Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 302 AM EDT Wed Apr 06 2016 Valid 12Z Wed Apr 06 2016 - 12Z Fri Apr 08 2016 ...Low pressure system expected to bring precipitation from the Mississippi valley to the East Coast... ...Heavy rain possible across portions of New England Thursday and Thursday night... ...Rain chances increasing across the Southwest by Thursday and Friday... A low pressure system will move across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes today, bringing rain and snow to those regions. Farther south, rain and thunderstorms will be possible for much of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee valleys today. The system will spread rain into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast tonight, with the potential for snow in northern New England. Any snow across northern New England will change to rain on Thursday as the system pulls warmer air north into the region. Heavy rain is possible Thursday into Thursday night across portions of eastern New England, where 1 to 2 inches of rain is forecast to fall, with locally higher amounts. Widespread rain may linger across Maine into Friday morning before the system pulls away. In its wake, another round of cold temperatures will invade areas from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Scattered rain and snow showers will persist across the Midwest and Great Lakes on Thursday as colder air moves in, and the same will hold true for the eastern U.S. on Thursday night and Friday. While temperatures will remain 5 to 10 degrees below average today across the East, the colder air mass arriving behind this front will result in temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below average for Thursday and Friday across a wide area from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. The western U.S. will remain dry today with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above average. An upper-level low over the eastern Pacific will begin to increase moisture across the Southwest by late on Thursday, resulting in scattered showers and thunderstorms. Showers and thunderstorms will become a little more numerous across the Southwest on Friday as increasing moisture interacts with terrain and a decaying stationary frontal boundary. Ryan Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php