Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 320 AM EST Sat Feb 28 2015 Valid 12Z Sat Feb 28 2015 - 12Z Mon Mar 02 2015 ...Heavy snow for parts of the Central Rockies... ...Heavy rain over parts of the Southwest... ...Temperatures will be 15 to 30 degrees below average from the Central/Southern Plains... Upper-level energy over the Pacific Northwest will move southward and form a closed upper-level low just off the Central California Coast by Sunday. The system will produce snow over parts of the Great Basin to parts of the Central/Southern Rockies and parts of California through Sunday evening. Rain will also develop over the lower elevations of the Southwest and California on Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday evening, an area of light to moderate rain will develop over parts of the Southwest. Meanwhile, cold high pressure over the Eastern Ohio Valley will move eastward off the Mid-Atlantic Coast by Sunday evening. Upper-level jet dynamics and disorganized upper-level energy moving northeastward over the Mississippi Valley to the Northeast will produce a region of snow over parts of the Central/Southern Plains that will expand eastward into the Ohio Valley by Saturday evening. The area of snow will move eastward into the Northeast to the Great Lakes by Sunday evening. Return flow off the Gulf of Mexico will aid in producing rain over parts of the Southern Plains on Saturday and Sunday. Showers and thunderstorms will develop over parts of the Western Gulf Coast and the Lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday, too. A region of rain and freezing rain will develop over parts of Central Texas into Oklahoma on Saturday. The rain/freezing rain will expand into parts of the Middle Mississippi Valley/Ohio Valley by Sunday morning. By Sunday evening the area of rain/freezing rain will move into parts of the Northern Mid-Atlantic. Elsewhere, upper-level jet dynamics and easterly flow off the Atlantic will aid in producing areas of rain and showers/thunderstorms over parts of Florida and later the Southeast Coast through Sunday morning. Additionally, upper-level energy moving into the Pacific Northwest by Sunday evening will produce light rain over parts of the Northwest Coast. Ziegenfelder Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php