we want to check in with weather channel meteorologist mike seidel at headquarters in atlanta. mike, good evening. >> good eveng, brian. a rough day. we had a minor tornado touch down on long island, 85 mile an hour winds. ef-0, so minor damage. show you what's going on right now, we have a tornado watch until 9:00 covering parts of southeast massachusetts and rhode island. big storms rolling through the area northeast at about 35 to 40 miles an hour. and one coming into the south side of boston, right over brockton and right over logan airport. we'll have the risk of wind damage and heavy rains, these storms have moved north, they have weakened, the threat of severe weather and lightning has decreased. the payoff comes, already in the midwest. look at these high temperatures on saturday. we haven't seen weather like this in two months, in the midwest where they've had triple digit heat. 72 pittsburgh, 81 new york. and brian, bluefield, west virginia 76, the same as london on saturday. >> mike seidel, weather channel headquarters tonight, thanks. >>> we've been reporting on the

mike seidel is in baton rouge, louisiana. mike, what does it look like where you are? >> reporter: well, we've pretty much ended the heavy rain here. we've got a very fine mist coming down. the winds have shifted around to the southwest indicating the center, willie, has moved to the north and west. it's only moving as bill mentioned, 8 miles an hour. the heaviest rain is off to the east, central and southern mississippi. we're still under a tornado watch as well as new orleans and be a good deal of mississippi until 8:00. they'll probably extend that for the same portions of the area as we have intense rain bands. the wind is gusting maybe 25 to 30 miles an hour. we've had 5 1/2 inches of rain here. there are no flash flood warnings here in baton rouge. things are looking better than they did yesterday across most of louisiana as the water begins to recede. the top rainfall was over 19 inches at the auto bon park. that's the zoo in new orleans. almost 20 inches of rain. power outages, here in the state of louisiana, 688,000 customers. that's customers. in mississippi

right now we want to go to weather channel meteorologist mike seidel in cuba feeling the effects of the storm. good evening. >> reporter: good evening lester. isaac left haiti behind today and hit cuba pretty hard. cuban television reporting wave heights as high as 20 feet. there have been power outages in those eastern provinces. all flights have been suspended at the airport. cubans have been bussed to federal shelters. they are going to stay and ride out the storm they are bussed because only 5% of cubans have vehicles so that is the only way they can get out. tonight as the storm ride as long the coast, it will dump a lot of rain along the island nation. winds will be gusting upwards of 60 miles-an-hour and tonight the real threat is the water out here in the straights, water temperatures are running above average. i put my foot in here today, the water temperature here is 87 degrees, that is fuel for the fire, we are more than likely to have a hurricane on our hands by this time tomorrow. lester back to you. >> mike seidel in cuba for us tonight thank you. >> we want to bring in br

>> mike seidel thanks for that. mike in orange beach, alabama. let's check in on the mississippi shore line, there's a lot of it, weather channel meteorologist eric fisher is in gulfport. hey, eric. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we're talking about storm surge tonight in gulfport, mississippi, it was just seven years ago on this night that some of the worst impacts from carekatrina were just rolling ashore. the story here, when you look out into the gulf, it's so shallow here, you can walk out hundreds of yards on a normal day. not the case tonight. when the water is pushed up, it's so easy to get into the living areas that so many people call home here around gulfport. this is low tide. high tide comes around 7:00 tomorrow morning. we're going to add 12 feet on to that high tide. storm surge so deadly, it kills many more people than wind. the wind grabs the headlines, and the low lying areas. there are mandatory evacuations for those low lying areas, we'll be talking about the governor of mississippi riding out the storm keeping a close eye

we want to check in with mike seidel at headquarters in atlanta. mike, good evening. >> good evening, brian. a rough day. we had a minor tornado touch down on long island, 85 mile an hour winds. show you what's going on right now, we have a tornado watch until 9:00 covering parts of southeast massachusetts and rhode island. big storms rolling through the area northeast at about 35 to 40 miles an hour. one coming into brock ton and right over logan airport. we'll have the risk of wind damage and heavy rains, these storms have moved north, they have weakened, the threat of severe weather and lightning has decreased. the payoff comes, already in the midwest. look at these high temperatures on saturday, we haven't seen weather like this in two months, in the midwest where they've had triple digit heat. 72 pittsburgh, 81 new york. brian, bloomfield, west virginia 76, the same as london on saturday. >> mike seidel, weather channel headquarters tonight, thanks. >>> we've been reporting on the drought that's devastated the corn belt of the u.s., the worst

