COOLER OVER THE WEEKEND: Temperatures are in the low to mid 80s across much of Alabama this afternoon, but a dry cold front passing through this evening will drop temperatures about 10 degrees over the weekend. Look for highs between 72 and 76 degrees, and lows well down in the 40s by early Sunday morning. Colder spots across north Alabama will likely visit the 30s for the first time this season. The air remains dry, and we will see sunny days and clear nights.

NEXT WEEK: Dry weather continues Monday and Tuesday with a warming trend; highs rise into the low 80s by Tuesday and Wednesday. An approaching cold front will bring a chance of badly needed rain to Alabama Wednesday night and Thursday; amounts won’t be too heavy, however, mostly less than one-half inch. But at least it will settle the dust in most places. Cooler, drier air returns Friday.

Some notes on the dry conditions (based on data at Birmingham):

• Today is the 12th consecutive day with no measurable rain.
• Our last measurable rain was on Sept. 25, but the amount was only 0.03 inch.
• We have gone without measurable rain on 26 of the last 27 days.
• The last day with more than one-tenth of an inch of rain was Sept. 4, when the total was 1.55 inches.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: Expect another delightful evening for high school football games across the state tonight; the sky will be clear with temperatures falling through the 60s.

Auburn travels to Athens Saturday to take on the Georgia Bulldogs (2:30 p.m. CT kickoff). The sky will be sunny and the temperature about 75 degrees at kickoff, falling to near 70 by the final whistle.

UAB has a home game in downtown Birmingham Saturday at Protective Stadium against Middle Tennessee (also a 2:30 p.m. kickoff). It will be a sunny afternoon with temperatures falling from around 73 degrees at kickoff into the upper 60s by the final whistle.

Saturday night, Alabama hosts Texas A&M (kickoff at 7) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The sky will be clear with temperatures falling from 67 degrees at kickoff into the 50s by the fourth quarter. It will be a perfect night for football.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm Julia has formed in the Caribbean and is headed for Nicaragua, with landfall coming Sunday morning as a Category 1 hurricane. After landfall, the track guidance indicates that Julia and its remnants should remain over Central America and southern Mexico through Tuesday.

It’s too early to know whether any remnant circulation will be around to emerge into either the Pacific or the Bay of Campeche. Most likely the system dissipates over land.The rest of the Atlantic basin is very quiet.

ON THIS DATE IN 2018: Only eight hours after it became a depression, the National Hurricane Center upgraded a tropical system to Tropical Storm Michael. Tropical-storm-force winds and torrential downpours were affecting portions of the coastal east-central Yucatan Peninsula. Michael would go on to become a Category 5 hurricane with landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, a few days later.

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.