James Spann has the Alabama forecast for a cool November Thursday from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

CLOUDS ARE BACK: Clouds increased across Alabama overnight, and today will be mostly cloudy with a high not too far from 50 degrees. A wave moving through the northern Gulf of Mexico will bring a chance of some light rain later this afternoon and tonight, mostly for the southern two-thirds of the state. The best chance of rain will come along and south of I-59, and with very limited moisture rain amounts should be one-quarter inch or less.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: There could be a few lingering patches of light rain over the eastern counties Friday morning, but the sky will begin to clear from west to east across the state by afternoon. The high Friday will be in the low to mid 50s over west Alabama and in the upper 40s over the eastern counties. Then, the weekend will be dry with sunny, cool days and clear, cold nights. The high will be in the mid 50s Saturday and between 57 and 60 Sunday. Morning lows will be well down in the 30s, with 20s for colder pockets.

NEXT WEEK: A wave will bring some clouds into the state Tuesday, and maybe a touch of light rain in scattered spots. Otherwise the week looks dry with seasonal temperatures — highs 58-63 with lows mostly in the 30s.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the high school playoff games Friday night, the weather will be clear and cold with temperatures in the 40s.

Saturday, Auburn hosts Georgia (2:30 p.m. kickoff). The sky will be sunny with a kickoff temperature near 56 degrees, falling to near 50 by the final whistle.

Alabama travels to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs (11 a.m. kickoff). Sunny weather is expected with temperatures rising from near 54 at kickoff into the upper 50s by the fourth quarter.

UAB hosts UTEP at Legion Field Saturday afternoon (noon kickoff). A sunny sky is forecast with temperatures rising from 53 at kickoff to near 56 by the end of the game.

ON THIS DATE IN 1969: Apollo 12 was launched into a threatening gray sky with ominous cumulus clouds. Pete Conrad’s words 43 seconds after liftoff electrified everyone in the Control Center: “We had a whole bunch of buses drops out,” followed by “Where are we going?” and “I just lost the platform.” Lightning had struck the spacecraft. Warning lights were illuminated, and the spacecraft guidance system lost its attitude reference. When flight controller John Aaron made the recommendation to the flight director, “Flight, try SCE to Aux”, most of his mission control colleagues had no idea what he was talking about. Both the flight director and the CAPCOM Gerald P. Carr asked him to repeat the recommendation. Carr, still without knowing what it meant, relayed the order to the crew: “Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary.” Fortunately Alan Bean was familiar with the location of the SCE (signal conditioning electronics) switch inside the capsule, and flipped it to aux. Telemetry was immediately restored, allowing the mission to continue. This earned Aaron the lasting respect of his colleagues; his call saved the mission.

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