maria molina is keeping an eye on the storm live in the fox weather center. up, maria. >> reporter: we are tracking irene, unfortunately the storm system is expected to strengthen very rapidly over the next several days. we did get direct impact from the storm system in puerto rico early this morning that's when it was deemed that this was a hurricane with sustained winds at 75 miles per hour. it has street end since then. now it does have sustained winds at 80 miles per hour, and currently bringing in heavy rainfall into eastern portions of the dominican republic. we are expecting turk conditions along northern pourings of the dominican republic as early as this afternoon across southeastern portions of the bahamas as early as tomorrow and central bahamas by late tomorrow night. this system has a lot of moisture. there are isolated amounts that could receive up to ten inches of rain over the next several days, including southeastern portions of the bahamas. that's where we're looking at the greatest impact as far as storm surge goes. we could see water levels

. >> maria, molina, we'll check back with you. >> long gone. day now. >> you hear maria and our team all day long and week long saying how it is going to be. those ofulse in new jersey and new york don't always heed the warningings. many people are choosing not to get to safer ground. new york mayor bloomburg and new jersey governor chris christi. this is what they said earlier. >> i am not sure what to think. it is the first time this has happened. >> the stores are boarded up. and there is no furniture on the porches. >> it is conceivable in downtown will have no electricity and water in the streets . let's stop thinking that it is something we can play with. it staying behind is dangerous and foolish and against the law. we urge them to not wait until there is gale force winds and rain. and not to wait until the public transportation system slows down today. the time to leave is right now. >> get the hell off of the beach in asbury park and get out. you are done. it is four tim time 30. you maximized your tan. get off of the beach. get in our

we gone with maria molina, live in the fox weather center. >> that's right. the winds are reported across the new york city area, tropical storm-force, that's out of jfk airport. that's the case, basically, along a big chunk of the in other eastern united states, where we will continue to see as the storm system moves northward. as of the last update, i do want to point out that doug mcelway pointed out out of ocean city, maryland, where he is not experience experiencing hurricane-force winds. most of the winds from the national hurricane center are east of the storm system. so that's very good news for area where is we will see the center of circulation tracking closely. jersey, you will be on the better side of the storm, without the stronger winds, but a very large storm system and the tropical storm-force winds do extend over hundred miles out from the center of the storm. of course, we have been talking about the tornado threat. there have been threats of tornados in delaware. one caused damage to several homes and there is a tornado watch in new york ci

maria molina has a handle. @foxmaria molina. send us your questions, your experiences. go to my facebook wall and post something. >> we are getting. i have almost 30 comments before the show started. send us your pictures. one of our staffers alerted us to this picture, showing the damage that the storms can cause. look at this tree on top of the car. this is in richmond, virginia. we are getting pictures like this up and down the east coast, sent to us via u-report. this is flooding, obviously. lots of flooding and it's going to get worse in many areas along the east coast. we have uprooted trees we are seeing, eerie skies. and this guy's standing in front of it. is that a child or a man? >> i don't know. but that's a scary situation because the ground is so wet. we are talking about that with maria. there has been so much rain in this area, over the last several weeks or so, that you have this situation where trees are being uprootedded because the roots are not so firmly plant in the ground. >> you know. your children and wife hunkered down in a basement. >> they are

maria molina in the fox news weather center where and how strong? >> how are you doing? the center is about 20 miles south of saint johnson in vermont. so that is where the center of the storm system is. it is very disorganized the center of it heading to canada moving quickly at 26 miles an hour north northeast. a lot of it has fizzled here. most of it off portions of canada fizzled off portions of new england light showers lingering across portions of new york. the damage has been done bev reports of a foot of rain it is going across upstate new york to vermont. it is not just the low level areas dealing with flooding but inland areas as far inland as the catskills. 50 miles an hour at 26 miles an hour. as we head into late tonight and also tomorrow we expect tropical storm irene to no longer be a tropical storm it will make a transition into something called a extra tropical cycle. it will be cut off from warm water for too long that's how it makes the transition. by monday 45 miles per hour. the flooding is a big impact across portions along the east coast. 14 inches

meteorologist maria molina in the weather center. >> that's right.r we've started to see tropical storm irene becoming better organized. an hour ago there was more convection on the northern portion of the storm now starting to take a circular shape. in the center of the storm is passing near st. croix. it is expected to begin to produce tropical storm conditions later today over the island of puerto rico. we are expecting landfall in puerto rico tonight with possible hurricane conditions. the storm is forecast to continue to stretch . monday afternoon could be a category 1 winds 75 miles per hour and making landfall over the dominican republic. it has a lot of moisture, 5 to 10 inches of rain in puerto rico and portions of hispaniola. locally up to 20 inches of rain. producing big problems not just winds but flash flooding and mudslides possible. there has been an update as of 5 p.m. a shift in the cone where the center of circulation is expected to remain north of cuba. what that means is more time over warm water and more strengthening. we are sti

