Weather Friday February 23 2024 ne showers move offshore, fair most of the nation

.Pleasantly mild across most of the country before a surge of cold airreaches the Great Lakes on Friday and down the East Coast on Saturday......Showers and thunderstorms over the Ohio Valley will reach theAppalachians and the Mid-South Thursday night before moving through theEast Coast on Friday......A quick round of light snow expected to move across the Midwest, OhioValley, and then the southern Appalachians on Saturday...A relatively quiet weather pattern is in store across the U.S.  Theeastern U.S. will be the main area where precipitation will be found forthe next couple of days as a pair of low pressure waves forming along afront are forecast to move east and northeast through the East Coast. Locations from the Ohio Valley to the Mid-South, across the Southeast andinto northern Florida will see showers and thunderstorms passing throughfrom tonight through Friday.  Temperatures will be cold enough to supportmixed rain and snow across the interior sections of New England tonightand into Friday with a couple of inches of snow accumulation expected. The rain and snow are forecast to taper off along the East Coast Fridaynight as the main front togther with the  low pressure waves steadily moveinto the Atlantic.It will feel more like March and early April across much of the nation toclose out the week, especially across the Plains and Midwest where highscould easily be 10-20 degrees above late February averages.  Widespread60s and 70s will be common from Texas to the Deep South into Friday.  Areturn to reality arrives in time for the weekend as a cold front fromcentral Canada brings more January-like readings into the Great Plains onFriday before surging into the East Coast on Saturday.  A clipper systemforming along the cold front on Saturday is expected to deliver a quickround of light snow from the Midwest to the Ohio Valley, and then into thesouthern Appalachians.Elsewhere across the continental U.S., a dry weather pattern is expectedto prevail through Saturday apart from a few snow showers across portionsof the central and northern Rockies.  Farther south, elevated fire weatherconditions are forecast by the Storm Prediction Center across portions ofsouthwestern Texas through tonight owing to dry downslope winds from thesouthern Rockies.  Across the Pacific Northwest, moisture well ahead of alow pressure system moving into the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to beginbringing snow into the northern Cascades and some light rain near thecoast on Saturday.