Cooler tomorrow, lots of rain Thursday

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A mostly cloudy, warm and occasionally wet week is underway for central and south Alabama. The news isn’t all bad, though. First, we’ll be cool enough to prevent severe weather but warm enough to not have any problems with ice or snow... we can call it the comfortable middle ground. Secondly, the rain will clear out in time for the weekend! Saturday and Sunday are shaping up to be dry and noticeably colder.

The big change to the forecast - a drop in temperatures tomorrow afternoon from Montgomery north and west. Places like Demopolis, Selma, Marion, Prattville and Billingsley will stay in the 50s most or all of the day. Even in Montgomery, it will be a struggle to reach 60 degrees. Much of south Alabama will be dramatically warmer, edging up close to 70 degrees in places like Andalusia, Dothan and Enterprise.

The takeaway - it won’t be a “one number” kind of day. The farther north/west you live, the cooler it will be; southern and eastern sections of the state will be warmer.

Any rain that falls will be spotty and brief.

That will change in a mighty way by Thursday and Thursday night, as the stalled front west of us finally begins to move eastward.

Mild and muggy with a few showers... Thursday's front brings wet weather and then a drop in... — Mild and muggy with a few showers... Thursday's front brings wet weather and then a drop in temperature!(WSFA 12 News)

Heavy rain is likely Thursday afternoon and Thursday night; widespread 1 to 3 inch rainfall amounts are likely; a few claps of thunder are possible, but at the moment we do not see any risk of strong or severe thunderstorms with this system.

A shower or two could linger Friday morning, but skies will clear quickly as the day progresses. Colder air rushes in behind the front; temperatures will stay stuck in the 50s all day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with overnight lows dropping into the 30s. The weekend will be cold, but sunny and dry.

As always, remember to download the free WSFA 12 News First Alert Weather app. That way you can gain the latest weather information from the First Alert Weather Team wherever you go. Just search WSFA Weather in the Apple App Store or Google Play store today.

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