First Alert: Warm for two more days, then stormy and turning colder

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Wow, has it been warm or what? Tuesday’s afternoon highs rolled well into the mid 70s; this is a solid 10+ degrees above normal for early February in Alabama. We’ll be warm again on Wednesday and early Thursday, but then things will trend wetter and colder for the second half of the work week and right into the upcoming weekend.

Tonight, though, will remain on the warm side of the ledger. Clouds will gradually increase overnight, with temperatures bottoming out in the lower 50s by sunrise Wednesday morning. Wednesday itself will feature a little bit of everything - we expect some sun, some clouds and a few widely scattered showers or thunderstorms late in the day. These storms should be fairly well-behaved, we do not anticipate any problems with damaging wind, hail or tornadoes with any storms that form on Wednesday.

A strong cold front slides into the state from Mississippi early Thursday morning. Ahead of and along this front, a batch of showers and thunderstorms will form and exist in an environment with a lot of wind shear - translation, any storm that manages to intensify and stay strong enough for long enough could potentially rotate on Thursday.

Our current expectation is that a lack of warm, muggy air will limit storm coverage and intensity, and thus keep the tornado threat on the low side. But, if there’s more warm, muggy air than expected, the tornado potential would increase.

We’ll be watching carefully - for now, just be sure to have multiple, reliable ways of getting weather warnings late Wednesday night through Thursday, just in case.

If that’s not enough of a prompt - this is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama!

Now is the time to be sure you have those systems in place to notify you and your family of approaching severe weather. And, you need to also be sure you know ahead of time where you’d go if your location is placed under a Tornado Warning!

The rain lingers Thursday night and Friday, mainly south of I-85 and east of I-65 - places like Dothan, Troy, Brundidge, Eufaula and Phenix City stand the best chance at having leftover rain. The rain will end Friday night, with sharply colder air rushing into Alabama Friday night and hanging around through the weekend. Expect highs in the 50s and overnight lows in the 30s for both Saturday and Sunday.

The cold snap won’t last long, though, as a quick warming trend takes hold Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

As always, remember to download the free WSFA 12 News First Alert Weather app. That way you can gain the latest weather information from the First Alert Weather Team wherever you go. Just search WSFA Weather in the Apple App Store or Google Play store today.

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