Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 304 PM EST Sat Feb 15 2020 Valid 00Z Sun Feb 16 2020 - 00Z Tue Feb 18 2020 ...More heavy snow expected for the higher elevations of the Cascades to the northern and central Rockies... ...Cold and dry conditions gradually moderate for the eastern U.S. as unsettled weather develops along the Mississippi Valley on Monday... A sustained onshore flow from the eastern Pacific will continue to push waves of moisture across the Pacific Northwest into the Intermountain region toward the northern Rockies. This will continue to bring heavy wet snow across the higher elevations such as the Cascades, the Bitterroot mountains and the Tetons. Meanwhile, over an inch of rain can be expected for the lower elevations in these areas through the weekend before the precipitation showing signs of letting up on Monday. Meanwhile, cold temperatures over the eastern U.S. will moderate on Sunday as the cold high pressure system slides east of New England. This will give way to the return of southerly flow across the Plains and allow moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to stream northward back into the Deep South. The chance of showers and thunderstorms are expected to increase from west to east along the Gulf Coast as a front forms just offshore. By Monday, the rain and thunderstorms should expand farther inland when the moisture interacts with a couple of frontal systems arriving from the northern and central Plains. Cold air will remain in place across the northern Plains into the Great Lakes through the weekend and will begin to push southward into the central Plains on Monday. This will increase the chance of snow and mixed precipitation across the upper Midwest and into the Great Lakes on Monday when a low pressure wave develops along the associated cold front. Another cold front moving across the western U.S. will keep a good chance of snow for much of Colorado on Monday along with an increasing chance of rain for the Mid-Mississippi Valley where another low pressure wave is forecast to form. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php