A very active weather pattern across nearly all of the Lower 48 over the next few days with numerous hazardous weather conditions affecting large portions of the nation.
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An overall amplifying mid to upper level flow pattern will drive another strong storm southeastward along the west coast Tuesday night into Wednesday, into the Southwest Wednesday and Thursday and eastward into the Southern High Plains by Thursday evening.
This next strong storm will bring additional very heavy snowfall amounts of a 12-24 inches through the Sierra and into portions of the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges of Southern California.
These heavy snow amounts will then translate downstream across the Mogollon Rim of Arizona, Wasatch of Utah and San Juan's of Colorado.
In addition to the additional heavy snow threat, record cold high temperatures are possible Wednesday across much of Central to Southern California where high temperatures are expected to be as much as 20 to 25 degrees below average.
This strong storm affecting the west coast and Southwest, will be pushing into the Southern High Plains on Thursday.
Heavy snows may develop to the north of this system from northeast New Mexico into southeast Colorado and western Kansas.
To the south of the area of heavy snows, windy and dry conditions expected to persist across southeast New Mexico into Southwest to West Texas.
This will support critical fire weather conditions over the next several days across these areas.
In contrast to the record cold over California, record warmth is likely Wednesday across a large region from the Gulf Coast, northeastward into the Ohio Valley and again along the Gulf Coast on Thursday.
Across these areas high temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees above average, with high temperatures possible eclipsing 100 degrees across far South Texas Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
A west to east oriented frontal boundary between the much above average temperatures across the southern tier of the nation and cooler temperatures farther to the north will become the focus for heavy rains, isolated flash flooding and severe thunderstorms late Wednesday into Thursday from portions of the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Tennessee Valley.
Portions of this region have seen above average precipitation amounts over the past few weeks, increasing soil moisture, stream flows and subsequently the risk of flash flooding from the expected heavy rains.
The storm system that brought widespread heavy snows across the Northeast over the past 24 hours will be winding down Tuesday night as it pushes through New England and into the Canadian Maritimes.
A new area of heavy snow potential will be developing upstream across the Northern Plains from this afternoon into Tuesday night, spreading eastward into the Upper Mississippi Valley and Upper Lakes region on Wednesday.
Snowfall accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible from southern North Dakota, far northern South Dakota, across central to northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and across the U.P. of Michigan.
This system will then bring the potential for additional snows for northern New England across northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northern Maine, with accumulations of 4+ inches possible. ■