James Spann: Some light rain for Alabama tonight, Saturday morning
RADAR CHECK: There’s not much on radar across Alabama this afternoon; we are seeing more clouds than sun on satellite images and temperatures are in the mid 60s for most places, about 10 degrees below average for April 16.
Rain will move into the state tonight. The heaviest rain will fall over the southwest counties, where a Flash Flood Watch is in effect for Mobile, Baldwin and Washington counties. For the rest of the state, rain tonight will be light, with amounts generally less than one-quarter inch.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: We will keep the chance of some rain going through Saturday morning; it should end by midday for the northern two-thirds of the state. Rain could linger into Saturday night over the southern counties. Otherwise, Saturday will be cloudy and cool, with a high only in the low to mid 60s. The sky becomes partly sunny Sunday as drier air creeps into the state; the high Sunday will be in the upper 60s.
NEXT WEEK: For now the week looks pretty quiet. A cold front could squeeze out a little light rain over the Tennessee Valley Tuesday night, and noticeably cooler air rolls into the state Wednesday following the frontal passage. Temperatures will drop into the low 40s early Thursday, and some of the traditionally colder spots could reach the mid 30s over the northern half of the state with some risk of scattered light frost. The next chance of rain will likely come around Saturday, April 24.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: Both Auburn and Alabama will hold their annual spring scrimmage games Saturday. The game in Tuscaloosa kicks off at noon; kickoff in Auburn is set for 1. Some light rain is likely Saturday morning across the state, but that will will be mostly gone by early afternoon. Expect dry but mostly cloudy weather in Tuscaloosa with temperatures in the 60s. Some lingering light rain is possible around kickoff in Auburn, but most of the game will be rain-free with overcast conditions. Temperatures there will also be in the 60s.
For the Magic City Classic at Legion Field in Birmingham Saturday night (Alabama State vs. Alabama A&M, kickoff 6:30 p.m.), the weather will be dry with a gradually clearing sky. Temperatures will fall from near 64 degrees at kickoff into the upper 50s by the final whistle.
ON THIS DATE IN 1851: “The Lighthouse Storm” of 1851 struck New England. Heavy gales and high seas pounded the coasts of New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts. The storm arrived at the time of a full moon, and high tide was producing unusually high storm tides. The storm was so named because it destroyed the lighthouse at Cohasset, Massachusetts. Two assistant lighthouse keepers were killed there when the structure was swept away by the storm tide.
ON THIS DATE IN 2011: The same system that produced 45 tornadoes in Alabama on April 15 moved eastward; North Carolina was the hardest-hit state. Thirty confirmed tornadoes occurred in North Carolina, the greatest one-day total for North Carolina on record. A total of 24 people lost their lives in the state, with 13 tornadoes classified as strong (EF-3 or higher).
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