Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 258 PM EST Wed Jan 04 2017 Valid 00Z Thu Jan 05 2017 - 00Z Sat Jan 07 2017 ...Heavy snow continues across the Sierras and the Great Basin/Rockies... ..Heavy rain continues across parts of the California coast... ...Wintry mix from the southern Virginia to North Texas possible... Unsettled weather continues across the Western U.S.--especially for parts of California and to the central Rockies. Onshore wind will tap into subtropical moisture from the Pacific and bring it across California and the Central Basin/Rockies. This will bring both flooding problems along the central California coast and heavy snowfall across the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. At the surface, a wavy stationary front stretches from West Texas and north into the Central Rockies, through the central Great Basin, and across California. This front will be pushed south as an upper level low digs southward over California through the short term period. For Thursday, expect very heavy snow across the Sierras, in the high elevations of the Great Basin, and the Colorado Rockies. However, most of the heavy rainfall will come to an end along coastal California. By Friday, the upper level low swings across the Desert Southwest before it slides over the southern Plains. This will move the surface front south and east. As a result, the heavy snow will shift toward the southern Rockies/high elevations of New Mexico and lighter snow for the high elevations across the Four Corners. By Friday night, most of the moisture will be cut off and precipitation will begin to taper off. Snow downwind of the Great Lakes will continue over the short term period as west-northwesterly flow resulting from a strong low lifting north on Wednesday. This flow will continue into Thursday and Friday. The heaviest snowfall can be expected across upstate New York and downwind of Lake Ontario. Lingering moisture across the central Appalachians will bring light snow accumulations for that region. As the front across the Great Basin moves southward,a surface low develops across north central Texas on Thursday morning. This low will move across the lower Mississippi Valley eastward into the Southeast. Moisture will lift northward from the Gulf of Mexico while colder air filters southward from the Arctic high pressure nosediving across the eastern U.S. This could bring mixed precipitation--including snow and ice--from eastern Texas to the Mid-Atlantic. The wintry mix will bring to move southward on Friday morning while the western and central Gulf Coast will have light to moderate rainfall. By Friday afternoon, areas across the Gulf Coast and Florida will receive rainfall. Parts of the middle Mississippi Valley through the northern portions of the Southeast and western Mid-Atlantic, including the western half of North Carolina, could see snow. Expect a transition zone from rain to snow in between those regions--mostly across the Southeast and the Carolinas. Reinhart Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php