Ready to break the heat? A cool front moving into Alabama Tuesday with a few storms

A chance of showers and a few thunderstorms across central Alabama through this evening. Temperatures trend cooler behind the passing front. Check the video forecast for the latest. COOL FRONT PASSING Central Alabama hit the 90s again today and most areas are still feeling the afternoon heat. Very few isolated storms have developed ahead of the approaching front. Forcing is limited for strong storms, but a few heavy downpours are possible before Wednesday arrives. The greatest chance of a storm comes from the Birmingham area northeast toward Gadsden, Oneonta, Cullman, Huntsville, into Northeast Alabama. A few of the spotty storms could drop more than a half inch of rainfall in some communities while others stay dusty and dry."Cool fronts" in September often overpromise and underdeliver. This one promises some slightly cooler air, but you will feel the impact more at night than during the day.Wednesday’s average high temperature (climatology) in Birmingham is 87 degrees. The incoming "cooler" air brings us down near that normal level, so it stays warm in the afternoons. It is the nighttime lows that drop from the 70s on Monday and Tuesday to the lower and middle 60s for the rest of the week. Showers move out by Wednesday morning, so the daylight hours look dry. Clouds help keep the temperature down Wednesday along with a northerly wind. We stay rain-free for Thursday, but another front approaching will stir up a few showers from Friday into the weekend.RAIN FOR THE WEEKEND?This week’s cool front represents the leading edge of a cooler air mass, and that air is driven south by a Canadian "high." That area of high pressure ends up over the Great Lakes by Friday.The airflow around that high allows a small surge of Gulf moisture north into Alabama on Friday, and the increased moisture means a chance of some scattered showers and storms. A few of them could impact high school football games this week.Saturday and Sunday bring more of the same: chaotic, hit-or-miss, unevenly scattered showers and storms that result in some locally heavy rain. Most of North and Central Alabama get between a quarter and a half inch of rain by Sunday night; however, some stand to get a lot more, while some are totally missed. TROPICAL OUTLOOKHurricane Lee remains a dangerous Category Three storm in the Atlantic. It does not look like 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 Hurricane Margot is no threat to land at all.There is another disturbance in the far eastern Atlantic that has the potential to grow into a long-track storm that could again threaten the East Coast in about 10-12 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. Margot is our 13th named storm of the year, a mark we would not normally see until Oct. 11. The average Atlantic Hurricane season sees a number of 14 named storms. Remaining storm names for 2023:NigelOpheliaPhilippeRinaSeanTammyVinceWhitneyWHEN TO EXPECT SOME FALL WEATHERIt got dry quickly after mid-August. Birmingham has measured rain twice since August 14th for a total of 2.22 inches. That is around 40 percent of the normal rainfall for the past 28 days, and we are now headed to the driest period of the year (September and October).One thing you can almost always count on in Fall is dry weather with some occasional rainy periods. "Cool" weather usually does not come and stay until sometime in October, but we do see fewer of the truly hot days for the rest of September.The latest medium-range guidance puts Central Alabama's mid-September weather right on target for "normal." Expect warm days and mild nights: cooler to the northeast and warmer to the southwest of Birmingham in general.Temperatures likely hit 90 for the final time this season for most of North Alabama this week; however, we could still see up to five more days of 90-degree heat in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery, Clanton, and Demopolis.Fall officially begins with the autumnal equinox on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 1:50 a.m. CDT.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.