Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 443 AM EDT Mon Jun 08 2020 Valid 12Z Mon Jun 08 2020 - 12Z Wed Jun 10 2020 ...A swath of heavy rain is expected to impact areas just west of the Mississippi River as Cristobal continues to track far inland toward the Great Lakes through Tuesday... ...Heavy snow develops in parts of the northern Rockies as severe thunderstorms become increasingly likely across the northern and central Plains, ... ...The West cools off substantially but critical to extreme fire danger continues in the southern Rockies and High Plains... After making landfall in southeastern Louisiana yesterday, tropical storm Cristobal has continued to track further inland into the lower Mississippi Valley. Cristobal has been weakening relatively slowly over land, and continues to bring intense rain bands and tropical storm force wind gusts into Mississippi and Alabama. A High Risk for excessive rainfall remains in place for eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi along with the ongoing threat for dangerous coastal flooding along the Central Gulf Coast. Cristobal is expected to bring a several inches of heavy rain just west of the Mississippi River together with gusty winds and isolated severe weather during the next couple of days. Meanwhile, an anomalously cold and vigorous upper trough for early June continues to swing through the western U.S. and into the northern Plains. Strong to severe storms will be likely early this morning, and they are expected to redevelop later this afternoon as a cold front slowly works its way across the region. While the severe thunderstorms are occurring in the northern Plains, snow is developing in the northern Rockies under the cold upper trough. Some of the higher elevations of southwest Montana into the Yellowstone National Park could see heavy snow today before the snow tapers off by tonight. The snow will spread into the higher elevations of the central Rockies as well. By Tuesday, the anomalously cold upper trough will advance across the Great Plains as Cristobal spreads tropical heavy rains up the Mississippi Valley. These two systems with highly contrasting characteristics will begin to interact with one another. This intricate interaction will eventually result in a strong low pressure to track across the Great Lakes by early Wednesday. Models still show plenty of uncertainty as to how this interaction will play out. But do expect a good chance of strong to severe thunderstorms to re-develop across the northern Plains to the upper Midwest Tuesday night as the tropical rains associated with Cristobal head toward the Great Lakes. In addition, windy conditions should expand across the entire northern part of the U.S. as the two systems merge into an intense low pressure system over the Great Lakes early on Wednesday. Temperature-wise, a strong cold front ushers in a very cool air-mass for early June across the West and will only lower the fire danger slightly across the Southwest by Tuesday. Temperatures look to be cold enough that Frost Advisories and Freeze Warnings have been posted for parts of the Great Basin and Intermountain West. While parts of the Northwest witness wintry conditions, summer heat engulfs the Plains today, then into the Upper Midwest on today, and into the Great Lakes by Tuesday. Farther south, triple-digit high temperatures are likely across western and central Texas on Monday. Tuesday's heat indices look to range between 100-110 across east and south Texas. Cooler and more comfortable temperatures across the Northeast today will gradually warm up and become increasingly more humid today into Tuesday. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php