Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
400 AM EDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Valid 12Z Tue Apr 14 2026 - 12Z Thu Apr 16 2026

...Rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms with heavy rain across the
Southern/Central Plains and from the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes
during the next couple of days...

...Heavy mountain snow, windy and much colder weather will push into the
Northwest on Wednesday, reaching into the northern Rockies by Thursday
morning...

...Record warmth expected to overspread the east-central U.S. to the
Mid-Atlantic...

...Critical fire weather risk over the central to Southern High Plains...

A frontal boundary extending across the northern tier states is forecast
to undulate as multiple low pressure waves ride along the front through
the next couple days.  A couple of the stronger waves are expected to
trigger rounds of severe weather along with heavy rainfall from the Upper
Midwest to the Great Lakes.  These storms will likely become daily
occurrence during the latter half of each day as they generally move from
west to east across the aforementioned areas along the undulating front. 
The interior Northeast will also see a couple of rounds of showers and
thunderstorms in the latter half of today and Wednesday.

Further south in the central/southern Plains, additional moisture
returning from the Gulf will interact with a dryline to trigger additional
rounds of strong to possibly severe thunderstorms with heavy downpours. 
These storms are expected to extend northeast across Missouri into the
Midwest, again most active during the latter half of each day into the
overnight hours.  The strong ridge of high pressure that helps feeding the
moisture into the southern Plains will also bring anomalous warmth into
the eastern U.S.  High temperatures well into the 80s will begin to
challenge daily records this afternoon in the east-central U.S.  By
Wednesday afternoon, record heat with temperatures reaching into the 90s
are forecast for the Mid-Atlantic region.  More record heat is forecast to
continue into Thursday for the Mid-Atlantic.

In the western U.S., high-elevation snow and low-elevation rain associated
with an upper low will move through the Four Corners and then the central
Rockies today.  Meanwhile, a stronger system is approaching the Pacific
Northwest.  Heavy mountain snow, windy and much colder weather associated
with this system will push into the Northwest on Wednesday, reaching into
the northern Rockies and northern Great Basin by Thursday morning behind a
strong cold front.

As the warm air expands eastward from the Plains to the eastern U.S. over
the next couple of days, a cooling trend will gradually work its way
across the interior western U.S. with the ongoing unsettled weather.  West
of the aforementioned dryline in the Plains, a combination warm
temperatures, dry air and some gusty winds will promote a Critical Risk of
fire weather over the central to southern High Plains and nearby southern
Rockies over the next couple of days.

Kong


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