Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 453 PM EDT Tue Apr 22 2014 Valid 00Z Wed Apr 23 2014 - 00Z Fri Apr 25 2014 ...Late season snowfall accumulations expected across the Cascades and Northern Rockies... ...Severe weather will be possible over the Southern to Central High Plains on Wednesday... ...Conditions will be slow to clear out in the Northeast... Widespread shower activity will continue to develop across the northwestern corner of the Nation through the middle of the week...behind a strong cold front slowly pushing south and east out of the Western U.S.. Persistent onshore flow from the Pacific...combined with orographic effects...will help boost precipitation totals along coastal areas from northern California to Washington...as well as farther inland over the upslope side of the Cascades and Northern Rockies. Additionally...falling temperatures behind the front will allow for widespread snow showers across the higher elevations...with impressive late season accumulations expected along the Cascades...Bitterroots...and Tetons. Weather will become quite active across the Central U.S. on Wednesday as the cold front in the Western U.S. pushes east of the Rockies. A line of convection is expected to fire up ahead of the boundary while it progresses through the Central to Southern High Plains and heads towards the Mississippi River Valley. Moisture being siphoned from the Gulf of Mexico will fuel moderate to heavy rains within developing storms...and ample amounts of instability will allow for storms to become strong or even severe...especially over the Southern to Central High Plains. Farther north...an axis of rain with embedded thunderstorms should develop to the north of a surging warm front...expanding across the Dakotas and Upper Mississippi Valley. By Thursday morning...precipitation lifting into northern Minnesota...Wisconsin...and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan could fall as snow. Numerous showers and thunderstorms will continue to breakout ahead of cold front crossing the Appalachians Tuesday night. The front should clear much of the Eastern Seaboard by Wednesday morning...and cooler drier air will fill in behind it. Although the boundary will be quick to depart the coast...conditions will be slow to clear out across the Northeast...where a surface low deepening offshore will bring continued moisture and unsettled weather into the region. The majority of precipitation will fall as rain...but snow will be a possibility within the higher elevations of interior New England. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php