Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 214 AM EST Wed Mar 5 2025 Valid 12Z Wed Mar 5 2025 - 12Z Fri Mar 7 2025 ...Strong low pressure with blizzard conditions for portions of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes through Wednesday night... ...Strong to severe thunderstorms expected from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic region ahead of a strong cold front... ...Rain and mountain snow returns to the West Coast and Intermountain West... A major low pressure will be making numerous headlines across the Eastern U.S. through the middle of the week as the low center tracks from the greater Chicago metro area to southern Michigan and eventually over southern Quebec by Thursday afternoon. Blizzard conditions are expected northwest of the low center from north of Kansas City to Iowa and up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with several inches of snowfall combined with winds gusting 40-60 mph at times. This will lead to white-out conditions at times, thus causing hazardous driving conditions. Conditions should improve for those areas by Thursday morning as the core of heaviest snow moves out and winds gradually subside. Areas to the east from northern Florida to New England will have a brief warm-up ahead of the strong cold front approaching the East Coast. Strong southerly flow ahead of it will lead to widespread heavy showers and thunderstorms. The Storm Prediction Center is expecting the potential for some severe weather to develop from the Mid-Atlantic to near Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday, with the greatest threat across the eastern Carolinas into southeast Virginia where the best combination of wind shear and instability will reside. Given the overall progressive nature of the storm system, rainfall totals are not expected to be extreme, but some areas may get 1 to locally 2 inches of rainfall before drier weather commences by early Thursday. Out across the Western U.S., the next storm system will be arriving across California Wednesday afternoon as an upper level trough moves in. This will lead to increasing showers across the state and heavy snowfall for the Sierra through Thursday night. The moisture associated with this moves inland across the Intermountain West through the day Thursday, and reaching the Rockies by Thursday night into Friday morning. A band of light to moderate snow is likely to develop across Nebraska and southern South Dakota by Friday morning as a new surface low develops across the central Plains. Elsewhere across the nation, mainly dry conditions are forecast across the south-central U.S., with fire weather conditions improving across Texas on Wednesday. Dry conditions are also expected from central Montana to northern Minnesota. A warm day for the East Coast on Wednesday will be followed by a return to more seasonal conditions on Thursday after the cold front moves through, although mild conditions should linger a little longer for New England through late Thursday. A short return to below average temperatures are forecast to the Southeast U.S. to close out the work week before milder conditions return this weekend. Hamrick Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php