at about 14 miles an hour. the path of this storm brings it right along the coast thursday morning around 2:00 a.m., then moves inland sometime thursday afternoon and makes its way into the northeast. but the rain is way ahead of this system. so look at this rain, already the system's still over cuba, but the rain spreads up into miami, the heavy rain and as we move up to the north, that moisture is all pulling up there and moving up along the carolina coastline as well. we have also got flash flood watches in effect and flood warnings extending all the way up into vermont. rainfall amounts for today into tonight for parts of southern florida, five to eight inches of rain. charleston about 7 inches of rain. all the way sboup the delmarva peninsula, three to five inches of rain. on into tomorrow morning, look at these rainfall amounts, from washington to new york city, up into western massachusetts, three to five, some areas

inside the studio, i'm matt lauer along with al roker. >>> she'll share the secrets of a healthy diet plan that may actually reduce your risk of colon cancer, that's coming up. >>> now stress can mess with your head, sometimes can it cloud your thinking, but other times it can actually give you the sharpness you need. and would you believe gender makes a difference. we're going to check out the latest research and give you some tips on improving your memory. >>> and as part of our education initiative, we're going to be teaming parents with our experts about handling your children's problems in school. what you can do differently from advocating for your child to understanding what guidance counselors can and can't do for your children. >>> you also have the headlines of the morning. >> i do, and in the news this morning, today emergency workers are keeping a close watch on a l levee in wisconsin. officials say it will be at least one more day until the record water level drops. >>> in los angeles, the problem is record heat. 113 degrees on monday. the hottest temperatures since recor

inside the studio, just behind that glass window, i'm matt lauer, along with al roker and msnbc's tamron hall. coming up in this half hour, the latest on mel gibson's custody battle. e-mails between the es actor and his estranged girlfriend act ok where she appears to forgive him. now her attorneys say she wasn't the one who leaked the recordings. now we're going to hear from his attorneys in an exclusive interview. >>> also ahead, help with your money emergencieses this morning our panel has advice on the lowdown on credit counselors and whether they actually hurt your credit. that's on "today's" money 911. >>> many medical tests are routine at certain ages, like mammograms and colonoscopies. there are things you can do to give you more accurate information when the results are in. >>> ann is on assignment "today," so you're also handling the news chores as well. >>> a new book by bob wood ward is outlining -- an early copy of obama's wars, top advisors argue over the war and doubt if the president's strategy will work. the white house is downplaying this saying policy divisions were we

>> i'm matt lauer along with al roker and tamron hall. we're going to talk more about this acid hoax, a woman claims that someone else threw acid in her face when in fact she did it to herself. she allegedly took tens of thousands or dollars from her community who tried to help her. >>> also ahead, you hear those ads on tv and radio, especially during this economy, companies promising to help get you out of debt. you may be able to get yourself out of the financial hole it could end up saving you thousands of dollars in fees. and new rules for consumers because a lot of those consum consumers -- >>> joy bauer is going to be here to talk about the best yogurts for your kids growing up. and whether food should be considered a free food. >>> and first as we mentioned, ann has the morning off, we have got a check of the top stories. >> nine american service members were killed this morning when their helicopter went down in southeastern afghanistan. it was the deadliest chopper crash in more than four years for nato forces. u.s. officials dec

stay with us for headlines and up next al roker reporting. wake up with me tomorrow morning.it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ] [ female announcer ] start your morning... hey. what are you doing up? i thought i'd take a drive before work. want to come? [ female announcer ] or make his day. yeah. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, we're part of nature, and as we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. it's a selfish thing to want to protect nature. i never intended to be a businessman. we made the world's best climbing equipment out of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam

