Parts of east-central Alabama, including the Birmingham metro area, will be under an extreme cold warning, which means that dangerously cold wind chills are expected. Very cold temperatures are possible during the day on Monday as well, with many locations staying below freezing all day.

Colder-than-normal temperatures are expected to remain in Alabama, with a system bringing bitterly cold air into the state next week. And the long-range forecasts from the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center are calling for the pattern of below-normal conditions to remain in place until Feb. 7, at least.

An extreme cold watch has been issued for southwest Alabama and will be in effect from Sunday night through Monday morning. The counties affected are Choctaw, Washington, Clarke, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Butler, Crenshaw, Escambia, Covington, Mobile and Baldwin.

Early forecasts are calling for a snowstorm to hit the Deep South on Tuesday, bringing accumulations of an inch or more to the southern half of Alabama. Things could still change significantly, meteorologists warn,