Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 414 PM EDT Sun Oct 03 2021 Valid 00Z Mon Oct 04 2021 - 00Z Wed Oct 06 2021 ...Unsettled weather is moving into the eastern U.S. with a wet pattern setting up for the interior Southeast... ...Moisture will move into the Desert Southwest as well as the Pacific Northwest coast Monday night into Tuesday... ...Air Quality Alerts over the San Joaquin Valley through Monday... A slow-moving weather pattern is in store for much of the eastern U.S. where unsettled weather is forecast to linger as we head into the new week. A cold front currently extending along the length of the Mississippi Valley down into Texas will move rather slowly eastward before stalling across the Ohio Valley and down into the central Gulf Coast by about Tuesday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms can be expected across a wide area ahead of this front for the next few days. Although widespread heavy rainfall is not expected, some embedded heavy downpours are forecast to accompany some of the stronger thunderstorm clusters. The rain/storms will stay mainly between the Mississippi Valley and the Appalachians through tonight; but they will begin to edge into the Appalachians on Monday before moving into the East Coast later on Monday and into Tuesday. The southern half of New England will see a steady rain developing into this evening behind a back door cold front. The rain is forecast to expand and become heavier on Monday as a low pressure wave tracks along the front to the south. By Tuesday, a high pressure system building southward from eastern Canada will bring a drying trend into much of New England. Meanwhile, the threat of heavy rainfall will increase later on Tuesday across the interior section of the Southeast as the aforementioned frontal boundary becomes stationary and moisture from the eastern Gulf of Mexico continues to stream northward, leading to a slight risk of excessive rainfall for the region. Over the Desert Southwest, moisture is forecast to increase Monday night into Tuesday as an upper-level low pushes onshore across southern California. The moisture will result in showers and thunderstorms over parts of southern California and the Southwest overnight Monday into Tuesday. Meanwhile, the smoke from wildfires will lead to poor air quality over the San Joaquin Valley of California, where Air Quality Alerts are in effect through Monday. Across the northern High Plains, an upper-level ridge will support afternoon temperatures soaring well up into the 80s on Tuesday. In contrast, cool and damp weather is forecast to reach the Pacific Northwest coast on Tuesday ahead of the next Pacific low pressure system. Kong Graphics are available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php