Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 252 AM EST Sat Dec 29 2018 Valid 12Z Sat Dec 29 2018 - 12Z Mon Dec 31 2018 ...Light to moderate snow for the Cascades and Northern Rockies today... ...Increased rainfall for the lower Mississippi Valley Sunday... A Pacific front will push through the Northwest today, bringing lower elevation/coastal rain and inland/mountain snow to Washington/Oregon and then into Idaho/Montana this evening. Amounts will be on the lighter side with locally moderate amounts and winter weather advisories are in effect for the Columbia Basin eastward to the Continental Divide. Temperatures will cool behind the front tonight from about 5-10 degrees above normal to about 5 degrees below normal on Sunday. Over the Southwest/Four Corners region into west Texas, temperatures will be well below normal today by about 15-25 degrees. Highs will struggle to reach above freezing in many areas as the snow winds down over New Mexico today. To the east, a stationary frontal boundary in the Gulf of Mexico will keep a chance of showers in the forecast for areas with a couple hundred miles of the coast, though organized severe weather is not expected. On Sunday, an area of low pressure is forecast to lift northward toward the southeast Texas coast and the coverage of rain will expand northward through Arkansas and Tennessee. Rainfall will become locally heavier with over an inch expected from northeast Texas through central Arkansas ahead of the warm front. Temperatures east of the I-75 corridor will be above normal today right behind the cold front but will trend cooler by tomorrow except for the Northeast as a secondary cold front brings in a quick shot of colder air to the region. Highs will generally be in the 10s/20s over central and northern New England to the 40s in the Mid-Atlantic and 50s in the Carolinas. Above normal temperatures will also precede the front moving out of the Rockies tomorrow with 30s/40s from the Dakotas into the Great Lakes. Fracasso Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php