Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 452 PM EDT Sat May 24 2014 Valid 00Z Sun May 25 2014 - 00Z Tue May 27 2014 ...Much needed rains will continue to develop over drought stricken regions of Texas and Oklahoma...but will also pose a risk for flash flooding and severe weather... Widespread active weather is expected with an expansive upper vortex slowly edging east through the Four Corners states this weekend. Low level southerly flow ahead of the upper low will continue to surge Gulf moisture northward into the central U.S....which should fuel an organized area of heavy rain and thunderstorms across drought stricken regions of the southern Plains. Although these areas could use the precipitation...there will also be a risk for flash flooding and severe weather. Farther west beneath the core of the upper vortex....scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to pop up over the central to southern Rockies...and temperatures should even be low enough to support snow in some of the higher elevations of Colorado. A frontal boundary stretched from the front range of the Colorado Rockies to the southeast coast will serve as a focal point for convection Saturday into Sunday. The front will be weakening with time and precipitation should be relatively scattered and light; however...there will be a chance for some heavier and more organized activity across portions of the Middle Mississippi Valley...where moisture surging out of the Gulf of Mexico will be overrunning the boundary. A cold front crossing the northern tier of the Nation will trigger showers and thunderstorms as it crosses the northern Plains and moves into the Upper Midwest Saturday night into Sunday. Upstream...another cold front approaching the West Coast should begin impacting the northwestern U.S. by late Saturday night. Conditions will be slow to clear out across the Northeast this weekend while a surface low steadily pulls away from the coast and a disturbance up in Canada dives in behind it. Showers and thunderstorms will continue across New England...but the threat for any flash flooding should diminish. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php