Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 338 AM EST Wed Jan 14 2015 Valid 12Z Wed Jan 14 2015 - 12Z Fri Jan 16 2015 ...Deepening coastal low will clip portions of the Mid-Atlantic region with snow and ice on Wednesday... ...Warming trend will continue for the north-central U.S.... ...Conditions will become increasingly wet in the Pacific Northwest... A surface low deepening off the Carolina coast will clip portions of the Mid-Atlantic region with a wintry mix of precipitation early Wednesday before it races northeastward away from the coast Wednesday night. Although amounts will be on the lighter side...warm Atlantic moisture wrapping inland over an Arctic airmass settled in over the East will allow for periods of hazardous freezing rain across North Carlina and Virginia. Upper ridging over the West will slide eastward and allow temperatures to continue to rise across the north-central U.S. Despite the warm up...a surface low streaking through southern Canada will trigger light snow showers as the trailing cold front dips into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Light rain and snow showers over New Mexico will diminish on Wednesday as an upper low over the Four Corners states weakens and progresses eastward. While the energy crosses the southern tier...increasing return flow from the Gulf of Mexico will bring rains into the Western and Central Gulf Coast early Thursday...which will shift into the Southeast Thursday night. The Pacific Northwest will become increasingly wet towards the later half of the week as a strong cold front steadily approaches the coast. A ripe slug of moisture streaming inland ahead of this system will fuel widespread heavy rains along the Washington and Oregon coasts by Thursday night...with heavy snow expected for the higher elevations of the Washington Cascades. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php