James Spann has the Alabama forecast for Friday and the weekend ahead from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

RAIN HARD TO FIND: We actually had a handful of small showers across Alabama Thursday, but you could count the number of them on one hand, and most places remained dry. For Birmingham, Thursday was the 14th consecutive day without measurable rain. We expect mostly sunny days and fair nights through the weekend; showers will remain very hard to find. Highs will be mostly in the 87- to 91-degree range, with lows between 65 and 70.

NEXT WEEK: Expect no real change Monday and Tuesday — lots of sunshine both days with highs between 88 and 92. Mornings will be a bit cooler; in fact, some of the cooler spots could reach the 50s early Tuesday morning. We will slowly phase in the chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms over the latter half of the week with rising moisture levels.

DROUGHT MONITOR: New data released Thursday shows moderate drought conditions creeping into parts of east and southeast Alabama. Other parts of the state are classified as abnormally dry. Today will be the 15 consecutive day without measurable rain in Birmingham.

The total for the month of May will be 4.35 inches, and for the year the total so far is 24.19 inches. The surplus for the year is down to 0.38 of an inch.

ON THIS DATE IN 2013: A very large EF3 tornado occurred over rural areas of central Oklahoma. The widest tornado in recorded history, it was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially touched down west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central portions of Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to 301 mph within the vortex; these are the second-highest observed wind speeds on Earth, with only the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado having recorded slightly higher wind speeds.

The tornado killed four storm chasers, the first known deaths in the history of storm chasing. Although the tornado remained over mostly open terrain, dozens of storm chasers unaware of its immense size and erratic movement were caught off-guard. Near Highway 81, scientist and engineer Tim Samaras, along with his son Paul and research partner Carl Young, died in the tornado. Paul and Young were ejected from their Chevrolet Cobalt by the storm’s sub-vortex, while Tim was still buckled in the passenger’s seat.

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