Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 251 PM EST Thu Nov 08 2018 Valid 00Z Fri Nov 09 2018 - 00Z Sun Nov 11 2018 ...Heavy snow for portions of the upper Great Lakes on Friday... ...Much below temperatures forecast to continue for the Great Plains... ...Fire weather a major concern for California with Critical and Extremely Critical areas forecast through Saturday morning... ...Coastal storm to bring locally heavy rain/wind to the Northeast Friday night... A preview of winter-like temperatures is already in place for the central and northern Plains with today's highs ranging from the teens to 30s down to the Kansas/Oklahoma border. Several inches of snow have also been reported across Nebraska and Kansas as of Thursday afternoon. The cold temperatures will continue to advance south into New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas for Friday with forecast maximum temperatures of 15 to 25 degrees below early November averages. The combination of the anomalously cold air and an upper level disturbance will spread snow into northern Wisconsin, the U.P. of Michigan along with Lower Michigan by early Friday morning as a surface cyclone begins to organize over the Ohio Valley. Areas along and immediately north of a quasi-stationary front currently in place across the Gulf Coast will experience unsettled weather with showers and thunderstorms into the day on Friday. As a powerful upper level system advances eastward from the upper Midwest to the lower Great Lakes region through Saturday morning, low pressure at the surface will begin to take shape along the Mid-Atlantic Coast. The surface low will deepen and track rather quickly across coastal New England but will be accompanied by locally heavy rain and thunderstorms. Winds will also begin to increase Friday night across the Northeast for coastal locations and the mountains in the wake of the departing storms system. Northwesterly winds wrapping around the low center will usher in a much colder airmass with lake effect snow showers developing downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario early Saturday. Across California, a combination of especially dry "fuels" for burning due to an ongoing drought, strong winds, and low relative humidities will lead to very dangerous conditions for fire weather in parts of California. Given the conditions in place, should a fire develop, it will have the potential to grow and spread very rapidly. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted Extremely Critical conditions today for Southern California, as strong Santa Ana winds ramp up. Critical fire weather conditions for Southern California which includes the Los Angeles metro area and Critical conditions for portions of central to northern California which includes the Sacramento and San Francisco metro areas are in effect through Friday morning at which point the focus shifts to Southern California through Saturday morning. Otto Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php