…Next storm system enters the Pacific Northwest Saturday into Sunday
bringing coastal rain and mountain snow…
…Elevated fire weather concerns will continue across parts of the
Northeast through the weekend…
…Heavy rain and severe weather potential to develop over the Southern
Plains late Sunday…
Unsettled weather over portions of the western U.S. will clear from west
to east into the day on Saturday as a surface low and associated cold
front move into the Great Plains. As precipitation reaches eastern Montana
into western North Dakota on Saturday, light snow accumulations up to an
inch or two may occur in a few places but surface temperatures will be too
warm to support anything greater. The West will only see a brief lull in
the stormy pattern before the next system approaches the Pacific Northwest
during the day on Saturday. Onshore flow ahead of a southeastward moving
cold front will bring rain and higher elevation snow to western Washington
and Oregon before spreading into the northern Rockies Saturday night into
Sunday. A couple of inches of rain are expected for the typical westward
facing portions of the Coastal Ranges and lower elevation Cascades with
1-2 feet of snow for the northern Washington Cascades through Sunday
evening.
While the stormy pattern in the West will keep temperatures below average
along and west of the Rockies, above average warmth will spread eastward
from the Great Plains to the eastern U.S. through the weekend. High
temperatures are forecast to be 5 to 15 degrees above average from the
southern High Plains into the Upper Midwest on Saturday, with that warmth
pushing east to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Valley for Sunday.
High pressure will also keep many locations from the Plains eastward dry
through Monday. The dry conditions and breezy winds from eastern
Pennsylvania into southern/central New England will allow for the
continuation of increased fire weather dangers with the Storm Prediction
Center highlighting these regions with an Elevated Risk for the spreading
of wildfires.
One exception to the dry pattern will be across New Mexico into Texas and
Oklahoma beginning late Sunday morning. By late in the day Sunday, the
approach of a powerful upper level storm system over the Arizona/Mexico
border will bring increased chances for heavy rain, flash flooding and
severe thunderstorms to portions of eastern New Mexico, west-central Texas
into southwestern Oklahoma. These threats are likely to continue through
Sunday night for the Southern Plains as the storm system moves eastward.
Otto
Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php
