Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 232 AM EST Thu Feb 15 2024 Valid 12Z Thu Feb 15 2024 - 12Z Sat Feb 17 2024 ...A Pacific storm system pushing into the West Coast will bring locally heavy rain near the coast, and heavy high elevation snowfall into the Intermountain West over the next couple of days... ...Quick-hitting storm system to produce accumulating snowfall across the Great Lakes today and into the Interior Northeast Thursday night and Friday morning... ...Next round of snow expected to quickly spread from the central Plains and Ohio Valley on Friday, then into the Central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic Friday night into Saturday morning... A Pacific storm system is ushering in a stream of precipitation into the West Coast and Intermountain West the next couple days. Meanwhile, a sufficiently cold air-mass anchored in place by high pressure over southwest Canada will force a frontal boundary to remain stationary over the central and northern Rockies through Friday. Coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest and the valleys of the Intermountain West can expect periods of rain, while mountain ranges such as the Oregon Cascades, the Olympics in western Washington, and on east into the heart of the Northern Rockies witness heavy snow today. By Friday, precipitation will take a break across the Pacific Northwest, but the cold front will push south into the central Rockies where periods of heavy snow from the Tetons and Wind River Range of Wyoming on south to the Wasatch and northern Colorado Rockies also receive heavy snow. Through Friday night, as much as 1-2 feet of snow is possible in the Oregon Cascades, the Boise and Sawtooth mountains of Idaho, and along the northern Wasatch, the Tetons, and northern Colorado Rockies. Winter Storm Warnings and Advisories have been hoisted for many of these mountain ranges today and into Friday with hazardous travel conditions likely in most of these areas. To the east, a low pressure system tracking through the Great Lakes today is generating showers to the south of its track, while a swath of moderate-to-heavy snow envelopes southern Wisconsin and northern Michigan. This storm system is quite progressive, quickly finding itself tracking over Lake Ontario by Thursday evening. Showers are likely in the central Appalachians, while periods of snow ensue over the Interior Northeast. By Thursday night, northwesterly winds escorting in a cold, Canadian air-mass will rush over the Great Lakes and trigger lake effect snow showers downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario Thursday night and linger into the day on Friday. Snow showers will linger across parts of New England on Friday, but gradually dissipate as the storm tracks farther into the northwest Atlantic. In total, over 6 inches of snow is expect in parts of the Michigan U.P., the northern half of Michigan's Mitten, and across northern New York. More specifically, the Tug Hill Plateau and neighboring locations could see over a foot of snow by the time snow concludes Friday morning. In addition, gusty winds are also an impact from this storm system, as evident by the Wind Advisories in place over northern Ohio for today and both western and the Southern Tier of New York between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. By Thursday night, a new wave of low pressure will be taking shape over the Central Plains with a swath of moderate-to-heavy snow setting up over northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. The storm tracks quickly into the mid-Mississippi river Valley by late Friday morning with periods anticipated across northern Missouri and central Illinois, while rain showers and isolated thunderstorms make for a damp day from the ArkLaTex on east into the Tennessee Valley by Friday afternoon. By Friday night, the storm will restrengthen as it reaches the Mid-Atlantic with an axis of moderate-to-heavy snow bringing light snowfall accumulations to the Ohio Valley Friday evening, then over the northern Mid-Atlantic Friday night into early Saturday morning. The Potomac Highlands of West Virginia and Allegheny Mountains from western Maryland to south-central Pennsylvania have the best chances of seeing snowfall totals surpass 4 inches Friday night, but anywhere from 1-3" of snow is possible from the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday and the Ohio Valley Friday evening, to the DC/Baltimore metro areas on north to the Philadelphia metro area early Saturday morning. Some hazardous travel is possible in portions of these regions, particularly on untreated roads Friday night into Saturday morning. Temperature-wise, a fairly mild Thursday is on tap across the South and as far north as the Ohio Valley where highs range anywhere from 5-15 degrees above normal. As a cold front plunges south through the nation's mid-section Friday, the anomalous warmth will be confined to the South while colder than normal high temps return to the Ohio Valley and Midwest. Winter will return to the South as high temps in Texas go from the 70s on Thursday to struggling to get out of the 50s on Saturday, Mullinax Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php