AWN Statewide Forecast for Wednesday Evening, May 20, 2026

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:03]It's time for [music] your statewide Alabama weather cast.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> It's Wednesday night the 20th of May.

[00:00:13]Let's begin this update with views coming from the amazing regions Sky Cam Network. This is Florence, one of the cooler spots in the state because of nearby rain showers. They are at 70.

[00:00:23]These uh images were captured about 5:30 this evening. Many spots touching 90 today. The sky there is mostly cloudy.

[00:00:29]High dew point, very muggy in the whole state in this ocean of humidity. Let's go to the Sky Cam at Moulton, Lawrence County. Uh they're at 80° there. They've got a dew point of 66. Huntsville, Monte Sano Mountain. Notice these buildups here. These are towering cumulus clouds.

[00:00:44]Some of those blossoming into showers and storms today, but not all of them.

[00:00:48]How about the view coming from Section?

[00:00:49]This is gorgeous. Weddington Park.

[00:00:51]That's the Tennessee River. They're at 82 with a very high dew point of 70. It feels like summer. Downtown Cullman, a summer looking sky here. 85° dew point sitting at 65. Alabama's highest mountain, Cheaha State Park, 81° there with a partially sunny sky. Downtown Birmingham, that's looking south from Regions Center, 83°.

[00:01:13]Let's go to our Sky Cam on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

[00:01:17]They are at 90. They've been consistently the hot spot over the past couple of days. Here's a look at the view coming from Montgomery, Alabama's state capital, 84° very humid. The dew point sitting at 71.

[00:01:30]This is coming from the campus of Troy University in Pike County. The sky there is partially sunny. It's a warm dry day so far. Abbeville in Henry County, they're at 80. Got a few spotty showers across southeast Alabama. Mobile looking good. There's Mobile Bay, the shipyards.

[00:01:44]79° there over on the eastern shore.

[00:01:47]This is the Sky Cam at the Grand Hotel, Point Clear. 81° dew point way up there at 75. And we'll wrap it up on the Alabama Gulf Coast at Gulf Shores. This place will be jam-packed in coming days.

[00:01:58]Got the holiday weekend coming up, and I understand the weather not that bad.

[00:02:02]You'll see a decent amount of sunshine.

[00:02:04]Could there be a shower from time to time? Sure, but that's just the way it is this time of the year. We see no organized major widespread rain event down here, at least for the next 5 days or so through the upcoming holiday weekend. So, this upper ridge is slowly being suppressed a little bit. That means the air aloft a bit colder, the air a bit more unstable. So, we're starting to see a little bump in the number of scattered showers and thunderstorms across the deep south today. And again, classic case here, widely scattered and random. For most locations, no rain. Some spots getting a good downpour. The more numerous showers and storms this evening across the southern counties of the state, counties like Coffee, Covington, uh Henry, Dale.

[00:02:43]Uh nothing severe, thunder and lightning. Now, you can see the showers around Florence. That's the reason they're at 70° and some fairly decent showers and storms over Mississippi.

[00:02:51]These will gradually fade later tonight.

[00:02:54]The cooler spots up here in northwest Alabama because of clouds and showers, Florence 74, Hamilton 78. On the other hand, you've got Greenville, Butler County at 90 this evening. Also 90 at Selma, Birmingham, and Huntsville in the mid-80s. Tomorrow morning, we start the day mostly in the mid to upper 60s. And again, it's the the hit and miss storms.

[00:03:13]We're going to have these basically every day through Labor Day. It's summertime here. Let's just declare it open. Uh the storms should be a little more numerous on Friday and Saturday, but even on those days, not a washout, not raining all day, but some rain from time to time. And conditions stay very warm, very muggy. But hey, beneficial rain, a good possibility. Now, understand rain distribution will not be very even because of the scattered nature of the showers and storms. But having said that, on an average basis, we have potential for 4 in of rain over the next 7 days for places like Huntsville, Athens, the Shoals, Hamilton, Russellville. Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Anniston, Gadsden, rain amounts between 2 and 3 inches. Lighter totals for the southern and southeastern counties of the state is that ridge tends to hold down that way. Now, as you look at modeling here, understand especially in summer, all of these models will be wrong, but it will give you an idea as to what the radar might look like. There's just no skill in giving you exact placement and timing of these random showers, but the radar could look something like that tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 and pretty much the same thing on Friday. And again, notice it's not raining all day, but showers begin to blossom Friday afternoon, Friday evening, and they could be fairly efficient rain producers, but they'll rain heavily and then move on. Same thing for the weekend, just from time to time we'll have scattered showers and storms about both Saturday and Sunday.

[00:04:32]Here's our forecast for the northern half of the state, and you get the idea things aren't going to change that much over the next 7 days. Uh warm, muggy days, the sun out at times, and from time to time the chance of a passing shower or storm. Most of them between roughly 2:00 and 10:00 p.m. Storms could be a little more numerous on Friday and Saturday. South Alabama, same idea, scattered showers and storms about.

[00:04:54]Daytime highs mid to upper 80s, morning lows mostly in the low 70s. That's the Alabama update tonight on the Alabama Weather Network.