let's go right now over to meteorologist todd santos. he has been tracking irene for us. todd, it's sort of ominous. they're saying this will be huge. what do we need to know? >> you want to bring it into a few areas initially. the bahamas, considering you're talking about a system that has increased to 110 miles an hour, just one shy of being a category 3, but you can see the eye is likely to spend 9 nethe next co of days there. doesn't exit until late friday. so again a long time for the bahamas to be under the gun of a potentially major hurricane especially if it manages to hit category 3. as far as the track of the system go, we'll continue to watch this as it moves off to the west/northwest. going to make that turn off towards the north and east very slowly and we'll make sure we get the computer back up to that coming up. but saturday, talking about the area south of the outer banks of north carolina. and by saturday morning could potentially have a landfall there that is one of the area that's in the cone. so the northeastern coastline, prep time is now. we could se

let's go right now over to meteorologist todd santos. he's tracking irene for us. todd, good morning. this is going to be a big one. >> good morning. yeah, it does appear that way. the picture we saw from nasa is very large with the system but the hurricane winds only extend about 40 miles out from the center. you can see the eye making its way through the bahamas. you are talking about a category 2 storm. right now max sustained winds at 110 miles per hour. one more mile per hour and you are already a major hurricane. it won't take much. you can see the intensification. even by later today. that would be a cat 3. then the track at least through saturday potential landfall at least looks in the direction of north carolina. but sunday and monday we can see effects across a huge piece of the atlantic, northeast coastline. if you're traveling a lot to talk about. >> todd, thanks so much. as the eastern united states keeps a watchful eye on irene, the region is still recovering from the shock of another of mother nature's phenomenons, a rare earthquake. some of you on t

>>> and now for a look at the national weather, we turn to meteorologist todd santos. he has your weather channel forecast. todd? >> i carefully spellchecked everything. >> i hope so. every chyron has been pooled over with a fine tooth comb. >>> a busy day as far as weather's concerned. big concerns across puerto rico back toward the dominican republic where some of the rain bands associated with hurricane irene still affecting puerto rico where we've now had just over three feet of rainfall since june 1. you try to put those numbers together, that's almost two feet above average. so i don't know -- try to get that through your head somehow. there's a look at slowly moving out of puerto rico itself. still a few showers there, headed toward the turks and caicos. likely to be in the area later on this afternoon and evening. of course, we're kind of on the outside fringe of this. you're talking about a category 2 storm. max sustained winds at 100 mile-per-hour. it is expected to turn off toward the northwest through the next 24 to 36 hours. still good convection, and the c

here is meteorologist todd santos with your weather channel forecast. hi, good morning to you. >> good morning, lynn. >> i can assure you it was spellcheck. hey, want to take you into what's going on across the west. we'll talk a little more about irene as well. you can see it in the southeastern edge of the graphic affectin portitions of puerto rico, still, although it's starting to lessen its hold. a fi showers across the pacific northwest. inland from seattle. today likely to be drier. but finishing up the showers. some of the better thunderstorms from minneapolis down through southern wisconsin, extending back towards chicago as well. those are probably some of the better-chance areas to see isolated delays. across much of the west, very warm scenario. our forecast getting up to 116, 118 in yuma, arizona. heat advisories in place. notice the bubble of heat showing up and there's the look at temperatures now. there's the starting point with temperatures in the 90s, notice we still have the rain shower in there, but for the most part, seattle, we shou

first, todd santos with a check on the forecast and a look at hurricane irene. dd. >> thanks so much, willie. looking across the bahamas, under the gun from a category 2 storm. 1-mile-per-hour more and you jump categories. it's going to take until friday to exit the northern bahamas. there's a look at the track. it will intensify to a cat 3 by later today or tomorrow. notice the track especially through saturday and sunday. andrea mitchell mentioned it could affect the mlk dedication with the monument. we'll talk more about other impacts, potential impacts across the coastline. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. >>> i was worried at first, but you have to go about your life, right? >> it didn't

here is todd santos with the latest on hurricane irene. >> thanks so much.. i want to show you a picture we got from the international space picture of irene fromspace, a top down view. as we get into today, we'll get more vitible images of the scope of this system. there's a look at the infrared imagery. thunderstorms north of puerto rico and the dominican republic. moving to the west-northwest. the only change has been that it's slowed down in forward speed from 12 miles per hour to 10 miles per hour. a category 2 storm, max sustained winds 100 miles per hour. we get into thursday, early morning, you're talking about a category 3 storm making its way through the northern bahamas, it goes through florida, carolinas friday, saturday and sunday as a major hurricane, category 3 plus. it is time to prepare now across eastern florida, eastern georgia and the carolinas. as we get beyond this time frame, we could see impacts in the mid atlantic and the northeast. we'll keep you up to date. for now, you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announce

. >>> i'm meteorologist todd santos. some of the better chances of spots to slow down. minneapolis, chicago, des moines also with potential thunderstorms. could see those reaching severe levels, hail and strong wind gusts. new york to d.c., boston, beautiful. chicago with storms. denver is beautiful in the upper 90s. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why would you let something like erectile dysfunction get in your way? isn't it time you talked to your doctor about viagra? 20 million men already have. with every age comes responsibility. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your

. >> joining me now, the weather channel's todd santos. in memphis, the heat index 114? staggering. >> i know. and the crazy part is yesterday, fort smith, arkansas, hit 115 without the heat index. that was the actual temperature outside. a whole bunch of areas still really feeling it. that's another spot today that's going to be close to record. our forecast for fort smith is 113. dallas at 33 days right now at 100 or better. and we could easily keep that going through the remainder of this week. the real chance for some of these areas to get a little bit of a break is as the ridge has been centered over oklahoma, kansas, texas, shifts towards the southwest, we'll see a little bit of relief through the northeast, the midwest atlantic and the southwest. not seeing any relief in the short term. >> give us an update on tropical storm emily. we were getting the reports in that it was near just south of haiti. what's the latest there? >> yeah. that's one of the biggest concerns, at least in the short term with tropical storm emily. you can see behind me, there's puerto rico.