. >>> and now let's get a check of the weather from al roker. hey, al. >> thanks a lot, ann. we've got our friends out here, raining. we've got some moos from minnesota. my golly. you got your christmas ornaments and everything? >> we're ready. we're ready. >> it's like moosele-toe all over again. could this be nicole? we're watching the tropics, 30% chance of development. this thing right around the eastern caribbean. we're looking to see, it may actually work its way up into the gulf across florida and along the eastern seaboard. we'll see. week ahead, we've got above-normal temperatures along the east coast, but it will be wet in the eastern third of the country. much above-normal temperatures out west. much of the western two-thirds of the country with more wet weather along the eastern seaboard. as we move toward the latter part of the week, more rain along the east coast, but we've had a bit of a drought, so we could use the rain. above-normal temperatures in the western half of the u.s. >>> well above average for us today with a hot forecast. beautiful look this mornin

busiest guy all morning, al roker, down in north carolina. oker? >> thank you, guys. it's this ebb and flow. the wind breaks down a little bit and then picks up again. as we take a look at the satellite, you can see the main feature is earl. the rest of the country will have a fantastic labor day weekend. as we look at today, as far as the start of the weekend,hings are pretty good. wet weather, right along the coast from the mid atlantic during the day, working its way up the coast. the rest of the country, pretty nice. toasty weather back into the southwest. warm through the gulf of mexico, where it will be warm and humid. beautiful weather in the pacific northwest this weekend. a few clouds -- excuse me, a few clouds, but other than that, we're looking pretty darn good as we start this labor day >>> here's what's happening in the bay area. we still have some low clouds kind of spilling out across the water there in the bay. that's the reason why, by the way, our temperatures are going to be cooling down, especially for the inner bay and coa

i'm meredith vieira along side matt lauer and al roker.as more on our education nation series. >> that's right. i visited an elementary school, actually, out on the west coast where the emphasis is actually on teamwork to give kids a brighter future. we say teamwork. parents, teachers, school add mores, everybody. >> community approach. >> yes. also ahead, a tragic story. segways, what are they? >> human transport. >> the guy who owned the company actually died when he accidentally drove one of those things off a cliff. we'll have more on that story coming up. >> okay. >>> and there's a new book in which she writes about life with her father and what makes certain people funny. it's always a delight to have her here. >> we look forward to that. let's go inside, though. we have ann curry standing by. she has a check of all the headlines. >> good morning, once again, everybody, in the news. an emergency official in wisconsin says a damaged levy is in bad shape. he is cautiously optimistic. it will continue to hold back the floodwaters. this

outside this morning, along with meredith viera and al roker.at's making headlines on both sides of the atlantic. >> she's from wales. some wonderow somebody from wales could be america's perfect teen. but she is. we'll talk to her. >>> also ahead, jenna bush hager is here, she recently jumped behind the wheel in nascar with tony stewart. i understand her only goal was to shatter my record two years ago, which would not be hard. we're going to find out how she did. >>> and today just ahead, your pick for the bridesmaidsresses and we're going to sample the wedding cake >> tamron hall is filling in while ann is on assignment, she's got the headlines. >>> with his party and his health care rerms under attack by republicans, president obama will mark six months since he signed the patient bill of rights before heading to new york before democratic fund-raisers. on tuesday, the white house announced that the first lady, michelle obama will campaign this fall for senate democrats facing tough election sites. meantime the white house is playing down re

and i'm matt lauer, along with meredith viera and al roker.ple of minutes, that incredible story, the surgery that was performed to save the live of a pregnant woman. >> doctors found a huge tumor in the pelvis of janis ollson and her only chance of survival involved cutting most of the lower part of her body off. >>> jerry signfeld is here, for the last 15 years or so, he has been keeping a secret, living a lie, we like to say, he's ready to come clean about that, he's going to reveal the truth that he's been holding in a couple of minutes. >> he really looks like he's going to giver tus truth. >> this is like the bizarreo world. unbelievable. and we have got some great desserts, healthy desserts that your kids are going to gobble up. >>> let's go inside, ann's standing by, she's got a check of the news headlines in the morning. >>> good morning once again, everybody, a punishing rain should taper off in minnesota and wisconsin where up to a half a foot fell on thursday. the governors of both states have issued emergency declarations. >>> pre

