Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 231 AM EST Mon Dec 16 2013 Valid 12Z Mon Dec 16 2013 - 12Z Wed Dec 18 2013 ...Light snows expected with a system sliding through the Upper Mississippi Valley...Great Lakes...and Northeast... ...Weather should stay relatively quiet across the rest of the Nation... After another weekend of heavy snows and freezing rain across the Central and Eastern U.S....a relatively quiet weather pattern will set up over the lower 48 for the start of the work week. Widespread light snows are expected to develop with a moisture starved system dropping down from Canada and amplifying over the Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes on Monday. Some heavier snows are expected downwind of the Lakes...and as the energy slides eastward...some enhanced amounts will be possible along the western slopes of the Central Appalachians. Also...once the system begins to lift into the Northeast on Tuesday...a surface low is expected to develop off the New Jersey coast. The deepening coastal low could clip New England with another round of accumulating snows before it races towards the Canadian Maritimes Tuesday night. Farther south...a lingering frontal boundary could bring some light showers and thunderstorms into extreme southern Florida the next few days. The majority of the Western U.S. will stay precipitation free through the short range period. A Pacific system heading towards British Columbia could bring a few showers into the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies...but any significant precipitation should stay north of the Canadian border. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php