Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 456 AM EDT Wed Mar 12 2014 Valid 12Z Wed Mar 12 2014 - 12Z Fri Mar 14 2014 ...High winds...heavy snows...and ice expected with a strengthening storm system impacting the Northeast... ...Severe weather possible over the Mid-Atlantic states on Wednesday... A surface low over the Ohio Valley will rapidly deepen while it tracks across the northern Mid-Atlantic states and off the New Jersey coast on Wednesday. Strong winds surrounding the strengthening storm will pull an abundance of Gulf and Atlantic moisture inland...fueling a swath of moderate to heavy snows to the northwest of the low track. Widespread accumulations are expected from the Lower Great Lakes to northern New England...with some locations possibly measuring a foot or more of fresh snow. A mix of sleet and freezing rain are expected closer to the coast...where warmer Atlantic air will be moving in aloft. Farther south...strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible with the storm's dynamic cold front sweeping through the Mid-Atlantic states. Conditions should gradually clear out over the Northeast on Thursday as the surface low slowly tracks up Eastern Seaboard and into the Canadian Maritimes...but strong northwesterly flow behind the storm will make for a blustery day across much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Weather should remain relatively quiet over the rest of the Nation. Light snows will be possible with a warm front moving east through the Upper Midwest. A few rain and snow showers are expected beneath energy crossing the Four Corners region. Also...a Pacific front approaching the coast should bring light precipitation into the Pacific Northwest by late Thursday night/early Friday morning. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php