>> mike seidel getting all the storm along orange beach, alabama tonight. we want to check in with jim cantore. he's in new orleans. this is no katrina. this is a category one hurricane. bad news is, of course, nobody needs this, especially not right now. it's going to be the first test of all the new plumbing behind you there in new orleans? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. that will come tonight a really over the next 24 to 36 hours here for new orleans. let's take a look at this thing, brian. the satellite picture shows us how big it is. we've had flooding rains from the outer bands of this in charleston, south carolina, for goodness sake. it's still raining in florida, look at the radar. this is one of the great tools now, because we can actually see the beast we're dealing with. mike, of course, in one of those yellow/purple bands. that's where the most intense weather is going to be. that's what's going to be moving up across mississippi and louisiana this evening. you mentioned this thing, it's going to crawl ashore. first, let's tackle the surge, 6 to

the weather channel's mike seidel is in orange beach, alabama. mike, this storm is going to sit here for a while, isn't it? >> it's a very slow-mover, chuck, and that is the problem. it's a category 1, but still wind gusts over 80 miles per hour and the rain is unrelent g unrelenting. 9 inches at the airport in new orleans out here, on the mobile gulf shores area, close to 5 inches of rain. this is orange beach, we're just off to the east of gulf shores. and high tide's a few hours away but the water is way past where it should be at high tide. this is a nice, long beach. we're losing beach to the erosion from the water. also the wind has blown a lot of sand and you can see all the seaweed now. buildings here are fine, power on. let me show the radar, it's a slow-moving isaac. still an 80-mile-an-hour hurricane. now that the center has made a second landfall and the entire center is over land, although it's kind of marshy down there, slowly will wind down in the wind perspective, but, boy, this rain unrelenting for the next cull he will days, unt

mike seidel from the weather channel is live for us in baton rouge, louisiana. it's clean up day today. how bad is it? >> reporter: still looking pretty precarious in parts of louisiana and mississippi. this morning if we can show you the radar we have a lot of heavy rain in jackson. many flash flood warnings. they have extended the tornado watch as far east as montgomery, alabama. we had a tornado touchdown in pascagoula. no reports of damage. still the threat of tornadoes and a lot of rainfall. audubon park in new orleans picked up 19 inches of rain. power outages here in louisiana, about 680,000. we have three-quarters of a million customers without power. some may be without power for five or six days. the winds have died down. getting gusts of 40, 45 miles per hour and the water is up there because the wind is blowing on shore, rotating oornd the center which is a hundred miles northwest of new orleans. the silver lining now, as the rain ends here it moves up into where we have been talking about for months now, the serious drought cutting into the corn cro

we want to check in with mike seidel at headquarters in atlanta. mike, good evening. >> good evening, brian. we had a minor tornado touch down on long island, 85 mile an hour winds. show you what's going on right now, we have a tornado watch until 9:00 covering parts of southeast massachusetts and rhode island. big storms rolling through the area at about 35 to 40 miles an hour. one coming into brock ton and right over logan airport. we'll have the risk of wind damage and heavy rains, these storms have moved north, they have weakened, the threat of severe weather and lightning has decreased. the payoff comes, already in the midwest. we haven't seen weather like this in two months in the midwest where they've had triple digit heat. brian, bloomfield, west virginia 76, the same as london on saturday. >> thanks. >>> we've been reporting on the drought that's devastated the corn belt of the u.s., the worst in more than half a century. just today a dire new assessment from the u.s. department of agriculture. the nation is on track to have its worst corn

the weather channel's mike seidel joins me from orange beach, alabama. mike, what can you tell us? >> we've got the new advisory, chris, coming out from the national hurricane center. and i can tell you what it's going to tell everybody. the storm is not moving. hurricane isaac is just basically thrown on its brakes. it has made a second landfall. the winds theoretically should start winding down but really is getting us this rainfall. over here on orange beach we've moved out of that sphere of influence of the heavy rain. it's shifted just to our west. you can see on the radar the big spin. and look at that doughnut hole. that's the center of isaac. and watch. it is really not moving. it drifted west this morning and threw on its brakes. and it's raining at an inch an hour. we talked about totals as much as 20 inches. we may do more than that in louisiana. over here, four to five inches of rain. it ended during the middle of the night. it's all shifted away. the beaches have been hammered. typically at high tide, the water is about 100 feet beyond this pole. so you add about 100 f

back to you. >> all right, mike seidel. mike, stay safe. thank you. >> want to go to al roker now, he's in key west, florida this morning, where isaac is expected to strike later today at or near hurricane strength. al, good morning. >> reporter: good moing, lester this is still a massive storm. 850 miles roughly in diameter. that's the distance between atlanta and new york city. and as this storm system makes its way out over the warmer waters, the worst is yet to come. >> we're going ing ting to rend drive, drive out of harm's way. >> reporter: here in key west, tourists have been warned get out of town. officials taking no chances with just hours left to get ready for isaac. storm shutters are going up and everyone who is still here is hunkering down. plenty of survival supplies are on hand if the storm knocks out power. meantime, power crews have taken over the daytona speedway, now a staging ground to mobilize for emergency repairs. >> this is like moving an army. when the storm passes, power can be restored as quickly as possible. >>

