Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 258 PM EDT Tue Mar 15 2016 Valid 00Z Wed Mar 16 2016 - 00Z Fri Mar 18 2016 ...Significant storm system to move from Mississippi Valley to Midwest and bring heavy rain and heavy snow to parts of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin... ...Colder air spilling southward across the Rockies will bring locally heavy snow to parts of the Rockies/Intermountain West... ...Cold front moving across country will stall along the Gulf Coast with showers and thunderstorms developing... A surge of cool to colder air is crossing the West and the Plains while a storm system develops along the leading edge of this air mass. A developing storm will likely bring heavy rainfall to the Upper Mississippi Valley with a threat of showers and thunderstorms, some severe, across the Midwest this evening. As the storm winds up, colder air will be wrapped into the storm and rain is expected to change to snow across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, where 6 to 12 inches is expected, while greater than a foot of snow is possible in northern Minnesota. A weak but slow moving storm system will move across New England where rainy and cool conditions will gradually move offshore. However...the approach of the next front and some colder air north of the US/Canadian border may result in some snow for northern New England Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The development of a blocking weather pattern over south central Canada will force several upper level systems to move southeastward across the Rockies, resulting in several periods of high elevation snow from Idaho,Montana,Wyoming,Utah and Colorado on Wednesday into Friday. The trailing cold front from the developing storm over the Midwest will move eastward off the East Coast and southward along the Gulf Coast, where scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop on Thursday and continue into Friday morning. Kocin Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php