Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 241 PM EST Thu Nov 14 2024 Valid 00Z Fri Nov 15 2024 - 00Z Sun Nov 17 2024 ...A rapidly developing coastal storm is expected to bring a period of gusty winds and locally heavy rain to southeast Virginia and eastern North Carolina tonight through Friday morning... ...Unsettled weather to cross through much of the West with lower elevation rain and mountain snow going through Friday and Friday night... ...Below normal temperatures are forecast for much of the West, with generally above normal temperatures from the Plains and Midwest eastward to the Eastern Seaboard going into the weekend... A storm system advancing across the central Appalachians, the Mid-Atlantic states, and portions of the Southeast will bring rain across these areas through this evening. However, an area of low pressure is forecast to strengthen near the North Carolina Outer Banks tonight which will help to bring more concentrated areas of heavier rain across southeast Virginia and far eastern North Carolina along with gusty winds. This coastal low will then move offshore and away from the East Coast by late Friday which will allow for the rains to come to an end. Portions of the Outer Banks though may see locally a few inches of rain before it tapers off. High pressure will then envelope much of the Eastern U.S. in the wake of this system and will remain anchored in place going through the weekend ahead. Temperatures will be cool across the southern Mid-Atlantic on Friday with areas of lingering clouds and rain, but a warming trend will generally be noted across much of the East heading into the weekend with dry air and temperatures that will trend back above normal. The milder air will be coming from areas of the Plains and Midwest which will already be well above normal, and by this weekend, large areas of the Midwest to the Appalachians and up into the Northeast will see high temperatures well into the 50s and 60s and locally running 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Unfortunately the return of dry and warmer air will likely maintain locally elevated concerns for wildfire activity, and especially areas of eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey up through all of southern New England. Meanwhile, a much more unsettled weather pattern will be evolving across the Western U.S. as a storm system crossing the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin through tonight moves east into the Rockies on Friday. Coastal/low elevation rains and higher elevation snow can be expected, and this will include areas of the Cascades down through the northern and central Sierra Nevada seeing snowfall accumulations. This snowfall will overspread areas of the Great Basin and the northern Rockies going through Friday and Friday night. A cold front associated with this storm system will sweep through much of the West and then eject out into the Plains on Saturday as low pressure that will initially be strengthening over the Intermountain West on Friday then ejects out across the northern Plains. Below average temperatures though will be the theme across much of the West and especially over the Southwest in the wake of this front, and some areas will see high temperatures as much as 10 to 15 degrees below normal. However, conversely for areas ahead of this front across the Plains, warm southerly winds will reinforce widespread above average temperatures that by Sunday should reach as high as 20 degrees above normal. This will include areas of central and southern Texas where high temperatures should reach well into the 80s, with even parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley potentially reaching 90 degrees. Orrison Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php