back to you. >> all right, mike seidel. mike, stay safe. thank you. >> want to go to al roker now, he's in key west, florida this morning, where isaac is expected to strike later today at or near hurricane strength. al, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester this is still a massive storm. 850 miles roughly in diameter. that's the distance between atlanta and new york city. and as this storm system makes its way out over the warmer waters, the worst is yet to come. >> we're going ing ting to rend drive, drive out of harm's way. >> reporter: here in key west, tourists have been warned get out of town. officials taking no chances with just hours left to get ready for isaac. storm shutters are going up and everyone who is still here is hunkering down. plenty of survival supplies are on hand if the storm knocks out power. meantime, power crews have taken over the daytona speedway, now a staging ground to mobilize for emergency repairs. >> this is like moving an army. when the storm passes, power can be restored as quickly as possible. >

right now we want to go to weather channel meteorologist mike seidel in cuba feeling the effects of the storm. good evening. >> reporter: good evening lester. isaac left haiti behind today and hit cuba pretty hard. cuban television reporting wave heights as high as 20 feet. all flights have been suspended at the airport. cubans have been bussed to federal shelters. that is about the only way they can get out. tonight as the storm ride as long the coast, it will dump a lot of rain along the island nation. winds will be gusting upwards of 60 miles-an-hour and tonight the real threat is the water out here in the straights, water temperatures are running above average. the water temperature here is 87 degrees, that is fuel for the fire, we are more than likely to have a hurricane on our hands by this tomorrime tomorrow. >> we want to bring in brian norcross from the weather channel. >> this is a threatening storm for the u.s. let's take a look at where it is right now. it is not too far. the center of it, actually from the cuban coast. that curl there is the sen tice. it is moving in the di

. >> allow me to introduce you to mike seidel of the weather channel. what's your reading? >> we're kind of protected here -- >> it's not just hurricanes that have sent mike seidel flying. he's also found snow and ice on the ground can turn a weather report into a major slipup. >> is what happens -- ow, geez. oh, gosh. >> and there's another hazard when reporting on extreme weather. the kids are out of school. >> the children seem to be having the most fun of all of us here. they're all load up, as you can see with snow. that probably wasn't the best idea i've had this weekend. >> no, it isn't. and the attack isn't over. >> they're having a great time, as you can see. >> and even when a reporter is expecting snow day fun -- >> it looks like rubin is in the lead and here comes ali -- >> he can still get taken for a spin. >> that was a bad idea. at riverside park, rob leff. mobile news. >> clearly reporting on weather in the outside is no walk in the park, but surely a reporter is safe inside the studio. not always. as idaho falls anchors justine bouvier and tommy can tell yo

next, mike seidel is in varadero, cuba. mike, good morning to you. >> reporter: and good morning, lester. typically here in late august, these beaches will be packed, but today all we have is a lone surf fisherman out there casting, hoping to catch something. this island's going to catch a storm. isaac now is about 100 miles or so southeast of guantanamo, and preps got under way yesterday. now remember, here in cuba, only 5% of cubans own automobiles or truc, so they really have no way to evacuate like back to the u.s. of a. so, the army's on standby right now with a lot of buses, prepared to evacuate tens of thousands, but they don't think that will be necessary. there have been some evacuations this morning, some of those low-lying, precarious areas, some of the fishing villages around guantanamo and santiago. santiago, the airport, the other airport on the island has suspended all flights for the time being, and the real threat here is going to be heavy rain and flooding. the reservoirs in the central part of the country

next, mike seidel is in varadero, cuba. mike, good morning to you. >> reporter: and good morning, lester. typically here in late august, these beaches will be packed, but today all we have is a lone surf fisherman out there casting, hoping to catch something. this island's going to catch a storm. isaac now is about 100 miles or so southeast of guantanamo, and preps got under way yesterday. now remember, here in cuba, only 5% of cubans own automobiles or trucks, so they really have no way to evacuate like back to the u.s. of a. so, the army's on standby right now with a lot of buses, prepared to evacuate tens of thousands, but they don't think that will be necessary. there have been some evacuations this morning, some of those low-lying, precarious areas, some of the fishing villages around guantanamo and santiago. santiago, the airport, the other airport on the island has suspended all flights for the time being, and the real threat here is going to be heavy rain and flooding. the reservoirs in the central part of the count

good jobl, mike seidel. thank you very much. appreciate that. >>> let's go from mike live in cuba right now in studio to nbc meteorologist bill karins who has another forecast picture for us. >> alex, this storm right now is all about potential. don't expect to be wowed looking at reporters on the beaches. the rest of today or even tomorrow morning. this is about the potential of the storm. once it gets into portions of the eastern gulf of mexico, what it's going to do. the mountains of haiti have significantly torn this storm apart as we've gone throughout pretty much the last 12 hours, especially the last 6. it's still raining very hard, especially the south coast of haiti where the bright red clouds are. those are thunderstorms. notice the sternt of the storm the's no thunderstorms at all. do expect the storms to be significantly weaker with a new advisory coming out shortly. the last advisory, this one as we went through 11:00, still had 60-mile-per-hour winds, probably dropping down to 50 or 45-mile-per-hour winds. again, i

good jobl, mike seidel. thank you very much. appreciate that. >>> let's go from mike live in cuba right now in studio to nbc meteorologist bill karins who has another forecast picture for us. >> alex, this storm right now is all about potential. don't expect to be wowed looking at reporters on the beaches. the rest of today or even tomorrow morning. this is about the potential of the storm. once it gets into portions of the eastern gulf of mexico, what it's going to do. the mountains of haiti have significantly torn this storm apart as we've gone throughout pretty much the last 12 hours, especially the last 6. it's still raining very hard, especially the south coast of haiti where the bright red clouds are. those are thunderstorms. notice the sternt of the storm there's no thunderstorms at all. do expect the storms to be significantly weaker with a new advisory coming out shortly. the last advisory, this one as we went through 11:00, still had 60-mile-per-hour winds, probably dropping down to 50 or 45-mile-per-hour winds. again,

we'll get a report from mike seidel when we return as we give you a look at ft. myers, florida, where we had a report earlier and you heard problems with the audio. the winds are picking up. that's hot it looks like now. we'll see you in a bit. dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets. the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. >>> america is a place where all things are possible. >> four years ago, the country moved further toward the ideal that all men were created equal. as the president reflects on his key decisions -- >> there are moment you really do put politics aside. >> msnbc looks at what in

. >> mike seidel, thank you. stay safe. >> we want to go to al roker where isaac is expected today at or near hurricane strength. al, good morning. >> good morning, lester. this is still a massive storm. 850 miles roughly in diameter, that's the distance between atlanta and new york city. as this storm system makes its way out over the warmer waters, the worst is yet to come. >> we're going to rent a car and drive, drive out of harm's way. >> here in key west, tourists have been warned, get out of town. officials taking no chances with just hours to get ready for isaac. storm shutters are going up and everyone who is still here is hunkering down. plenty of survival supplies are on hand. if the storm knocks out power. meantime, power crews have taking over the daytona speedway, now a grounds to stabilize for emergency repairs. the red cross is in action, as well, sending tons of basic supply shelters across florida and the gulf coast. >> we have everything from supplies for shelters, food rations, everything they

the weather channel's mike seidel is now joining us from orange beach, alabama. mike, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hey, rachel. well, it's a slow-moving hurricane. that's the issue. it's going to be a long duration event, now heading into plaquemines's parish. may make a second landfall. it's slow moving. we've had wind gusts up over 80, sometimes 90 miles an hour. here at orange beach, we've been getting gusts over 50 miles an hour all afternoon long. some of the tropical downpours, you can't even see two hotels down the beach. the rainfall inland is going to be just tremendous. 12 to 20 inches in parts of louisiana. six to 12 inches in parts of alabama, and there's a tornado threat continuing through tomorrow, tomorrow night and maybe into thursday, and because it's moving so slow and this wind is piling up the water, surges are running up now at eight to fine feet on shell beach. parts of mississippi and the alabama coast will see surges anywhere from four to nine feet. so there will be issues on the coast. fortunately we've got a good dune line and the

our own mike seidel has been on the beach and gives us this report. >> reporter: we have been blasted all day and this evening by the wind and the sand and the rain. this feeder band han unrelending about an inch of rain an hour. look at the sand roll over the dunes and the sea oats. our next high tide is about 10:30 on wednesday morning. we're looking at a surge of anywhere from 4 to 8 feet along the mississippi and alabama coast, so we'll have more surge issues here locally on orange beach we're in pretty good shape. we have a nice do you know line, wide beach and most of the property is up on stilts. we're not concern that much about a surge, but inland, this rainfall, 6 to 12 inches, tornado watch continues overnight, will likely continue through a good deal of wednesday, and just a lot of rainfall. beach erosion, wind erosion from the sand. this will be a slow process to wind this storm down. it's not moving very fast. it's going to be a long duration event. meanwhile, the beaches get hit hard as well as inland areas. the flash flood watches run now at least through wednesday nig