Alabama’s weather gets much more active Monday and Tuesday: strong winds, heavy rain, and a

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Alabama’s first soaker in months comes with a threat of severe storms with high wind gusts and torrential rainfall. Some localized flooding and numerous power outages are expected overnight into Tuesday morning. Check the video forecast for the latest. IMPACT WEATHER: RAIN, WIND, STORMSWidespread rain and a wave of strong thunderstorms blow through Alabama late Monday night through Tuesday morning. The threat of heavy rainfall and strong, gusty non-thunderstorm winds upwards of 40 miles per hour increases after 10 p.m. through sunrise Tuesday.Here are the main take-aways for Monday night and Tuesday morning: Timing: The risk of a few severe storms in North and Central Alabama runs from as early as 10 p.m. Monday to as late as 10 a.m. Tuesday starting in the west and slowly tracking eastward. Severe threat: The higher risk of severe weather exists in Mississippi Monday night, but a few storms along this line could still briefly become severe with wind gusts as high as 70 miles per hour. Any rotating storms could produce tornadoes, so be alert for watches and warnings overnight.Strong winds: Winds will become very gusty ahead of and along the line of storms rolling across central Alabama. In fact, non-thunderstorm wind gusts above 40 mph will be possible until the line passes early Tuesday morning. Drought relief? Alabama’s state climatologist, Dr. John Christy, says we need around 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain to formally end the drought. Our expectation is an average of 1 to 2 inches of rain between Monday and Tuesday (some localized spots could go higher than three inches). That is enough to show significant improvement and potentially end the drought in some communities. With lots of leaves on the ground potentially blocking drainage areas, some flooding will be possible in the heaviest rain areas. That stormy weather is gone by Tuesday afternoon, and some cooler, drier Pacific air slides in for the middle of the week in Alabama. Another cold front arriving Wednesday night leads to some colder air southward, and that should keep us cooler than normal for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and most of the weekend. Thursday will feature a cold morning in the 30s and 40s, and then mainly cloudy skies in the afternoon. Early morning:Mid-afternoon:A weak disturbance moving northeast out of the Gulf of Mexico could spread some light rain into Alabama later in the day on Thanksgiving.WEEKEND OUTLOOKA slim chance of showers Friday ends fairly early in the day, and the rest of the weekend looks dry and seasonably cool for late November.Look for chilly mornings in the 40s and cool, dry afternoons in the 50s to lower 60s.Weather for the Iron Bowl on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium looks good: a high in the low-60s with a partly to mostly cloudy sky and gentle northwest wind.STAY WEATHER AWAREFor the latest weather coverage for your area, click here. And stay updated with alerts in the WVTM 13 app. You can download it here.For the latest Birmingham weather information and central Alabama’s certified most accurate forecast, watch WVTM 13 News. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.