Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
119 AM EST Fri Dec 5 2025

Valid 12Z Fri Dec 5 2025 - 12Z Sun Dec 7 2025

...Active winter weather pattern continues with snow expected for the
Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, and the Rockies through Saturday...

...Moderate to heavy rainfall for the Gulf Coast is likely through the
upcoming weekend...

...Well below average temperatures continue for many areas from the
northern Plains to the East Coast...

Winter weather will continue to make headlines across multiple regions of
the country going into the upcoming weekend. The first event will be the
ongoing light to moderate snowfall across portions of the Mid-Atlantic
through Friday morning. This is in response to a low pressure system
crossing southern Georgia into South Carolina, with moisture being
advected well to the north into a much colder airmass centered over the
Northeast. A swath of 1 to 3 inch snowfall accumulations is likely before
the event concludes by later in the day Friday from the southern
Appalachians to central Virginia, and lighter totals to the north, and
more of a rain event across North Carolina. Winter weather advisories are
in effect through midday Friday from eastern Kentucky to the DelMarVa
Peninsula.

The other storm system that will be producing widespread snowfall will be
a Pacific low that moves inland across the Northwest U.S., and interacts
with an arctic frontal boundary that will be situated across the northern
Rockies through Saturday. The snowfall will be much heavier than what is
expected for the Eastern U.S., with one to two feet of accumulation likely
for the higher terrain of northern Idaho to western Montana, and then
extending to the Wasatch Range and western Wyoming, and the Colorado
Rockies. There should be some abatement in the snowfall by Saturday night
as the lift and moisture exit the region. Snowfall becomes more likely
from the Dakotas to Iowa and southern Minnesota by Saturday afternoon into
early Sunday as the low pressure system reaches the Midwest states.

Elsewhere across the Continental U.S., dry conditions are expected to
continue from California to the southern Plains, and extending eastward to
the Mid-South and Ohio Valley. Periods of moderate to locally heavy
rainfall are likely for the lower elevations of western Oregon and
Washington through early Saturday as the Pacific storm system advects a
plume of moisture inland. Across the Gulf Coast region, a lingering
frontal boundary off the coast will keep rainfall chances elevated through
early Sunday from southeast Louisiana to the Florida Peninsula to southern
South Carolina, with some 1 inch totals possible in some areas. In terms
of temperatures, it will be quite cold from the Northern Plains to the
Northeast with a big dip in the jet stream and multiple cold frontal
passages heralding the arrival of arctic air masses. Some subzero
overnight lows are likely across portions of the Dakotas and into
Minnesota, especially by Sunday morning in the wake of the next arctic
front.

Hamrick


Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php