Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 424 PM EDT Wed Sep 17 2014 Valid 00Z Thu Sep 18 2014 - 00Z Sat Sep 20 2014 ***Odile ordeal for the Desert Southwest through Thursday*** ***Fall-like weather continues across much of the eastern U.S.*** ***Scattered showers and storms for the Gulf Coast*** The big thing making weather headlines over the next couple of days will be the moisture associated with the remnants of tropical depression Odile. This once powerful hurricane over the Baja California peninsula is steadily weakening, however there is a plethora of tropical moisture associated with the circulation of Odile to cause areas of excessive rainfall. Widespread flash flood watches are in effect from eastern California to extreme western Texas. The areas that will likely be hardest hit will be southern Arizona and southern New Mexico, where several inches of rainfall is possible. In the warm and humid airmass near the Gulf Coast and Florida, there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon and evening hours. A stalled frontal boundary over the Deep South is helping to ignite additional convection. Locally heavy rainfall will be possible near the Texas coast and South Florida, and another area of concentrated rainfall is likely over Arkansas Wednesday evening. Showers are also likely across northern New England as a wave of low pressure clips the northern border of the U.S. Elsewhere, a large surface high is controlling the weather pattern across much of the eastern U.S., with many states enjoying quality fall-like conditions. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php