RAIN RETURNS TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY; CHILLY AGAIN TODAY… Grab the jacket and keep it handy today as temperatures will struggle to get out of the mid-50s across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Rain chances will be on the rise today, especially as we go into the evening hours. Friday looks increasingly wet across the eastern half of our region as an area of low pressure develops in the Gulf of Mexico and lifts northeast. The good news is we dry out for Saturday and Sunday as temperatures increase into the 60s in the afternoon hours each day. More rain and more cold air is coming next week on Tuesday. Let’s look at a few details.

CLOUDY SKIES TODAY; RAIN LIKELY LATE THIS EVENING… Clouds will hang tough throughout the day on this Thursday. We’ll be watching radar trends throughout the day as scattered showers are expected to develop this evening. The greater chance of rain this evening into tonight will happen in counties on the eastern side of our region in Covington, Butler, Okaloosa, Walton, Coffee, and Geneva counties. That trend will hold into Friday as well. The farther east you are in southeast Alabama, the higher your specific rain chance will be. High temperatures today will be in the mid-50s.

SEVERE WEATHER NOT EXPECTED TODAY… Due to the cool air in place and lack of overall atmospheric instability, severe storms are not expected today. Could there be a few claps of thunder and lightning involved at times today? Yes, but even that may be a stretch as instability also fuels thunder and lightning. Today, it’s lacking in a major way. Good news!

PARADE FORECAST FRIDAY EVENING… We have several Christmas parade events happening across the region Friday evening. As of now, we’re still calling for a 40-50% chance of showers in the evening hours on Friday in communities along and east of Interstate 65. If you’re in west Alabama, however, rain chances will be a bit lower, in the 20-30% chance range. Temperatures will consistently be in the mid-50s Friday evening.

DRIER WEEKEND ON TAP… Sunshine is likely to return on Saturday and Sunday. High temperatures will be in the upper-60s each day. Any lingering rain showers should be well to our east by early Saturday morning.

ANOTHER COLD FRONT TO MOVE BY LATE MONDAY… Yet another round of rain and potentially a few thunderstorms is expected to happen on Monday into Tuesday of the upcoming week as another reinforcing shot of cold air moves in from the northwest. Highs on Monday will be in the 70s, but we’ll be in the 50s on Tuesday afternoon.

APP… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. We post brief updates throughout each day in the app, keeping you up-to-date about the latest happenings in weather across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Once you have the free app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.

I’m looking forward to visiting the kindergarten class at Dunes Lake Elementary School in Santa Rosa Beach, FL to discuss severe weather safety later today.

See all of your forecast details details in the Wednesday #rzw forecast video. Have a great day!