COLD: Rain and snow are out of Alabama, but clouds linger. Temperatures have been falling over the northern half of the state; most communities north of Birmingham are below freezing at midafternoon.

Temperatures drop into the teens over north Alabama Thursday morning, with wind-chill indices in the single digits. The sky becomes sunny Thursday, but many north Alabama communities will stay below freezing all day. Another hard freeze is likely early Friday, with 20s all the way down to the Gulf Coast. With sunshine in full supply, temperatures reach the 40s and low 50s Friday.

THE WEEKEND: The weather turns warmer, with highs in the 50s Saturday and Sunday; south Alabama will see low 60s Sunday. The weekend looks mostly dry with a partly sunny sky both days; a disturbance could bring a little scattered light rain to the southern counties late Sunday or Sunday night.

NEXT WEEK: The weather will be dry and mild through the first half of the week; highs will be between 70 and 75 degrees for the southern two-thirds of the state Tuesday and Wednesday. A disturbance will bring the chance of some light rain on Thursday, followed by dry air for Friday and the following weekend. We see no risk of severe storms for the next seven to 10 days.

ON THIS DATE IN 1884: The 1884 Enigma outbreak is thought to be among the largest and most widespread tornado outbreaks in American history, striking on Feb. 19-20, 1884. As the precise number of tornadoes as well as fatalities incurred during the outbreak are unknown, the nickname “Enigma outbreak” has come to be associated with the storm. Nonetheless, an inspection of newspaper reports and governmental studies published in the aftermath reveals tornadoes (or, more likely, long-track tornado families) striking Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with an estimation of at least 50 tornadoes.

One tornado moved from Oxmoor, in what is now the Homewood area, northeast through the Cahaba Valley. The most intense damage was in the industrial area of Leeds, where new, well-constructed homes were destroyed, some of them swept away along with their foundations. This tornado killed 13 people.

Another large tornado passed north of Piedmont, near Goshen, killing 30. This tornado moved along roughly the same path as the Palm Sunday tornado in 1994 that killed 20 people in the Goshen United Methodist Church.

For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.