Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 300 PM EST Tue Feb 21 2017 Valid 00Z Wed Feb 22 2017 - 00Z Fri Feb 24 2017 ...Many daily temperature records may be broken from the Great Plains into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic region due to anomalous warmth... ...Heavy snow is possible across the Wasatch and into the Central Rockies... ...Increasingly wet conditions likely for the state of Florida... What has been a mild February for many will continue throughout the period. An absence of Arctic air masses coupled with persistent south-southwesterly flow aloft should favor well above normal readings from the High Plains eastward. Forecast temperatures from the center of the country eastward into the Upper Great Lakes/Middle Mississippi Valley are approximately 20 to 30 degrees above average. Consequently, many daily temperature records may fall across the region. The latest forecast for Chicago O'Hare airport on Wednesday is 73 degrees which is 5 degrees above the current record high set back in 1922. Similar forecasts stretch from the Middle Mississippi Valley eastward to the Mid-Atlantic which suggests many records could be broken. A deep upper trough should generally remain anchored to the western states during the next couple of days which will keep conditions cool with plenty of precipitation in the forecast. In particular, the better chance for snowfall accumulations will be from the Wasatch eastward into the Central Rockies where amounts of up to 12 to 18 inches are possible in the highest elevations. Eventually all of this activity should exit the higher terrain and moves into the adjacent High Plains where 4 to 8 inches of snow is being forecast across northwestern Nebraska/extreme southwestern South Dakota. In response to the deepening system across the Western U.S., continued downsloping is expected in the lee of the Rockies which is spreading dry, gusty winds to the Great Plains. Red Flag Warnings currently blanket sections of eastern New Mexico/Colorado and into Central Nebraska which suggests an environment more supportive of wildfire production. Currently the Southern/Central High Plains are at a critical risk for such activity based on the latest Storm Prediction Center fire weather outlook. Elsewhere, a robust upper low spinning over the Gulf of Mexico should reach the southwestern part of Florida by Wednesday afternoon. In advance of this system, a strong surge of moisture augmented by ample convergence along the attendant cold front will support an axis of moderate to locally heavy rainfall across the Sunshine State. Once the boundary moves to the east, unsettled conditions underneath the upper low itself will support an increase in scattered showers and thunderstorms. Rubin-Oster Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php