Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 300 PM EST Sat Nov 08 2025 Valid 00Z Sun Nov 09 2025 - 00Z Tue Nov 11 2025 ...Frigid airmass descends into Central U.S. this weekend spreading into the Southeast on Monday while the West warms up... ...Snowy, very cold and windy from Northern Plains to Great Lakes this weekend... ...Critical fire weather in southern Texas on Sunday... An unusually strong surge of polar airmass is in store for much of the eastern two-thirds of country over the next few days. The leading edge of this polar air mass is already plunging southward through the northern Plains this Saturday afternoon. This polar plunge will be in stark contrast with the increasingly mild conditions across the West and across the East this weekend. The strong temperature contrast between the central and the eastern U.S. will work in concert with a deepening upper-level trough to spawn and intensify a low pressure system which will traverse the entire eastern half of the country over the next couple of days. A swath of wet snow is forecast to follow the northern edge of the low pressure system, spreading across the Midwest this afternoon, reaching into lower Michigan tonight. The lower Great Lakes should see the precipitation starting out as rain on Sunday but as colder air arrives behind the low pressure system, periods of snow with falling temperatures along with windy conditions are expected on Monday. Areas near the southern shore of Lake Michigan including Chicago could be impacted by a period of locally enhanced snowfall Sunday night when a smaller scale low pressure system could form over the relatively warm Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, the western slopes of the central Appalachians can expect to see periods of snow later on Monday as well. Across the South and the East Coast, broad southerly flow ahead of the intensifying low pressure system will bring very mild conditions for November over the weekend before the arrival of sharply falling temperatures associated with the polar surge. High temperatures of 70 degrees could reach as far north as the nation's capital Sunday afternoon together with passing thunderstorms across the Mid-Atlantic. A higher chance of showers and thunderstorms is expected across southern half of New England later Sunday and Sunday night. A potent cold front will sweep through the East Coast and then out into the Atlantic Sunday night with passing showers and embedded thunderstorms up and down the East Coast. This will be followed by sharply falling temperatures and increasingly blustery winds from the west on Monday. High temperatures will struggle to reach the freezing mark on Monday along the central and central Appalachians while below freezing temperatures are forecast to reach deep into the South by Monday morning. Freeze Watches and Warnings are already posted for many areas across the southern Plains to the Deep South. In the West, an upper ridge will be amplifying as the polar plunge occurs in the central and eastern U.S. The upper ridge will expand the unseasonably warm temperatures into the northern High Plains by Monday. Meanwhile, increasing winds and dry conditions are forecast to support critical fire weather conditions for portions of southern Texas on Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Across the Pacific Northwest, rain associated with the next system from the Pacific is forecast to arrive on Monday. Kong Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php