Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 356 AM EST Wed Feb 12 2014 Valid 12Z Wed Feb 12 2014 - 12Z Fri Feb 14 2014 ...A major winter storm with the potential for crippling ice and snow accumulations is underway across the Southeast... ...Heavy rains and mountain snows expected across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies... The stage is set for a major winter weather event to impact locations from the Deep South to the Northeast the next few days. Widespread precipitation has already developed to the north of a frontal boundary stretched from the Southeast coast back into the northern Gulf...and a surface low spinning up along the front will only help pump additional moisture into the region as it deepens over the north central Gulf on Wednesday. A fresh supply of Arctic air in place to the north of the boundary will allow for snow in the northern/northwestern edge of the precipitation shield...with significant accumulations expected over the Southern Appalachians. Also...warm air overrunning the sub-freezing temperatures will make for an equally impressive swath of freezing rain to the south/southeast of the heavy snow axis...impacting a large portion of northern Georgia and South Carolina. The deepening low is expected to lift through the southeast Wednesday evening and then rapidly intensify while it takes a steady track up the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday. Plenty of Atlantic moisture getting wrapped into the storm will allow for the widespread precipitation...including heavy snows and the potential for ice...to continue as it lifts through the Mid-Atlantic states and eventually Northeast. For more details on this event...please refer to the Winter Weather Desk's heavy snow discussion (QPFHSD). Out West...multiple pieces of energy rippling through the flow aloft will trigger widespread precipitation across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies Wednesday and Thursday. Persistent onshore flow should allow for moderate to heavy amounts...especially over the favored slopes of the terrain. Although snow levels will be relatively high across the region...significant accumulations are still expected along the higher elevations of the Washington Cascades and northern Rockies. Light snows will be possible with a cold front crossing the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes early Wednesday...and with a second upstream system dropping through the Dakotas and Minnesota Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. A lack of moisture across the north central U.S. should limit accumulations with both of these features. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php