James Spann has the forecast heading into the Alabama weekend from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

DOG DAYS: The weather in August in Alabama is almost always hot and humid, and that is what we will be dealing with around here for the foreseeable future. Look for partly sunny days through the weekend with the usual daily round of scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Most of the storms come in random places between noon and 10 p.m., and odds of any one place seeing rain are 20% to 30% today, 50% Saturday and 30% Sunday. Some of the storms will be heavy with gusty winds, and all summer storms produce lots of cloud-to-ground lightning.

We expect highs mostly in the low 90s today and Saturday, rising into the mid 90s Sunday as an upper high to the west creeps in here. We could see a few upper 90s over west Alabama Sunday afternoon.

NEXT WEEK: Don’t expect much change Monday and Tuesday. Highs will be in the 94- to 98-degree range with a few pop-up, splash-and-dash afternoon storms. Showers and storms should become more numerous over the latter half of the week as the upper high weakens; heat levels will come down as well.

TROPICS: The Atlantic basin remains very quiet, and tropical storm formation is not expected through early next week.

UPDATED HURRICANE SEASON OUTLOOK: Seasonal forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center have increased the likelihood of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season to 45% (up from 30% from the outlook issued in May). The likelihood of near-normal activity is now at 35%, and the chance of below-normal activity has dropped to 20%. The number of predicted storms is also greater, with NOAA now expecting 10-17 named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater), of which five to nine will become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater), including two to four major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or greater). This updated outlook issued yesterday is for the entire six-month hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.

ON THIS DATE IN 1969: An F3 tornado hit Cincinnati, Ohio, killing four people and causing $15 million property damage. The tornado moved in a southeasterly direction at 40 to 50 mph.

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