Wednesday continues the streak of mostly sunny skies and warm afternoons. Both today and Thursday brings the possibility of highs in the mid 80s for some locations.
We will be keeping an eye on two features that will ultimately dictate our weather pattern here at home heading into the weekend. The first is a weak disturbance along the Gulf Coast that will travel along the coast beginning Thursday night and especially Friday. As this disturbance moves closer to the Alabama coast, plenty of rich Gulf moisture will be pumped into our area. This means increasing chances for showers and thunderstorms Friday afternoon and evening. This could cause problems for some Friday Night Football games this week. We are still not expecting a washout Friday night, but you will definitely need the umbrella if you are out and about Friday night.

This Gulf disturbance should push to the east by Saturday, limiting our rain chances for the weekend. However, a cold front will approach North Alabama from the northwest this weekend. As it approaches, the front will stall out nearby, likely off to our northwest across Tennessee and Kentucky. Should this front get close to our area, a few isolated showers and storms will be possible once again Saturday. This front will remain stalled very close by to our area, meaning the chance is there for one or two stray showers Sunday. By Monday, the front finally begins to move again, resulting in a very wet start to next week. Luckily, rainfall totals still look fairly light over the next seven days, with anywhere between a half inch to three quarters of an inch expected. Nonetheless, keep the umbrella nearby later this week and heading into next week as well.