Our meteorological eye will focus on the Southern Tier of the nation this weekend as most storms will slide southward.
Today
As a low-pressure system moves off of the southern Rockies today, it will only keep snow showers alive in New Mexico and southern Colorado into the late afternoon. Instead of snow, this system will begin evolving into a rain-dominated storm system in the Deep South. Expect light to moderate showers, with more locally intense rainfall under scattered thunderstorms, throughout the day. Rain will cover most of Georgia around midnight.
More light to moderate showers are expected in the far Pacific Northwest, and aside from light wintry mix in central Appalachia and flurries near the northeastern Canadian border, it will be quiet for most.
With the exception of the interior Northeast and higher terrain of the western U.S., which moves into the teens and 20s, most of the nation will see a warming pattern begin to emerge today. Highs in the 30s and 40s will sweep southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic into the Upper Midwest, as well as through much of the Intermountain West and parts of the High Plains.
Temperate 50s and 60s will emerge in the northern Plains, the central Plains, and the West Coast, while 70s and 80s will pop up on thermometers in the Deep South and Desert Southwest. Even a few readings in the 90s graze Texas' southern tip again!
Sunday
The only wide reach of rough weather to close the weekend will be found in the South as a low-pressure system revolves through. Expect scattered showers and thunderstorms in the early morning and afternoon, with most storms vacating land by nightfall.
Most everywhere else on Sunday should swerve clear of rough weather, save for three minor impacts in three local areas. For one, showers staying in Washington's Olympic Peninsula will expand just into northwestern Oregon on Sunday night ahead of another bout of Pacific moisture, with moderate snow totals adding onto Olympia and the far northern Cascades. Toward Montana's plains, high wind gusts could emerge as fast upper-level winds drop toward the surface. Lastly, minor flurries could coat the interior Northwest as the low pressure camped there bids adieu.
In another stroke of luck, fair high temperatures are likely for most of the nation, as only the highest western peaks and the interior Northeast keep below freezing. Highs in the 30s and 40s swarm western mid-elevations, the Great Lakes, Appalachia, and most of southern New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and northerly regions in the South.
Warmer 50s and 60s largely surge in the Great Plains, the West Coast, and the Gulf Coast, while heated 70s and 80s mark southern Texas, the far southeastern U.S., and the Desert Southwest.
