AUGUST HEAT: Temperatures are between 95 and 100 degrees across most of Alabama at midafternoon with a partly to mostly sunny sky. We note a few isolated storms over the northeast corner of the state; a few more could form over the next few hours, but most places will stay dry. The low tonight will be in the 70s.Alabama’s weather won’t change much through the weekend thanks to the large upper high in place. Daily highs will be between 95 and 99 degrees for most communities, with heat index values exceeding 100 each day. We will maintain the chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms in the noon-to-midnight window daily as high-resolution models suggest the air aloft will be a tad colder and instability levels a bit higher. But the chance of any one spot actually getting wet through Sunday is only 20-25%.

NEXT WEEK: The upper ridge breaks down and shifts westward. Accordingly, heat levels drop, and scattered showers and storms will increase in coverage Monday and Tuesday. The high will be close to 90 Monday, followed by mid to upper 80s Tuesday through Friday. Global models continue to hint at drier, continental air moving into the state by midweek; if this happens, lows could drop into the 50s over the northern half of the state by Thursday morning.FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the first week of high school football, it will be very warm and humid across Alabama Friday night. An isolated storm can’t be totally ruled out; otherwise, the sky will be mostly fair with temperatures falling through the 80s during the games.

Saturday, Jacksonville State hosts the University of Texas at El Paso (4:30 p.m. kickoff) at Burgess-Snow Field; the weather will be very hot with an outside risk of a brief shower or storm during the game. Expect a kickoff temperature near 96 degrees, falling into the upper 80s by the final whistle.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm Franklin is in the Atlantic, centered about 100 miles east/northeast of Grand Turk Island with winds of 60 mph. It is moving northeast at 7 mph and is forecast to become a hurricane over the weekend west of Bermuda. Franklin will remain east of the U.S.

Closer to home, a broad area of low pressure centered over Central America is forecast to move into the northwestern Caribbean Sea by this weekend. Some gradual development of this system is possible thereafter into early next week, and a tropical depression could form while it moves slowly northward, entering the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) gives the system a 60% chance of becoming a depression or storm within seven days.

It is way too early to know the intensity or specific track of this system, or the impact on Florida, but it is clearly something to watch over the next few days. If a tropical system does form, most global models suggest the impact will be southeast of Alabama next week.

The NHC is monitoring two other areas of interest in the tropical Atlantic, but those won’t affect any land areas.

ON THIS DATE IN 1992: Hurricane Andrew made landfall in southern Florida at 4:30 a.m. The high winds caused catastrophic damage, with the Miami-Dade County cities of Florida City, Homestead and Cutler Ridge receiving the brunt of the storm. About 63,000 homes were destroyed and more than 101,000 others were damaged. This storm left roughly 175,000 people homeless. As many as 1.4 million people were left without electricity at the height of the storm. Forty-four fatalities were reported in Florida.

Andrew is one of only four tropical cyclones to make landfall in the continental United States as a Category 5, alongside the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, 1969’s Camille and 2018’s Michael. With a barometric pressure of 922 millibars at the time of landfall in Florida, Andrew is the sixth-most-intense hurricane to strike the United States.

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