Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
400 AM EDT Sat Apr 26 2025

Valid 12Z Sat Apr 26 2025 - 12Z Mon Apr 28 2025

...Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms persist over the central to
southern High Plains through the next couple of days with a severe weather
and flash flooding threat...

...Showers and thunderstorms will spread across the East Coast today with
a period of moderate to heavy rain over Maine...

...Wet snow along the Sierra Nevada, parts of the Great Basin this
weekend, higher elevation of the interior New England on Sunday, and then
the northern Rockies Sunday night/early Monday...

...Much below average temperatures spreading across California into the
western Great Basin with much above average temperatures spreading from
the Rockies through the Plains...

An active Spring weather pattern will continue across large portions of
the U.S. through the weekend.  A low pressure system moving through the
Northeast will continue to spread a broad area of showers and
thunderstorms today with focus shifting east toward Maine where a period
of moderate to heavy rain can be expected during the day.  Lighter and
more scattered showers and embedded thunderstorms will be passing through
the rest of the East Coast today ahead of a trailing cold front.  By
tonight, colder air wrapping around the departing low pressure system
could change the rain to wet snow across the higher elevation of the
interior New England and continue for much of Sunday when the system slows
down its forward motion.

Over the mid-section of the country, strong to severe thunderstorms will
be most active across the southern High Plains as upper-level disturbances
eject out of the Rockies interact with a stationary front.  The
thunderstorms are forecast to gradually shift focus eastward from the
Texas Panhandle into Oklahoma by this evening with a slight risk of flash
flooding.  By Sunday, a more energetic upper-level trough moving through
the western U.S. will begin to develop a low pressure system over the
central High Plains.  Unsettled weather associated with this system will
develop and expand across the northern Rockies on Sunday where wet snow is
forecast for much of the higher elevations by Monday morning.  The center
of the low itself will track northeast into the northern Plains by Monday
morning with rain and embedded thunderstorms blossoming across the region
and expanding into the upper Midwest.  A cold northerly wind will likely
become strong and gusty from Montana to North Dakota by Monday morning
while a warm and gusty southerly wind strengthens through much of the
southern and central Plains to the south of the low pressure system.  The
threat of severe thunderstorms will be much increased Sunday night across
the northern-central Plains as the intensifying low pressure system tracks
across the region.

A deep upper-level low moving through the western U.S. will bring an
expanding area of unsettled weather through the region this weekend.
Shower and storm chances with periods of moderate rainfall will shift
eastward from California and Oregon into the Great Basin today, reaching
into the northern Rockies on Sunday. Locally heavier rainfall may lead to
some isolated flooding concerns across northern Nevada on Sunday. In
addition to the rainfall, the deep upper-level low and cooler temperatures
will bring some snowfall for higher elevations of the mountains,
particularly for the Sierra Nevada today and areal ranges of the Great
Basin/northern Rockies into Sunday. Winter Weather Advisories are in place
for the Sierra for snow totals of 3-6", locally higher. Some snow may mix
in for lower elevations of the Great Basin by later today and into Sunday
morning, though any accumulations look to remain limited.  Precipitation
is forecast to gradually taper off by Sunday night into Monday morning
when the system begins to move farther away to the northeast.

The active pattern will lead to some varying and notably above/below
average temperatures through the weekend. Another day of above average
highs are forecast for most of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic today before a
cold front brings cooler temperatures on Sunday, with above average
conditions expected through the weekend across the Southeast. A cooler,
below average day across the Midwest following the cold front passage will
be followed by a bit of a warm up to average conditions on Sunday. Much
above average highs are forecast across the Rockies and will expand into
the Plains on Sunday. The deep upper-level low moving over the West will
bring much below average temperatures to California today and expand more
broadly into the Great Basin/Southwest by Sunday.

Kong/Putnam


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