Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 400 PM EDT Fri Mar 16 2018 Valid 00Z Sat Mar 17 2018 - 00Z Mon Mar 19 2018 ...Continued cold and snow for the western U.S. this weekend... ...A wintry mix including freezing rain accumulations expected for parts of the Midwest/Ohio valley... ...Strong to severe thunderstorms possible for parts of the lower Mississippi valley on Saturday, with a greater risk across some of the same locations for Sunday... ...Conditions to remain favorable for wildfires across portions of the southern Plains through the weekend... While snowfall across the Sierra Nevada will begin to taper off tonight, below average temperatures and snow will remain in the forecast for many locations west of the Continental Divide this weekend. A large upper level disturbance over the West Coat will slowly work eastward, reaching the central and southern Plains on Sunday. As the upper system moves east, smaller scale disturbances will remain over portions of the Pacific Northwest coast and Montana keeping the weather rather cold, cloudy and unsettled. Meanwhile, a storm system currently over the central to northern Plains will continue to produce a wintry mix as it moves east tonight into Saturday morning. Rain, sleet and freezing rain are expected from Iowa into northern Illinois and east-southeastward into West Virginia Saturday morning. The largest hazard from this system is expected to be ice accumulation, with perhaps greater than 0.10 inch accretion in a few locations, while snowfall accumulations should remain light. Farther south, ongoing moderate to locally heavy rain is expected to dwindle in intensity as a cold front moves south into the Gulf Coast states through the day on Saturday. The front is then expected to stall into the day on Sunday in advance of the next storm system to eject out into the southern Plains. While strong to severe storms will be possible tomorrow across portions of north-central Texas into and across the ArkLaTex, as the storm system from the West approaches on Sunday, it will bring a renewed threat for strong to severe weather with the Storm Prediction Center highlighting a slight risk of severe storms on Sunday for portions of Kansas, Oklahoma into the ArkLaTex and lower Mississippi valley. Gusty winds and low relative humidities will also prolong at least an elevated fire weather concern from southern Kansas into central and western Texas this evening. A risk will again set up over the southern High Plains for Saturday and Sunday. Otto Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php