RAIN-FREE WEATHER: A large mass of dry air covers Alabama and the Deep South this afternoon. With sunshine in full supply, temperatures are mostly in the low 80s. Tonight will be clear and cool again, with lows between 55 and 60 degrees for most communities.REST OF THE WEEK AND THE WEEKEND: Dry weather continues with sunny, warm days and fair, pleasant nights. Highs will be in the 80s, lows in the 60s. There could be an isolated shower near the Gulf Coast Friday and Saturday, but even there most places will stay dry.

NEXT WEEK: An upper ridge begins to build, which should keep most of Alabama dry through the week, but with slightly higher heat levels. Afternoon highs will be close to 90 on most days, with lows in the 60s. There’s no sign of any high-impact rain event around here for the next 10 days.THIS MORNING: A few spots dipped into the upper 40s over the northern half of Alabama for the first time since the spring. Lows included:

• Tuckers Chapel (northeast of Gadsden, near Little River Canyon) — 47
• Russellville — 48
• Valley Head — 48
• Oneonta — 48
• Margaret — 49
• Carbon Hill — 49

Mount LeConte, Tennessee, dropped to 35 degrees this morning.

TROPICS: The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two tropical waves; the lead wave in the Central Atlantic (Invest 96L) now has a 40% chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm over the next five days. Model output on future movement is not clear; many turn it north (if it develops at all) into the open Atlantic, but a few ensemble members try and bring it into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s too early to know whether this will have any impact on the U.S.; it is about 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

ON THIS DATE IN 1988: Hurricane Gilbert smashed into the Cayman Islands, and as it headed for the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico it strengthened into a monster hurricane, packing winds of 175 mph. The barometric pressure at the center of Gilbert reached 888 millibars, a record for any hurricane in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean until Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Gilbert covered much of the Gulf of Mexico, producing rain as far away as the Florida Keys.

ON THIS DATE IN 2008: Hurricane Ike made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Galveston. Due to its immense size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County region near Corpus Christi, Texas.

BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.

For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.