What exactly is an Alberta clipper?

AccuWeather

You may have heard meteorologists refer to an "Alberta clipper" causing snow in the Midwest or Northeast, but what does that mean? AccuWeather's Bree Guy explains.

Transcript

00:00What is an Alberta Clipper?

00:01We've been talking about it a lot.

00:04We're currently watching one now.

00:06What does it mean?

00:07Well, this is the general

00:09path of an Alberta Clipper.

00:10It really rides this Southeasterly

00:12flow of the jet and generally

00:14produces snow anywhere across

00:16the Northern Rockies and Northern

00:18Plains all the way across the

00:20Great Lakes in it to the Northeast,

00:22bringing that cold air with it.

00:24But you know it meets up often with

00:27this milder air out ahead of you.

00:29It still that helps fuel some of these

00:32snow storms characteristically of

00:34these Alberta Clippers now I love

00:36to dive deeper into these sneaky

00:38little storms where they originate.

00:40We have to look at their origins right

00:43to see why they do what they do.

00:46This storm moving fast because

00:48it's coming from central Canada.

00:50Typically an Alberta Clipper does

00:52come across the province Alberta

00:54or originates there and it's

00:56coming from the North.

00:58Alberta or originates there,

00:59but it's fast moving because it doesn't

01:01have a lot of moisture to help fuel it.

01:04So it's going and it's trying to

01:06drive as much energy across this

01:08zone as possible and get as far as it can.

01:11That's a big factor when it comes

01:13to Alberta Clippers and why they

01:15don't generally produce high,

01:17high amounts of snow,

01:18though in some cases,

01:19especially when we talk about

01:21Lake Enhanced Snow from Alberta

01:22Clippers like we're seeing even now,

01:24we could see isolated areas where

01:26we could see isolated areas with more snow.

01:29They are fast moving.

01:30They typically originate from

01:31the Canadian province, Alberta.

01:33They are most common in late fall

01:35in winter as it is very dry in that area.

01:38They often produce gusty winds,

01:40and in this case,

01:42if an Alberta Clipper or the energy

01:44from it slides into the shore,

01:47it could of course also move north.

01:56For more information visit www.fema.gov

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