If you need some rain, next week looks promising for at least a little wet weather

The days get a little hotter through the weekend, and there is finally a little hope for rain across Alabama soon. Check the video forecast for the latest.SHORT TERM THROUGH FRIDAYThe nights are comfortably cool, and the days are noticeably warm in mid-September. It is also usually dry as a bone. We get more of that overnight through Friday.Thursday night high school football looks fantastic: temperatures in the mid-70s with a light east breeze and no threat of rain. Vincent visits B.B. Comer. Greene County is at Winston County. Winfield goes to Midfield, and Jasper is at Wenonah.Temperatures drop to the 50s and 60s early Friday morning, with potential for a gorgeous sunrise. Clouds thinning at just the right time should provide some beautiful oranges, pinks, and reds around 6:20 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. in Central Alabama.It gets warm quickly under a partly to mostly sunny sky. Expect a rebound to the mid-80s by mid-afternoon with a light east-northeast wind around 5 to 10 miles per hour.The weather for high school football Friday night does not get much better than this. It stays dry and pleasant: temperatures hovering in the 70s most of the game with a light east wind.FALLING INTO THE WEEKENDThe seasons change this weekend, but the weather does not change much at all. Alabama has already started to slide into a more autumn-like pattern. Temperatures hit 95 degrees less than 10 days ago, and now the first weekend of fall looks and feels much more like one would expect.The autumnal equinox occurs at 1:50 a.m. CDT Saturday.Saturday and Sunday both feature the classic, comfortable morning and toasty afternoon so common this time of year. Expect morning lows in the lower 60s and daytime highs ranging from the lower 80s over eastern Alabama to as hot as 85 to 88 degrees in Jefferson, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa counties westward into Mississippi.Saturday stays totally dry. A tropical storm near the East Coast is in classic position to signal a perfectly dry day for Alabama.Sunday, on the other hand, could bring in a few showers. That chance it greatest over western and northwestern Alabama. We do not expect a lot of rain at all on Sunday: just a chance of some spotty areas of rain or a brief downpour.COLLEGE FOOTBALLALABAMA vs. OLE MISS (2:30 p.m. at Bryant-Denny Stadium): Expect sunny, warm, and dry weather to open SEC play in Tuscaloosa Saturday with a kickoff temperature in the mid-80s, a light northeast wind, and no threat of storms.AUBURN at TEXAS A&M (11 a.m. in College Station, Texas): It’s going to be hot in Texas this weekend! Kyle Field’s air temperature around kickoff comes in around 86 degrees, with a heat index in the mid-90s. By the time the game is over, the heat index will be close to 100 degrees (air temp in the mid-90s).UAB at GEORGIA (6:30 p.m. CDT/7:30 p.m. EDT in Athens, Georgia): UAB’s trip to Georgia starts with a mostly sunny and breezy afternoon. Temperatures fall from the upper 70s to the upper 60s during the game with a stiff north breeze.JACKSONVILLE STATE vs. EASTERN MICHIGAN (4 p.m. at Burgess-Snow Field): This should be a nice afternoon for football in northeastern Alabama! A fresh north breeze keeps the heat down; expect temperatures around 80 degrees at kickoff.SAMFORD vs. CHATTANOOGA (2 p.m. at Seibert Stadium): It gets warm on Saturday afternoon in Homewood. Expect a high in the mid-80s around kickoff with a northeast breeze. Temperatures drop back toward the upper 70s by the end of the game.SOME RAIN TO START THE WEEKSunday’s slim chance of rain does not produce much wet weather for us, but Monday and Tuesday look a bit more promising. The rain chance is up to 50 percent on Monday and 40 percent Tuesday. Those probabilities are based on the chance of a single spot around Birmingham getting over a tenth of an inch of rainfall. The odds of a half-inch or more drop sharply: down around 5 to 10 percent.In other words, we do expect some rain. We just don’t expect a lot of rain.Clouds and occasional showers do help hold down the heat. Temperatures only rise to the upper 70s and lower 80s for highs early next week.It gets drier again from Wednesday toward next weekend, and the air keeps that fall feel: highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s and lows in the 50s and 60s.TROPICAL OUTLOOKThe National Hurricane Center is tracking ‘Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen’ east of Florida in the Atlantic. This disturbance likely spins up into a Tropical Storm in the next 48 hours, and it would get the name ‘Ophelia.’ North Carolina’s coast is under a Tropical Storm Warning; that is where Ophelia likely makes landfall on Saturday. It then moves north toward the Delmarva Peninsula, and it moves along the coast to Massachusetts through Monday.Another disturbance in the far eastern Atlantic has high potential for development in the next few days as well. It could become a named storm by early next week.Neither of these potential storms pose an immediate threat to the Gulf Coast.Remaining storm names for 2023:OpheliaPhilippeRinaSeanTammyVinceWhitneyCLICK TO SEE THE 7-DAY FORECASTSTAY WEATHER AWARE For the latest Birmingham weather information and central Alabama's certified most accurate forecast, watch WVTM 13 News.Current Weather ConditionsHourly Forecast | 10-Day ForecastInteractive RadarBirmingham SkycamsLive Doppler RadarSign Up For Email Weather AlertsDownload the WVTM 13 AppDon't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.