i'm matt lauer along with varejao viera, ann curry and al roker. of our favorite teachers. >> tony danza has spent the last year teaching 10th grade english. look at him. >> did you see how good he looks? he's in great shape and he said i could go ten rounds right now, i would love. but i can go ten rounds right now. >> alsohis morning, also in our studio, we haveot the lovely and the incredibly talentedarissa tomei of s.v.u. talking about something very close to her heart. >> and we're going to head up to the kitchen, even though it's little warm and muggy, we wanted to do a stick to your ribs kind of comfort food day. >>> believe it or not, less than 24 hours from now, our wedding couple will be getting married on the plaza. you can text your votes to 622639, pick the cake you like the best. >> by the way, can we take a second and say congratulations to one of our own? bob dotson won the emmy last night for the outstanding feature story in a regularly scheduled newscast. you probably remember it's a ving profile of a 90-year-old greeter at walmar

al roker slices, dices an dances his way through his first job in a supermarket today, friday, september 10th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> and good morning. welcome to "today." it's 7:00 a.m. pacific time on a friday. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm meredith vieira. it looked like hell on earth in the city of san bruno last night. >> firefighters are pouring water on the smoldering wreckage after a huge explosion on thursday night sent flames ripping through a residential neighborhood. it appears that a ruptured gas main is to blame for this disaster. at least 20 people were injured. some of those had critical injuries. and the death toll is expected to rise. >> one fire captain says by the time his firefighters arrived, dozens of homes had already been consumed by the flames, even though the fire station is only a few blocks away. >> i want to get straight to migu miguel almaguer who is on the scene. >> reporter: at least 75 people were rushed to the hospital overnight, some with critical conditions. we now know at least three people have died. that number could g

we have got al roker and tamron hall out here in the rain.president. we're going to meet a man who survived a very frightening accident when he fell asleep at the wheel and impaled his suv on a guardrail. >> september is prostate cancer awareness month, wt are the warning sign at what age should men start being screened? we have got some important life saving information coming up. >> andhe five best places to retire, interesting topic "today." >> tamron does not like to outside in the rain. >> i like the rain. >>> >>> od morning. we have a temporary respite from the rain right now. as we look at the radar, there is one band of rain that's moving north out of the panhandle of west virginia into western ryland. some other showers in frederick county, maryland, and farther to the north. those are moving to the north and pulling away. we will likely have some other bands of rain moving in later this afternoon. right now we're in the 60s generally and it's only going to peak around low 70s for highs. for this afternoon into tonight and tomorrowmo

i'm matt lauer with meredith i havary and al roker.le of minutes, meredith revisits her first job. >> i was a tap dancing instructor. believe it or not, i got right back in the swing of things with old friends, including women who were here when i taught the dancing. >> some of your former students? >> yes. former students. you should know this when you returned to your paper boy route. you didn't tell the whole story. jay leno had a scoop on the tonight show. take a look. >> matt lauer revisits his first job as a paper boy am he went back and retraced his old paper route with the girl who is now doing it. he is rusty. take a look. >> i pedalled my way bringing the news to america, one paper at a time. my corner of the world was the rental complex on field stone drive. i delivered along a string of garden apartments in my old working class neighborhood. >> her lawyer called this morning. you are in big trouble. >> she was in the way. >> that's what happens. >> we walked down the aisle here on "today" while you the viewers have done a f

