James Spann forecasts a hot, humid weekend for Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

NEW DAY, OLD FORECAST: We are in the core of summer, and this is the time of the year when you can pretty much say “hot, humid and the risk of an afternoon storm in a few spots” and be right every day. Look for a high in the mid 90s today, Saturday and Sunday with a partly to mostly sunny sky each day. A few isolated, popup afternoon and evening storms are possible, but they should be few and far between thanks to the ridge aloft over the Deep South. Classic weather for late July in Alabama.

NEXT WEEK: The ridge holds across the southern U.S., with the main westerly winds aloft (the jet stream) well to the north, near the Canadian border. Look for partly sunny, hot, humid days with highs in the 90s and lows in the 70s. And, of course, some risk of random, isolated, afternoon and evening thunderstorms each day. There’s still some evidence they could increase a bit over the northern third of the state by midweek.

TROPICS: All is quiet across the Atlantic basin; tropical storm formation is not expected through the weekend. The next named storms will be Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura and Marco.

ON THIS DATE IN 1980: The historic heat wave of 1980 rolled along. The high at Birmingham and Muscle Shoals was 105 degrees; other highs across Alabama included 104 in Anniston, 103 in Tuscaloosa and 102 in Huntsville.

ON THIS DATE IN 1987: Slow-moving thunderstorms caused flooding on the Guadalupe River in Texas, resulting in tragic loss of life. A bus and van leaving a youth summer camp stalled near the rapidly rising river just west of the town of Comfort, or about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio. The powerful surge of water swept away 43 people, mostly teenagers. Ten drowned in the floodwaters. Most of the others were rescued from treetops by helicopter.

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