Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 326 AM EDT Sat Mar 20 2021 Valid 12Z Sat Mar 20 2021 - 12Z Mon Mar 22 2021 ...A storm system will continue to overspread the western U.S. bringing rain and snow... ...Mild to warm temperatures forecast across the Southwest, central, and northeastern U.S. through the weekend... The majority of the Eastern U.S. will enjoy a dry and cool airmass through the weekend and into early Monday morning as a large Canadian surface high builds into the region. However, an upper level trough over the southeast U.S. will spur surface cyclogenesis over the offshore waters east of Florida along a trailing cold front. The latest indications suggest the heaviest rainfall will remain just offshore, but some showers can be expected for coastal portions of the Carolinas and extending southward to northern Florida, along with some gusty winds and elevated tide levels. A slow moving Pacific cold front crossing the Intermountain West on Saturday, and then the central and northern Plains on Sunday, will be a focusing mechanism for lower elevation rain and mountain snow from the Great Basin to the central Rockies. A low pressure center is forecast to develop across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles in the lee of the Rockies, bringing a swath of light to moderate rain across portions of Kansas and Nebraska by Sunday night as the storm system crosses the Plains. Not much in the way of precipitation is currently expected across Arizona and New Mexico given a drier airmass here and less forcing. Several more inches of snow are likely for portions of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon as a second storm system brings a cold front across this region by late Sunday. Cooler high temperatures are likely for the Northern Rockies and Intermountain West Saturday and the Central Rockies by Sunday as the western cold front moves eastward. Seasonably mild temperatures are forecast for the Southwest and the Central and Southern Plains ahead of the front, with above average temperatures likely for the Northern Plains on Saturday. As high pressure builds in across the Northeast and Ohio Valley region, mild temperatures are also forecast to spread across the Midwest and Northeast through the weekend, with a gradual warming trend by the end of the weekend. Hamrick Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php