ON THE MAPS: A surface front is drifting southward through Tennessee this afternoon, and we have a number of showers and thunderstorms over the Tennessee Valley of north Alabama at midafternoon. We will maintain the chance of showers and storms tonight as the front pushes into our state from the north. Heavier storms will be capable of producing heavy rain, gusty winds and lots of lightning.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: The front will hang up somewhere over north and central Alabama Wednesday. The high-resolution North American Mesoscale model suggests the front will hang up somewhere along a line from Fayette to Tuscaloosa to Montgomery to Opelika. North of this, showers should be few and far between in drier air, but to the south scattered showers and storms remain possible.

The high Wednesday will be in the low 90s. Thursday looks relatively dry over the northern half of the state with just a few isolated showers, but the latest global model data suggests a batch of storms could roll into Alabama Friday from the northwest. Friday’s high will be near 90 degrees.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: A few lingering showers are possible Saturday morning, but it looks like most of the weekend will be dry with only isolated showers or storms Sunday, mainly over the southern half of the state. Highs for the weekend will be in the 88- to 91-degree range.

NEXT WEEK: Showers should remain very isolated Monday and Tuesday. As moisture levels rise, scattered showers and storms should slowly increase over the latter half of the week.

TROPICS: The Atlantic basin remains very quiet, and tropical storm formation is not expected through the weekend.

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For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.