Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 321 PM EDT Mon Apr 03 2017 Valid 00Z Tue Apr 04 2017 - 00Z Thu Apr 06 2017 ...Threats of severe weather and flash flooding will impact areas across the eastern Gulf Coast, the Southeast and southern Mid-Atlantic today... ...Expect snow to occur through the Rockies and portions of the Great Basin and Northern Plains over the next couple of days... Widespread showers and thunderstorms are moving through much of the Midwest and Great Lakes region this afternoon -- with a strong line of thunderstorms tracking through the eastern Gulf states, eastern Tennessee Valley and the southern Mid-Atlantic region as well. Conditions are favorable for some of those storms to turn severe -- the Storm Prediction Center has highlighted an area from the Florida panhandle to central North Carolina as having a slight to enhanced severe weather risk. Additionally, this same area could have periods of heavy rainfall which may increase the threat for flash flooding this afternoon and evening -- especially where the widespread rains will interact with terrain. The frontal system driving this widespread convection is expected to move offshore by Tuesday afternoon. The surface low will be a bit slower to exit, remaining across the Northeast through Wednesday before finally shifting off the coast. Continued rain and thunderstorms will proceed the passage of the cold front, spreading northward and westward around the area of low pressure, impacting much of the eastern U.S. today through Tuesday. Much of the Northeast will once again find themselves in the cold sector of the system, with precipitation falling as a mixture of rain, snow, and ice beginning early Tuesday morning and continuing through Wednesday. Winter Storm Watches have been posted for portions of southern Maine and eastern Delaware as a result. Showers and thunderstorms will remain in the forecast for much of the south-central and southeast U.S. over the next couple of days as another low pressure system is expected to cross into the Southern/Central Plains by midweek. Snow is forecast to impact portions of the Rockies, Northern Plains, and Central Great Basins through Tuesday, before tapering off Tuesday night. Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories are currently in effect for the highest elevations in the Central Rockies, where snowfall in excess of a foot is possible. Although a slight risk for severe thunderstorm development will be possible ahead of the system over the central Gulf on Tuesday, a more expansive threat will be present for much of the eastern Gulf Coast up to the Mid-Atlantic/Ohio Valley on Thursdays ahead of the advancing cold front. Campbell/Wix Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php