RADAR CHECK: This is a cloudy, cool Friday with patchy, light rain over the southern half of the state at midafternoon. We note a few peeks of sun over the Tennessee Valley. Temperatures are between 57 and 65 degrees over the northern counties, with low to mid 70s over south Alabama. Tonight will be cloudy with some light rain at times.

Cool, damp weather continues over the weekend with periods of light rain statewide. Additional rain amounts between now and Sunday evening will be one-half to 1 inch for much of the state. Communities across north Alabama will likely hold in the mid to upper 50s Saturday and Sunday with a cloudy sky.

NEXT WEEK: Monday will be dry, but more rain will move into the southern two-thirds of the state Tuesday, and we will mention some risk of rain statewide Wednesday and Thursday. Seven-day rain totals will range from around one-half inch for the Tennessee Valley to 3-4 inches over south Alabama. Highs will be mostly in the 60s through the week.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: Periods of light rain are possible for the high school playoff games across the state tonight with temperatures hovering in the upper 50s and low 60s.

Saturday, Alabama travels to Lexington to take on Kentucky (11 a.m. CT kickoff). The sky will be mostly sunny with temperatures rising from near 52 at kickoff to around 56 degrees by the final whistle.

UAB is also on the road, playing Navy in in Annapolis, Maryland (2:30 p.m. CT kickoff). It will be a great day for football; the sky will be sunny with temperatures falling from the mid 50s at kickoff into the upper 40s by the fourth quarter.

Auburn will be in Fayetteville taking on Arkansas (3 p.m. CT kickoff). The sky will be partly to mostly sunny with temperatures falling from the low 60s at kickoff into the 50s by the fourth quarter.

TROPICS: A broad area of low pressure is forecast to form in the southwestern Caribbean Sea by the middle of next week. Thereafter, environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development of this system while it drifts slowly, remaining in the Caribbean Sea through the latter part of next week. The National Hurricane Center gives it a 30% chance of development over the next seven days. The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.

ON THIS DATE IN 1975: SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America’s Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there. She was located in deep water on Nov. 14, 1975, by a U.S. Navy aircraft detecting magnetic anomalies and was found soon afterward to be in two large pieces.

ON THIS DATE IN 2002: Tornadoes in Alabama were responsible for 12 deaths. Some of the most significant damage was in Walker County; the Saragossa tornado, which killed eight, was on the ground for 73 miles, the fourth-longest path of any tornado in modern Alabama history at the time. The town of Carbon Hill was dealt a heavy blow. In June 2002, the town’s high school had burned to the ground. On this deadly night, an F3 tornado destroyed the town’s elementary school.

This was part of a regional tornado outbreak Nov. 9-10, 2002; 76 tornadoes were reported in 17 states. Almost one out of every six was a killer, resulting in 36 fatalities.

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