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CENTRE — After a cold night Thursday, temperatures across northeast Alabama are expected to climb into the mid-30s Friday, according to the National Weather Service. 

That forecast came at 2 p.m. Wednesday during a planning meeting held in the offices of the Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency (EMA). 

The extended forecast calls for dry and warmer conditions through Sunday night. The temperature Thursday night is expected to be the lowest of the winter, so far. 

“Lows will be around 10 degrees tonight, with some areas experiencing lows in the single digits,” the Weather Service reported via short-wave radio from Huntsville. 

After temperatures climb as high as the upper-30s Friday, that eveing’s lows will be in the mid-20s amid increasing clouds. On Saturday, the temperature is expected to climb into the low-40s and hopefully speed the process of melting mounds of snow along roadways across Cherokee County. 

There is a “slight” chance of freezing rain Sunday night, according to the forecast, but temperatures are not expected to drop below freezing. 

EMA officials, along with several county commissioners, county highway engineer Corey Chambers, Superintendent Brian Johnson, Probate Judge Melvyn Salter and Cherokee Electric Cooperative head Randal Wilkie met for around 30 minutes Wednesday afternoon to discuss the local response to the Sunday night snow storm that spread five inches of snow across much of the Southeast. 

Revenue Commissioner Johnny Roberts, who headed the EMA office during the storm because of a death in the family of EMA Manager Beverly Daniel, said he was quite pleased with the response to the storm. 

“I think everything has gone well,” Roberts told the gathering. “The big thing was we were able to keep communication going.” 

Salter thanked Red Cross representative Wayne Smith for supplying a generator to WEIS-AM radio to help further that effort. 

“Everything was pre-planned,” Salter said. “Johnny and (EMA employee) Joan (Richardson) began taking the weather reports very seriously last Wednesday.” 

Roberts commended the local Rescue Squad and the ambulance service for their work transporting critical patients. He also praised the efforts of the county Highway Department. 

“Corey and his employees have been working diligently,” Roberts said. He chuckled, then added: “There was so much chatter on their radio I had to turn it off.” 

“We’ve actually got guys out there right now, cleaning roads,” Chambers replied.  

Salter also thanked Wilkie for the Cooperative’s foresight in implementing a policy of clearing the rights-of-way along the county’s 2,400 miles of power lines several years ago. 

“We’re on a five-year rotation, and we only lack about 20 miles being totally through the system with our big saws,” Wilkie said. “We’ve cut it all back further than it’s ever been. It is in good shape.” 

Wilkie added that the Cooperative did not experience a single outage related to the storm. 

Johnson said he was “90 percent sure” there will be no classes in the county’s schools on Friday. If that is the case, Johnson said classes will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 18 following the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday. 

Johnson said the latest alteration of the county basketball tournament, originally set to begin Jan. 11 at the Cherokee Arena in Centre, calls for a full day of games on Saturday with the championships for the boys and girls Monday night.