Weather Forecast: Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, Next Day, Five Days, and Intermediate-Term Outlooks for the U.S. and a Five-Day Forecast for the World: posted March 1, 2023

First, the 48-Hour Forecast (It is a 48 to 72 Hour Forecast actually)

Daily weather maps. I try to keep the below three maps updated. The Day 1 map updates twice a day and the Day 2 and 3 maps update only once a day. I will be doing the updating during the period described in the title of the article but if you happen to read this article later, you can get updates by clicking HERE

TODAY (or late in the day the evening/overnight map will appear)

TOMORROW

 NEXT DAY

This animation shows how things may play out over the next 60 hours. To update click here.

ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS

This tells us what is approaching the West Coast. Click HERE to update If I have not gotten around to doing the update.   Here is some useful information about Atmospheric Rivers.

Continuation of the NWS Short Range Forecast (It is updated by NWS twice a day and these updates can be found here. We post at least one of those updates daily, sometimes both. The Highlights are shown in the lede paragraph of this article.

The powerful mid to upper level flow that has affected California over the
past few days will be exiting the state this evening, moving across the
Southwest and into the Southern High Plains through Thursday and then
toward the Lower to Middle Mississippi Valley on Friday. This will bring
relief to California for the next few days with dry conditions expected.
However, temperatures will remain below average, although not as cold as
in past days. Still there is potential for record low morning
temperatures Thursday across portions of central and northern California.

While California dries out, there is no let up to the very active weather
pattern for nearly all of the remainder of the nation over the next few
days as the strong upper low will be pushing eastward and supporting
widespread significant impacts. Heavy mountain snows and lower elevation
rains are likely across the Southwest and into the Southern Rockies
tonight into early Thursday. As this strong storm pushes eastward into
the Southern High Plains Thursday, strong winds and dry conditions will
continue to support a critical fire weather threat from eastern New Mexico
into West and Southwest Texas. While these area are expected to be dry,
the opposite will be true farther to the north and east, stretching from
eastern portions of the Southern Plains into the Lower Arkansas Valley,
Lower to Middle Mississippi Valley, Tennessee Valley and Ohio Valley. An
initial area of heavy rains and severe thunderstorms are possible
beginning Wednesday night and continuing into Thursday morning from far
northeast Texas, eastward into the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee
Valley. This will then be followed by a rapidly blossoming area of heavy
rains and possible severe thunderstorms late Thursday afternoon stretching
from central Oklahoma into north central Texas. This area of heavy rains
and severe thunderstorms will then push east northeastward Thursday night
into Friday across the Lower Arkansas, Lower Mississippi and Ohio river
valleys. With both heavy rainfall episodes, flash flooding is possible.

To the southeast of the active thunderstorms and heavy rains, record high
temperatures will continue Wednesday and Thursday across the Gulf Coast
and across portions of Florida on Friday. High temperatures will range
from 15 to 25 degrees above average on Thursday along the Gulf coast and
into portions of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Cooler temperatures are
expected for the western Gulf Coast on Friday, but remain well above
average farther to the east from Florida, northward into the Southeast and
portions of the Upper Tennessee and Ohio Valleys.

Along the northern tier of the nation, snows will be diminishing across
the Upper Great Lakes region early tonight. Snows will, however be
developing across northern New England tonight and continue through
Thursday. Locally heavy snows are possible across far northern New York
State, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northwestern to
northern Maine. Snow totals across these area may be in the 4-6 inch
range.

Below is the current five-day cumulative forecast of precipitation (Updates can be found HERE)

Now we look at Intermediate-Term “Outlook” maps for three time periods. Days 6 – 10, Days 8 – 14, and Weeks 3 and 4.  An outlook differs from a forecast based on how NOAA uses these terms in that an “outlook” presents information as deviation from normal and the likelihood of these deviations.

Below are the links to obtain updates and additional information. They are particularly useful if you happen to be reading this article significantly later than when it was published. I always try to provide readers with the source of the information in my articles.

Temperature month to date can be found at https://hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/MonthTDeptUS.png

Precipitation month to date can be found at  https://hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis /MonthPNormUS.png

Worldwide Tropical Forecast (This is a NOAA Product)