Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 256 PM EST Tue Jan 03 2017 Valid 00Z Wed Jan 04 2017 - 00Z Fri Jan 06 2017 ...Expect heavy snow across the Sierras/Great Basin/central Rockies over the next few days... ...Heavy rain will be over the northern and central California Coast... Unsettled weather across the western U.S. can expected over the course of the short term period. Moisture will flow from the Pacific into northern and central California over the next few days. Meanwhile, at the surface, a front will continue to approach the coast through tonight and slowly move across California and toward the Great Basin on Wednesday. With continued onshore flow and high moisture content to tap, there could be significant amount of precipitation that could yield both flooding issues for the central portion of the California coast, especially on Thursday, and heavy snowfall across the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The heavy snowfall can be expected to last through the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday. By Thursday, heavy snow will continue to impact the Sierras but won't be nearly as widespread as the moisture begins to push into the Great Basin and Central Rockies. Snow in the higher elevations of the central Great Basin and the Central Rockies will begin by Wednesday; however, as the day goes on and into Thursday activity will begin to ramp up across these regions. The rainfall across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast will continue to move out into the Atlantic by late Tuesday night. Lingering showers can be expected for coastal New England into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Snow in the interior of New England will continue through Thursday--in addition to lake effect snow downwind of both the upper and lower Great Lakes. Expect the greater snow totals along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Lake Ontario. With lingering moisture across the central Appalachians through Wednesday morning, some light snowfall can be expected in that region also. An Arctic high pressure will continue to build from the northern Plains and shift eastward toward the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast by Thursday. This will bring daytime temperatures down 5-10 degrees below normal for the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast/Southeast and 10-20 degrees for the High Plains. Much of the nation by the end of the week will experience below normal temperatures. Reinhart Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php