Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 358 PM EST Thu Feb 19 2015 Valid 00Z Fri Feb 20 2015 - 00Z Sun Feb 22 2015 ...Bitter cold will continue for the East... ...Ice event setting up across the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys... Bitter cold will continue across the Eastern U.S. beneath a broad trough carved out aloft. The latest surge of Arctic air could bring some of the coldest weather since the mid-1990s to portions of the Southeast...Mid-Atlantic states...and central Appalachians on Friday. Upstream...another Arctic airmass dropping down from Canada will plunge temperatures across the north central U.S. this weekend. A cold front at the leading edge of the frigid air will trigger light snows while it crosses the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes...and the rush of cold air should also force some upslope snows along the northern and central Rockies. The recent Arctic airmass settled in over the eastern half of the Nation...combined with moisture making a return from the Gulf of Mexico...will set the stage for an ice event across portions of the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys late this week. Precipitation should begin to break out across the south central U.S. on Friday as a warm front surges northward and a surface low deepens in the southern Plains. A wide axis of sleet and freezing rain will be possible as the warm Gulf of Mexico air overruns the slow to erode Arctic airmass. An upper ridge amplifying off the West Coast will keep conditions warm and dry across much of the Western U.S. this weekend. Gerhardt Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php