Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 318 AM EDT Thu May 10 2018 Valid 12Z Thu May 10 2018 - 12Z Sat May 12 2018 ...Best chances for rain across the northern half of the U.S. and the southern tier remains mostly dry... It will feel more like summer across much of the central and southern parts of the nation to end the week. Temperatures are forecast to be noticeably warmer across much of the eastern U.S. on Thursday prior to the arrival of a cold front from the northwest, which should bring a round of showers and storms during the afternoon and evening hours. A slight cool down is expected for Friday from Virginia to the Northeast U.S. before warmer weather returns for Saturday. The heat and increasing levels of humidity will continue across the Deep South and the Southeast U.S. as surface high pressure and upper level ridging keep frontal passages well to the north, with highs reaching or surpassing 90 degrees for many areas. It will be even hotter across the Desert Southwest and into western Texas, with temperatures likely reaching or exceeding 100 degrees. An active weather pattern is expected from the western High Plains to the Upper Midwest as a stationary front becomes established over the region north of the southern U.S. ridge. This is where the greatest chance of severe weather will reside through Friday night, along with the heaviest rainfall prospects. Pleasantly cool conditions will exist north of this boundary across the Dakotas and extending to the Great Lakes region. For the western U.S., numerous showers and high elevation snow are expected as an upper level trough amplifies and evolves into a large upper low over the Intermountain West by the end of the forecast period Saturday morning. Lowering snow levels will equate to accumulating late season snow for the higher mountain ranges. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php