Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 340 AM EDT Wed Aug 31 2016 Valid 12Z Wed Aug 31 2016 - 12Z Fri Sep 2 2016 ...Heavy rain and wind expected for Florida and the Southeast Coast... ...Cooler and drier conditions arriving behind cold front... The big story making weather headlines through the end of the week will be the tropics and the track of what is now tropical depression #9. This system is forecast to intensify into a tropical storm (Hermine is the next name on the list) soon and head towards northern Florida and then parallel the Southeast Coast before eventually heading out to sea. Several inches of rainfall is likely along and just south of the storm track, and strong gusty winds will also be problematic near the coast. The rain may be heavy enough to cause flooding issues, especially over parts of Florida and Georgia. Farther to the northwest, a cold front will be ushering in a quality airmass that will bring more pleasant temperatures and lower humidity from the Midwest states to the Mid-Atlantic region. This front should reach the East Coast around Thursday morning, and this will help steer the tropical storm in a northeast direction and out to the Atlantic Ocean. This front is expected to stall before reaching the Deep South, where late-summer heat and humidity will continue. Across the western U.S., another frontal boundary will slowly make its way across the Great Basin and northern Rockies. This front is in response to an upper level trough over the northwestern U.S. Scattered showers and storms are likely to develop each afternoon across the central and southern Rockies with monsoonal moisture still in place. Showers are also expected across western Washington and Oregon owing to onshore flow. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php