Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 400 AM EDT Sat Mar 28 2020 Valid 12Z Sat Mar 28 2020 - 12Z Mon Mar 30 2020 ...Heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms across the Midwest through the Ohio Valley today and tonight... ...Much above normal temperatures across a large sections of the South will be spreading toward the East Coast... ...Fire weather threat remains at critical levels through tonight across the southern/central High Plains and southern Rockies... A rapidly intensifying low pressure system is forecast to bring unsettled weather from the Nation's Heartland to the Great Lakes and Northeast through the weekend. An energetic upper-level trough is currently generating mountain snow showers and lower-elevation rain across the Four Corners region early this morning as a low pressure system begins to intensify over the central High Plains. Rain across the front range of the central Rockies is in the process of changing over to snow. Accumulating snowfall is likely today across eastern Colorado before the low pressure system moves further away toward the upper Midwest tonight. As the storm continues to intensify, it will bring a wind-driven cold rain through the central Plains today into the evening. By early on Sunday, the rain across northern Minnesota into the upper Great Lakes is expected to change over to wet snow. Meanwhile, rain and thunderstorms will continue to expand eastward through the Midwest and the Ohio Valley into the Mid-Atlantic ahead of a warm front today, before spreading into New England as a steady rain on Sunday. In addition, severe weather is possible through tonight from the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Midwest and across much of the Ohio Valley ahead of an approaching cold front. The most likely area of seeing severe weather is expected to be across northern Illinois per the Storm Prediction Center as the triple-point of the fronts associated with the low pressure system approaches. Across the Mid-Atlantic, morning rain should give way to a very warm afternoon for the southern portion of the area following the passage of a warm front with temperatures more than 20 degrees above normal across the central Appalachians. By tonight, the rain is expected to spread into New England. By later on Sunday, wintry precipitation is expected to develop over northern New England where snow and frozen precipitation accumulations are expected, as a new coastal storm takes shape off the New England coast by Monday morning. This new low will likely keep a good chance of snow into Monday across northern New England. Elsewhere, the next upper-level trough is forecast to impact the Pacific Northwest through the weekend which will bring locally heavy rain to the coastal ranges. The Cascades will brace for heavy snow with as much as 1 to 2 feet of new snowfall going through Sunday night before the next front arrives on Monday with a new round of heavy precipitation. Meanwhile, fire weather threat remains at critical levels for today into Sunday across the southern to central High Plains into the southern Rockies as locally strong winds and low relative humidities are expected across these areas in the wake of the intensifying storm. Kong/Mullinax/Orrison Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php