James Spann: A very nice winter day in Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

COLD MORNING: Temperatures just before daybreak this morning:

• Black Creek (near Gadsden) — 24
• Fort Payne — 25
• Russellville — 25
• Gadsden — 26
• Cullman — 27
• Sycamore — 27
• Center Point — 30
• Anniston — 31
• Tuscaloosa — 32
• Birmingham — 35

With a strong late winter sun, we expect temperatures to rise into the low 60s this afternoon.

THE WEEKEND: Clouds increase late tonight, and the sky will be mostly cloudy over the weekend with mild afternoons; the high will be in the upper 60s tomorrow, and very close to 70 Sunday. A few widely scattered showers are possible tomorrow, with a little higher coverage of showers Sunday. Rain amounts will be light and spotty, but no doubt we will see some rain at times, especially Sunday as a cold front approaches.

NEXT WEEK: Cooler, drier air will settle into the state Monday and Tuesday; the sky should be partly to mostly sunny both days with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. The European model continues to show a wave aloft bringing some rain to the state Wednesday, and we will keep that in the forecast for now. But the American global model (the GFS) now shunts that system far to the south, suggesting the entire week will be cool and dry. We should get better clarity over the weekend. If the wetter Euro solution does verify, we do not expect any severe weather with the surface low passing south of here.

LUNAR ECLIPSE: Still seeing lots of buzz about the lunar eclipse and a passing comet tonight. True, but this is a penumbral lunar eclipse, meaning only a slight darkening of the moon most people won’t notice, and the comet (45P) is not visible to the naked eye. Its closest point will come around 2 a.m. tomorrow. You will need an extremely dark sky and optical aid (at least binoculars, probably a telescope) to see this comet.

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