Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 308 AM EST Tue Dec 01 2020 Valid 12Z Tue Dec 01 2020 - 12Z Thu Dec 03 2020 ...Occasional heavy rain likely across Maine; heavy snow likely downwind from the Lake Eire today... ...Freeze Warning across much of the Deep South this morning... ...Increasing threat of heavy rain on Wednesday along the western Gulf Coast on Wednesday... A large and energetic low pressure system that brought widespread inclement weather across the eastern U.S. yesterday will be slow to depart from the northeastern U.S. Occasional heavy rain and possibly some thunderstorms ahead of the associated cold front will likely impact Maine for much of today. In addition, gusty southerly winds will be especially strong along the New England coast. Meanwhile, the large circulation of the storm will continue to draw colder air across the Great Lakes and dump snow on the downwind side of the lakes. Moderate to heavy snow will be most likely today near the shore of Lake Erie. Some lake-effect snow is also expected near the shore of Lake Michigan today and Lake Ontario on Wednesday. The snow will gradually taper off later on Wednesday as the large low pressure system weakens and moves further into Canada. Light snow will move farther east across northern New England Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Meanwhile, the snow is forecast to reach as far south as the higher elevations of the southern Appalachians under a cold and blustery northwesterly winds. In fact, much of the Deep South is under Freeze Warning this morning. Some locations in southwestern Florida will be near record cold level Wednesday morning as temperatures dip into the 30s where frost will be possible. Moisture associated with a Pacific frontal system continues to penetrate well inland across the northern and central Rockies as mountain snows. By early Wednesday, return moisture from the western Gulf of Mexico will increase the threat of heavy rain along the western Gulf Coast, with rain spreading into the southern Plains, northwest and central Gulf Coast, and lower Mississippi Valley. As an upper-level trough dipping down into the central and southern Plains interacts with the return moisture, some snow is forecast on its backside across the southern and central Plains late Wednesday into early Thursday. Finally, elevated fire risk is expected across southern California through the workweek due to offshore flow and increasingly windy conditions caused by a strong high pressure system building into the Great Basin and Rockies. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php