An approaching weather system could bring a few severe storms to parts of west Alabama from late Wednesday night into Thursday.

A tornado or two and wind gusts up to 60 mph will be possible with the strongest storms, which are expected to develop ahead of a cold front and push into west Alabama late Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has a Level 1 out of 5 risk for severe weather in place for the western half of the state for the Wednesday night-Thursday morning timeframe.

A Level 1 risk means that isolated severe storms will be possible.

The better conditions for storms are expected to be over the western part of Alabama on Wednesday, according to the weather service. A Level 2 risk for storms is in place just to the west of Alabama in Mississippi, and forecasters said it’s possible that could be expanded slightly eastward into parts of west Alabama before Wednesday.

Rain and a few storms will be possible Wednesday evening, but the potential for stronger storms is not expected to arrive until later Wednesday night and last into Thursday morning.

Alabamians are urged to have several reliable ways to receive severe weather warnings should they be issued during the overnight hours on Wednesday.

Rain and storms could linger into Thursday, and the Storm Prediction Center has a Level 1 risk for storms in place for south and east Alabama on Thursday. Here is Thursday’s severe weather outlook:

Cooler and drier weather is expected to round out the work week.

A few snow flurries are not even out of the question in parts of northern Alabama on Friday night as a “clipper” system passes by, the weather service said. No accumulations or impacts are expected.

The weather service said an active weather pattern looks to return to Alabama next week.