Something to watch in the tropics

A strong tropical wave is pushing westward in the Atlantic Ocean, and by the time you read this, it could be a tropical depression or even Tropical Storm Emily.

That system will be the first of the season to grab the attention of the Carolinas and others on the Southeast coast.

Odds are it will curve away from the U.S. coast late this week or early next week, but if the system -- which hurricane specialists expect to become a named storm within a day -- survives its trek across the Caribbean islands this week, it looks as if it will take a swing at the Southeast.

This system is the first of the year to form in the eastern Atlantic and move across the ocean, and odds are there will be a number to follow.

High pressure over the Atlantic Ocean and a trough (weakness between the Atlantic high and another high pressure system over the United States) somewhere off the East Coast will have a big role in determining where this system goes -- should it survive an encounter with Puerto Rico or Hispaniola.

It's for too early to take a guess, but for the first time this year, we have something to watch.

Tropical Storm Don vs. Heat Pump -- No Match! Did you notice what happened Saturday morning, when Tropical Storm Don moved inland in Texas, right into the teeth of the powerful and hot high pressure system which has been baking the Longhorn state for months?

It was no match.

Tropical systems sometimes have the power to break down high pressure ridges, but the system anchored over the Texas-Oklahoma area is a blockbuster.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center had expected Don to dump heavy rain as it moved into west Texas, but the tropical storm evaporated.

One National Hurricane Center meteorologist said it was the fastest disintegration of a tropical storm he'd ever seen in a non-mountainous area.

It's gonna take a very strong change in the weather pattern to break down the heat pump over Texas, Oklahoma and the rest of the lower South.