DRY AIR: The sky is sunny across Alabama this afternoon with temperatures between 87 and 92 degrees, which is below average for late July. The air is dry; the humidity at Birmingham is 41% at 2 p.m. Tonight will be fair with a low between 65 and 72 degrees.

Dry air and a building upper ridge mean a mostly dry weather pattern for Alabama for the rest of the week and the weekend. Expect mostly sunny days and fair nights with highs in the 90s and lows in the 70s. Enough moisture could return for a few isolated afternoon storms by Friday and the weekend, but odds of any one place getting wet will stay less than 20%.

NEXT WEEK: The quiet summer pattern continues as the ridge stays in place. Afternoon storms will remain isolated; highs will be in the 90s.

TROPICS: Long-lived Tropical Storm Don is done; the system is post-tropical over the cooler water of the North Atlantic, far from land.

Elsewhere, a tropical wave (Invest 95L) is a few hundred miles east of the Windward Islands. Although this system has not become any better organized since Sunday, some slow development remains possible during the next couple of days while it moves westward near 20 mph across the tropical Atlantic and into the eastern Caribbean Sea. Regardless of development, locally heavy rains and strong, gusty winds are possible across portions of the Lesser Antilles during the next day or two. Environmental conditions are expected to become unfavorable for development of this system by the middle of the week. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) gives it only a 20% chance of development.

A weak trough of low pressure is a few hundred miles south of Bermuda. Environmental conditions are expected to become marginally conducive for some gradual development of this system as it moves toward the southeastern U.S. coast later this week and into the weekend. The NHC also gives this feature only a 20% chance of development over the next seven days.The rest of the Atlantic basin is very quiet, and there are no tropical systems near the Gulf of Mexico.

ON THIS DATE IN 1930: An estimated F5 tornado tore through Montello, Veneto and Friuli in Italy, killing 23 people along its 50-mile path.

ON THIS DATE IN 1952: The temperature at Louisville, Georgia, soared to 112 degrees to establish a state record. The temperature also hit 112 degrees in Greenville, Georgia, on Aug. 20, 1983.

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