Drought conditions improved in Alabama over the past week, and more rain is on the way.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released its weekly report on drought conditions nationwide on Thursday.

The biggest improvement is the removal of Level 4 out of 4 (exceptional) drought from north Alabama. The state also saw improvement in every other drought category last week.

This week no part of Alabama was considered in Level 4 drought, a decrease from 4.79 percent last week.

There was also a decrease in the amount of Level 3 (extreme) drought, from 42.28 percent last week to 33.19 percent in this week’s report. Those areas were mainly confined to north and north-central Alabama but there was a small area in southwest Alabama.

Level 2 (severe) drought decreased from 82.95 percent to 56.27 percent this week and Level 1 (moderate) decreased from 98.64 percent to 88.41 percent.

Areas considered not in drought at all increased a tiny bit, from 0.44 percent last week to 0.84 percent. That area is confined to east Alabama and includes parts of Lee and Russell counties.

Alabama could see even more improvement in next week’s report. Parts of the state could get 3 inches of rain or more starting later tonight and lasting on and off into Sunday, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The three-day precipitation outlook from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center shows parts of south and south-central Alabama are expected to get the most rain, with lesser amounts expected for the northern part of the state.

However, the entire state is expected to get at least some rain over the weekend.

There could also be a few strong storms in the mix on Friday and Saturday for parts of south Alabama. The Storm Prediction Center has added a Level 1 out of 5 severe weather risk for parts of the state on both days.