Tropical Storm Idalia moves out to sea but leave some influence behind for Alabama

Idalia weakened to a tropical storm and continues east. Alabama gets drier and cooler with morning lows falling to the 60s. Some rain develops by Friday. Check the video forecast for the latest.IDALIA WEAKENS TO A TROPICAL STORMIdalia officially made landfall at 6:45 Wednesday morning along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach. Although Idalia strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph a few hours before landfall, winds were estimated to be 125 mph, a Category 3 storm, at the time of landfall. Now a tropical storm, Idalia continues to weaken as it tracks northeast affecting Georgia and the Carolinas. Idalia's core is expected to move into the Atlantic Thursday and gain an east, southeast direction. The current forecast track takes Idalia far into the Atlantic during the weekend as it continues to weaken. Though Alabama received zero direct impacts from Idalia, the rip current risk is high for Alabama and northwest Florida beaches through Thursday night.SHORT-TERM FORECASTIsolated showers are active over east Alabama this evening but most of us stay free of rain. As Idalia shifts east, a consistent northerly flow pattern brings drier air to Alabama through Thursday. Clouds clear overnight and the drier air will drop dewpoints leaving us cool and more comfortable. Temperatures fall to the low 60s in central Alabama with places in north Alabama closer to the 50s ahead of sunrise Thursday morning. Expect a better supply of sunshine on Thursday with highs in the middle 80s, and a fresh north breeze. COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKOFF THURSDAY NIGHTYou don’t find weather this nice for the first home games at Samford and UAB very often.UAB hosts North Carolina A&T at Protective Stadium on Thursday evening, and Samford hosts Shorter at Seibert Stadium. Temperatures drop from around 80 degrees at kickoff to the mid-70s in the fourth quarter. We get a clear sky and gentle north breeze along with very low humidity.FRIDAY, FOOTBALL, AND LABOR DAY WEEKENDA slight shift in wind direction brings a surge of moisture into Alabama Friday, and there will be some scattered showers and storms Friday afternoon and evening. It still gets hot, with high temperatures reaching the upper 80s and lower 90s, but the weather for high school football looks light years better than last week.Expect temperatures in the 70s with a light southeast wind and a partly cloudy sky.Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all look very typical of Labor Day weekend: Hot afternoons with only a small chance of a brief shower or storm Highs near 90 degrees Humid air keeping it muggy at night A lot of sunshineLook for more clear weather than clouds through the first part of next week: highs in the lower 90s and overnight lows in the 70s.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.