Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 318 AM EST Wed Jan 28 2015 Valid 12Z Wed Jan 28 2015 - 12Z Fri Jan 30 2015 ...Next round of snow expected over the Great Lakes, Central Appalachians, and northeastern U.S. on Thursday/Friday... ...Another warm day in store for the Great Plains on Wednesday... ...Wet conditions are in the forecast over the Four Corners area... The strong coastal storm which has been dropping very heavy snowfall to New England is gradually winding down as only scattered snow showers are occurring in its wake. A surface ridge building to the west will bring fair conditions to the East Coast on Wednesday. In spite of temperatures being 5 to 10 degrees below normal over the region, the winds are forecast to diminish with abundant sunshine expected. An upper trough is expected to gradually sharpen over the Great Lakes by midday Thursday as a pair of systems loosely merge together. In response to this amplification process, an area of low pressure will track quickly toward the east with the attendant cold front marching toward the Appalachians Thursday evening. It appears there will be plenty of moisture lifting northward ahead of this front which is forecast to spark a broad area of light to moderate precipitation. While the southern extent of this precipitation shield will feature rain, a majority of the swath should be snow or some mixture. Currently WPC expects an expansive axis of 2 to 6 inches of snow over much of the Great Lakes and into the Central Appalachians along with the interior Northeast. Additionally, enough warm air overriding the below freezing surface layer should carry a threat for freezing rain and sleet across areas of the Upper Ohio Valley on Thursday. Record-breaking warmth will continue one more day given the persistent downsloping flow in the lee of the Rockies. Several records were broken across the Great Plains yesterday. In fact, high temperatures reached the low to mid 80s over Central Kansas which shattered records by nearly 10 degrees. On Wednesday, expect one more day of warmth as high temperatures will be 25 to 35 degrees above normal across the Central Plains. This will translate to highs in the low to mid 70s. Eventually a return to cooler weather will occur by the following day as a cold front swings through the Central Plains late Wednesday. A slow moving southern stream trough will edge eastward from the subtropical Pacific toward the coast of Baja California. Increasing moisture ahead of this system combined with favorable jet dynamics will spread a batch of rainfall to the Four Corners region on Thursday evening into Friday. The heaviest axis should occur in orographically favored areas like the Mogollon Rim. Snow levels should be rather high which will restrict light accumulations to the Southern Rockies. Rubin-Oster Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php