110 FXUS01 KWBC 310813 PMDSPD Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 300 AM EST Wed Dec 31 2025 Valid 12Z Wed Dec 31 2025 - 12Z Fri Jan 02 2026 ...Heavy lake-effect snow will be reinforced by an Alberta clipper heading into the new year along with the likelihood of snow squalls from the Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and western New York... ...Rain associated with an anomalous low pressure system from the tropical latitudes is forecast to bring the threat of flash flooding for southern California on New Year's Eve into New Year's Day... ...Arctic air will be reinforced across the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and the Northeast while a quick warm-up emerges across the Great Plains... Arctic air behind a departing intense cyclone will continue to surge into much of the eastern two-thirds of the country today. In the process, the lake-effect "snow machine" will remain active downwind from the Great Lakes, and will be reinforced with the arrival of an Alberta clipper today. The highest snowfall totals are forecast to be downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario where an additional 1-2 feet with locally 3+ feet possible within the heaviest snow bands over the next couple of days. An reinforcing surge of arctic will follow behind the clipper system as an arctic high pressure system from Canada will descend into the northern U.S. today. The forceful push of the arctic cold front is expected to produce snow showers and even snow squalls later today into the early hours of New Year's Day across the Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and western New York. Adjacent areas across the upper Midwest to the far Northern Plains as well as interior New England can also expect snow showers from the clipper. The snow will be last to taper off across West Virginia on New Year's Day as the clipper moves quickly across New England while intensifying. This intensification will bring widespread accumulating snowfall across much of New England on New Year's Day followed by moderate snowfall most likely across Downeast Maine where 8+ inches of snow could fall between New Year's Day and Friday morning. Winds will become increasingly blustery across New England heading into Friday with lowering wind chills. Meanwhile, freezing temperatures will reach as far south as north-central Florida early this morning before a slow moderating trend sets in. Tranquil weather and milder than normal temperatures will prevail across much of the Intermountain West under the influence of a stable high pressure ridge at all levels of the atmosphere. The milder than normal temperatures spilled into the Northern Plains this morning will be shoved farther south into the central Plains as the aforementioned Alberta clipper brings a reinforcing shot of arctic air into the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes today. Meanwhile, rain ahead of a low pressure system that has developed in the unusually southern latitudes of the eastern Pacific is lurking just off southern California. This system is forecast to head north and spread rain into southern California today before expanding north through much of California, the Desert Southwest, reaching into Great Basin, the Four Corners, as well as central and southern Rockies in the form of high-elevation snows as we head into New Year's Day. It appears that heavy rain could begin impacting coastal southern California including Los Angeles early on New Year's Day along with a looming threat of flash flooding as the triple-point frontal system approaches. The core of the low pressure system is forecast to push onshore on New Year's Day and gradually weakens, leading to a gradual reduction of rain chance across California later that day. Meanwhile, the expansive moisture shield of the system will keep high-elevation snow and low-elevation rain in place from the Intermountain region to the northern and central Rockies into Friday morning. Kong Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php $$