Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 336 PM EST Wed Jan 06 2016 Valid 00Z Thu Jan 07 2016 - 00Z Sat Jan 09 2016 ...More heavy rain possible for Southern/Central California and Arizona... ...Heavy snow possible for parts of the Sierra, Mogollon Rim and southern Rockies... ...More snow and cold air on the way---for the Plains and Midwest... More rain and mountain snow is anticipated across California during this 60-hour forecast period (heading into Friday morning). Another 1-3 inches of rain and snow water equivalent is expected to fall across the southern California coastal ranges and southern Sierra. This area of substantial rainfall is expected to move into Arizona Thursday and Thursday night. Active weather is then expected to migrate along the southern edge of a Pacific trough---from the Southwest to the central Midwest. A series of progressively-intensifying mid-level impulses---will exit the Four Corners and migrate across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas---picking up Gulf moisture on their way northeastward into the Corn Belt and Great Lakes. An organized cold front is expected move away for the southern Plains in 24 to 36 hours and merge with colder, Canadian air surging southward through the upper Missouri Valley. Ahead of the developing cold front---periods of rainfall develop from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Mid-Mississippi Valley and behind the front, more snow and wind for the central Plains. Late Thursday into early Friday, a second system exits the southern high Plains and takes a similar---northeastward --- into portions of eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma and west Texas. Along the East Coast, high pressure will prevail and generate a cool easterly flow off the western Atlantic. Upper-level energy migrating eastward at low latitude --- in the Gulf of Mexico and west of the Bahamas --- will generate periods of rain showers and a few thunderstorms for Florida during the next 48 to 60 hours. Vojtesak Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php