Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 258 AM EST Sun Dec 30 2018 Valid 12Z Sun Dec 30 2018 - 12Z Tue Jan 01 2019 ...Cold front will spread wind and snow through the northern Rockies today... ...Much colder temperatures for the High Plains into the Rockies on New Year's Eve... ...Very mild temperatures east of the Mississippi on Monday along with potentially heavy rain and thunderstorms... A strong cold front currently moving through the Pacific Northwest will continue to drop southward and eastward today. This will bring windy conditions to much of the interior West from Montana southward to Wyoming through the day. Winds may gust as high as 70mph are possible in wind prone areas. Snow will follow along the path of the cold front today with several inches to over a foot possible in the mountains but much lighter amounts in valley locations. Any rain or rain/snow mix will change over as colder air rushes in behind the front. The precipitation will avoid California and most of Nevada given its trajectory from the north/northwest but cooler air will even spill over the Sierras by Monday, albeit to a lesser degree. This system will continue sinking southward tomorrow and bring yet another chance of snow to the Four Corners region, especially from the higher terrain of the Mogollon Rim/White Mountains in Arizona through New Mexico northward into Colorado (San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountains). To the north, lighter snow will spread eastward across the Dakotas into Minnesota along the arctic boundary. Farther east, the weather will turn much milder and wetter as a storm system moves out of the western Gulf of Mexico later today through the lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall will expand in coverage an intensity today as a warm front heads north through Alabama/Georgia. Heavy rain is possible that could induce flash flooding in localized areas. Otherwise, a large area of modest rain will spread northward with totals of 1-2" possible. Rainfall may be enhanced by thunderstorms, possibly severe, especially on Monday. Rainfall will push into the Ohio Valley and then the Northeast as the surface low deepens on Monday as it tracks toward the eastern Great Lakes. This could spell a rather wet though mild New Year's Eve by midnight for partygoers in the Northeast (e.g., New York City). Farther south, much of Florida will remain protected from the rainfall to the north which will allow temperatures to rise to near record levels for the end of December -- generally low to mid 80s. Fracasso Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php