Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 237 AM EST Sun Jan 19 2014 Valid 12Z Sun Jan 19 2014 - 12Z Tue Jan 21 2014 ***Highly amplified weather pattern across the country*** ***Arctic airmass arriving to the Eastern U.S.*** ***Continued dry and warm across the Western U.S.*** The weather pattern across the continental U.S. through the beginning of the work week will be featured with a strong ridge across the western states and a large scale trough over the eastern half of the country. There will be a few areas of light snow over the northern tier of the country, but there is not enough moisture available for any widespread areas of organized precipitation. The Gulf of Mexico is basically closed for business in terms of moisture transport in a pattern like this. Over the West Coast and into the Inter-Mountain West, a very dry weather pattern is expected to continue through Tuesday. An unusually strong upper level ridge for this time of year has put its gear in park mode and will be stubborn to move in the near future. Although this is providing pleasant outdoor conditions for January, this is causing the ongoing drought over much of the western U.S. to deteriorate further. This is also raising the wildfire threat over the southwestern U.S. where relative humidities in many areas have dropped to under 15 percent. In the temperature department, expect readings to be above normal across the Inter-Mountain West and along the West Coast, and below normal across the Eastern U.S. Much colder weather is expected to arrive with the passage of a strong Arctic front moving southward into the Upper Midwest and eventually this will reach the East Coast by Tuesday. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php