Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 233 PM EST Thu Jan 24 2019 Valid 00Z Fri Jan 25 2019 - 00Z Sun Jan 27 2019 ...Rain changing to snow today as an active cold front moves off the Eastern Seaboard... ...Cold weather expected to spread across the Plains into the Southeast by the end of the week... ...Tranquil weather returns to the West through the weekend... A stream of mild air from the south has quickly brought above normal temperatures up the East Coast and into New England ahead of an active cold front. A wide swath of rain will move out of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast tonight. There is some potential for heavy rain to cause localized flooding over southern New England. Cold air behind the front is expected to change the rain to a period of snow as it spreads up the spine of the Appalachians and across interior New England overnight. Over the northern Plains and upper Midwest, the next surge of arctic air from central Canada has arrived. A clipper low pressure system developing along an arctic front is bringing a brief period of snow squalls across the Great Lakes. The snow is expected to linger into Friday over the lake-effect snow belts. Arctic air is forecast to remain over the upper Midwest into the weekend, where temperatures of more than 20 degrees below normal, as well as dangerous wind chills between minus 10 and minus 30 can be expected. Another clipper system could bring a period of light snow to the northern Plains and Midwest by early Saturday. Meanwhile, a warming trend will begin to set in across the northern High Plains as Chinook winds develop behind an arctic high pressure system. This arctic high is forecast to plunge southeastward through the Plains through Friday and into the Southeast on Saturday, bringing cold conditions to much of the Deep South for the weekend. Meanwhile, snow across the northern and central Rockies is expected to gradually taper off into scattered light snow tonight. It appears that more quiet weather is returning to much of the western U.S. as we head into the weekend. Snell Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php