RADAR CHECK: Scattered showers persist over north Alabama this afternoon with a mostly cloudy sky. Temperatures there are in the 60s. The sky is partly to mostly sunny over the southern counties of the state with temperatures in the 70s. Showers will fade this evening, and the sky will become mostly fair statewide.

THE WEEKEND: A decent part of the state will be dry and warm Saturday with a high in the upper 70s and low 80s, but showers and storms will develop over parts of west and southwest Alabama by afternoon, moving eastward during the evening into the central and eastern counties. Some thunder is possible, but storms should be under severe limits where they develop.

Another area of showers will move into the state after midnight Saturday night into Sunday morning, but, with weak dynamics and little instability, rain amounts should be light and spotty. Dry air returns Sunday afternoon with some clearing possible. The high will be between 67 and 74 degrees.

NEXT WEEK: For now, the entire week looks dry with sunny days and fair nights, an unusual five-day stretch of dry weather in April. Highs will be in the 70s Monday and Tuesday, followed by low to mid 80s over the latter half of the week. Showers and storms will likely return over the following weekend, April 22-23.ON THIS DATE IN 1912: On her maiden voyage, the RMS Titanic rammed into an iceberg just before midnight. The “unsinkable ship” sank two hours and 40 minutes later into the icy water of the Atlantic Ocean near Newfoundland, Canada. Tragically, 1,517 passengers including the crew were lost. A nearby ship, the Carpathia, rushed to the Titanic and was able to save 706 people.

ON THIS DATE IN 1935: Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935, as part of the Dust Bowl. During the afternoon, the residents of the Plains States were forced to take cover as a dust storm, or “black blizzard,” blew through the region. The storm hit the Oklahoma Panhandle and northwestern Oklahoma first and moved south for the remainder of the day. It hit Beaver around 4 p.m., Boise City around 5:15 p.m. and Amarillo, Texas, at 7:20 p.m. The conditions were the most severe in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, but the storm’s effects were felt in surrounding areas.

BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.

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