James Spann says colder air arrives in Alabama next week, but very little rain from Alabama News Center on Vimeo.

WE NEED RAIN: The new drought monitor will be released this morning, and we all know that drought conditions continue to intensify across Alabama and the Deep South. The last time we experienced more than one-half inch of rain was on Sept. 16 (the total in Birmingham that day was 0.86 inch), and the chance of beneficial rain looks very low through the next seven to 10 days.

Look for partly to mostly sunny, warm afternoons and fair, pleasant nights through the weekend. Highs will be in the low to mid 80s, lows in the 60s.

NEXT WEEK: A sharp cold front will pass through Alabama Monday, bringing some clouds and possibly a few sprinkles. It will set up a huge thermal contrast; by afternoon some parts of the Tennessee Valley could be in the 40s, while the southern counties are in the 80s.

All of Alabama will be in the colder air Tuesday and Wednesday. Highs drop into the 50s over the northern half of the state both days, with 60s for the southern counties. Lows will be in the 30s over north and central Alabama early Wednesday and Thursday mornings, and some of the colder spots could see their first freeze of the season. For now, we expect no rain over the latter half of the week.FOOTBALL WEATHER: The sky will be clear for the high school games across Alabama Friday night with temperatures falling from the mid 70s at kickoff into the upper 60s.

For Saturday’s Magic City Classic in Birmingham (Alabama State vs. Alabama A&M, 2:30 p.m. kickoff at Legion Field), the sky will be partly to mostly sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 80s. It will be a warm October afternoon.

Auburn hosts Mississippi State (2:30 p.m. kickoff) at Jordan Hare Stadium. Dry, warm weather is the story, with temperatures between 81 and 84 degrees for most of the game. The sky will be mostly sunny.

TROPICS: Tammy, in the Atlantic about 390 miles east/southeast of Bermuda, has made the transition to an extratropical cyclone, and the National Hurricane Center has issued its last advisory. The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.

ON THIS DATE IN 1952: A B-29 Super-fortress flight into Super Typhoon Wilma 350 miles east of Leyte in the Philippines disappeared. No trace was ever found of the plane or crew. In the last report, the flight was in the typhoon’s strongest winds, which were around 160 mph. There have been thousands of weather reconnaissance and research flights into hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific since the mid-1940s. There have been several close calls, but only four flights have been lost.

ON THIS DATE IN 1998: Hurricane Mitch, the second-deadliest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, reached Category 5 strength.

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