Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 233 PM EST Wed Dec 04 2019 Valid 00Z Thu Dec 05 2019 - 00Z Sat Dec 07 2019 ...Unsettled weather across the southwestern U.S. through Thursday... ...Lake effect snow and an Alberta Clipper to bring light snowfall from the Great Lakes to the Northeast... The major winter storm that made it's trans-continental journey across the U.S. has finally exited New England. In the wake of the storm, cold air spilling over the Great Lakes will generate bands of lake effect snow, with the heaviest snowfall likely downwind of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and upslope portions of the central Appalachians through Thursday. By Thursday evening into Friday, an Alberta Clipper system will swing across the Great Lakes and Northeast, dropping another round of light snow. Moisture from the Pacific will fuel locally heavy rainfall across central and southern California through this evening, with moderate snow found across the Central Sierra Nevada. Snow showers are likely as well across the higher terrain of central Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado, as the upper-level low from the Pacific moves inland across the Desert Southwest. Isolated snowfall totals in excess of 6 inches are possible. Another system will enter the West Coast by Friday and bring additional precipitation from central California to Washington. Elsewhere across the continental U.S., dry conditions can be expected from the western High Plains to the Midwest, and also most of the Mid-Atlantic region over the next couple of days as high pressure governs the overall weather pattern. An inversion setting up across parts of Oregon and Idaho will lead to some air stagnation concerns through midweek. Temperatures are generally expected to be slightly below normal across the Northeast U.S., and above normal across the Deep South through Friday. Snell Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php