Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 347 AM EDT Wed Oct 31 2018 Valid 12Z Wed Oct 31 2018 - 12Z Fri Nov 02 2018 ...Widespread heavy rainfall expected along a cold front from the Southern Plains/Gulf Coast northward to the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes... ...Slight to enhanced risk for severe weather from Texas to the Gulf Coast Wednesday and Thursday... ...Enhanced to critical fire weather threat for portions of California... A strong cold front currently stretching from the Great Lakes to the Southern Plains will continue pushing slowly eastward on Wednesday and Thursday, reaching the Eastern states by Friday morning. Widespread heavy rainfall is expected along the boundary with excessive rainfall/flash flooding possible. WPC has highlighted areas from eastern Texas to the Ohio Valley within a slight risk on Wednesday, shifting eastward from the central Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley/lower Great Lakes on Thursday. In addition to a heavy rainfall threat, severe thunderstorms are also possible, especially across southern locations. SPC has a slight to enhanced risk for severe weather from central Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley on Wednesday, and a slight risk along the central Gulf Coast on Thursday. Southerly flow ahead of this front will promote warmer than average temperatures across the Eastern U.S. where daytime highs in the 60s and 70s in the Mid-Atlantic and 80s farther south along the Gulf Coast and Florida are about 5 to 15 degrees above normal for this time of the year. Behind the front, a much cooler airmass has settled in across the Southern Plains and Four Corners region with temperatures as much as 10 to 20 degrees cooler than normal on Wednesday. Below normal temperatures will spread into the Mississippi Valley and parts of the Ohio Valley as well by Thursday following the cold frontal passage. Heavy snowfall across the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico will begin tapering off by early Wednesday afternoon, with mainly minor additional accumulations expected. Elsewhere across the West, unsettled weather will continue to support scattered rain and mountain snow across portions of the Intermountain West and the Rockies while multiple rounds of organized rainfall will impact the Pacific Northwest with the best chance for heavy rainfall along the favored terrain of western Washington and Oregon. Warm and dry conditions will persist across California as well with an elevated to critical fire weather threat from the central Sacramento Valley southward to the Los Angeles and San Diego regions. Red flag warnings are in effect for some places. Santorelli Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php