meteorologist alexandra steele is here. e to say, alexandra, i don't know that i have ever heard anybody talking about a hurricane producing snow. >> that's right. this is an incredibly powerful hybrid storm. we've got the moisture from the tropical nature, of course, this is the hurricane, coupled with an area of low pressure that will develop, and that, of course, has all the wind energy. so the two together, fusing together could really be the ultimate perfect storm. 10 to 20 inches of snow on the back side on the spine of the appalachians along that. and also maybe in the outer banks, ten inches of rain potentially. forecasts, you can see this is the model guide. expecting to make landfall on monday, probably late on monday, right somewhere between new york and washington. coastal damage just north of where that center of circulation makes landfall. but the worst in terms of inland flooding potentially will be mild. hundreds of miles away from where that happens. inland flooding potentially here. of course, right along t

meteorologist alexandra steele with us. days, what's standing out to you about this storm? >> we just talked about the center of circulation. the circulation as a whole is so massive that where the center of circulation comes ashore is important for storm surge, but the circulation itself is so mammoth that the breadth and depth of those impacted is huge. the western side of this is here in the gulf of mexico. the eastern side of it is all the way in the central atlantic, so there's our hurricane. 75-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. gusts to 90 now. usually this time of year, hurricane moves northeastward and it gets hooked up with a jet stream and gets pushed eastward. not the case. that's what's making this so anomalous. there's an area of high pressure to the north and west, and because of the clock wise flow around the high, it's pushing the hurricane to the west. so really, all the computer guidance really in accordance that this is what's going to happen. center of circulation expected. monday overnight into tue

alexandra steele is in for rob marciano. today. >> hey, good morning.active and healthy ski season to the west. in colorado, places like a-basin already open. here's the big picture. here comes all this moisture, certainly cold enough, the white delineating where the snow is. really in northern california, the siskiyous, the sierras, and northern california. we'll watch it move into the bitterroots of idaho. but here in california and southern oregon we could see a foot of snow above 5500 feet. so a healthy first winter storm although not officially in winter yet. and also, we've got to look to the tropics. our tropical season in the atlantic goes until november 30th. so we're not out of the woods yet. actually this time of year we look a little bit closer to home. as if on cue, look what we've got. an 80% chance of development. what we're seeing in the caribbean, watch this. these are the computer models, we call this the spaghetti models. you can obviously see why. this is where the models think that this storm system will go. and you can see the cons

alexandra steele live for us, thank you. keep an eye on things, if you would.w if you have been watching this, probably been a lot to take in and a lot to process, especially if you're a long way away from the storm, but you can help, and people really do need your help. so if you want to reach out, with he have a great way for to you do it. check out cnn.com/impact. again, cnn.com/impact if you want to help out your fellow americans who are in need right now. ♪... ♪... ♪... choose the perfect hotel ♪ ...mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. at&t. >>> so once again the job of being president is crowding out the job of seeking the presidency. one short week before the election, president obama is occupied instead with disaster relief and disaster response. and cnn's dan lothian has been watching how this has been unfolding at the white

you better believe it, alexandra steele is in for rob marciano. >> how about more than a foot in some areas. here are some of the numbers. minnesota, the real winner with this. 14 inches in badger, 8 in angus. fargo, 1.5 inches there. let me show you video. coupled with the snow -- he doesn't look comfortable. kids out there with their hats enjoying it. it was very windy, reports of wind gusts, 40, 50 miles per hour. the wind was blowing, the snow was coming down. you can see how wet the snow is sticking to everything. with that, the cold air is in place, the moisture is there. freeze threat for these aim areas, even into eastern colorado, western kansas and through the dakotas. what does it feel like waking up there this early hour? 14. the wind chill at minot, rapid city feeling like 32. the coldest air of the season is, we call this a blue norther. temperatures precipitously dropping in last couple of days. today, 49 in denver, 80 two days ago. look at this delineation. you can see where the cold front is, much colder behind it. pless and the i

