Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 334 PM EST Fri Mar 01 2019 Valid 00Z Sat Mar 02 2019 - 00Z Mon Mar 04 2019 ...Rapidly intensifying low pressure system expected to spread wintry precipitation into New England tonight and Saturday... ...A Pacific cyclone will bring widespread precipitation across much of the southwestern U.S. through Saturday... ...A developing low pressure system over the southern Plains on Sunday could bring flooding rains and severe thunderstorms across the Southeast Sunday night... ...The same low pressure system will likely bring a wide swath of snow from the Ohio Valley toward the Northeast Sunday night... Quite an active weather pattern is shaping up across the country through this weekend as low pressure systems are forecast to interact with an arctic air mass anchored over the northern and central U.S. First of all, a relatively compact low pressure system is forecast to intensify as it moves northeastward passing just off Cape Cod during the day on Saturday. Temperatures will be cold enough to support snow across the central Appalachians tonight, spreading into southern New England early on Saturday. Mixed precipitation is more likely near the coast. The snow will then spread across coastal Maine before tapering off Saturday evening as the low moves out to sea. Farther inland, some snow will spread across the Great Lakes tonight as a clipper system moves through. This system is forecast to weaken and bring some additional scattered light snow into New England Saturday night. Meanwhile, moisture from an energetic Pacific cyclone is moving onshore into California. The long fetch of moisture associated with this system is expected to bring widespread precipitation across much of the southwestern U.S. through Saturday. The main energy of this system is forecast to move off the central/southern Rockies Saturday night and then interacts with an arctic front draped across the southern Plains. A low pressure system will form along the arctic front Sunday morning as snow is expected to expand across the central Plains toward the Midwest with a band of mixed precipitation on the southern edge. Showers and thunderstorms are also expected to expand eastward across the Deep South. Conditions will even support heavy rain and severe thunderstorms to move across areas east of the lower Mississippi Valley Sunday afternoon into Sunday night as the low pressure system intensifies, pushing a strong cold front across the region. Meanwhile, snow is expected to expand across the Ohio Valley during the day on Sunday before spreading toward New York, Pennsylvania, and possibly the northern Mid-Atlantic states Sunday night. The precipitation type remains somewhat uncertain along the I-95 corridor at this time. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php