WARMER: With a good supply of sunshine, temperatures are above freezing across all of Alabama this afternoon, ranging from the upper 30s across the Tennessee Valley to 50 degrees at Mobile. Tonight will be clear and not as cold as last night; lows will be mostly in the 20s.

Saturday will be another sunny day with a high in the 50s. Most of Alabama stays dry Sunday, but some light rain is possible over the southwest counties late in the day and Sunday night as a weak disturbance passes by. The southern counties will see low 60s Sunday afternoon as the warm-up continues.

NEXT WEEK: Most of the week will be dry, but a front could bring a few sprinkles to north Alabama late Wednesday night or early Thursday. The weather will be like spring, with highs in the 70s statewide by Wednesday. We see no sign of any high-impact weather for the Deep South for the next 10 days.

RECORD COLD: New records for Birmingham:

• Thursday, Feb. 20 — The high was 33, a new record low maximum for the date. The old record was 38, set in 2015.
• Friday, Feb. 21 — The low was 17 this morning, a new record low minimum for the date. The old record was 18, set in 1959 and 1963.

ON THIS DATE IN 1971: A tornado outbreak struck portions of the Lower Mississippi River Valley and the southeastern United States on Feb. 21-22. The two-day outbreak produced at least 19 tornadoes, probably several more, primarily brief events in rural areas, and killed 123 people across three states. The tornadoes “virtually leveled” entire communities in Mississippi, where the storms killed 107 people, hospitalized 454 and injured 1,060 others.

Alabama got lucky in this outbreak, as the storms pushed across the state overnight, when instability was lower. Additional tornadoes were reported in North Carolina the following day.

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