Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 114 PM EST Thu Mar 05 2015 Valid 00Z Fri Mar 06 2015 - 00Z Sun Mar 08 2015 ...Heavy snow for northern parts of the Mid-Atlantic... ...Rain/freezing rain for Southern Mid-Atlantic... ...Temperatures be 10 to 30 degrees below average from the southern Plains to Northeast... An arctic air continues to surge southward behind a cold front sweeping across the Southeast U.S. With ample moisture streaming northward from the Gulf of Mexico heavy snow is expected across the northern Mid Atlantic where sub freezing temperatures have settled in at all levels. Shallow cold air filtering into the southern Mid Atlantic will change rain to sleet and freezing rain this afternoon and could end as a brief period of snow this evening. Further south, a band of convective precipitation in a spring-like airmass ahead of the cold front will bring a brief period of heavy rain from South Carolina to Florida. In the Lower Mississippi Valley and southern Appalachians the precipitation could end as light freezing rain and sleet. As the cold front exits the east coast the southern portion will be slow to push through Florida. Light showers will be possible through the period especially along the Atlantic coast of Florida. Cold air will settle in across much of the Eastern U.S. with high temperatures up to 30 degrees below normal possible in some places. With high pressure locked in across the Western and Southern U.S. a series of shortwave troughs will slide across southern Canada and the Great Lakes over the next few days. Warm advection into the central and northern Plains will lead to above normal temperatures through the period. Some light snow showers are possible across the northern Plains and northern Great Lakes late Friday into Saturday. Krekeler Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php