we go to maria molina. >> we have an update in the national hurricane city. a 11:00 p.m. advisory came out. the center is southwest of ocean city, maryland. 255 miles southwest of the new york city. that storm system continues on the northeasterly track. it is a category 1 hurricane and moving northeast at 6 miles per hour. and so not a lot has changed. it is still a big storm system. tropical storm wins 200 miles per hour are now less. so that has decreased and 245 miles out from the center of the storm and weakened a bit. but nonetheless. it is strong and far reaching. clouds in southern canada. and portions of north carolina where we were hit hard. 14 inches of rain coming out of eastern north carolina with widespread flooding. and that is continuing to track northward in areas off to the north. the other thing, we have had a tornado threat. there is a tornado watch in for the new york city area and long island in effect until 5:00 a.m. eastern time and tornado warnings in portions of jersey. there is a lot of rotations with the storms. we have a counter clock wise flo

maria molina is tracking it from the weather center. >> reporter: good to see you back. we are tracking a very powerful storm system. produced a lot of outages in puerto rico. the storm is quickly on the move westward. hurricane conditions are expected in the dominican republic later this afternoon, and as early as tomorrow in southeastern portions of the bahamas, central bahamas could see hurricane-force winds as we head into tomorrow night. the system has a lot of moisture, it's not just the wind but also the amount of precipitation that could produce flash floods over the dominican republic and even haiti we're expecting locally up to 10 inches of rain as well as a storm surge that could raise normal tide levels 4 to 6 feet above normal. the storm is being taken away further away from the east of florida. we are looking at the impact on the carolinas as we go through the weekend. the forecast track still has that uncertainty factor including the state of florida, and also portions of georgia. there is still a lot to go here, we are tracking the storm system, currently

maria molina is live in the fox extreme weather centre. >> hi.eing more of the same today. we're seeing heavy downpours across parts of the state of michigan. there is reports that some areas have seen as much as six inches of rain in a very short period of time as the strong storms rip through the region. this is associated with a cold front from the great lakes into the plains states. you can see some of the heavy rainfalling through the detroit area. there is currently a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the city of detroit due to those strong storms that could potentially produce wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour. a second area we're watching for potentially severe weather, there is a risk we could see severe thunderstorm watch issued out across southern portions of missouri and northern arkansas. the risk here are including large size hail and damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour. this storm system will be on the move examine by tomorrow, will impact portions of the northeast. we could see strong storms as early

meteorologist maria molina is standing by with more on the hot forecast, maria? >> that's right. we are talking about triple-digit in store for texas unfortunately. we had a break on thursday and we stopped the streak of hundred degrees weather for dallas, texas with 40 son consectative. one break and back to the triple-digit heat. an area of low pressure moving through the great lakes and bringing in scattered showers and thunderstorm that is could turn severe later on . further south in texas. heavy rain falling in sanangelo and dallas not getting on too much of that action. but reports was four and five and seven inches was rain in some of the spots and very beneficial rain for the areas still ongoing now. as far as the severe weather threat, large size hail and damaging wind gust in indianapolis, columbus and chicago . that something we will track throughout the day. triple-digit heat expecting it in san antonio at 100 . dallas at 86 . heading into tomorrow and next several days it will get warmer and looking at those temperature in the hundreds . we have tropical storm frank

update at 7:00 and it comes before that and another one at 9:00 in the next few minutes and go to maria molinaght. as of 7:00 p.m. we knew that the center was 35 milesest of the norfoc, virginia. it is slowly moving northward and further off to the east of norfork, virginia. dry air is starting to work near the center of the storm system. you can see it eating away near the convection right there. very big in size. i don't want anyone to breathe a sigh of relief. it is a good sign because of how close the storm is to land. but it is over water and likely going to see more convection and thunderstorms reform in the next several hours. something that does help hurricanes restrengthen and tropical storms restrengthen is water temperatures in the low 80s help them gain strength. temperatures in the region where the storm is in the upper cents. that doesn't mean that we think it is going to weaken it is a large storm system and takes a long time for them to change. it is enough warm water to help contain the strength. as ited has to the new york city and making landfall in parts of the landfall and

