CHANGES AHEAD: Clouds will continue to increase across Alabama over the next few hours, and widespread rain is likely late tonight into Tuesday morning.

It still looks like most of the rain will come from about midnight through noon, although a few showers could linger over east Alabama Tuesday afternoon. While a few storms are possible near the Gulf Coast, for most of the state it will be a cold rain in a stable air mass with temperatures between 45 and 55 degrees. Rain amounts of one-half to 1 inch are expected.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: The weather will be cold and dry over the latter half of the week, with highs in the 40s and 50s and lows mostly in the 20s by Thursday and Friday mornings. These temperatures are well below average for mid-November in Alabama.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Dry weather continues with sunny days and clear nights. Highs will be mostly in the 50s, lows generally between 25 and 32 degrees.

NEXT WEEK: Dry weather continues through at least the first half of the week; models hint some rain could return late in the week, but they are not in good agreement. Temperatures remain below average, and we see no chance of any severe storms in Alabama for the next seven to 10 days.

TROPICS: All is quiet across the Atlantic basin, and tropical storm formation is not expected through the week. The hurricane season ends at the end of this month.

THIS MORNING: Here are some of the colder low temperatures across Alabama this morning:

• Meridianville — 22
• Gadsden — 23
• Trussville — 23
• Haleyville — 24
• Decatur — 24
• Huntsville — 25
• Concord — 25
• Fort Payne — 25
• Bessemer — 26
• Heflin — 26
• Morris — 26
• Birmingham Airport — 27

ON THIS DATE IN 1969: Apollo 12 was launched into a threatening gray sky with ominous cumulus clouds. Pete Conrad’s words 43 seconds after liftoff electrified everyone in the Control Center: “We had a whole bunch of buses drops out,” followed by “Where are we going?” and “I just lost the platform.” Lightning had struck the spacecraft. Warning lights were illuminated, and the spacecraft guidance system lost its attitude reference.

Flight controller John Aaron made a call, “Flight, EECOM. Try SCE to Aux,” to switch the SCE (signal conditioning electronics) to a backup power supply. The switch was fairly obscure, and neither Flight Director Gerald Griffin nor Conrad knew what it was; astronaut Alan Bean knew where to find it and threw the switch, after which the telemetry came back online, revealing no significant malfunctions. The flight was not aborted, and the mission was successful. Aaron’s call “SCE to Aux” remains legendary.

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.