Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 356 AM EDT Sun Mar 15 2020 Valid 12Z Sun Mar 15 2020 - 12Z Tue Mar 17 2020 ...Multiple feet of snow expected for the Sierra Nevada with heavy rain likely in coastal California... ...Showers and thunderstorms forecast for the Southern Plains through the Southeast over the next couple days... An upper-level low is forecast to slowly drift southward along the West Coast for the beginning of the week, pushing a slow-moving cold front ahead of it through California as a stalled frontal system remains across the Intermountain West. These features are expected to lead to persistent precipitation for the Great Basin into California. Heavy snow will occur in higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, measured in multiple feet. In lower elevations of coastal California, rain chances should begin to increase especially on Monday. Rainfall amounts could be over 2 inches, which may cause flooding and flash flooding in some locations. Urban areas and burn scars could particularly have these problems. A frontal boundary is forecast to meander across the Southern Plains through the Lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast over the next couple of days. Moisture inflow into the the vicinity of the front will lead to scattered showers and thunderstorms across those regions and northward. Rainfall amounts could reach over an inch across portions of Texas, eastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas through Monday night, so there is some potential for flash flooding there. The Big Bend area of Texas can expect the possibility of severe thunderstorms Sunday. Lighter rain is possible for the Tennessee Valley, Lower Ohio Valley, and the Southeast today into Monday. Farther north, snow is expected to spread eastward from Montana this morning into the north-central tier of the country today, with 2 to 4 inches of snow possible in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Mixed precipitation or snow could reach the Northeast Monday night ahead of another frontal system. The Northern High Plains will remain below normal temperature-wise the next couple of days, though not quite as frigid as recently. The West Coast should also have high temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below average with the influence from the upper low. Today, the Central/Southern Plains will be cooler than normal, but should moderate on Monday. Meanwhile south of the front, the Gulf Coast states can expect warm temperatures, generally 10 to 15 degrees above average. Tate Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php