Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 320 PM EDT Tue Oct 30 2018 Valid 00Z Wed Oct 31 2018 - 00Z Fri Nov 02 2018 ...Heavy snowfall likely for portions of the central to southern Rockies tonight... ...Widespread rainfall with possible flash flooding from eastern Texas, across the middle Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley beginning Wednesday. ...Enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms from southeastern Texas into Louisiana Wednesday... ...Critical fire weather risk for portions of California today and Wednesday... A relatively strong cold front currently stretching from the Great Lakes to the southern Plains will continue ushering in significantly colder temperatures into the central and southern High Plains tonight. Heavy snow with totals locally over a foot are expected for the Sangre de Cristo Mountains crossing the Colorado/New Mexico border through Wednesday morning with rain changing to snow for some of the lower elevations along the Front Range near and east of I-25. As snowfall begins to taper off across southern Colorado into New Mexico early Wednesday afternoon, heavy rainfall should begin to develop from portions of eastern Texas/far southeastern Oklahoma into and across the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley. Rainfall intensity should initially be heaviest across southern locations but it eventually will spread northward into the Ohio Valley for Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Ahead of the cold front along the East Coast, high temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday are expected to warm into the 60s and 70s for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast (5-15 degrees above average) with lower to middle 80s from the central and eastern Carolinas into northeastern Florida (5-10 degrees above average). Out West, as the aforementioned cold front continues to sink south through the Desert Southwest, high pressure in the Great Basin and an increased pressure gradient will continue to allow for gusty winds over portions of California posing an increased threat for fire weather. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted Critical areas for wildfire risk over the central Sacramento Valley and Los Angeles metro areas today with the risk contained to southern California (Los Angeles to San Diego) on Thursday. Otto Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php