Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 246 AM EST Wed Jan 29 2025 Valid 12Z Wed Jan 29 2025 - 12Z Fri Jan 31 2025 ...Heavy rain, severe weather, and flash flooding possible from the Southern Plains to to the Mid/Lower Mississippi Valley... ...Heavy snow and snow squalls possible in the Great Lakes and Northeast today... ...Atmospheric river to bring heavy rain and mountain snow to the Pacific Northwest and northern California late this week into the weekend... A strong but slow moving low pressure system will push across the southern/central Plains and into the Mississippi Valley on Thursday. Warm, moist air from the Gulf will stream into the south-Central U.S. ahead of the system and provide support for widespread showers and thunderstorms. Heavy rainfall in expected over the southern Plains today and from eastern Texas through the Mid/Lower Mississippi Valley on Thursday. Isolated to scattered instances of flash flooding will be possible, especially in urban and poor drainage areas and areas that experience training/repeat convection. Conditions will also be favorable for isolated strong to severe thunderstorms from Central Texas east through the Lower Mississippi Valley today and Thursday. On the backside of the low pressure system, colder air will allow for wintry weather over portions of the Four Corners states, and locally heavy snow will be possible in the higher terrain of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. This low pressure system will track northeast into the Midwest on Friday, and precipitation chances will spread towards the East Coast and Northeast. To the north, a couple of lows will swing across southern Canada and clip the northern Great Lakes and Northeast, producing chances for wintry weather. The first low will pass over the Northeast today, pushing a potent cold front south across the Great Lakes and Northeast. Snow squalls will be possible today for portions of the eastern Great Lakes, Northeast, and even into the northern Mid-Atlantic as the front drops south. Snow squalls may cause intense bursts of heavy snow with gusty winds, resulting in periods of low visibility and dangerous driving conditions. Accumulating snow is expected from the eastern Great Lakes through interior New England, with the heaviest snow likely downwind of Lakes Ontario and Erie and in the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. These regions can expect a brief break from wintry weather on Thursday as a warm front lifts north, then more wintry weather will be possible on Friday as the second low moves across the Great Lakes. Mainly dry weather is expected in the West with high pressure dominating the weather pattern through Thursday. On Friday, high pressure will be shunted east as a low pressure system approaches the West Coast. This system will aim a stream of Pacific moisture (atmospheric river) at the coast, focusing initially on the Pacific Northwest on Friday then shifting south into northern California on Saturday. Widespread heavy rain and mountain snow are expected, and flooding concerns will be heightened along the coast. The weather pattern will favor well above normal temperatures through the end of the work week for much of the Central and Eastern U.S., except for the Northeast where below normal temperatures are expected through Thursday after a cold front passes through. High temperatures are expected to be 10 to 20+ degrees above normal, with the greatest anomalies over the northern/central Plains and Upper Midwest where a handful of daily high temperature records will be possible on Thursday. Below normal temperatures will likely linger from southern California through the Southwest through Thursday, then return to near normal on Friday. Dolan Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php