US Day 3-7 Hazards Outlook
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
424 PM EDT Fri Apr 24 2020
 
Valid Monday April 27 2020 - Friday May 01 2020
 
Hazards:
- Heavy rain across portions of the lower to middle Mississippi Valley, and into the southern 
Plains, Mon-Tue, Apr 27-Apr 28.
- Heavy rain across portions of the Northeast and down into the central Appalachians, Wed-Thu, Apr 
29-Apr 30.
- Flooding possible across portions of the northern Plains, the Tennessee Valley, the middle 
Mississippi Valley, the Southeast, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio Valley.
- Flooding occurring or imminent across portions of the Deep South, the Southeast, and the northern 
Plains.
- Flooding likely across portions of the central Plains, the Southeast, the middle Mississippi 
Valley, and the Tennessee Valley.
- Much above normal temperatures across a large portion of the interior western U.S., Mon-Fri, Apr 
27-May 1.
- Much above normal temperatures across much of California into Oregon, Mon-Thu, Apr 27-Apr 30.
- Much above normal temperatures across much of the central and southern High Plains, Mon-Tue, Apr 
27-Apr 28, and Thu-Fri, Apr 30-May 1.
 
Detailed Summary:

The synoptic pattern across the U.S. through the medium-range period (Mon, Apr 27 to Fri, May 1) 
will be dominated by a strong ridge of high pressure over the Southwest as a couple of moderately 
strong low pressure systems move across the central and eastern portions of the country.  A dome of 
much above normal temperatures will engulf the Desert Southwest, California, the Great Basin, and 
the Four Corners through much of next week.  In fact, record high temperatures are possible at some 
locations in the Desert Southwest as temperatures are forecast to soar into the triple digits 
everyday next week.  Farther north, temperatures reaching into the 80s and lower 90s across the 
Great Basin and central Rockies will be enough to threaten daily high temperature records as well, 
especially on Wednesday and Thursday.  The warm air is forecast to spill into the central and 
southern High Plains early and late next week.  California should become not as warm by next Friday 
as the upper ridge is forecast to shift slightly to the east. 

Meanwhile, two low pressure systems are forecast to track eastward across the central and eastern 
U.S.  The center of the first low pressure system should be moving off the New England coast on 
Monday, ending the rain and wintry mixed precipitation across the region.  Another low pressure 
system is forecast to form over the northern High Plains on Monday with modest amounts of rain 
expanding eastward ahead of the system.  Meanwhile, higher moisture content from the Gulf of Mexico 
could lead to heavy rain from eastern Texas/Oklahoma into the lower Mississippi Valley Monday night 
into Tuesday as a cold front approaches from the north.  The low pressure system should continue to 
track steadily eastward across the Great Lakes Wednesday and Thursday with modest intensification.  
Rain ahead of the storm could be heavy across portions of the Northeast down into the central 
Appalachians during these couple of days.  The rain should be tapering off from west to east across 
New England as the storm center moves toward the coast.

Across the northern Cascades, rain and some higher elevation snowfall should be gradually tapering 
off behind a Pacific front on Monday, followed by light precipitation lingering through the rest of 
the week.

Over Alaska, strong gusty winds along with steady precipitation are expected across the Alaska 
Panhandle, especially on Monday, as a couple of occluded cyclones approach from the south.  The 
forecast wind speeds should be below high wind criteria.  A cooling trend is expected for northern 
Alaska as a high pressure system from the Arctic settles into the area by mid-week next week.

Kong