Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 444 PM EDT Fri May 23 2014 Valid 00Z Sat May 24 2014 - 00Z Mon May 26 2014 ...Beneficial rains...along with a threat for flash flooding and severe weather...expected across drought stricken regions of the southern High Plains... Active weather will continue across the south central U.S. throughout the holiday weekend as an expansive upper vortex over the Four Corners region slowly edges east and a steady supply of moisture surges north out of the western Gulf of Mexico. An organized area of heavy rains is expected to develop over the southern High Plains and move over drought stricken regions of Texas...New Mexico...and Oklahoma. Although these areas need the rain...the slow progression of heavy rains could lead to some flash flooding. Also...embedded thunderstorms could become organized and pose a threat for severe weather. Farther north...a frontal boundary stretched from the front range of the Colorado Rockies to the Southeast coast will serve as a focal point for rain and thunderstorms. The heaviest and most organized activity should be across Kansas and northern Oklahoma...where the northward surge of Gulf moisture will be overrunning the boundary. Conditions will be slow to clear out over the Northeast this weekend as a surface low spinning off the New England coast gradually pushes farther out to sea. The threat for any heavy rains and flash flooding should diminish by Saturday morning...but moisture wrapping around the low should keep scattered showers in the forecast through Sunday. Scattered shower activity will be possible with a cold front moving inland over the Northwest and pushing eastward through the northern tier of the Nation. Precipitation totals with this feature should be fairly light until the boundary crosses east of the Rockies and reaches more moisture rich regions of the northern Plains. Upstream...another cold front approaching the West Coast will begin impacting the Pacific Northwest by Sunday. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php