thank you, alexandra steele. this is no way to celebrate columbus day. >>> there's no columbus day off for the political candidates. president obama attended a number of fund raisers. last night, he was at a concert in los angeles. today, mitt romney delivers what his campaign is calling a major foreign policy speech in virginia. yesterday, he was in florida, a key swing state. late their week, the running mates duke it out in their debate. joe biden and paul ryan face off in the only vice presidential debate in kentucky. and a new poll by the university of denver, where last week's presidential debate was held, gives president obama a slight edge over mitt romney in colorado, a key swing state. 47% to 43%. paul steinhauser joins us live now. what do you make of all this? >> reporter: the new poll numbers. those are pretty much in line, john, with what we saw prior to the debate. other polls conducted in colorado, as you mentioned, a key battleground state, where the president had a slight edge, same story. this

alexandra steele has our forecast. deborah feyerick said she saw a rainbow. >> meteorologically the most important thing now, where is this going. right? two numbers up here. they're both going down. one say good thing and the other is not. it's moving west-northwest at 15 miles per hour. that is coming down. that is not a good thing. this storm expected to weaken but is expected to slow down. the winds now maximum sustained winds at 65. so still potent, no doubt. those winds are coming down because it will weaken. center of circulation right now, you can barely see it right there, 90 miles west of philadelphia. where is this going? right now it's moving at 15 miles per hour. that expectation will flow. here it is. can you believe the energy of this super storm? eastern portions of it, of course, the hurricane, tropical elements, 9" of rain in delaware. western portions, more of a nor'easter, 9" of snow at least in west virginia and expecting potentially another foot. there's the rain and the snow that is still happeni

meteorologist alexandra steele joins me now. think anybody is ready for that yet. >> yeah, right? snowing in denver, colorado, today. two days ago it was 89 degrees. this came down. badger, minnesota, 14," angus, 8". grand forks and especially through the dakotas, too, that's where the cold air is in place. the moisture was in place. we have a freeze threat already. you can see temperatures in the 20s and 30s for highs. and how about windchills, coldest air of the season, feeling like 13 am in minot, 19 in bismarck. very clear delineation. coldest air of the season coming down. there's the warm air today in the southeast. as we head toward tomorrow, cold air pushes southeast even further still. 82 in atlanta. that's saturday. by sunday into the 60s. that's it. d.c., saturday, 78. by the time they get to sunday only in the 50s. upper midwest, especially minnesota and north dakota, the cold and snow is impacting two crops specifically. soy beans and corn. what we're seeing is this late harvest corn. of course, carol, this area has

alexandra steele is leave for us in the weather center. it was cold in new york. nothing like iowa.y. in nebraska it was 10. what we've got, we've been talking about it for a few days. blue northern. temperatures precipitously dropping. st. louis, 51. should be 68. dallas high of 53. should be 78. temperatures on the whole between 15 and 25 degrees where we should be. coldest air of the season in place. see all this blue delineating where we have a freeze threat, be it a watch, advisory or warning. ohio just for example running about a week and a half earlier than usual for a frost or first freeze. temperature outlook, soledad asks and this begs the question, are we going to warm up? we certainly are. this is the six to ten-day outlook coming up. on the whole 80% to 85% of the country will be above average. just a quick hit. officially winter is 2 1/2 months away. really we've got some time. temperatures today 50s in the ort east. 60s in the south. 64 in minneapolis. tomorrow temperatures warm still. see temperatures mild, warming into the 70s. so soledad as we head through the next

alexandra steele has that for us. >> good morning, soledad. two things on two sides of the country.or a potential tropical storm could slow you down. to the west we go. today, tomorrow the biggest news. the first major real winter storm of the season. although not officially winter yet. we're talking about the sierra and the siskiyous above about 5,500 feet. we could see about a foot of snow. to the other side of the country we go. this time of year, actually, tropical season in the atlantic goes until november 30th. this time we look a little closer to home. there's an 80% chance that we could see this tropical disturbance develop. computer models taking it -- look at this consensus. slamming over jamaica, eastern cuba. then it is such a big system even if it stays just east of florida in the eastern seaboard we still could see rain and wind. a lot to watch as we head toward the weekend. >> alexandra, thank you. we're watching it. >>> ahead on "starting point" this morning, the countdown to the final showdown. mitt romney and the president 13 hours from now -- sometimes i just run