Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 151 AM EST Wed Feb 14 2024 Valid 12Z Wed Feb 14 2024 - 12Z Fri Feb 16 2024 ...Quick-hitting wave of low pressure will bring a round of heavy, accumulating snowfall across the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and the Great Lakes today and Thursday... ...Next Pacific storm system will bring locally heavy rain along the West Coast and heavy high elevation snowfall into the Intermountain West over the next couple of days... In the wake of the most recent multi-day storm system that traversed the South, and impacted the Mid-Atlantic and New England as a strong nor'easter, much more tranquil weather is expected over the next the next couple of days for these locations which will allow for many areas to get a chance to dry out. Temperatures along the Eastern Seaboard will be generally below normal today, but milder air should arrive by Thursday from the Midwest and Ohio Valley which will support temperatures gradually returning back to above normal. The next focus for unsettled weather will begin today across the northern High Plains as an area of low pressure forming along a front is expected to then quickly advance east toward the Midwest by tonight, and reach the Great Lakes region on Thursday. A swath of heavy, accumulating snowfall is expected north of the low track, and locally several inches of new snow is expected going through Thursday. This system will then quickly advancing into the Northeast on Friday bringing another round of at least light to moderate snow here to round out the week. In the wake of this next surface low, the passage of a cold front will set the stage for at least some modified Arctic air to begin advancing south from Canada, and this will begin to allow temperatures to once again trend below normal across areas of the northern Plains and Midwest by the end of the week. Meanwhile, a new storm system will also be arriving today from the Pacific Ocean which will bring unsettled weather for the next couple of days into the West Coast and the Intermountain West. Areas of moderate to locally heavy rain can be expected for the coastal ranges of the Pacific Northwest and extending south down into northern California. Moisture and energy associated with this storm system will advance well inland, especially by Thursday, and this will foster heavy snow over the higher elevations which will include not only the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada, but also the northern Rockies where colder temperatures filtering south from Canada will help facilitate a more widespread heavy snowfall threat. Some favored terrain of the northern Rockies will include the Sawtooth, Bitterroots, Tetons, and Absaroka Range. Locally as much as 1 to 3 feet of new snow will be possible across all of these locations going through early Friday. Snow associated with this system will be overspreading areas farther east out into the northern Plains on Friday which will yield a renewed winter weather threat here to end the week. Orrison Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php