Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 244 AM EST Sun Dec 17 2017 Valid 12Z Sun Dec 17 2017 - 12Z Tue Dec 19 2017 ...Snow for the Rockies and rain for the Gulf Coast... A strong upper-level trough is breaking down the ridge across the West and this is causing the eastern U.S. trough to become less amplified with more west-to-east flow aloft. Heavy snow is expected for Washington state and for the Northern Rockies courtesy of Pacific moisture working its way inland. Some snow is also expected for parts of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico with a surface low settling southward across that region. Deeper moisture returning northward from the Gulf of Mexico is expected to fuel the development of scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms, along with locally heavy rainfall at times. The region that will likely get the heaviest rain would be from eastern Texas to the central Gulf Coast region, with daily areal averages of 1 to locally 2 inches forecast through Monday night. There may be a few instances of flooding where areas of thunderstorm activity persists. Warm and dry conditions are expected for Florida and the lower elevations of California going into the early part of the work week. Fire weather concerns will still exist across parts of California on Sunday owing to the dry conditions and gusty winds. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php