Weather

Orlando, Fla. -

Severe thunder storms have caused flight delays at Orlando International Airport. NWS radar indicated a line of severe storms crossing over the Orlando area prompting storm warnings for Osceola, Orange, Brevard, Seminole and Lake counties.

Flights inbound to Orlando are being put into holding patters, one over Leesburg, one over Melbourne and one over Daytona lasting up to 45 mins.

Departing flights are being held at the gates with delays up 45 minutes or more. Flights to JKF, EWR, LGA, PHL have delays lasting up to 1 hour 45 mins.

The heat wave and drought continues across much of the nation, with more than 55% of the nation now in a drought. NOAA meteorologist say the weather effect known as La Nina is slowing weakening, which has been responsible for the heat and dry conditions. Experts say an mild El Nino will replace La Nina by mid September.

With the arrival of an El Nino, it will bring more storms, "and hopefully meaningful rainfall" says Illinois governor Pat Quinn who has already declared many Illinois counties a disaster, which clears the way for federal assistance.

Tropical Storm Debbie is the fourth named storm in the Gulf of Mexico so far, in the 2012 hurricane season, making this year the busiest on record for June.

The National Hurricane Center, NHC, issued its most recent advisory at 5pm saying the storm was located at 26.2N, 87.6W and was moving north at 6mph. Debbie is expected to turn westward on Sunday afternoon and tropical storm warnings have been issued for parts of coastal Louisiana, from the mouth of the Pearl River westward to Morgan City.

Chilean officials report that more than 2,300 birds have been found dead so far along its coastline. Officials say the bird were found with broken wings and bruising and say they believe this is a result of the birds becoming entangled with fishing nets.

The Pacific Ocean off the coast of South American has been especially warm as a result of El Nino causing sardines and other surface fish to stay south. This in turn has resulted in birds that normally migrate to stay during the busy fishing season.