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Good morning, and here we go with another work week…

Weather: Storms on the way. We won’t see anything like the major outbreak of tornadoes over the Great Plains over the weekend, and chances are we won’t see any severe weather at all. But we are expected to see showers and thunderstorms this afternoon, some of which may contain heavy rain. High temperatures will reach 81 degrees. The storms will continue all the way through Tuesday night, with tonight’s low in the upper 50s and Tuesday’s high near 72. Skies will clear Wednesday, and remain so through Friday afternoon, when more showers return.

Traffic: No delays are expected through the I-65 construction zone at the new I-22 interchange. However, there are lane closures planned on I-20/58 for Wednesday, one southbound between Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive in Hueytown and 19th Street in Bessemer, and the other northbound between 31st Street and Tallapoosa Street near downtown. There’s also the continuing closure and detour northbound on 20/59 through Bessemer, starting at the Alabama Adventure Pkwy. exit.

Center Point satellite office reopens. There’s a new place to stand in line for car tags. Jefferson County is reopening its Center Point satellite office today at 2651 Center Point Parkway. The wait may not be any shorter, since personnel are simply being moved from the Birmingham and Bessemer courthouses instead of rehired, but it’s a bit closer for most folks in north Jefferson County, and the parking is free and convenient. The building housing this office is owned by the county, so there’s no rent involved in its reopening, unlike the still-closed satellite office in Gardendale.

Tornadoes rip through the Plains. As we mentioned earlier, at least 100 tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa on Saturday, with at least five people killed in the tiny town of Woodward, Okla. – a town which suffered another major tornado in 1947. Saturday’s twister destroyed much of the city of 12,000, including a mobile home park where five people died. These five were apparently the only ones in the entire outbreak, as far as authorities know thus far. Another tornado moved through parts of suburban Wichita, Kansas, destroying part of a large aeronautics factory complex; damage estimates in the area are near $300 million. The outbreak was warned well in advance, as the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center placed the area under a high risk of tornadic activity almost 36 hours beforehand; indeed, the five deaths in Woodward may have been avoided if a nearby siren had not been inoperative.

Hurrying to get your taxes done? You may have longer than you thought. You know that April 15 wasn’t Tax Day because it fell on Sunday. But because today is a holiday in the District of Columbia, the deadline is moved to Tuesday. In case you’re curious, it’s Emancipation Day in D.C. a celebration of the day that Abraham Lincoln signed an order freeing slaves within the district alone, with the government paying compensation to slave owners for their “loss.” The act preceded the more-famous Emancipation Proclamation by about nine months.

Sports: Power to the Wildcats. Chalk up another state championship for Hayden High School in a non-varsity sport. The Wildcats walked away with the Class 5A power lifting championship Saturday in the state meet in Enterprise. It’s the second state title in a non-AHSAA sport in the past 12 months, as the school won the state bass fishing championship in 2011. Both power lifting (along with traditional weightlifting) and bass fishing are sports that the governing body for the state’s high school sports is considering adding to it list of sanctioned sports, along with lacrosse and bowling…. Baseball: Gardendale and Fultondale are the last local teams standing as the first playoff round begins on Friday. Gardendale breezed through a weak area lineup and will host Vestavia Hills in a best-of-three series starting with a doubleheader Friday. Fultondale squeaked their way into a playoff berth despite losing to Victory Christian last Monday; they will travel to Ranburne Corner was knocked out of playoff contention after a 4-0 loss to Haleyville on Friday night.