RADAR CHECK: We have numerous showers and thunderstorms in process across Alabama this afternoon, moving steadily to the east. Heavier storms are likely over the southwest part of the state this evening, where the Storm Prediction Center has defined a marginal risk (level 1 of 5).

Showers and storms will fade away late tonight as the air becomes more stable.

THE WEEKEND: Drier air will enter the state Saturday and showers should become fewer in number. Most of them will be over the eastern and southern counties of the state; otherwise the day will feature a partly sunny sky with a high in the upper 80s. On Sunday, look for a good supply of sunshine with only a small risk of a shower. Sunday’s high will be close to 90 degrees.

NEXT WEEK: Showers will remain scarce Monday and Tuesday but should increase over the latter half of the week as moisture levels rise again. Highs during the week will be mostly in the mid to upper 80s, which is below average for August in Alabama.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm Josephine is about 550 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands this afternoon with winds of 40 mph. The system is expected to pass north of the Leeward Islands over the weekend, then turn northward well east of the U.S. Shear will be increasing by Sunday and Monday, and the system could dissipate then. One way or another, it won’t affect the U.S.

Elsewhere, satellite imagery indicates that shower activity associated with the low-pressure area about 300 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, has become better organized. In addition, recent satellite wind data show that the circulation is becoming better defined, with winds to near gale force to the southeast of the center. If current trends continue, a tropical depression or tropical storm is likely to form later today or tonight. Regardless of development, this system is expected to move east-northeastward well to the southeast of New England and to the south of the Canadian Maritime provinces. It’s no threat to the U.S.

The rest of the Atlantic basin, including the Gulf of Mexico, is quiet.

ON THIS DATE IN 1969: Hurricane Camille, a powerful, deadly and destructive hurricane, formed just west of the Cayman Islands. It rapidly intensified, and by the time it reached western Cuba the next day it was a Category 3 hurricane. Camille was spawned Aug. 5 by a tropical wave off the coast of Africa. The storm became a tropical disturbance on Aug. 9 and a tropical storm on Aug. 14 with a 999-millibar pressure center and 55 mph surface winds.

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