THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: We’ll start off with rain and a few embedded thunderstorms moving into western Alabama during the early morning, but as the activity progresses eastward, the rain will begin to dissipate slowly and become more scattered. No severe weather is expected with the accompanying cold front, as the associated low will be moving much farther to our north and taking the energy with it. Highs will range from the upper 60s in the northwest to the lower 80s in the southeast.

We’ll keep a very small chance of showers in the forecast for Sunday as the cold front will have stalled out over the state. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds with afternoon highs in the mid 70s to the mid 80s.

THE WORK WEEK: Skies will be partly to mostly clear Monday and Tuesday as the washed-out cold front continues to hang around northern Alabama. A few scattered showers may be possible for the northern third of the state, but the rest of Alabama looks to stay dry. Highs on both days will be in the upper 70s to the mid 80s.

Weather becomes interesting Wednesday as we’ll be sandwiched between high pressure over the Carolinas and a building system off to the west. We’ll also be watching the potential of a tropical or subtropical system moving toward the east coast of Florida. By Thursday evening, we could see a few showers from the northern periphery of that system as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, but the approaching cold front from the west will quickly usher the system back to the east and away from us. Any shower activity looks to end by Friday evening. Highs will be in the lower to mid 70s Wednesday and Thursday, and in the mid 60s to the mid 70s on Friday.

TROPICS: At 10 p.m., Tropical Depression Lisa was around 250 miles west-northwest of Ciudad el Carmen, Mexico. The depression was moving toward the north near 3 mph, and this general motion was expected to continue into early Saturday. Lisa or its remnants are then forecast to stall or drift southward through the remainder of the weekend. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph with higher gusts. Gradual weakening is forecast, and Lisa is expected to become a remnant low early Saturday.

A large non-tropical low-pressure system is expected to develop across the northeastern Caribbean Sea and southwestern Atlantic by the latter part of the weekend. The system is initially expected to be very broad and disorganized. However, it could begin to acquire subtropical or tropical characteristics early next week, and a subtropical or tropical depression could form while the system moves generally westward to west-northwestward over the southwestern Atlantic. Regardless of development, there is an increasing risk of coastal flooding, gale-force winds, heavy rainfall, rough surf and beach erosion along much of the southeastern United States coast, the Florida east coast and portions of the central and northwestern Bahamas during the early to middle part of next week. The chance of development in the next five days is 50%.

A broad area of showers and a few thunderstorms several hundred miles east of Bermuda is associated with an elongated, non-tropical area of low pressure. Any tropical or subtropical development of this disturbance should be slow while it moves westward to west-northwestward. The system is forecast to encounter stronger upper-level winds Saturday and Saturday night, and further development is not anticipated beyond that time.

ON THIS DATE IN 2002: Severe thunderstorms moved across southeastern Alabama and the Florida panhandle, producing wind damage and several tornadoes. A tornado struck the Alabama town of Abbeville, killing two people and injuring 25.

For more weather news and information from James Spann, Scott Martin and other members of the James Spann team, visit AlabamaWx.