Alberta clippers and their Canadian cousins hit the wet air like a train wreck. The hot Atlantic air holds a lot of moisture which precipitates out when hit by cold temperatures. We saw this in January with Winter Storm Jonas and this past Valentine’s Day with Winter Storm Olympia. This is the weather phrase for hitting warm, wet Atlantic Ocean air and exploding into an icy, blizzardy, wet mess. The jetstream usually carries it all the way to the East Coast, where it can bomb-literally. Of course, that’s not the end of the ride for the scary-o, screaming, clipping mauler of a storm.

If it goes farther inland, it may come out of Saskatchewan, Manitoba or even the Great Lakes province of Ontario.Ī cold Canadian storm clipping from Alberta to Virginia, freezing Chicago, Washington DC and New York City. If it hits the cold alongside the Rocky Mountains, it’s a relatively dry Alberta Clipper. The fast and strong winds will whip that cold through the US and we won’t be happy about it. If this miserable cold hits a jetstream, look out. They blow inland, over the Rockies and crash into cold Arctic air sinking into the frozen Prairies. In an El Niño year like this, Pacific winds off of the Northwest states and Western Provinces are warmer than ever. Beware the fast and stormy Alberta Clipper!Īll three storms form when hot wet air from the Pacific hits Central Canada.

No matter where they come from, they are fast, mean and bitterly cold.

Manitoba Maulers, or even Ontario Scary-o, depending on which Canadian province the storm started. We call it a “Polar Vortex”, but the cold fronts have traditionally been called Alberta Clippers, Saskatchewan Screamers. That’s when the U.S. gets clipped or mauled by screamingly cold weather. except when Canada is in a generous mood and shares its winter weather. The United States is blessed with a wonderful northern neighbor.