Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 438 AM EDT Mon May 05 2014 Valid 12Z Mon May 05 2014 - 12Z Wed May 07 2014 ...Above normal warmth will continue across the south central U.S.... ...Widespread unsettled weather expected for the West... Above normal warmth will continue to the south of a frontal boundary stretched from the Mid-Atlantic to the Continental Divide. The epicenter of the heat should be across the southern Plains...where temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal will surge daytime highs well into the 90's. Conditions should remain relatively cool to the north of the front extending across the Nation's midsection...and a weak piece of energy streaking through aloft should help trigger a narrow axis of rain and thunderstorms across the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states Monday evening into Tuesday. Upstream...a second piece of energy rippling through the flow aloft is expected to ignite an organized area of rain and thunderstorms across the western Dakotas early Tuesday...which should then move eastward through the Upper Midwest. Unsettled weather will accompany an amplifying upper trough and associated cold front dropping through the Western U.S. Monday and Tuesday. Although there will not be a tremendous amount of moisture with this system...strong dynamics and orographic effects should produce widespread shower activity. Also...falling temperatures behind the front will lower snow levels out West...leading to some late season accumulations along the higher peaks of the terrain. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php