…Elevated fire weather conditions continue in southern California,
precipitation expected to bring relief Saturday into Sunday…
…Below average temperatures continue in the South and East, gradual warm
up anticipated this weekend…
A deep upper level low will drop into the western U.S. today, pushing a
surface frontal system south across the region. The system is forecast to
move across the Northwest and northern/central Rockies today and move into
the Four Corners region and Southwest this weekend. Widespread light to
moderate snow is expected across the Intermountain West, and heavy snow
may be possible in some of the higher elevations. The upper low will
become nearly stationary over the Southwest this weekend, causing a low
pressure system to spin up along the California coast that will likely
bring beneficial precipitation to southern California, which has been
suffering from elevated wildfire conditions over the past few weeks. Dry
conditions and elevated wildfire conditions will persist before
precipitation arrives on Saturday. As low pressure strengthens, the
pressure gradient across the West will tighten, resulting in elevated
winds across much of the West on Saturday and Sunday.
Elsewhere, low pressure tracking across the northern tier will push a
couple of relatively weaker cold fronts south across the Central U.S.
while high pressure builds over the East. The first front will drop south
across the northern and central Plains today causing low pressure and high
winds to develop in the lee of the Rockies. The low will push into the
southern Plains with the cold front on Saturday and approach the Gulf
Coast on Sunday. Moisture streaming ahead of the front will support
showers and thunderstorms in the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi
Valley Saturday night into Sunday. A second cold front will drop into the
northern Plains and Upper Midwest on Saturday, but dissipate over the
Central Plains on Sunday. These two systems will likely produce some snow
showers across the northern tier of the nation through this weekend, and
locally heavy lake effect snow will be possible downwind of the Great
Lakes.
Temperatures will remain below average today and Saturday for most of the
South and East. Some of the most notable departures from average will be
along the Gulf Coast to the Southeast where lows are forecast to be in the
20s and 30s and highs may only reach the 40s and lower 50s. Daytime highs
will likely help to melt snow cover from the recent historic winter storm,
but liquid water from melted snow may refreeze overnight when temperatures
drop below freezing. Temperatures will gradually moderate through the
weekend, trending closer to normal by early next week. Below average
temperatures are also expected in the West underneath the upper low, and
highs could be 15-25 degrees below average in the Rockies over the
weekend.
Dolan
Graphics available at
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php
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