Rain and storms move in Monday night, bringing a widespread soaking to central Alabama. A few of the storms could be marginally severe. Check the video forecast for the latest. IMPACT WEATHER: RAIN, WIND, STORMSCentral Alabama will finally see beneficial rainfall late Monday through early Tuesday. A widespread soaking of the ground will help alleviate extreme drought levels. A few strong storms are even possible, mainly in southwest Alabama. Here’s what we know right now: Timing: The best chance of rain for North and Central Alabama runs from Monday evening to Tuesday morning. Several waves of rain and thunderstorms develop and track over the state in that time frame. Severe threat: It’s possible. We will have a lot of wind shear (muscle) and fuel (unstable atmosphere) to be watchful for storms capable of wind gusts over 60 mph. A tornado is possible, but the odds are not high in Alabama. A much more substantial threat of tornadoes exists in southern Mississippi and Louisiana on Monday evening. 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 between 3 p.m. Monday and midday Tuesday. 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 night, 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 PEEKA 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 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.