Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 348 PM EST Tue Jan 14 2014 Valid 00Z Wed Jan 15 2014 - 00Z Fri Jan 17 2014 ...Threat for wild fires will remain across southern and western California with no precipitation in sight... ...Strong winds will bring a return to colder weather to the north-central U.S. after a brief warm-up tomorrow... The upper pattern over the country will continue to exhibit a strong ridge over the west coast with troughing over the eastern half of the nation. Repeated shots of cold air will drop southeast from western Canada and track through the north-central U.S. into the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. These systems will have limited moisture available for use which will keep any snow/rain amounts on the light side. The first of these systems is currently impacting the Upper Midwest with light to locally moderate snow and gusty winds. As this system lifts into southeastern Canada tonight, light snow showers will move into the central and northern Appalachians with rain or a rain/snow mix east of the divide, with light precipitation chances continuing into the day on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a downslope component to the wind will warm the Dakotas well into the 30s and 40s tomorrow but a strong cold front associated with a second system will bring a return to seasonably cold temperatures on Thursday along with strong winds. High wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph are expected which would pose visibility problems within scattered snow showers for parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley and eastern Dakotas. Out West, the pattern will remain relatively unchanged for the next few days with continued dry conditions for the western half of the nation. Across California, above average temperatures will allow low relative humidity to develop during the day, which when combined with gusty winds, will pose a threat for wild fires. The risk will be greatest across southern and western California into the middle of the week. Lastly, an area of low pressure is forecast to develop in the western Atlantic along a frontal boundary and track northward on Thursday. There is enough confidence in this system staying far enough offshore to have very little impact on the east coast with perhaps some light rain along the coast with snow for northern portions of New England late on Thursday. Otto Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php