Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 353 PM EST Sat Jan 09 2016 Valid 00Z Sun Jan 10 2016 - 00Z Tue Jan 12 2016 ...Snow expected from the mid-Mississippi valley to the Great Lakes... ...Soaking rains expected for much of the eastern U.S... ...Rain and mountain snow expected for the West Coast states... A strengthening low pressure system will track from the Ohio valley Saturday evening, reaching the lower Great Lakes region Sunday morning. Cold air filling in west of the low will produce a stripe of moderate to locally heavy snows from the mid Mississippi valley northward through the upper Great Lakes region. The heaviest accumulations are expected to center across Lower Michigan, where a rapid changeover from rain to snow is expected Saturday evening. In the wake of the low, strong northwesterly to westerly winds will encourage lake effect snow showers downwind of the Great Lakes though Monday. A clipper system dropping out of Canada will deliver snows across broader portion of the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes on Monday. Well below-average temperatures are expected to shift from the northern Great Plains to the upper Midwest on Sunday. Meanwhile ahead of the low lifting out of the Ohio valley, widespread rains with areas of thunderstorms are expected from the central Gulf Coast and the Southeast northward into the Ohio valley and the Mid-Atlantic region Saturday evening. These rains are forecast to spread into the Northeast by Sunday morning. Locally heavy rainfall amounts are possible, especially across portions of the central Appalachians, the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. Well above-average temperatures are expected to persist across the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast before the cold air spreads across the region on Sunday. A weakening Pacific frontal currently moving onshore will continue to bring rain and mountain snows to the western U.S. through Saturday night. Precipitation is expected to diminish by Sunday morning as the system continues to move inland and weaken. Another Pacific system will approach the West Coast by early Monday, spreading another round of rain and mountain snow into the region. Pereira Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php