Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 359 PM EDT Tue Jul 04 2017 Valid 00Z Wed Jul 05 2017 - 00Z Fri Jul 07 2017 ...Dry and hot over the western U.S. but cool and pleasant over the Great Lakes and the Northeast... ...Scattered thunderstorms forecast for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, with severe storms possible for the Upper Mississippi Valley on Thursday... Over the next few days a ridge will strengthen over the western U.S. while the eastern half of has a broad upper-level trough. Temperatures are expected to continue to rise across the West. With the persistent hot and dry conditions the fire danger will remain very high.The heat is expected to trigger only a few showers and thunderstorms over the interior mountains from the afternoon to the early evening hours. Many locations will reach afternoon highs in the upper 90s into the lower 100s, with 110s across much of the Desert Southwest. Two frontal boundaries will act as a focus for showers and thunderstorms east of the Rockies: the southern one will span from the Mid-Atlantic westward to the South Plains and the northern one will pass through the northern High Plains and Upper Midwest. Warm Gulf moisture pooling/advecting northward will interact with this boundary. The heaviest thunderstorms are forecast to be focused over the in mid-Mississippi Valley during the next couple of days- periods of heavier rainfall is expected and may lead to an increased risk for flash flooding. Elsewhere, thunderstorms will be more scattered in nature in the vicinity of a slow-moving front from across the Mid-Atlantic, central Appalachians, and across the Midwest into Wednesday. By Thursday morning, the thunderstorms will be scattered across the upper Midwest, the Great Lakes and into upstate New York. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted much of the Upper-Mississippi Valley as having a slight risk for severe thunderstorms... with an enhanced risk centered over Wisconsin. Please refer to the SPC convective outlooks for additional information of the risk for severe weather. Campbell Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php