Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 257 AM EST Wed Dec 01 2021 Valid 12Z Wed Dec 01 2021 - 12Z Fri Dec 03 2021 ...Widespread record breaking temperatures likely from Northwest into Great Plains through Thursday; Elevated Fire Weather Risk for Southern California... ...Atmospheric river winds down over the Pacific Northwest today; river flooding and isolated landslide risks remain... ...Light rain and snow showers over portions of the Great Lakes and Northeast through midweek... High pressure dominance in the West will contribute to a record breaking start to our December with respect to temperatures. A weak atmospheric river event will wind down over the Pacific Northwest today, while a low pressure system produces another round of rain and snow for the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians and Northeast over the next couple of days. It's safe to say that most of the precipitation that will fall in the CONUS over the next several days will be confined to the northern tier of the country as much of the upper-level troughing pattern continues across southern Canada. Rain and snow totals will remain negligible over the next 48 hours with some upslope enhanced amounts possible over the Adirondacks and Vermont/New Hampshire mountains. Some rain shower activity may develop as far south as the Ohio Valley and the Central Appalachians as a warm front lifts through the region this afternoon. The approaching system responsible for the weak atmospheric river even over the Pacific Northwest will produce a few inches of rain today before losing moisture transport into the region tonight. Temperatures be too warm to support mountain snow from this event, but river flooding and isolated landslide risks remain a threat due to recent rainfall. Some scattered to isolated thunderstorm activity is possible for south Texas on Friday. The strengthening and expansion of an upper-level ridge into the Rockies will contribute to the emergence of anomalous warmth for much of the West today. Highs will be between 25-30 degrees above average for much of the Northern/Central Plains leading to the potential for widespread high temperature records being broken over portions of the Northwest, Northern/Central Plains and much of California while warm air begins to creep into the eastern third of the country. The expansion of the ridge into the Great Plains tonight will see night time low temperature records potentially being broken across the Northern Rockies, down through the Front Range and into the Northern/Central Plains. We'll see our greatest chance for widespread high temperature records being set this Thursday across the Central/Southern Plains and Mississippi Valley where high temperatures could reach up to 40 degrees above average. Fortunately, this only means that temperatures will peak in the 60s and 70s, so nothing too uncomfortable is expected for folks in those parts of the country. The Mid-Atlantic down to the southeast will reach their warmest point of the week on Friday with highs in the 60s and 70s likely. An exiting cold front will see temperatures drop in the Northeast heading into the weekend. An Elevated Fire Weather risk area was issued by the Storm Prediction Center for parts of southern California as a cut-off low over Baja continues to increase northeasterly winds and dry conditions into the area. Kebede Graphics are available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php