Lovely weekend forecast, Be Weather Aware Tuesday night into Wednesday for strong to severe storms

Tonight: clear and still cold as high pressure sits south of Alabama. Lows in the upper 30s to middle 40s.

Planetary Alignment: seven planets will line up for a rare event this evening just after dusk. This occurs because the planets orbit the sun on a relatively flat plane, and they are all on the same side of the sun. The next time this happens will be in 2040. To see them, go to a spot with minimal light pollution tonight, an open clear view of the sky, and look to the south-southwest. You will be able to see 3 to 5 planets with the naked eye but will need a telescope to see the dimmer Uranus and Neptune. Saturn and Mercury will be very low to the horizon and likely below trees or houses for most people making them hard to see.

Weekend Outlook: The area of high pressure will build east across the Southeast U.S. We will have lovely weather with more sunshine and highs around 70 on Saturday. A weak and dry cold front will move across Alabama on Saturday night. Lows will be in the upper 20s to lower 30s with patchy frost, so protect your plants. Sunday will be sunny, breezy, and much cooler with high temperatures in the middle 50s. Sunday night will be clear and cold with patchy frost. Lows will be in the lower to middle 30s.

Next Week's Outlook: Monday will be mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the middle 60s. Tuesday will be partly to mostly cloudy with a few showers. Highs will be in the 70s.

A strong cold front will move across the state with a squall line of showers and storms. Storms could be strong to possibly severe.

SPC has placed areas along and west of I-59 in Central Alabama in a Level 2/5 Slight Risk. The main threat will be gusty straight-line winds, but a few tornadoes are possible. The air will not be very unstable due to the overnight timeframe and dew points not getting very high.

Wednesday afternoon will become partly cloudy with highs around 70. We will dry out on Thursday with sunshine and highs in the 50s. Friday will be mostly cloudy with spotty showers and highs in the 60s.