Weather: Tonight, Tomorrow, Next Day, Five Days, and Intermediate-Term Outlooks for the U.S. and a Five-Day Forecast for the World: posted April 21, 2023

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

Daily weather maps. The Day 1 map updates twice a day and the Day 2 and 3 maps update only once a day. These maps update automatically. But if that does not happen, 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.

A frontal system tracking east through the eastern third of the U.S. will
be responsible for producing showers and thunderstorms from as far south
as South Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley and
eastern Great Lakes. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has a Slight Risk
for severe weather in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, as well as a pair of
Marginal Risks in the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Upper Ohio Valley.
The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) also has an expansive Marginal Risk
area through the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio Valleys. As the
front marches east on Saturday, the atmosphere will be primed to produce
more severe storms in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. SPC issued a Slight
Risk for severe weather from the coastal Carolinas on north to the
Washington D.C.-Baltimore metro area. The footprint of thunderstorms will
span from central Florida to the northern Mid-Atlantic with storms capable
of producing large hail, damaging wind gusts, and tornadoes. By Sunday,
the cold front will have passed through the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast,
but New England will still be dealing with rain as a new area of low
pressure forms along the southern New England coast. Ample moisture and
locally heavy rainfall rates has prompted WPC to issue a Marginal Risk of
Excessive Rainfall for much of southern and central New England for Sunday.

The aforementioned cold front sweeping through the eastern U.S this
weekend will also be introducing an exceptionally cold air-mass, in the
form of Canadian high pressure, through the Nation’s Heartland this
afternoon. Temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing in parts of
the Central Plains Saturday morning, resulting in the issuance of Freeze
Warnings and Watches from eastern Kansas and Nebraska to portions of the
Middle Mississippi River Valley. This push of anomalously cooler
temperatures will make their way through the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys
tonight, then as far east as the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast by Saturday
evening. New England will remain under the influence of onshore flow,
keeping cooler than normal temperatures locked in over much of the region
throughout the duration of the weekend. Sunday has the best odds of the
two days this weekend to produce record cold daily maximum and minimum
temperatures. Record cold minimum temperatures are forecast in parts of
the Central Plains, with record cold daily maximum temps possible in the
Southern Plains.

Elsewhere, the Pacific Northwest and both the northern and central Rockies
will contend with occasional coastal/valley showers and mountain snow this
weekend. The first round of precipitation this evening and into Saturday
is due to an upper level disturbance passing through the Intermountain
West and a frontal boundary setting up along the front range slopes of the
northern Rockies. The next round of wet weather arrives Saturday and into
Sunday in the Pacific Northwest as a storm system in the northeast Pacific
ushers in more precipitation, as well as cooler than normal temperatures
by Sunday. Farther south, a frontal boundary west of the Rio Grande and a
broad troughing pattern over the Southwest will provide sufficient lift,
along with easterly flow providing a source of Gulf of Mexico moisture, to
produce widely scattered showers and thunderstorms across central and
southern Texas. WPC and SPC have issued Marginal Risks in south-central
Texas for both Saturday and Sunday, as storms will have the potential to
produce both locally excessive rainfall rates and severe weather.

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)