James Spann: Get set, Alabama, for the hottest weekend so far this year

RADAR CHECK: We have a few isolated showers and storms across Alabama this afternoon. They are moving southeast and will dissipate after sundown. Most of the state is dry with temperatures in the 87- to 90-degree range.
FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND: It will be the hottest weekend so far this year, with mostly sunny days and fair nights. The high Friday will be in the 87- to 90-degree range, followed by highs between 89 and 92 Saturday and Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: Monday stays hot and dry, but we will bring in a chance of showers Tuesday as moisture surges northward from the Gulf of Mexico, and we will have a risk of showers daily through the rest of the week. This doesn’t mean the rain will be continuous, but the sky will be occasionally cloudy Tuesday through Friday, with a passing shower likely from time to time. The high Monday will be close to 90, but then highs drop back down into the low 80s for the rest of the week because of clouds and showers.
HURRICANE? I am getting many notes from people asking if they should cancel their beach trip later this month because “they saw a hurricane was coming toward the Gulf Coast.” Unfortunately, we are now in the season where some people (looking for likes, shares and clicks) post long-range model output (which is almost always bogus) that depict tropical storms or hurricanes more than 10 days in advance. There is no skill in this, and the American model (the Global Forecast System) usually has a “fake hurricane” on most runs out in the long range during the warm season.
As always, we ask that you think before you share bad weather information across social media. If we believe a hurricane is headed for the Gulf Coast, trust me, we would be discussing it here.
BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.
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For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.