Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 339 AM EDT Fri May 16 2014 Valid 12Z Fri May 16 2014 - 12Z Sun May 18 2014 ...Widespread heavy rainfall expected to continue across the mid Atlantic and Northeast... ...Much below average temperatures expected across portions of the Midwest... ...Cooling trend in the West will bring an end to recent record breaking heat... Moisture-laden southerly winds ahead of a slow moving cold front crossing the central Appalachians and lower Great Lakes region this morning will continue to fuel widespread moderate to heavy rains across the mid Atlantic and Northeast today. Intense rainfall rates and the long duration of this event will continue to raise flooding concerns. Conditions will begin to dry out from south to east beginning later today as the front clears the mid Atlantic coast this evening and the New England coast by Saturday evening. Behind the system moving through the Eastern U.S., temperatures will stay below normal beneath a large upper low closing off over the upper Mississippi valley and the Great Lakes. Daytime highs over the next couple of days may be 15 to 20 degrees below their average across portions of the upper Midwest and the Ohio valley. Farther south, weak upper disturbances embedded within within the broader upper low should encourage widespread, but mainly light, shower activity across the mid Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Impulses of energy diving southeastward out of Canada will trigger light shower activity across the northern to central Rockies and adjacent high plains over the next few days. As the energy continues its southeastward track, it should also send some light to moderate precipitation out across the Arkansas and the Tennessee valleys. The breakdown of a highly amplified upper ridge will start a cooling trend along the West Coast and put an end to the recent record breaking heat. As the ridge suppresses and a deep closed low approaches from the northeast Pacific, light showers will become increasingly numerous in the Pacific Northwest. Pereira Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php