Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 400 PM EDT Mon May 11 2020 Valid 00Z Tue May 12 2020 - 00Z Thu May 14 2020 ...There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms over the Southern High Plains... ...Temperatures will be 10 to 25 degrees below average from the Northern High Plains and the Rockies eastward to the East Coast southward to the Carolinas... ...Low pressure system may spark thunderstorms in New England today with a light wintry mix or snow on the backside... Much of the Central and Eastern U.S. will remain in a prolonged stretch of colder than average temperatures. Record cold minimum and maximum temperatures should be set from the Plains all the way to the Eastern Seaboard Through Wednesday evening. Freeze Warnings/Frost Advisories and Wind Advisories are in effect across parts of the Midwest and to parts of the Carolinas, with additional Freeze Warnings and Watches across the Appalachians into parts of the Northeast. Meanwhile, warm and windy conditions are a recipe for fire weather concerns in the Southwest, resulting in the issuance of a Critical Risk by the Storm Prediction Center through Wednesday morning. Temperatures along the West Coast are forecast to trend cooler on Tuesday as a Pacific storm system advances inland. The upper-level low coming into the West will also lead to increasing chances for rainfall in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California on through Wednesday, with the heaviest rainfall amounts along the Northern California and Southern Oregon coast. Higher elevations of the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and then into the Northern Rockies could see some light snow from this storm system. The Northern High Plains may also see a couple of rounds of wintry weather on the cold side of a front draped across the Intermountain West through Wednesday. As upper-level energy moves eastward, scattered showers and thunderstorms will ramp up over the Central and Southern Plains through Wednesday. Rainfall totals between 1-2 inches with locally higher amounts could lead to isolated areas of flash flooding. Farther east, a low pressure system has its sights set on the Northeast today. Thunderstorms are forecast ahead of this low, some of which could be strong to severe in Southern New England where a Marginal Risk has been posted by the Storm Prediction Center. Another round of light wintry mixed precipitation or snow is also possible for the Central Appalachians and parts of the interior Northeast behind the low. Drier conditions will take hold of the Northeast by Wednesday morning as high pressure centered over the Great Lakes begins to build in overhead. Ziegenfelder Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php