Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 352 AM EDT Sun May 11 2014 Valid 12Z Sun May 11 2014 - 12Z Tue May 13 2014 ...Powerful spring storm taking shape over the Western and Central US... ...Heavy snow, severe thunderstorms and flooding rains are likely with this system... A potent spring storm is currently underway across the West and its impacts are likely to increase on Sunday into Monday. Heavy snow is expected to continue from the Wasatch Mountains/Uinta Mountains in Utah with up to 2 feet possible in the higher elevations and develop across much of southern Wyoming and across large sections of the Front Range and across the Colorado Rockies. Significant accumulations are expected across the Front Range with accumulations of 4 to 12 inches with amounts of 1 to possibly greater than 2 feet in the mountains. The snow is expected to be heavy and wet, leading to possible power outages, tree damaged and difficult travel conditions. By Monday, the heaviest snow will move south and eastward toward southern Colorado and the mountains of northern New Mexico. As the storm system taps into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, heavy and severe thunderstorms are likely to develop from the Southern and Central Plains across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys on Sunday, Sunday night and Monday. The greatest risk of hail and tornadoes is likely across parts of Kansas, eastern Nebraska and Iowa. Widespread thunderstorms are likely with a slow moving cold front with a risk of severe weather extending from Texas north northeastward across southern and central Plains and Mississippi Valleys into the western Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes on Sunday and Monday. Flash flooding is also a concern across much of the same region with a low to even moderate risk of excessive rainfall exceeding 5 inches across much of the lower to upper Mississippi Valley over the next 2 to 3 days. Much of the energy for this storm system will come from the large temperature differences with unusual late season cold temperatures across the West, especially over the Rockies and Intermountain regions. Meanwhile, widespread warm and increasingly humid conditions will expand across much of the central and eastern United States as southerly flow off the Gulf of Mexico persists for the next several days. This is a very active weather pattern with significant impacts expected on each day. Kocin Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php