tweet us, facebook us, tweet maria at fox maria molina, with an "a" at the end. write us your comments and i have a fan page on my facebook. we will try to read some of these on air. >> social media is important. we saw all of the tweets and people posting messages during the earthquake the other day, and this is a way for people to share their experiences and ask questions. send the questions in and we will pose them to maria and get you answers to all of the questions that you send us. >> absolutely. she is an expert. >>> virginia's governor bob mcdonald declared a state of emergency, but did not order an evacuation saying he would leave that up to the local officials. virginia beach officials are ordering mandatory evacuation for parts of the city. all day we have been hearing stories of residents choosing to ride out the storm. we go live to virginia beach. what are things looking like? >> good morning. you can see it is certainly a different scene from yesterday. beaches are closed and filled with heavy rains and pelting -- or heavy winds and pelting rains.

joining us fox news meteorologist maria molina. >> everyone needs take this seriously. it is so large many areas are going to be looking at tropical storm hurricane conditions over 12 hours that is enough to cause a significant amount of damage. we have hurricane warnings. in the next 24 hours you could be looking at tropical storm force or hurricane force winds in your area from the coast of north carolina up to cape cod this is a very large area. the center of the storm should track close to these areas. you are going to be looking at a lot of rain and wind and high storm surge. we want to move to the next graph tpweubg. this system -- stretching up to 90 miles from the center of the system. we are looking at tropical storm form winds, that extend 290 miles out from the center of the storm. even if the center doesn't go over your area you are still looking at major impact. also looking at a risk for tornadoes across extreme eastern north carolina there's a tornado watch in effect, including cape hatteras, jacksonville, in effect until 5 a.m. to tomorrow morning. somet

maria molina, we have nothing to complain about, do we? >> definitely no complaining here.his is bad, but in dallas, texas, we started this streak of 100-degree weather on july 2nd. we're headed into mid august and still no changes. take a look at this 5-day forecast. saturday, triple digit heat and on saturday, we'll be reaching day 43 of that streak. so that will be breaking a record if we do achieve this throughout the next several days and we are forecast to do so. a lot of sunshine as well, another big problem we've been talking about throughout the state of texas are the extreme drought conditions still in place and unfortunately no rain and many areas need more than 15 inches of rain just to be near average for this time of the year, as far as precipitation goes. closing in on day 39, early this morning, not even 11:00 in the morning central time, it's already # on degrees in dal a. factor in the humidity and it's going to feel even hotter. we are expected to reach a high of 108, 104 in san antonio. aside from the heat we are expecting more showers and thunderstorms

meteorologist maria molina live in fox weather center, what can we expect? >> unfortunately, we have a new system we're tracking that could bring similar weather and yesterday, some of the storms didn't only produce flash flooding, but some severe weather. over 200 reports of severe weather most out of the northeast and you're talking about wind gusts in excess of 58 miles per hour and also, reports of hail greater than an inch. so, that's incredible stuff out of that storm system and now we're tracking a new one further off to the west, heavy downpours in chicago and o'hare and midway airports, over an hour at o'hare and heavy storms currently pushing into the memphis, tennessee area. there is a risk to see some severe weather out of some of the thunderstorms today. especially across the city of detroit, on to northern portions of indiana and also as we head further south into northern portions of the state of arkansas. by tomorrow, the storm system is on the move, cities like pittsburgh could get hit again with strong storms through the afternoon tomorrow

maria molina is live at the fox weather center and tracking another storm moving across the midwest. right? >> right. we are tracking a new storm system. there is already reports of up to six inches of rain over parts of michigan because of localized storms. this isn't a widespread weather event, similar to what we saw on friday. today, these are localized storms producing heavy downpours and damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour at times and we had a line move through southern portions of michigan. there are reports of trees down, also some cables down because of those storms. now they are east -- mostly east of detroit. that's improvement. no warnings in effect. southward, we have localized storms, so there are a number of warnings across portions of arkansas, as well as as far east as southern portions or south carolina. as we head into tonight, there is a second area that we'll be watching for the potential for severe weather across portions of missouri, western portions of arkansas. concern for large size hail and damaging wind gusts. as this system heads eastbound,

maria molina in the fox news weather center where and how strong? >> how are you doing? the center is about 20 miles south of saint johnson in vermont. so that is where the center of the storm system is. it is very disorganized the center of it heading to canada moving quickly at 26 miles an hour north northeast. a lot of it has fizzled here. most of it off portions of canada fizzled off portions of new england light showers lingering across portions of new york. the damage has been done bev reports of a foot of rain it is going across upstate new york to vermont. it is not just the low level areas dealing with flooding but inland areas as far inland as the catskills. 50 miles an hour at 26 miles an hour. as we head into late tonight and also tomorrow we expect tropical storm irene to no longer be a tropical storm it will make a transition into something called a extra tropical cycle. it will be cut off from warm water for too long that's how it makes the transition. by monday 45 miles per hour. the flooding is a big impact across portions along the east coast. 14 inches

