Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 259 PM EST Wed Feb 14 2018 Valid 00Z Thu Feb 15 2018 - 00Z Sat Feb 17 2018 ...Heavy rainfall could bring flooding in parts of the Ohio Valley and Northeast... ...Warm temperatures expected across the eastern U.S. before a strong cold front sweeps eastward... ...Beneficial rain and snow for parts of the West... Strong south-southwesterly winds will transport moisture into the southern Plains and the Mid-Atlantic over the next few days. This will bring above average temperatures throughout these regions through the end of the work week--with high temperatures expected to be 20 to 30 degrees above average. Showers and embedded thunderstorms across the Southeast, Tennessee/Ohio Valleys today will continue moving north and east--with precipitation increasing within the Mid-Atlantic later tonight. A frontal boundary draped along the Ohio Valley on Thursday afternoon will provide focus for showers and thunderstorms to fire off. These storms will be capable of producing heavy rainfall--giving way to a slight risk of flash flooding along this region. Once the cold front pushes southward on early Friday morning, a line of precipitation will follow. By Friday afternoon, scattered rainfall will span from the southern Plains to the Mid-Atlantic near the cold front. Behind the strong cold front, temperatures are expected to plunge along the northern High Plains on Thursday. High temperatures will be up to 30 degrees below normal. By Friday, temperatures behind the front will be near normal throughout the Mississippi Valley and southern Plains. A series of upper level disturbances will give way to an increase in precipitation across the West over the next few days. Later tonight and into Thursday morning, showers and higher elevation snow can be expected from the northern Rockies and into the Desert Southwest. This activity is not expected to produce heavy rainfall even as showers continue through the Southwest into Friday. However, given that moderate to severe drought is present in the Southwest and parts of the Central Great Basin, the rainfall and higher elevation snow should alleviate these conditions. Reinhart Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php