Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 237 PM EDT Thu Oct 02 2025 Valid 00Z Fri Oct 03 2025 - 00Z Sun Oct 05 2025 ...Record high temperatures possible across the Northern Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes... ...Below average temperatures to stretch from the West coast into the Great Basin and Northern Rockies... ...Heavy rains and isolated flooding along the east coast of Florida, and from the Northern Sierra into the Northern Rockies... The mid to upper level flow will remain highly amplified across the Lower 48 over the next several days, consisting of a deep upper trof moving inland from the West coast Friday into the Great Basin and Rockies by Saturday, a building upper ridge from the Southern Plains into the Ohio Valley and Northeast, and an upper low forming across the north central Gulf. This pattern will support a large spread in temperatures from west to east late this weekend. Cooler than average temperatures are likely from the West coast through the Great Basin and Northern Rockies as a strong surface cold front pushes inland with the above mentioned deep upper trof. To the east of these below average temperatures, above to much above average temperatures will stretch across most areas to the east of the Rockies, except for the Southern Mid-Atlantic into Florida. Record high afternoon temperatures and record high morning low temperatures are likely to stretch from the Northern Plains into the Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes over the next two days. Across these areas, high temperatures Friday and Saturday are expected to be in the mid 80s to lower 90s, ranging from 15 to 30 degrees above average. This late season heatwave will produce moderate to major heat risks across the Dakotas, Minnesota, northern Iowa, western Wisconsin into northern Illinois. Relief from this heat will begin late this weekend as a strong front pushes eastward across the north central U.S. This strong front will first move through the Great Basin and Northern Rockies region Friday and Saturday. This front will produce a stripe of moderate to heavy rains from the Northern Sierra, into the Northern Great Basin and Northern Rockies region, along with the potential for isolated flooding. The wettest weather over the next few days will be along the east coast of Florida into the coastal Southeast and along portions of the central Gulf coast. An area of surface high pressure is forecast to remain centered across the Northeast over the next few days. The clockwise flow around this high will keep persistent easterly to east northeasterly low level flow off the Atlantic and into Florida, the coastal Southeast and the Central Gulf coast. This pattern will support numerous showers across these areas, with the heaviest rains likely along the east coast of Florida from Thursday into Saturday. Localized flooding issues are possible, especially in the urban areas along the east coast of Florida. Oravec Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php