diff --git a/tabulate/__init__.py b/tabulate/__init__.py
index 11bb865..0b0d99b 100644
--- a/tabulate/__init__.py
+++ b/tabulate/__init__.py
@@ -2207,7 +2207,7 @@ def tabulate(
     else: # default
         aligns = [numalign if ct in [int, float] else stralign for ct in coltypes]
     # then specific alignements
-    if colalign is not None:
+    if colalign is not None and aligns:
         assert isinstance(colalign, Iterable)
         if isinstance(colalign, str):
             warnings.warn(f"As a string, `colalign` is interpreted as {[c for c in colalign]}. Did you mean `colglobalalign = \"{colalign}\"` or `colalign = (\"{colalign}\",)`?", stacklevel=2)
diff --git a/test/test_regression.py b/test/test_regression.py
index 8f60ce7..d2fc3a0 100644
--- a/test/test_regression.py
+++ b/test/test_regression.py
@@ -512,3 +512,14 @@ def test_numpy_int64_as_integer():
         assert_equal(expected, result)
     except ImportError:
         raise skip("")
+
+def test_empty_table_with_colalign():
+    "Regression: empty table with colalign kwarg"
+    table = tabulate([], ["a", "b", "c"], colalign=("center", "left", "left", "center"))
+    expected = "\n".join(
+        [
+            "a    b    c",
+            "---  ---  ---",
+        ]
+    )
+    assert_equal(expected, table)