Hot and dry to start the week, but there's some cooler air coming soon!

Summer’s sting fades this week as Alabama shifts to a fall-like weather pattern. That still means very little rainfall until the weekend. Check the video forecast for the latest.WARM START TO THE WEEKBirmingham’s "normal" high temperature on September 11 is 87 degrees. That is "average" for the past 30 years. Most of us crack the 90-degree mark again on Monday, and this week may be the last time you feel that this season. Summer’s heat slips away as a weather pattern change shifts us toward cooler air later this week.It’s a hot, dry start to the workweek. Expect highs near 90 degrees under a mostly sunny sky after a humid Monday morning in the upper 60s. CHANGES BEGIN TUESDAYAugust was a very wet month for most of North and Central Alabama. Birmingham had 6.87 inches of rain through August 28th. The switch flipped to dry after that: 0nly 0.45" since August 29th.We are getting dry, but not quite into drought just yet.Some scattered showers develop around the state Tuesday, but this does not look like a widespread soaking. Instead, you can expect some occasional showers or a brief storm on another hot September day: highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s, chance of a storm at 20 percent.Tuesday’s slim chance of rain comes ahead of a cool front, and this one should take the heat down a few notches for the rest of the week.In fact, Monday and Tuesday are probably one of the last (if not the absolute last) 90-degree days in the Birmingham area for the rest of the season. We look for some more clouds and showers on Wednesday as the cooler air moves in, and then it gets drier and more comfortable by Thursday.SOME RAIN BY THE WEEKENDShowers creep into the forecast again by Friday, and some of that unsettled weather lasts into the weekend, too.Temperatures settle a little below average (80s by day, 60s at night) through Friday and the weekend as the sky gets grayer and the weather gets wetter. Expect occasional showers and a few scattered storms around for high school football this week.Rain becomes more widespread over the weekend, but the distribution of rainfall stays very uneven. The downpours’ spotty nature means some communities could get more than one inch of rain while others barely get enough to settle the dust through Sunday afternoon.TROPICAL OUTLOOKHurricane Lee remains a dangerous Category Three storm in the Atlantic. It does not threaten a direct hit on the East Coast, but the large swells it generates cause high surf and high rip current threats up and down the Atlantic Coast through the end of the week.Lee likely ends up over southeastern Canada by the weekend, and Tropical Storm Margot is no threat to land at all.There are two other disturbances in the far eastern Atlantic, and one of those has the potential to grow into a long-track storm that could again threaten the East Coast in about 12 to 14 days. It seems unlikely that it would pose a real threat to the Gulf of Mexico; however, we will keep an eye on it.The peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season historically occurs on Sept. 10. Margo is our thirteenth named storm of the year, a mark we would not normally see until Oct. 11.Remaining storm names for 2023:NigelOpheliaPhilippeRinaSeanTammyVinceWhitneyFALL IN SIGHTBirmingham’s average final 90-degree day of the year comes around Sept. 20. Through Sunday, we have recorded 69 days at or above 90 degrees. An average summer has around 65 days in the 90s or hotter.Birmingham’s normal high temperature drops from 88 degrees this week to 82 degrees by the last day of the month. Fall begins on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 1:50 a.m. CDT, and it is very likely that 90-degree weather will be all behind us by then. We expect a string of cooler-than-normal weather through the next three weeks. That does not necessarily mean "cool" or "chilly" days, but it does allow for cooler nights and pleasantly warm, dry days with very little opportunity for substantial rainfall.CLICK 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.