Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
456 AM EDT Sun Oct 25 2020

Valid 12Z Sun Oct 25 2020 - 12Z Tue Oct 27 2020

...Widespread snowfall across the northern Rockies and the
northern Plains today will push south into the central/southern
Rockies and then turn into an ice-storm for the southern High
Plains on Monday and early Tuesday...

...Record cold temperatures continue to engulf the Rockies and the
Plains over the next few days...

...Critical to extreme fire risks and high wind threat over
portions of California; elevated to critical over the southern
Rockies...

A low pressure system interacting with a surge of arctic air from
western Canada continues to deliver widespread snowfall from the
northern Rockies to the northern Plains early this Sunday morning.
 As the entire storm system continues to push southward, moderate
to heavy snow is expected to develop in the central Rockies and
central Plains today before turning into mixed precipitation over
the southern High Plains on Monday into early Tuesday.  More than
a foot of snow with gusty winds and plummeting temperatures is
forecast for the higher terrain across the central Rockies while a
wide swatch of 6 inches or more of snow is expected across much of
the central to southern High Plains.  Lighter amounts of snow and
wintry mix will also extend all the way into the upper Midwest. 
Temperatures will fall to record levels from the interior western
U.S. to a large portion of the Great Plains for the next couple of
days due to this early season Arctic blast.  Much of the northern
and central Rockies are forecast to witness sub-zero temperatures
Sunday and Monday mornings.  In addition, strong winds behind the
Arctic front will cause blowing and drifting of snow with blizzard
conditions possible in the windiest locations.  Bitterly cold wind
chills ranging between -10 and -20 are also expected in portions
of the northern Rockies and northern Plains.  This will be in
stark contrast with high temperatures still in the 90s over
western Texas today!

Dry air and gusty winds associated with the large arctic high
pressure system are expected to trigger Santa Ana winds that could
raise fire danger to extreme levels for parts of California. 
Conditions in California will be most critical on Monday as the
strong cold front is forecast to bring high winds and low humidity
down from the Great Basin.  Winds are forecast to be strong enough
to result in downed trees and power outages.  Wind advisories have
been issued for the entire Bay Area and High Wind Watches along
the higher elevations of southern California.  Farther east,
elevated to critical fire risks can be expected over the southern
Rockies.

Meanwhile, colder air is filtering into the East Coast behind a
cold front.  The front is forecast to stall across the Southeast,
allowing showers and some thunderstorms to ride up the front
toward the Mid-Atlantic today.  The rain should be moving off the
coast Sunday night leading to mostly fine and warm weather over
the Southeast on Monday.  However, some tropical downpours and
thunderstorms are expected to continue over southern Florida into
early next week as Tropical Storm Zeta forms over the western
Caribbean Sea in this record-breaking hurricane season.  Residents
along the Gulf Coast should continue to monitor the latest
forecasts for Zeta from the National Hurricane Center throughout
the weekend and into next week.

Kong/Mullinax


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