Mother Nature forgot to check the calendar. The first day of spring in Central Alabama began with temperatures in the 20s. Thankfully, temperatures warm for the remainder of the week. Check the video forecast for the latest.FREEZING COLD START TO SPRINGIt was a bitter cold start to the first day of Spring with temperatures dipping into the 20s. Here is a roundup where some of us started the day. This was Birmingham's thirtieth freeze of the season. A normal Birmingham winter features around forty nights at or below 32 degrees, so we end up with an unusually mild winter, even including that brutal cold and icy weather back in mid-January. Historically, we are unlikely to see many more freezes. We can have them as late as early to mid-April, and it would not be surprising to see at least one more threat of freezing temperatures before April 15.Lows in the morning will be in the 30s. Many spots will hold just above the freezing mark, but some patchy frost is still likely to develop. A frost advisory covers much of central Alabama beginning at 3am.SPRING COMES ANYWAYSpring officially begins at 10:06 p.m. Central Daylight Time. That is the moment when the Sun appears to be shining directly on the Equator.The word "equinox" means equal nights, or more literally, it means 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Since Birmingham is in the mid-latitudes, our closest thing to exactly 12 hours of both came on March 16 when we had 12 hours and 45 seconds between sunrise and sunset. Our weather turns more spring-like soon, too.Temperatures rebound on Tuesday and Wednesday as a strong "high" moves down over the Gulf of Mexico. That gives Alabama a westerly wind. An old saying goes, "A wind from the west warms us best," and that shifting wind takes us back to the 70s as soon as Wednesday afternoon. NEXT ROUND OF RAIN: THURSDAY AND FRIDAYA few showers could move into Alabama as early as Thursday evening, but most of the rain looks to hold off until Friday. Measurable rain this Friday would make the fifth straight rainy Friday. Here are some of the general expectations for Friday:It will not rain all day long, but occasional scattered showers will be possible, mainly throughout the day.North and Central Alabama's best chance of rain will be between 4 a.m. Friday and 6 a.m. SaturdayTotal rainfall will be less than 1" on average. Better chance to see an inch of rain looks to be east of I-65. THE WEEKEND Rain will exit by early Saturday morning and there will be a gradual clearing of the clouds through the day. Highs will be seasonable in the mid-upper 60s.Sunday will feature highs in the upper 60s and low 70s. The sky will be partly cloudy with clouds increasing in the evening.The weekend appears to be rain-free.LOOKING TOWARD THE END OF MARCH The final week of March looks like it could be rather stormy. The first of two potent spring storm systems slams into Alabama early next week with a threat of heavy rainfall and a few severe thunderstorms from late Monday through Tuesday (March 25-26).Specific timing and impact details are not available yet, but be on the lookout for some weather early next week.STAY WEATHER-AWAREFor the latest weather coverage for your area, click here. And stay updated with alerts in the WVTM 13 app. You can download it here.For the latest Birmingham weather information and Central Alabama's certified most accurate forecast, watch WVTM 13 News.Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram.