Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
300 AM EST Sat Dec 03 2022

Valid 12Z Sat Dec 03 2022 - 12Z Mon Dec 05 2022

...Much colder today across the northern tier into the northern Plains
behind a sharp cold front with a period of snow across the Great Lakes...

...A slow-moving storm system will bring another round of heavy snow along
the Sierra Nevada followed by mountain snow spreading across the
Intermountain West...

...Mild and wet weather across the eastern U.S. today will be followed by
blustery and cold conditions on Sunday...

A sharp cold front marking the leading edge of an arctic air mass will surge
into the Plains today, bringing rapidly falling temperatures and blustery
west to northwesterly winds across the Great Lakes, Midwest, and into the
Ohio Valley this morning.  The influx of cold air will change the rain to
a period of snow across the Great Lakes before dry air arriving tonight
with clearing skies.  In the mean time, a broad southerly flow ahead of
the sharp front is bringing much milder air up the eastern U.S. today with
rain expanding east into much of the Mid-Atlantic and New England. 
However, cold and dry weather will return across the eastern half of the
country for the rest of the weekend as a cold high pressure system builds
into the region behind the sharp front.  Meanwhile, light to moderate lake
effect snow is expected to develop over portions of the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan over the next couple of days as winds out of the northwest advect
over the relatively warm Lake Superior waters.

Off the West Coast, a slow-moving low pressure system will direct Pacific
moisture toward the western U.S. over the next couple of days.  Coastal
rain and mountain snow over the Pacific Northwest will gradually taper off
later today as heavy precipitation begins to push into California.  The
precipitation will be in the form of heavy snow along the Sierra Nevada
where 2-3 feet of snow is likely by Sunday night.  Meanwhile, some parts
of the northern and central-southern California coast may receive between
1-3 inches of rain as the system taps in subtropical moisture from the
Pacific.  The moisture is forecast to penetrate further inland on Sunday
with widespread mountain snow across the Intermountain region, reaching
into the northern Rockies Sunday night into Monday morning.

Farther south, a plume of moisture is forecast to bring an axis of
enhanced precipitation across the southern Rockies and some lighter
amounts of rain into the southern Plains through this weekend near a
developing wave of low pressure.

Kong


Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php