Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 310 AM EST Wed Jan 20 2016 Valid 12Z Wed Jan 20 2016 - 12Z Fri Jan 22 2016 ...Wintry precipitation expected on Wednesday for portions of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys into the southern Appalachians... ...Additional wintry precipitation forecast to spread across Arkansas into the Tennessee and lower Ohio valleys on Thursday... ...Strong to severe thunderstorms possible across the lower Mississippi valley on Thursday... A weak area of low pressure currently centered along the eastern Texas-Oklahoma border will continue to track to the east on Wednesday. Light to moderate precipitation falling out ahead of the low will continue to spread out across the lower Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys and into the central and southern Appalachians. A wintry mix is expected across portions of the region, with both light snow and ice accumulations forecast for northern Arkansas into the Tennessee valley and the southern Appalachians on Wednesday. Further west, an upper level system moving across the Northwest Wednesday morning is expected to generate snows across the northern into the central Rockies as it continues to drop southeastward on Wednesday. This system is expected to spill across the central Rockies into the southern Great Plains Thursday morning, spurring the development of a surface low pressure system that is forecast to track across northern Texas, reaching the lower Mississippi valley by Thursday evening. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop out ahead of this system. Some of these storms may be strong to severe, particularly across the lower Mississippi valley on Thursday. North of the low, another round of wintry precipitation is expected, with accumulating snow possible from central and northern Arkansas, across Kentucky into southwestern Virgina and western North Carolina. Significant icing is possible as well, especially across portions of western and central Kentucky. By early Friday, snows are expected to begin spreading across the central Appalachians, while freezing rain begins to impact parts of western and central North Carolina. Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms will continue to advance across the Southeast, reaching Georgia and Florida by Friday morning. Across the western U.S., the parade of frontal systems continues, with another system expected to approach the Northwest late Wednesday into early Thursday. This system is expected to bring locally heavy precipitation to western Washington late Wednesday into Thursday. Pereira Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php