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