NEW YORK — It’s a recipe for mass power outages: up to 15 inches of snow forecast in parts of the Northeast on Saturday — much of it landing on trees that have yet to shed their leaves in fall.

“We’re expecting this very heavy and wet snow, and a lot of it,” Chris Warren, a Weather Channel meteorologist, told NBC News. “And when it lands on the leaves it weighs down the branches, you get the branches snapping, falling on power lines. When it’s all said and done by Sunday millions of people could be in the dark.”

TRIPOLI, Libya — Members of Moammar Gadhafi’s family have entered Algeria, Algeria’s state news agency said Monday, but the whereabouts of the ousted Libyan leader were unknown. Libyan rebels claimed to have killed one of his sons.

The report by APS news agency cited Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying Gadhafi’s wife Safia, his sons Mohammed and Hannibal, and his daughter Safia entered the neighboring country on Monday. It did not immediately provide additional details or say whether Gadhafi himself was with the family.

The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported from Tripoli over the weekend that six armored Mercedes sedans, possibly carrying Gadhafi’s sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina (CNN) — Hurricane Irene had coastal North Carolina and metropolitan New York in its sights late Friday, staying on an unusual track that could bring deadly storm surge, heavy rainfall and misery to millions.

With winds near 100 mph, Irene churned toward an anticipated 7 a.m. landfall between Beaufort and Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

But the storm — which is shutting down hundreds of airline flights, Broadway shows and the New York subway system — won’t be content to curve away from the mainland after striking North Carolina.

Instead, a somewhat weakened Irene will head for the Jersey shore, New York and southern New England, dangerous conditions in tow

(CNN) — Take me out to the ball game? For some dealing with this relentless heat wave, that idea could make you think twice.

The heat wave that has taken hold of much of the upper Midwest over the past few days is taking its toll on just about everyone — including those who may be used to working up a sweat outdoors.

Case in point: Monday’s Philadelphia Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs baseball game. Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay was forced to leave the game early as temperatures at Chicago’s Wrigley Field soared into the 90′s. The heat index during game time was well over 100 degrees.

As president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Tom Kiernan is, not surprisingly, a fan of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” but he’d like to add an addendum.

“The national parks are America’s best idea,” he said, “but they’re not in the best of health.” In fact, according to an NPCA report out Tuesday, many face serious threats to their natural and cultural resources.

Conducted by NPCA’s Center for Park Research, the report encompasses 10 years of research gathered at 80 of the 394 units in the national park system. Among the findings:

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. — Army engineers prepared Saturday to slowly open the gates of an emergency spillway along the rising Mississippi River, diverting floodwaters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, yet inundating homes and farms in parts of Louisiana’s populated Cajun country.

About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm’s way when the Morganza spillway is unlocked for the first time in 38 years. Sheriffs and National Guardsmen were warning people in a door-to-door sweep through the area, and shelters were ready to accept up to 4,800 evacuees, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

(CNN) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could open the Morganza Spillway within the next 24 hours, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Friday.

The Corps said it will operate the Morganza Spillway once river flows reach a certain trigger: 1.5 million cubic feet per second.

Opening the spillway would lower anticipated cresting levels along the lower Mississippi River and divert water from Baton Rouge and New Orleans but would flood much of low-lying south-central Louisiana.

The Mississippi River Commission has advised a “slow opening.”

The historic flooding in the South is poised to wreak havoc on the economy at multiple levels, likely putting local farmhands out of work while contributing to the nationwide rise in food prices.

As the Mississippi River crests and the flooding spreads to Mississippi and Louisiana, the vital grain crops in the region are in peril. In some places, the floodwaters are swamping or bearing down on wheat that is almost ready for harvest and corn that has broken through the ground, as well as plantings of rice, soybeans and cotton.

The Army Corps of Engineers began opening the Bonnet Carre spillway 28 miles north of New Orleans Monday morning to divert part of the river flow to Lake Pontchartrain. Opening the spillway has no impact on homes or businesses.

HARVEST, Ala. — The Rev. Michael Katschke is worried, but not about running out of the food, diapers and other supplies he hands out to tornado victims at the Crosswinds United Methodist Church in northern Alabama.

Katschke is worried about the rest of the country just moving on.

“They’re going to forget us just like they forgot about Japan,” he said.