Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 1209 PM EST Fri Dec 22 2017 Valid 00Z Sat Dec 23 2017 - 00Z Mon Dec 25 2017 ...Moderate risk of flash flooding across portions of the South... ...Icy conditions/snow may impact transportation from the Great Lakes to New England... ...Bitterly cold temperatures expected across the northern Plains and northern Rockies... Widespread showers and thunderstorms from the ArkLaTex into the Lower/Middle Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley are due to warm, moist Gulf air transports north ahead of a cold front. Air within the warm sector is high enough to threaten record high temperatures across portions of Louisiana and Mississippi this afternoon and lead to warm . With an expected slow eastern progression with this system, an axis of higher rainfall amounts is forecast to span from southern Arkansas to southern Kentucky- invoking an area with a moderate risk for flash flooding and a marginal risk of severe weather today. As the precipitation and front shifts to the East on Saturday the area of elevated risk will setup over the eastern Tennessee Valley/central Appalachians. By Saturday afternoon, the cold front quickly moves toward the East Coast. Rainfall will still occur along and ahead of the front by Saturday afternoon albeit not nearly as heavy. A clipper system will drop through the Northern and Central Plains which will reinforce cold air over the central U.S. and the Great Lakes region. This does not bode well for travel over the next few days as precipitation will likely be a mix of ice and snow from the Great Lakes to New England. Freezing rain along with snow will spread northward across the Northeast today and into Saturday morning as the frontal boundary lifts north. Please see WPC's winter weather products and discussion for more information pertaining to the winter weather hazards associated with this system. Arctic air will surge southward along the Northern Rockies and into the Northern Plains in the wake of the cold front moving through the Southeast and a secondary boundary dropping into the northern Plains on Sunday. Temperatures across this sector will plummet into the teens above zero, which on average will be 20 degrees below normal for late December, though no record lows or record cold high temperatures are anticipated until at least Monday. Roth/Campbell Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php