ANOTHER BIG RANGE: We have another huge thermal contrast across Alabama this afternoon; temperatures range from the 30s across the northern third of the state to 74 at Dothan, where the sun has broken through at times. A few sprinkles are over the Tennessee Valley, but much of the state is dry at midafternoon. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with some patchy light rain or drizzle.As an upper trough lifts out of the southwestern U.S., we expect a big soaking for the northern two-thirds of the state Thursday and Thursday night, with rain amounts of 1-2 inches. Amounts will be lighter over the southern quarter of the state, but a few strong storms are possible there during the afternoon and evening; the Storm Prediction Center has defined a marginal risk (level 1 of 5) for a small part of extreme south Alabama.Storms in that area could produce gusty winds, and a brief, isolated tornado can’t be ruled out. For most of Alabama, it will be just rain in a cool, stable air mass.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Dry weather returns. The sky becomes mostly sunny Friday, and the weekend looks dry with a sunny sky Saturday and a partly sunny sky Sunday. The high will be in the 40s and 50s on Friday, followed by 50s and 60s over the weekend.

NEXT WEEK: Monday and Tuesday will be dry and mild, with highs in the 60s over north Alabama and 70s to the south. There will be some risk of rain in the Wednesday-Thursday time frame, followed by another shot of drier air by the end of the week. There’s still no sign of any bitterly cold Arctic air for the Deep South through mid-February.ON THIS DATE IN 1955: Seen first as a “well-defined cone-shaped funnel” over the Mississippi River, an F3 tornado cut a path from Commerce Landing to Clark in northeastern Mississippi. This tornado killed 20 and injured at least 141 people. Most of the deaths were in a plantation school.

ON THIS DATE IN 1996: A period of freezing rain followed by light snow brought traffic to a complete standstill across north Alabama. Ice accumulations up to 1 inch downed numerous trees and caused power outages. A number of chicken houses in the northern part of the state collapsed under the weight of the ice and snow.

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