Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 354 AM EDT Thu Mar 23 2017 Valid 12Z Thu Mar 23 2017 - 12Z Sat Mar 25 2017 ...Severe weather possible for the Southern/Central High Plains and Lower Mississippi valley... ...Prime conditions for the spread of wildfires across the Southern/Central High Plains... ...Increasingly active and wet pattern for northern California up to the Pacific Northwest coast and east to the northern Great Basin/Intermountain West... A robust surface low pressure system will spin up and trek across the central U.S. over the next few days bringing widespread showers and thunderstorms. Prior to frontogenesis over the Plains, temperatures ranging 15F to 20F above climatology are forecast for this afternoon. Dry and strong, gusty winds over along the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles and western Kansas will create favorable conditions for wildfires to rapidly spread -- numerous counties have red flag warnings in effect. The Storm Prediction Center has identified that the development of strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible over the Southern/Central Plains today, expanding into the Lower Mississippi Valley on Friday and Saturday. Besides the heavy rainfall/severe weather threat, expect accumulating snows underneath the parent upper low across the Southern/Central Rockies. The current forecast suggests amounts in the 6 to 12 inch range over the higher elevations of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Further east, a northward lifting warm front will keep conditions unsettled from Nebraska eastward into the Middle Mississippi Valley and Upper Great Lakes region. The heaviest rainfall amounts are expected across Nebraska which will be closer to the comma-head of precipitation near the deep surface cyclone. A cold front sagging southeast from Canada is forecast to bring freezing rain or a rain/snow mix from the Upper Mississippi valley and Great Lakes region by this evening and to the Northeast on Friday. A majority of the Southeast will remain dry into the weekend. A few showers are likely to pop up along coastal Florida. Across the west, a deep upper trough will spread moderate to locally heavy precipitation to from coastal Central California northward to the international border. As usual, orographics will play a key role in placement of the more concentrated activity. The heaviest amounts may be across the Siskiyou and Shasta Ranges where the onshore flow and vertical motions will be strongest. Campbell/Rubin-Oster Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php