Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 245 PM EST Mon Jan 13 2020 Valid 00Z Tue Jan 14 2020 - 00Z Thu Jan 16 2020 ...Heavy snow to impact much of the Northwest... ...Areas of showers and thunderstorms will continue across the Southeast and Lower Mississippi Valley with some localized concerns for flash flooding... ...Unseasonably mild temperatures to persist across the Eastern U.S. with bitterly cold temperatures across portions of the Northwest and the northern High Plains... The Northwest will have an active stretch of weather as a pair of storm systems advance inland off the Pacific Ocean and track through the region over the next couple days. The fetch of Pacific moisture advancing inland coupled with the presence of Arctic air filtering south from southwest Canada will set the stage for significant winter weather impacts. Areas of heavy snow and some ice can be expected for the interior of Washington, Oregon, the northern Great Basin, and the central and northern Rockies going through the middle of the week. Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather advisories are in effect across the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West as a result. Some accumulating snow will even be possible for the Seattle and Portland metropolitan areas, and with the cold air in place area wide, expect treacherous and icy travel conditions. Meanwhile, a quasi-stationary front situated from the southern Mid-Atlantic Coast southwestward down across parts of the Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley is forecast to move very little over the next couple of days. The front will be the focus for numerous clusters of showers and thunderstorms which will be capable of producing heavy rainfall and some localized concerns for flash flooding. In fact, the Weather Prediction Center has highlighted the southern Appalachians in a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for Tuesday and Wednesday. Some isolated potential for thunderstorms to become severe also exists along the front from the coastal plain of the Carolinas southwest to the western Gulf Coast region. Unseasonably mild temperatures will continue across the Southeast U.S. in wake of the big weekend storm system that exited the Northeast. Record warm daily high and low temperatures will be possible in parts of the Southeast through Wednesday. Temperature anomalies on average will range between 15 to 25 degrees above normal across much of the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Appalachians and Tennessee Valley going through midweek. The counter to this very mild weather, will be some bitterly cold weather across much of Montana, and the Dakotas where temperatures will be falling well below zero, and with high temperatures by midweek locally over 30 degrees below normal. Some of this very cold air will also be spilling down across the Pacific Northwest such that interior sections of Washington and Oregon will be as much as 10 to 20 degrees below normal. Orrison Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php