Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 249 PM EST Sat Feb 29 2020 Valid 00Z Sun Mar 01 2020 - 00Z Tue Mar 03 2020 ...Snow spreads southward across the western U.S. along with cooler temperatures... ...Rain and thunderstorm chances increase in the Mid-South Sunday night and Monday... An upper-level trough is forecast to drop south along the West Coast through the short range period. This will bring increasing chances of snow particularly for higher elevations in the West, spreading north to south with the upper trough. Snowfall totals are expected to be above 6 inches and potentially exceeding a foot in the Sierra Nevada, the Wind River Mountains, Wasatch, and the Central Rockies through Monday. Lighter snows are expected in the Intermountain West and toward the Mogollon Rim. Below normal temperatures will support these snow chances, with daytime highs 10 to 20 degrees below average in some areas. Meanwhile, the Heartland can expect temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal, just in time for the beginning of meteorological spring. As the trough begins to pivot eastward, moisture from the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico should begin to combine and lead to rain and thunderstorms beginning Sunday night and continuing into Monday. Through Monday, around an inch of rainfall is forecast for much of the Tennessee Valley. However, this will just be the start, as the heavy rain threat is forecast to extend into midweek from the south-central to eastern U.S. Some rain is expected to extend northward into the Ohio Valley toward the Appalachians on Monday ahead of a cold front. Elsewhere, light snow showers could continue in the Great Lakes region overnight before winding down Sunday. But some light snow could affect the interior Northeast once again on Monday on the northern side of the precipitation shield. Additionally, another front coming into the Northwest could bring another round of lower elevation rain and higher elevation snow to that region by Monday. Tate Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php