Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 356 AM EST Tue Dec 16 2014 Valid 12Z Tue Dec 16 2014 - 12Z Thu Dec 18 2014 ...A wintry mix of precipitation possible for interior New England... ...Much needed wet pattern will continue for drought-stricken California... A wrapped up surface cyclone that tracked through the Midwest on Monday will gradually weaken while lifting through the Great Lakes region on Tuesday. Widespread...but light...snow showers...will be possible to the northwest of the low track...and scattered showers are expected with the trailing cold front crossing the Appalachians. The front should push out into the Atlantic early Tuesday...and conditions will quickly clear out across the Eastern U.S.; however...a surface low deepening off the New England coast will bring a round of moderate to heavy precipitation inland over Northeast. Temperatures will be low enough to support a wintry mix of precipitation across interior New England. Multiple Pacific systems moving inland will allow the much needed wet pattern to continue across the western U.S...especially for the extreme drought-stricken California. Surges of moisture with each approaching system...combined with orographic effects...should produce periods of moderate to heavy rains along the California coast...and beneficial snowfall accumulations are expected to pile up along the Sierra Nevada range. Late in the forecast period...upper energy swinging out of the Southwest and moisture making a return from the Western Gulf of Mexico will help ignite and fuel an axis of precipitation across the Southern to Central Plains on Wednesday. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php