Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 218 AM EST Fri Nov 30 2018 Valid 12Z Fri Nov 30 2018 - 12Z Sun Dec 2 2018 ...Multi-faceted storm system over the central-eastern U.S. is expected to result in severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, and blizzard conditions... An active weather pattern will be developing across the Plains by Friday night as surface cyclogenesis takes place over the Texas Panhandle region and Oklahoma in response to an amplifying upper level trough. After producing widespread snow showers across the Rockies on Friday, precipitation expands in coverage and intensity from the Gulf Coast to the Upper Midwest and northern plains by Friday night and into Saturday morning. In the warm sector of the developing surface low, multiple episodes of severe weather are becoming increasingly likely from southern Louisiana to the ArkLaTex region. The Storm Prediction Center currently has much of that region delineated in an enhanced risk area for severe thunderstorms, given favorable wind shear and thermodynamic parameters that are expected to exist. There will also be the potential for some heavy rain and perhaps some localized flooding across parts of the middle Mississippi River valley and also near the Florida Panhandle, where 2 inches of rain or more will be possible. Winter weather will also be a major component of this mid-latitude cyclone to the north and west of the occluded surface low. Winter storm watches and warnings are currently in effect from central Montana to northern Iowa, with the potential for 8 inches or more of snow, especially across southern South Dakota and northern Nebraska. Blizzard conditions will also be possible at times given the strong pressure gradient that is anticipated north of the surface low, making travel conditions hazardous. Temperatures are expected to be quite mild ahead of the cold front from the southern plains to the Mid-Atlantic and points south through early Sunday. Afternoon highs could be as much as 15 to 20 degrees above normal south of the warm front, with readings well into the 70s and reaching the mid 80s across much of Florida. Much colder weather will become established over much of the Intermountain West and then the northern plains by the end of the forecast period on Sunday. D. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php