James Spann: Rain-free weekend ahead for Alabama after tonight’s showers and storms from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

RADAR CHECK: We have a band of showers over parts of West and North Alabama early this morning; this activity will slowly fade away over the next few hours.

Additional showers and thunderstorms will develop across the state this afternoon and tonight with an upper trough approaching, and some of those could be strong. The main window for this will come from noon until midnight, and the Storm Prediction Center has a “marginal risk” of severe weather defined for most of the state.

Some of the heavier storms could produce strong, gusty winds and small hail, but wind fields are expected to be rather light, and there is no significant tornado threat. Rain amounts of around one-half inch are likely, with isolated heavier amounts. The rain will end from west to east soon after midnight tonight.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Lingering clouds early tomorrow morning will give way to a good supply of afternoon sunshine with a high between 75 and 78 degrees. Then, Sunday will be warm and dry, with sunshine in full supply; the high will be in the mid 80s.

NEXT WEEK: A deep, cold upper trough forms over the western U.S., while a downstream upper ridge will be in place over the eastern states. This pattern favors dry and very warm weather here; for now it looks like the week will be rain-free with afternoon highs in the 87- to 90-degree range. The bottom line is that we don’t see any significant rain event after tonight for about the next seven to 10 days.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

WEATHER BRAINS: You can listen to our weekly 90-minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including meteorologists at ABC 33/40.

CONNECT: You can find me on all of the major social networks:

Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Instagram
Pinterest
Snapchat: spannwx

For more weather news and information, visit AlabamaWX.