Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 218 AM EST Sat Dec 27 2014 Valid 12Z Sat Dec 27 2014 - 12Z Mon Dec 29 2014 ...While snow crosses the Upper Midwest...a cold front will trigger heavy rains along the Central Gulf Coast and some rain/snow in western Texas... ...Much colder weather is expected to drop southwards from the Northwest and Northern Plains across much of the West and Central States by early Tuesday.... ...The upper system bringing very cold air southward will bring a widespread area of snow across the Pacific Northwest across the Intermountain West and Rocky Mountains in the next few days. A cold front moving eastward across the central United States will be the first of an increasing surge of colder weather that is expected affect an increasing part of the nation over the next few days. Overnight and into Sunday, a cold front will bring colder temperatures across the West and some snow across the Upper Mississippi Valley into the Upper Midwest. At the same time, an upper disturbance and a flood of low level moisture will spawn significant rainfall along the central Gulf Coast and parts of the Southeast US on Saturday and a separate batch of heavy rain could develop again on Sunday. A very wintry period for parts of the western and northern US is on the near horizon as a strong weather system moves across the Pacific Northwest on Saturday night into Sunday, bringing snow to many areas except the immediate West Coast that spreads inland across the Intermountain West and Rocky Mountains. Much colder air will then drive southward with the coldest air headed for the area east of the Rockies into the Plains States on Monday into Tuesday. Very cold air will be moving across much of the Intermountain West on Tuesday as a large Arctic high pressure system invades the western US from north of Alaska. While the colder air will also move eastward across the Midwest into the Northeast, it will do so at a slower pace than out west. While rain will move eastward across the Southeast into the Middle Atlantic states, most of the precipitation may stay as rain unless the colder air moves farther south and the precipitation can move farther north. For now, winter weather seems to be kept at bay across much of the East. Kocin Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php