Good Wednesday morning to you…

Weather: Time to dry out. We may see a few patches of light rain this morning, but after that the rain finally ends. It will be cooler with highs in the upper 60s, and nighttime lows down in the upper 40s. Thursday will feature sunny skies and highs in the lower 70s. There’s no rain in the forecast for the next seven days.

Tornadoes confirmed. North Jefferson County was hit by a pair of twisters on Monday night, according to a survey team from the National Weather Service office in Calera. The tornado that struck Kimberly has been rated EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with a path 3.3 miles long and just under a half mile wide. The path began just west of I-65, at a point half a mile south of Sardis Road, and ended near Bill Jones Road. The other tornado that hit Graysville was rated EF-2. It ran for more than five miles and had a path up to 1,500 yards wide, starting out three miles south-southwest of Adamsville. That tornado crossed over U.S. 78 and I-22, and ended two miles south-southwest of Brookside.

North Jefferson Middle School closed. The school suffered damage primarily to its gymnasium and lunchroom in the Kimberly tornado, and as a result the Jefferson County Schools will not hold classes there for the rest of the week. What to do beyond that time is still up in the air; students may have to finish off the school year at neighboring schools such as Mortimer Jordan High. All other JefCoEd schools will resume normal schedules today, as will Blount County.

Sports: Back to business. With the rough weather out of the way, the post-season resumes for high school soccer and softball. Pinson Valley’s girls and boys soccer matches that were scheduled for Tuesday will be played this evening, with the girls’ game kicking off at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ game to follow in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. The Indians softball team will travel to Moody to take on Springville in the area tournament first game at 2:30. Most other local teams begin their area tournaments tomorrow, including the much-anticipated Class 5A Area 12 tourney at Hayden, which features three of the top five teams in the state. Second-ranked Curry takes on fifth-ranked Mortimer Jordan at 1 p.m., followed by No. 1 Hayden vs. Walker.