Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
300 AM EST Sat Dec 06 2025

Valid 12Z Sat Dec 06 2025 - 12Z Mon Dec 08 2025

...Active winter weather pattern continues with snow expected across the
Northern Tier this weekend...

...Series of atmospheric rivers to usher in heavy rainfall to the Pacific
Northwest late this weekend...

Winter weather continues to make headline across multiple regions of the
Lower 48 this weekend. Through the afternoon, Winter Storm conditions are
expected to persist across portions of the Northern Rockies as a wave of
low pressure develops along an Arctic front, with an additional foot plus
of snowfall possible in higher terrain areas. By tonight, the surface low
is forecast to migrate eastward from the Rockies, which will lead to
increasing snowfall coverage in parts of the Northern Plains and Upper
Midwest. As such, the current Watch-Warning map shows a swath of Winter
Weather Advisories and an embedded Winter Storm Warning extending from
South Dakota into northwest Illinois for 4-6" (locally higher) of snow
through Sunday.

Meanwhile, the unsettled pattern in the Pacific Northwest could take a
turn for the worse as a series of Pacific storm systems increases the
heavy rain and flood threat on Monday. Scattered flash flooding is
possible across portions of western Washington and Oregon beginning Monday
as persistent rainfall in the region saturates soils, in turn converting
any additional rain to runoff very quickly. The current WPC outlook
highlights a Slight Risk of Excessive Rainfall for the region on Monday,
and a Flood Watch is in effect for the area beginning Sunday night. Stay
tuned for updates to the forecast as the heavy rainfall threat looks to
carry on into at least midweek. Elsewhere across the Continental U.S., dry
conditions are expected to continue from California to the Southern
Plains, and extending eastward to the Mid-South and Tennessee Valley.
Across the Gulf Coast region, a lingering frontal boundary off the coast
will keep rainfall chances elevated through early Sunday from southeast
Louisiana to the Florida Peninsula to southern South Carolina, with some 1
inch totals possible in some areas. In terms of temperatures, it will be
quite cold from the Northern Plains to the Northeast with a big dip in the
jet stream and multiple cold frontal passages heralding the arrival of a
polar airmass. Some subzero overnight lows are likely across portions of
the Dakotas and into Minnesota, especially by Sunday/Monday morning in the
wake of the next arctic front.

Asherman/Kebede


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