Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
425 AM EDT Wed Mar 22 2023

Valid 12Z Wed Mar 22 2023 - 12Z Fri Mar 24 2023

...Damaging winds and heavy rain gradually subside today across
west-central California...

...Powerful storm system will deliver widespread high winds, heavy
rain/heavy mountain snow rapidly through the Southwest, the Four Corners,
and central/southern Rockies today and tonight...

...Same storm system will bring a quick round of snow through the northern
Plains tonight as well as setting up for a heavy rain event across the
central U.S. and severe weather across the southern Plains on Thursday...

...Heavy mountain snows will then impact the Pacific Northwest to the
northern Rockies over the next few days...

The latest round of high winds, heavy rain and heavy mountain snow that
impacted California will be followed by yet more active and unsettled
weather, this time farther north across the Pacific Northwest for the next
few days to come.  A very strong and highly anomalous low pressure system
that brought hurricane-force wind gusts, heavy rain, and record low
sea-level pressure for the month of March across the San Francisco area on
Tuesday into early Wednesday will gradually weaken today.  Winds and
precipitation are expected to gradually subside/taper off across
California today.  However, the expansive outer circulation of the system
will continue to penetrate inland across the Southwest, the Four Corners,
and central/southern Rockies through the rest of today and tonight,
bringing widespread high winds, heavy rain/heavy mountain snow rapidly
through these areas.  Dangerous to difficult travel is likely here, with
most mountain ranges expected to see as much as 1 to 2 feet of additional
snowfall with isolated heavier amounts.

Meanwhile, a low pressure wave will bring a swath of accumulating snow
across northern Minnesota to the upper Great Lakes early today.  This
storm system will pull away from the region and exit into Ontario late
today.  A quick round of wintry weather will then impact the north-central
U.S. through midweek as the storm system traversing the western U.S.
reaches the central Plains and interacts with a polar front dipping into
the Plains. Farther to the south, a heavy rain event is forecast to set up
across the central U.S. with severe weather transpiring across the
southern Plains on Thursday as the storm system interacts with the polar
front while abundant moisture arrives from the Gulf of Mexico.

As the active weather subsides gradually across the Southwest, another
energetic Pacific storm system is forecast to bring more active and
unsettled weather into the Pacific Northwest by later today/tonight. Heavy
mountain snows will then impact the Pacific Northwest followed by the
northern Rockies over the next few days as this active weather pattern
shows no signs of abating.

On Thursday, very warm and much above normal temperatures are expected to
overspread much of the South and large sections of the eastern U.S.  In
contrast, accumulating snow is forecast for northern Maine ahead of a warm
front.  By Thursday night into Friday, rain and a few thunderstorms are
forecast to reach into the northern Mid-Atlantic as a front settles across
the region.

Kong


Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php