Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 359 AM EDT Thu Jun 18 2020 Valid 12Z Thu Jun 18 2020 - 12Z Sat Jun 20 2020 ...Cool, wet, and dreary weather continues across the Mid-Atlantic, Carolinas, and Ohio Valley; showers and thunderstorms in central and southern Florida... ...Hotter than normal conditions from the Plains to New England; severe thunderstorms and heavy downpours in the Heartland... ...Mainly dry and increasingly hot on the West Coast; fire weather conditions improve in the Southwest... The upper-level low that plagued the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic with overcast skies, heavy rain, and cool temperatures is weakening and slowly drifting northward. Through the end of the week, showers and storms will continue to cover much of the Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley, and Carolinas with locally heavy downpours possible. Temperatures look to remain on the seasonally cool side again on Thursday, but as the upper low weakens, temperatures will gradually warm to the point where highs in the 80s return by the weekend. Farther south, upward motion aloft over Florida and an influx of tropical moisture make for a stormy couple of days, especially over central and southern Florida. Rainfall totals in excess of two inches could occur within strong thunderstorms. While summer heat remains on hiatus in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, summer is in full swing over the southern Plains, Midwest, Great Lakes, and New England. High temps in these regions are forecast to range between the upper 80s and low 90s. Daily episodes of severe storms are possible today from the Midwest stretching south to the southern Plains as a cold front approaches from the northern Plains. The severe threat diminishes in the Midwest on Friday but severe storms are expected to fire again in the southern High Plains on Friday. Behind the cold front, very cool temperatures over the Intermountain West filter into the northern and central High Plains. High temperature anomalies in the central Rockies and Plains may range between 10 and 20 degrees below normal by Friday. Meanwhile, much of the West Coast should remain rain-free into the start of the weekend with above normal temperatures from the the Pacific Northwest on south to the San Joaquin Valley. In the Southwest, some good news as fire weather conditions, for the first time in many days, do not feature extensive areas of elevated or critical fire areas. There is, however, one area of elevated fire weather conditions still present in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. Mullinax Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php