. >>> out on the plaza with these nice people, i'm matt lauer with meredith vieira, al roker and annncer. >> this month is ovarian awareness month and connie needham opens up about her battle with the disease and how to recognize the symptoms and what you can do to reduce your risk. >>> also coming up this morning, talking to bobbie brown. she has a new book out targeting teens and involves also a survey that found that a lot of teenagers when asked where beauty really comes from, had the right answers, that it comes from the inside. we'll get to some of that coming up. >>> you know what happens in one week. >> what? >> right here on the plaza, melissa and jeremy getting married. that's right. we need you to pick their wedding cake. check out the options on our website at todayshow.com. or facebook.com/todayshow or text your votes. >> they look good. >> there is a new comedy debut on nbc.com, called outsource. ben rappaport is one of the new stars of the show. how are you? nice to see you. congratulations. ben's character in the show works for a company "this is my dream job" an amer

al roker is upstairs with the very latest. good morning to you. busy morning. >> yes it is, meredith. we have three systems to talk about. first of all igor right now 940 miles east of the leeward islands, 150-mile-per-hour winds, we expect it to be a category 5 by around 11:00 this morning. category 4 right now moving west at 13. we've also got julia 30 miles south-southwest of the southern most cape verde islands, winds at 40 miles per hour moving north-northwest at 13 miles per hour. then we've got an area in the tropics. this really has a chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours. both of the big storms, igor and julia, look like right now their paths are going to keep them away from the eastern u.s., but bermuda will probably be in the sites of igor and most likely julia won't affect anything. we can't rule out the eastern coast being affected by igor. we'll have more a little bit later. >> a lot to watch. thanks, al. >>> let's check some of the morning's other top stories. ann curry is at the news desk. good morning, ann.

al roker, what's he do? why does al wake up at 3:30? >> he has to make his kid's lunch. >> and those are big lunches. >> i don't know. >> come on. >> i think you woke up early and developed that premise on iran. i can tell you were studying, you were scurrying around your apartment trying to get notes and looking at books and studying computers because your job is so important. >> it is. >>> all right. up next, developing overnight -- >> i wake up 12 hours before i start the show. >>> politico has new details -- >> and the east coast, expect a summer show. come on now. >> all right, now. update on the delaware senate race. why mike castle may not be done yet? >> he may be a write-in candidate. >> i like that. i like that. that's exciting. >> i actually agree. i told a supporter -- >> no switcheroo. i'm tired and a little later from witchcraft to fighting mascots. don't miss willie's week in review. first a check on the weekend forecast including record heat. here is bill karins. >> i have to defend al -- >> whatever. >> you suck up. >>

i'm matt lauer along with natalee morales and al roker out on the plaza this morning.joying yourself, you have been traveling like crazy. >> yeah, home for a little bit. >> good for you. >>> okay coming up in this half hour, a fascinating jailhouse interview with joran van der sloot. he is in a peruvian jail on charges of murdering a young woman down there, but of course he's also the guy who's under suspicion in the disappearance of natalee holloway five years ago in aruba. wait until you hear what he has to say about her disappearance and charges that he tried to extort her family. >>> and on a lighter note, yesterday marked the unofficial end of summer, back to school, back to really hunkering down at work. so on our diet s.o.s., joy bauer will help us with everything from portable protein snacks to feeding a fussy preschooler. and what a lot of people are talking about, the truth about gluten and going gluten free. >>> the secret of hollywood stars and how they defy their age from timeless beauties like susan sarandon. to kim cantrell. we're going to check out thei

roker not here on the plaza with good reason. he's down in north carolina on the outer banks. hurricane earl, a dangerous storm approaching. what's the latest, al? >> well, i'll tell you, matt, we're really seeing the atlantic heat up as we get into the heart of the hurricane season. look at the big picture. we've got four systems we're tracking right now. we've got hurricane earl. we've got fiona, a tropical storm, with 50-mile-per-hour winds. gaston has formed. and another tropical wave is coming off the atlanancoast. to earl, right now, a dangerous hurrane. 355 miles south of cape hatteras. it's got 145-mile-per-hour winds. it's a category 4 storm, moving north-northwest at 18 miles per hour. that fast forward speed is going to probably increase the storm surge possibilities. we have hurricane watches and warnings, hurricane warnings for the entire carolina coast. hurricane watches from the north carolina/virginia border, up right into new york. we've got tropical storm warnings also and hurricane watches up and down the eastern seaboard. here's the latest on the path of earl. we look for it to make its way close to the outer banks of north