Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 259 PM EST Mon Feb 01 2021 Valid 00Z Tue Feb 02 2021 - 00Z Thu Feb 04 2021 ...Heavy snow over southern New England and northern Mid-Atlantic will spread further inland through much of the Northeast through Wednesday morning... ...More heavy rain and mountain snow moving into the West Coast will penetrate inland across the Great Basin and into the Rockies during the next couple of days... ...Wintry precipitation moving across the northern Plains Tuesday night into Wednesday... A low pressure system centered off the New Jersey coast continues to rapidly deepen this Monday afternoon. Areas from the northern Mid-Atlantic to southern New England are feeling the escalating impacts from this intensifying coastal storm. Heavy snow, increasingly strong and gusty northeasterly winds together with increasing wave actions along the coast are expected to culminate tonight as the storm is forecast to reach peak intensity. The snow bands near the coast are expected to spread further inland tonight as some coastal communities will likely see the snow changing over to rain. For areas where precipitation stays as all snow, the increasing winds could result in near blizzard conditions due to blowing and drifting of the snow. In addition, this storm will be slow to depart as the main storm center becomes nearly stationary off the southern New England coast while the storm expands its influence across the Northeast. The heaviest snow is expected to envelop the interior Northeast on Tuesday while lighter amounts of wintry precipitation are expected to continue near the coast. Many locations across the Northeast will see more than a foot of snow with locally two feet possible as the storm weakens slowly near the region. Northern New England should finally see the snow tapering off by Wednesday evening. In the meantime, the active weather pattern in the eastern North Pacific will bring another episode of widespread precipitation across the western U.S. during the next couple of days. The Cascades, Sierra Nevada will once again be the prime locations for seeing heavy snowfall while rain will be affecting the lower elevations. The precipitation will spread through the Great Basin and Intermountain region on Tuesday before reaching the Rockies as mountain snows on Wednesday. Meanwhile, an arctic air mass building up over western Canada will begin to move south into the northern High Plains on Wednesday, bringing falling temperatures and a period of wintry precipitation into the region. In contrast, much warmer than normal conditions will expand across the southern Rockies and especially the central and southern Plains ahead of a developing low pressure and frontal system over the High Plains during the next couple of days. Kong Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php