Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 328 AM EST Thu Jan 15 2015 Valid 12Z Thu Jan 15 2015 - 12Z Sat Jan 17 2015 ...Heavy rains will move inland over the Pacific Northwest Thursday night... Weather will become increasingly unsettled in the northwestern corner of the Nation on Thursday as a Pacific front approaches the coastline. A ripe slug of moisture streaming inland ahead of the boundary will fuel heavy rains across the Pacific Northwest and over extreme northern California. Precipitation will spread south and east across the Intermountain West and northern Rockies while the front moves onshore on Friday. Above normal temperatures at the start of the event will initially keep snow confined to the highest peaks...but falling temperatures and snow levels behind the front will allow for widespread accumulations along the Washington Cascades and northern Rockies. Conditions will stay fairly quiet across the rest of the Country. Energy streaking through the southern tier...combined with moisture streaming northward out of the Gulf of Mexico...will produce a swath of moderate rains along the central and eastern Gulf coast on Thursday. Precipitation will move into the Southeast Thursday night...but the energy aloft and precipitation should race offshore Friday morning. Light snow showers will be possible with a cold front while it crosses the Upper Great Lakes on Thursday and sweeps through the Northeast on Friday. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php