Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 237 PM EST Fri Dec 06 2024 Valid 00Z Sat Dec 07 2024 - 00Z Mon Dec 09 2024 ...More winter weather for the Great Lakes Region... ...Arctic air currently engulfing much of the eastern U.S. will gradually moderate over the next couple of days... ...The next storm system enters the West this weekend ... Conditions remain favorable for lake effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes. Cold air, relatively warmer lake water temperatures, and persistent northwesterly flow will be ingredients for some regions to see feet of snow accumulations. Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania are under a Lake Effect Storm Warning into Saturday, with travel conditions hazardous as high winds will help lower visibility due to blowing snow. Further north into the shores of western New York along Lake Ontario, 1-2 feet of snow accumulations are possible through Sunday as lake effect snow bands continue. Additionally, a series of fronts will be moving northwest to southeast through the Great Lakes from Wisconsin/Michigan to the New England region this weekend. This will add chances for snow on top of the lake effect snow and will help reinforce the cold air over the region. The cold air is entrenched over the eastern U.S. today; high temperatures in the Deep South will be in the 30s and 40s this afternoon. Low temperatures in the 20s will be possible across much of the southeastern U.S. Saturday morning and generally lower 30s Sunday morning. Areas in northern Florida are under a Freeze Warning and people should take cold weather precautions and protect sensitive vegetation. High temperatures should start to moderate across the east by Sunday as anomalously warm temperatures across the central U.S. shift into the region. Highs should be in the 60s and 70s Sunday across the Southeast and 50s and 40s across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. After a tranquil Friday, increasingly unsettled weather is expected for the Pacific Northwest by the weekend. Rain showers and some high elevation snow will return to Washington State and Oregon by Saturaday as the next front moves through. The mountain snow and low-elevation rain will progress farther inland, reaching into the northern Rockies by early Sunday as a low pressure system begins to develop across the northern High Plains into Alberta Province of Canada. Winter Storm Warnings and Advisories are active across the northern Rockies through Saturday where several inches of snowfall and some icing potential will create hazardous travel conditions.Much of the remainder of the western U.S. will remain dry and milder than normal as high pressure dominates. Lastly, Texas and the eastern Gulf Coast will have a rather cool and wet weekend as moisture streams in along a warm front and surface low in the Gulf of Mexico. An upper level trough moving into the region may also help support lift and help raise rain chances. A heavier rain threat may emerge from the central Gulf Coast into the Mississippi Valley by Sunday. A couple of inches of rain are possible and some isolated instances of flooding may occur Sunday and heading into next week. Wilder Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php