Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
358 AM EDT Thu May 16 2013

Valid 12Z Thu May 16 2013 - 12Z Sat May 18 2013

***Warm weather continues across the southern U.S.***

***Cold front for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic***

***Scattered showers and storms in the western U.S.***

Above normal temperatures are forecast to continue over the next few days
from the Desert Southwest to the Southeast.  This region will be south of
the main frontal zone situated across the nation's mid-section.  There
will also be noticeable levels of humidity with dewpoints well into the
60s.  Some scattered shower and thunderstorm activity is in store for
parts of the Lower Mississippi River Valley as Gulf moisture surges
northward around a surface high pressure ridge.

Farther to the north, a slow moving cold front is forecast to edge
southward from the Ohio Valley and the Northeast into the Mid-Atlantic
region.  This will bring down temperatures closer to average for mid May
after a couple of very warm days.  Onshore flow from the Atlantic late in
the week and into the weekend will keep more clouds around and showers are
likely along and south of the frontal boundary, extending from the Upper
Midwest to North Carolina.

Elsewhere, scattered showers and storms remain in the forecast for much of
the Inter-Mountain West and extending into the Pacific Northwest to close
out the work week.  A large scale trough in the atmosphere will allow for
enough instability for convection over this region, and some onshore flow
from the Pacific will generate some showers for the coastal areas from
northern California to Washington state. 

Hamrick


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