Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 901 AM EDT Mon Jul 13 2020 Valid 12Z Mon Jul 13 2020 - 12Z Wed Jul 15 2020 ...Record breaking heat expected to continue across portions of Texas into Tuesday... ...Strong to severe thunderstorms is expected for the northern and central Plains today, and into the upper Midwest on Tuesday... ...Critical fire weather conditions are expected for portions of the Great Basin today... A strong upper level high continues to prompt excessive heat warnings and heat advisories across a large portion of the southern U.S., stretching from southern California to Alabama. While temperatures are expected to cool a few degrees over southern California and the Southwest, record-breaking temperatures are expected to persist for many places in Texas into Tuesday before showing signs of moderating on Wednesday. Strong to severe storms are expected to develop along and ahead of a cold front across the northern and central Great Plains today before moving into the upper Midwest on Tuesday, especially when a low pressure center forms along the front. By Wednesday, conditions should be slightly less favorable for thunderstorms to become severe across the Great Lakes. The central Plains, however, should see an increasing threat of strong to severe thunderstorms returning on Wednesday as the trailing portion of the cold front becomes nearly stationary and a low pressure system begins to form. Behind the cold front, a cool air mass will bring below normal temperatures from the northern Rockies to much of the northern Plains on Tuesday and into the central Plains on Wednesday. Along the trailing end of this front, windy but dry conditions will likely support elevated to critical fire weather conditions for the Great Basin across the Great Basin today, diminishing by Tuesday. A slow-moving front will allow scattered showers and thunderstorms to continue across parts of the Mid-Atlantic to the Carolinas and down across the central Gulf coast today into Tuesday. Showers and storms will also linger in New England due to a slow-to-exit low pressure center. Some of these storms may produce locally heavy rainfall amounts. By Wednesday, rain chances should be diminishing across the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast but they should continue over the Southeast near the stationary front. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php