The main weather feature impacting the Nation through this weekend will be a strong autumn frontal boundary responsible for separating record-breaking warmth in the Deep South and East from anomalous cold in the north-central United States.
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This front will also allow for a region of showers and thunderstorms to focus over similar areas for multiple days, leading to locally heavy rainfall amounts between the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley.
Heavy rain chances are anticipated to impact central and north Texas, southeast Oklahoma, and southwest Arkansas today before spreading farther northeast across the Ozarks and far western Kentucky on Saturday.
The aforementioned frontal boundary is forecast to linger on Sunday and create additional heavy rain chances.
Given the multiple rounds of moderate to locally heavy rain for this region, scattered flash flooding is possible through the end of the weekend.
A Slight Risk (level 2/4) of Excessive Rainfall has been issued for each day through Sunday across the previously mentioned locations.
As the frontal boundary banks up against the Rockies and an upper trough digs across the Intermountain West on Saturday, heavy snowfall is expected to impact the Central Rockies with lighter amounts stretching eastward into the Nebraska Sandhills.
Winter Storm Watches have been issued for the mountainous terrain of western Colorado, where there is a high probability (>70%) of total snowfall amounts exceeding 8 inches.
Snow is also likely to reach into the Colorado Front Range (including the Denver metropolitan area), with high probabilities for greater than 4 inches of total snowfall ending Sunday midday.
A potent high pressure system nosing southward into the northern/central High Plains will produce plenty of cold air for the aforementioned snowfall, while also leading to single digit low temperatures across parts of Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
A few daily low temperature records are not out of the question Saturday morning and gives the northern High Plains an early dose of mid-winter weather.
Meanwhile, opposite of the bitter cold in the north-central U.S., summer-like temperatures are in the forecast from the Tennessee Valley to the Northeast through at least early this weekend.
Strong southerly flow ahead of the approaching frontal boundary will create dry conditions and temperatures 10 to 30 degrees above late-October averages.
Afternoon highs are forecast to reach into the low-to-mid 80s for most locations and could break numerous daily high temperature records.
A quick reprieve back to cooler weather should enter the Northeast and northern Mid-Atlantic on Sunday along with shower chances, while highs into the 80s remain across the Tennessee Valley and Southeast. ■