Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 449 PM EDT Fri Mar 21 2014 Valid 00Z Sat Mar 22 2014 - 00Z Mon Mar 24 2014 ...Snows expected from the Great Lakes to New England... ...Shower and thunderstorm activity possible from Texas to the Southeast... ...Arctic air over the north central U.S. will spread south and east this weekend... A swath of accumulating snows are expected with a surface low streaking from the Great Lakes to the Northeast Friday night into Saturday. To the south of the snow axis...freezing rain will be a possibility where sub-freezing temperatures will be slow to erode while warmer air moves in aloft. Farther south...a gradual return of Gulf moisture will allow for increased precipitation along the low's trailing cold front while it pushes south and east out of the Nation's mid-section. Although shower and thunderstorm activity will be possible from Texas to the Southeast...the bigger story with this event will be temperature anomalies. Spring-like temperatures ahead of the front will quickly fall to below normal as another Arctic high out of Canada settles in behind the boundary. Across the western half of the Country...weak energy diving southeastward aloft...combined with upslope flow...will allow for light to moderate snows across the Northern and Central Rockies. Conditions should stay fairly quiet west of the mountains...with the exception of some light precipitation with a weakening Pacific system moving inland over Washington. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php