maria molina has the latest on the storm that is picking up steam over the atlantic.hat straight ahead. [ male announcer ] look down. it's high time to make our floor look better and feel softer. ♪ how 'bout we start th the guaranteed low price on the carpet... the pad, and installation. let's get peace of mind for a lifetime. it all adds up to the lowest total price on our carpet project. guaranteed. and a room that looks better than we ever imagined. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 12 months special financing on carpet purchases when you use your home depot credit card.@ ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah @ jenna: new video coming into our newsroom on the aftermath of hurricane irene. we have shots of staten islands. residents are barely able to make it onto their front stoop before stepping into the water. that is quite a situation in staten island, new york. gregg: take a look at these intrepid boaters in little falls, new jersey. they are getting around the only way possible, yep, they are hooking up a tiny boat with an

maria molina is in the fox extreme weather center. gulf side, atlantic side? do you know. >> atlantic side and not only florida, but we also have to keep an eye on the coast of georgia and south carolina. there is still a lot of uncertainty as we go that far into the forecast period and that would be thursday into friday or even, possibly, saturday. if it does hit areas further out to the north and we know it will make a turn towards the north, northwest, and, the northwest direction over the next several days, but now we are seeing a lot of rain over puerto rico and the center of the storm has begun to move away from san juan, puerto rico, 95 miles to the west-northwest of that city. and, here's a look at the forecast cone and it is forecast to shrink the past hour and it increased in wind speed, 80 mimes, and it is continuing to shrink and there is a hurricane watch for the central bahamas, gregg, and, here's a look at the con, atlant -- cone, atlantic s florida, and possibly georgia, south carolina, a possible category-2 hurricane. gregg: we cannot yet say,

molly henneberg is live with more -- maria molina is live in the weather center.f oklahoma now severe wets but we needed the rain out of oklahoma. some of that rain moved southbound into the state of texas where we are seeing areas, 15 inches of rain being normal levels. we did get some of the much needed rain today. most of the rain has fizzled and light areas of drizzle. some areas did pick up 7 inches of rain locally. that is a little bit of good news. light at the end of the tunnel. hopefully we have more coming up after that. storm system spinning over the great lakes. including the city of chicago, until 7:00 p.m. local time. strong storms heading eastbound and we will be looking for concerns out here from some of these storms, damaging wind gusts. there is a slight risk for tornadoes but that should not be a big concern. as far as today we are looking at highs in the 90s in parts of a texas and bit of a cooldown. we are looking at sweep of triple-digits across the area. otherwise, headed eastbound into the atlantic but we do have tropical storm franklin whi

let's first get to maria molina, she has the latest from the fox weather center. >> reporter: that's right, irene has been upgraded to a hurricane category three, sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, it has rapidly intensified. yesterday it was a category one, now a category three storm, hitting the seen bahamas with hurricane conditions now and it's a very large storm system. we're still seeing impact acomes portie roebg -- puerto rico with showers, also the dominican republic and portions of haiti. it's much more organized, a lot of deep convection, a lot of heavy rain across the southeastern bahamas now, looking at accumulation of up to 12 inches across the bahamas, and that's going to be the story as well as that storm system continues in a north western direction. there are also the winds, even though they're sustained at 150 miles per hour you could see stronger wind gusts, and that storm surge is a huge concern across the bahamas, if you're near the center of the storm or the areas with onshore flow you could have water levels as high as 11 feet above normal levels and that

maria molina will be along in just a bit. on remote 217 the things are getting ugly in syria.ven some of the countries that normally have syria's back are angry about the number of deaths, more than a hundred people killed, especially in cities like hama, where there's been a bloody crackdown by the aasad administration. dominic dnatali is live with more. >> reporter: yes indeed, another day of bloodshed in syria. we are hearing that at least one person has been killed by snipers in the town of hama. apparently soon after nightfall -- or rather after night prayers last night the syrian military forces started shelling mosques. people were gathering for the first round of prayers during ramadan, the holy month. the united nations security council is meeting for a second day to see what response it can get to the ongoing killing of civilians and protestors calling for democracy in syria. we are expecting a statement later on today. the secretary of state hillary clinton will be meeting with expatriot syrians to see if they can isolate the aasad regime even more. the ambassador t