RADAR CHECK: We have a few spotty showers and thunderstorms on radar this afternoon across the central part of Alabama; otherwise, we have a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures ranging from the 70s across the northern third of the state to the mid 90s across the southern counties. Scattered showers will end this evening, and most communities will be dry tonight.

Generally dry weather will continue Thursday and during the day Friday, with only isolated storms. A surface front will bring a band of thunderstorms into Alabama Friday night.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Showers and storms will remain possible Saturday as the front sags southward; they will be most numerous over the southern two-thirds of the state. This won’t be an all-day rain, and the sun will be out at times. Heat levels come way down; most places will see a high between 84 and 89 degrees. On Sunday, the northern half of the state will be in a drier air mass. The sky will be mostly sunny with lower humidity levels. The high will be near 90 degrees. Scattered storms will remain possible across the southern counties.

NEXT WEEK: For now, the week looks quiet with mostly sunny days, only isolated afternoon storms and highs in the low to mid 90s.TROPICS: Tropical Storm Don, a weak system with winds of only 40 mph, remains far from land and will likely dissipate by early next week in the cooler waters of the North Atlantic.

Elsewhere, cloudiness and showers continue over the eastern tropical Atlantic, centered a few hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands in association with a tropical wave. While dry air should prevent significant organization during the next few days, environmental conditions could become more conducive for some development by this weekend while the wave moves westward across the central tropical Atlantic at about 20 mph.The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet, and no tropical systems will be near the U.S. for the next seven days.

ON THIS DATE IN 1997: Hurricane Danny made landfall near Mullet Point as a Category 1 storm. Due to the slow motion of the system, it brought historic rain totals to southwest Alabama. Radar estimated an incredible 43 inches of storm total rain over the open water in Mobile Bay. Observing sites reported 30-40 inches across the area. Dauphin Island reported 36.71 inches, with 25.98 inches of this falling between 5 p.m. and midnight.

Record flooding caused major damage to homes along the Fowl River in Mobile County and the Fish River in Baldwin County. In Mobile County, most roads on Dauphin Island were covered with more than a foot of water. A CSX railroad trestle was undermined by flooding and collapsed at U.S. 90 and Ramsey Road. In Baldwin County, numerous roads south of U.S. 98 and near the Fish River were inundated and impassable for days. It was estimated that 80% of the Alabama public oyster reefs in Mobile County and 60% of the reefs in Baldwin County were destroyed.

ON THIS DATE IN 2006: A derecho affected a sellout crowd of almost 44,000 St. Louis Cardinals fans packed into the new Busch Stadium. Winds of about 80 mph whirled around the St. Louis area, sending the fans running for shelter. The winds knocked out power and broke windows out of the press box. Nearly two minutes after the winds began at 100 mph, they stopped, and it started to rain. About 30 people were injured at the stadium.

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