Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 346 AM EDT Wed Apr 8 2015 Valid 12Z Wed Apr 8 2015 - 12Z Fri Apr 10 2015 ***Severe thunderstorms over the Midwest states*** ***Back-door cold front over the Mid-Atlantic region*** ***Snow showers for the northern Rockies*** The middle of the week will have an active weather pattern across much of the country. A strong spring-like storm system developing over the Great Plains will eventually lift northward over the Great Lakes and into Canada by Friday morning. This surface low will have a pronounced warm sector ahead of it, and plenty of warm and humid air will stream northward and interact with the approaching cold front. The combination of instability and wind shear aloft will create an environment conducive to strong and severe thunderstorms from the southern Plains to the Ohio Valley. Farther east across the East Coast states, a strong front will separate cold and overcast weather over the Northeast U.S. from warm and muggy weather over the Southeast and Deep South. A part of this front will become a back-door cold front over the Mid-Atlantic region for Wednesday and Thursday as a cold air damming situation sets up east of the Appalachian Mountains. Periods of light rain and drizzle can also be expected north of the frontal boundary. Elsewhere across the U.S., some late-season snow showers are likely across parts of the northern Rockies with colder weather and lingering moisture. Across the Desert Southwest and west of the dryline in western Texas, it will be extremely dry and elevated fire danger will exist as winds become gusty. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php