Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 456 AM EDT Sun Oct 25 2020 Valid 12Z Sun Oct 25 2020 - 12Z Tue Oct 27 2020 ...Widespread snowfall across the northern Rockies and the northern Plains today will push south into the central/southern Rockies and then turn into an ice-storm for the southern High Plains on Monday and early Tuesday... ...Record cold temperatures continue to engulf the Rockies and the Plains over the next few days... ...Critical to extreme fire risks and high wind threat over portions of California; elevated to critical over the southern Rockies... A low pressure system interacting with a surge of arctic air from western Canada continues to deliver widespread snowfall from the northern Rockies to the northern Plains early this Sunday morning. As the entire storm system continues to push southward, moderate to heavy snow is expected to develop in the central Rockies and central Plains today before turning into mixed precipitation over the southern High Plains on Monday into early Tuesday. More than a foot of snow with gusty winds and plummeting temperatures is forecast for the higher terrain across the central Rockies while a wide swatch of 6 inches or more of snow is expected across much of the central to southern High Plains. Lighter amounts of snow and wintry mix will also extend all the way into the upper Midwest. Temperatures will fall to record levels from the interior western U.S. to a large portion of the Great Plains for the next couple of days due to this early season Arctic blast. Much of the northern and central Rockies are forecast to witness sub-zero temperatures Sunday and Monday mornings. In addition, strong winds behind the Arctic front will cause blowing and drifting of snow with blizzard conditions possible in the windiest locations. Bitterly cold wind chills ranging between -10 and -20 are also expected in portions of the northern Rockies and northern Plains. This will be in stark contrast with high temperatures still in the 90s over western Texas today! Dry air and gusty winds associated with the large arctic high pressure system are expected to trigger Santa Ana winds that could raise fire danger to extreme levels for parts of California. Conditions in California will be most critical on Monday as the strong cold front is forecast to bring high winds and low humidity down from the Great Basin. Winds are forecast to be strong enough to result in downed trees and power outages. Wind advisories have been issued for the entire Bay Area and High Wind Watches along the higher elevations of southern California. Farther east, elevated to critical fire risks can be expected over the southern Rockies. Meanwhile, colder air is filtering into the East Coast behind a cold front. The front is forecast to stall across the Southeast, allowing showers and some thunderstorms to ride up the front toward the Mid-Atlantic today. The rain should be moving off the coast Sunday night leading to mostly fine and warm weather over the Southeast on Monday. However, some tropical downpours and thunderstorms are expected to continue over southern Florida into early next week as Tropical Storm Zeta forms over the western Caribbean Sea in this record-breaking hurricane season. Residents along the Gulf Coast should continue to monitor the latest forecasts for Zeta from the National Hurricane Center throughout the weekend and into next week. Kong/Mullinax Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php