It's been a while since it last snowed in Mobile, but snow is in the forecast for the city on Tuesday, and a winter storm watch is in effect. The photo above is from the Mobile office of the National Weather Service from a rare south Alabama snow in December of 1996. Joe Maniscalco/National Weather Service

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Pensacola area and said there's a 50% chance the region will see snow amounts of 1 to 3 inches on Tuesday. If there's no snow, there will be freezing rain and ice accumulation.

Parts of east-central Alabama, including the Birmingham metro area, will be under an extreme cold warning, which means that dangerously cold wind chills are expected. Very cold temperatures are possible during the day on Monday as well, with many locations staying below freezing all day.

MESSY WINTER WEATHER AHEAD: Clouds will increase across Alabama tonight ahead of an approaching storm system. Te

With a winter storm forecasted for Friday, the Alabama National Guard is being deployed to parts of central and northern Alabama.

Twenty states, from Texas to Delaware, were on alert Friday for snow and ice as the storm continued to move across the South.

Due to the vagaries of weather in Alabama in winter, winter precipitation may happen in the far reaches of northern part of the state − or there may be a mix of cold rain and snow flurries as far south as the Highway 80 corridor.

The National Weather Service said confidence was increasing on the potential for “impactful” winter weather across Alabama next week. It will come in the form of snow chances for the southern half of the state and dangerously cold temperatures for the entire area.