DRY DAYS: Not a single shower on radar across Alabama this afternoon as an unusually dry air mass continues to cover the state. The sky is mostly sunny, but hazy thanks to smoke being transported into the region by upper-air winds out of the northwest. That smoke originates from the fires over western Canada and parts of the Northwest U.S.
Temperatures are in the 80s this afternoon. Tonight will be fair and pleasant; we drop well down into the 60s again early Friday morning.
FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Dry weather continues on Friday; the sky will be partly to mostly sunny with a high in the upper 80s. We will mention just a few isolated showers Saturday afternoon; most places will remain rain-free with a partly sunny sky. Saturday’s high will remain in the upper 80s. Then, on Sunday, after a mostly sunny morning we could see a few random, pop-up-type afternoon showers or storms. The chance of any one spot getting wet Sunday is about 1 in 4, and the high will be in the 87- to 90-degree range.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: There will be no rain for the opening night of high school football across Alabama tonight and Friday night. The sky will be mostly fair with temperatures falling into the 70s.
NEXT WEEK: Looks like fairly routine late summer weather through the week — partly sunny days with widely scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs will be pretty close to 90 degrees.
LANE: The hurricane passing just west of Hawaii is packing sustained winds of 135 mph; it will weaken over the next few days, and the center will remain offshore (no direct hit). The biggest issue for the Hawaiian Islands is flooding; rain amounts of 10-20 inches are likely, with isolated heavier totals.
The Atlantic basin remains calm. We are watching a tropical wave that is coming off the coast of Africa; the National Hurricane Center gives it only a 20 percent chance of any development over the next five days because of cooler-than-average ocean water and dry air.
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