Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 242 PM EST Wed Jan 03 2018 Valid 00Z Thu Jan 04 2018 - 00Z Sat Jan 06 2018 ...Major East Coast winter storm to bring hazardous winter travel conditions from the Southeast to New England through Friday... ...Bitterly cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills to persist across the Eastern states into the weekend... A stubborn arctic air mass will persist across much of the U.S. east of the Rockies through this week with afternoon high temperatures expected to be as much as 20 to 25 degrees below normal by the end of the week from the Midwest to the entire Eastern Seaboard. This will help set the stage for a major winter storm to impact portions of the East Coast tonight and into Thursday and Friday. An area of low pressure currently situated off the Florida coast will rapidly deepen as it moves northward through the western Atlantic on Thursday. Freezing rain and snow is already occurring along the Southeast Coast and this will spread northward along the Eastern Seaboard tonight and tomorrow. The current forecast calls for anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow accumulation along the East coast from Virginia Beach to Boston. Higher amounts of 12 to 18+ inches is possible for portions of northern New England. A light coating of ice is also possible for portions of the East Coast. In addition to heavy snowfall, a tight pressure gradient around the low will cause gusty winds across much of the Eastern U.S. leading to dangerously cold wind chills and Blizzard conditions in some places. See the key messages below as well as the products issued by your local NWS office for more details regarding this storm. ***Key Messages: East Coast Winter Storm 1. Freezing rain and sleet have transitioned to all snow over South Carolina. Snowfall will increase northward into portions of the Mid-Atlantic and northern New England through tonight. Blizzard conditions are possible over eastern Long Island and portions of coastal New England, and also near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads. 2. Confidence in accumulating snowfall has increased for parts of the Northeast as the surface low is expected to track closer to the coast and intensify rapidly. 3. This system has the potential to produce strong, damaging winds possibly resulting in downed trees and/or power outages. 4. Minor to major coastal flooding/erosion is possible due to a combination of high tides and wave action, especially Thursday afternoon, January 4. 5. Warnings are in effect from southeast Georgia northward through eastern New England, which means hazardous conditions are expected in the next 24-36 hours. Elsewhere across the country, westerly flow will allow for lake effect snows to continue downwind of the Great Lakes with generally light to moderate accumulations expected. Out west, rain will continue moving inland across California and eventually the Pacific Northwest as an upper level system over the Eastern Pacific approaches the region. Locally moderate to heavy rainfall is possible along the favored terrain of northern California. Above normal temperatures are also expected to continue across much of the Western states. Santorelli Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php