James Spann: Alabama flirts with 80 degrees tomorrow before widespread rain Thursday from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

WARMER DAYS: The wedge of colder air that covered much of Alabama yesterday will begin to break down today; we should rise into the 60s this afternoon. The sky will remain generally cloudy, but the chance of a shower for any one given location is fairly small. The high tomorrow will be in the mid to upper 70s, and some places could touch 80 degrees where the sun can peek out for a while. A shower is possible tomorrow in a few spots, but many places will stay dry.

RAIN RETURNS: Rain will become widespread over the northwest part of Alabama late tomorrow night ahead of a cold front, and Thursday will be wet and stormy statewide. The Storm Prediction Center has defined a severe weather risk for a decent part of the state Thursday.

However, a review of weather parameters show a really less-than-favorable environment for severe storms, with limited instability and weak lapse rates. We stress this is nothing like the setup we had last Monday (March 19), when 15 tornadoes touched down across Alabama. Still, we always have to watch any system like this in late March. It seems like the main window for stronger storms Thursday will come during the morning before dynamics weaken later in the day.

Rain amounts should be close to 1 inch for most of north and central Alabama; the heaviest rain will come over the northwest corner of the state, where places like Muscle Shoals could see 3 to 4 inches along with a flooding threat.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: The sky becomes mostly sunny Friday with a high in the 67- to 70-degree range, and Saturday promises to be a delightful day, with ample sunshine and a high in the mid 70s. On Sunday, the sky will be partly sunny with a high between 70 and 75 degrees. A weak cold front will approach from the north and could trigger a few scattered showers near the Tennessee border Sunday afternoon, but most of the state will be dry.

NEXT WEEK: For now Monday and Tuesday look dry and mild; then the latter half of the week looks rather unsettled, with potential for showers and thunderstorms daily.

ON THIS DATE IN 1994: On Palm Sunday, March 27, 1994, an EF-4 tornado struck the Goshen United Methodist Church, north of Piedmont, during the morning worship service, killing 20 people; 92 were injured. A warning was issued 12 minutes before the tornado destroyed the church building, but unfortunately those in the church never heard the warning.

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