Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 425 AM EDT Wed Mar 22 2023 Valid 12Z Wed Mar 22 2023 - 12Z Fri Mar 24 2023 ...Damaging winds and heavy rain gradually subside today across west-central California... ...Powerful storm system will deliver widespread high winds, heavy rain/heavy mountain snow rapidly through the Southwest, the Four Corners, and central/southern Rockies today and tonight... ...Same storm system will bring a quick round of snow through the northern Plains tonight as well as setting up for a heavy rain event across the central U.S. and severe weather across the southern Plains on Thursday... ...Heavy mountain snows will then impact the Pacific Northwest to the northern Rockies over the next few days... The latest round of high winds, heavy rain and heavy mountain snow that impacted California will be followed by yet more active and unsettled weather, this time farther north across the Pacific Northwest for the next few days to come. A very strong and highly anomalous low pressure system that brought hurricane-force wind gusts, heavy rain, and record low sea-level pressure for the month of March across the San Francisco area on Tuesday into early Wednesday will gradually weaken today. Winds and precipitation are expected to gradually subside/taper off across California today. However, the expansive outer circulation of the system will continue to penetrate inland across the Southwest, the Four Corners, and central/southern Rockies through the rest of today and tonight, bringing widespread high winds, heavy rain/heavy mountain snow rapidly through these areas. Dangerous to difficult travel is likely here, with most mountain ranges expected to see as much as 1 to 2 feet of additional snowfall with isolated heavier amounts. Meanwhile, a low pressure wave will bring a swath of accumulating snow across northern Minnesota to the upper Great Lakes early today. This storm system will pull away from the region and exit into Ontario late today. A quick round of wintry weather will then impact the north-central U.S. through midweek as the storm system traversing the western U.S. reaches the central Plains and interacts with a polar front dipping into the Plains. Farther to the south, a heavy rain event is forecast to set up across the central U.S. with severe weather transpiring across the southern Plains on Thursday as the storm system interacts with the polar front while abundant moisture arrives from the Gulf of Mexico. As the active weather subsides gradually across the Southwest, another energetic Pacific storm system is forecast to bring more active and unsettled weather into the Pacific Northwest by later today/tonight. Heavy mountain snows will then impact the Pacific Northwest followed by the northern Rockies over the next few days as this active weather pattern shows no signs of abating. On Thursday, very warm and much above normal temperatures are expected to overspread much of the South and large sections of the eastern U.S. In contrast, accumulating snow is forecast for northern Maine ahead of a warm front. By Thursday night into Friday, rain and a few thunderstorms are forecast to reach into the northern Mid-Atlantic as a front settles across the region. Kong Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php