Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 255 AM EDT Fri Mar 14 2014 Valid 12Z Fri Mar 14 2014 - 12Z Sun Mar 16 2014 ...Cold air quickly exits the East before returning across the Midwest and Northeast Saturday into Sunday... ...Frontal system crosses the Northwest before dropping southeastward across the Rockies toward the Southern Plains... ...Rainfall develops across the Southern Plains, Gulf Coast and Southeast on Saturday into Sunday. Freezing rain, sleet and snow develops along from the Middle Mississippi Valley, lower Ohio Valley toward the Middle Atlantic states later on Sunday... Rapid changes continue to occur across the country as the cold air mass currently over the East moves quickly eastward and is followed by a rapid warmup on Friday. Another surge of colder air is again poised to enter the country on Friday as colder air drops south and eastward across the Northern Plains states and Midwest. As a low pressure system remains north of the US-Canadian border on Friday into Saturday, a cold front will drop south and eastward across the northern tier and will be followed by a large, cold high pressure system from central Canada toward the upper Midwest by Sunday morning. Very cold conditions will again return to the upper Midwest and the Northeast. A cold front will cross the Pacific Northwest on Friday with coastal rain and mountain snow before moving south and eastward across the Rocky Mountains on Saturday. There won't be large amounts of moisture with this front initially with scattered snow at higher elevations moving across the Rockies. A weak upper low over the Southwest will move eastward on Friday night into Saturday associated with some mountain snow across the Southwestern states before moving eastward toward the Southern Plains by Saturday morning. On Saturday...moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is brought northward ahead of this system as a developing area of rain and thundershowers develops across Texas, Oklahoma and the lower Mississippi Valley on Saturday. On Saturday night into Sunday, the combination of the frontal system moving toward the Southern Plains and the upper low moving eastward combine to produce an expanding area of heavy rain over the middle and lower Mississippi Valley into the Southeast with freezing rain, sleet and snow along the northward edge of the precipitation from the Mid Mississippi Valley into the lower Ohio Valley and the Middle Atlantic States by Sunday evening. Kocin Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php