Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 317 PM EST Tue Feb 04 2020 Valid 00Z Wed Feb 05 2020 - 00Z Fri Feb 07 2020 ...A low pressure system is expected to bring heavy rain across the Southeast and a long stretch of wintry weather from the southern Plains to the interior Northeast... A deep upper-level trough interacting with a sharp front will result in the formation of a low pressure system which will bring increasingly heavy and widespread precipitation through the eastern U.S. during the next few days. Deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is already gathering across the Deep South ahead of the upper trough to the south of the sharp front that dissects the southern Plains through the Northeast. A low pressure system is forecast to become consolidated over southern Texas by Wednesday morning and then moves rapidly northeast toward the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday. Scattered showers and some thunderstorms in the Deep South are expected to become more numerous as the day progresses on Wednesday ahead of a strong cold front, where thunderstorms could become severe from Louisiana to Alabama. The rain is expected to be most intense immediately ahead of the front and near the track of the low center. Rainfall totals through Thursday night could be on the order of 2 to 4 inches across portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, and into the southern Appalachians. The effects of this system will be far-reaching. Cold air behind the front will result in a long stretch of wintry precipitation that impacts areas from the southern Plains through the interior Northeast into Thursday night. The highest amounts of wintry precipitation are expected across northern New England where a foot of snow is possible near the Canadian border. Lighter snowfall of 6 inches or less is expected farther to the southwest across the lower Great Lakes through the Mid-Mississippi Valley and into the southern Plains. Over the western U.S., additional couple of feet of heavy snow is possible for the Cascades and northern Rockies as a plume of moisture from the Pacific continues to surge inland. Temperature-wise, colder than normal temperatures are expected to push across the western U.S. toward the southern Plains through Thursday behind the cold upper trough. In contrast, mild temperatures of as much as 30 degrees above normal over the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast will continue into Thursday ahead of the developing low pressure system. Meanwhile, milder than normal temperatures will return to the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php