Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 148 AM EST Thu Jan 11 2024 Valid 12Z Thu Jan 11 2024 - 12Z Sat Jan 13 2024 ...Strong low pressure system develops over the Southern Plains and brings widespread rain, snow, and wind for the eastern half of the nation... ...Dangerously cold temperatures for the northern Rockies and Plains through this weekend... The overall weather pattern will continue to be extremely active across the continental U.S. through the end of the week and into Saturday morning. An amplifying upper level trough over the Southwest U.S. early on Thursday will then eject over the southern Plains and induce rapid surface cyclogenesis, leading to another high impact storm system that will once again hammer much of the eastern half of the country, with a similar track to the event earlier this week. The surface low will quickly deepen from Arkansas to Michigan, dropping to near 975 mb by Saturday morning. There will be a tight pressure gradient around this low, particularly to the northwest where a major winter storm with blizzard conditions is expected from eastern Nebraska to central Michigan with widespread 6-12 inch snowfall totals within this corridor of the Midwest, with potentially over a foot of snow across northern Lower Michigan. Another round of severe weather is also appearing more likely across the Deep South and into the Southeast U.S. through late Friday evening in the warm sector of the low, where favorable parameters of kinematics and instability will exist. This also includes the threat of tornadoes along with the main threat of damaging wind gusts. In terms of heavy rainfall potential, it appears the overall rainfall from this event will be generally less than what occurred earlier this week for most areas across the East Coast owing to the faster progression of the moisture plume and lighter rainfall rates. However, there may be some areas of 1-2 inch rainfall totals across portions of the northern Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast that could cause some instances of flooding across already saturated grounds. A much colder arctic airmass will continue settling south and east in the wake of this storm across the Plains, Midwest, and into the Ohio Valley. Temperatures will be brutal compared to the relatively mild conditions that have been experienced for much of the winter season up to this point in time. Afternoon high temperatures will likely fail to reach zero degrees across much of Montana and into North Dakota on Friday, and highs only in the 0s and 10s across the Central Plains and into Iowa and Minnesota. This arctic airmass will be lengthy in duration and persist well beyond the end of the week. Unsettled weather conditions are also expected for much of the Intermountain West and the Rockies with multiple rounds of snow expected, and the heaviest precipitation is expected for the Oregon and northwestern California coasts, and the Oregon Cascades, where a few feet of snow is likely through early Saturday as another storm system works its way inland. Hamrick Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php