#Alberta clipper full
#Alberta clipper series

Some of the coldest weather experienced each winter is often associated with clippers and wind chills can typically reach 30 to 40 degrees below zero, or lower, in the North Central, Great Lakes and North Atlantic States. While snowfall is limited in a clipper system, the colder temperatures can plunge far south which is certainly what happened this past week. During a ground blizzard it is often possible to look up and see the sky much more clearly than one can see forward. A ground blizzard results when snow already on the ground or falling as post-frontal flurries is caught up in the wind making forward visibility difficult and resulting in snow drifts and icy patches on highways as was experienced recently. It is not unusual for an Alberta Clipper to result in a “ground blizzard” after the snowfall has ended. While there is snow associated with most clipper systems, it is usually light, maybe one to three inches, and often with very low moisture content so it is easily blown about by the high winds that may occur.

As the cold air is caught up in the typical winter jet stream pattern, it can be pushed far south in the U.S.Īlberta Clippers are characterized by sometimes dramatically colder temperatures resulting in the temperature dropping 20 degrees or more in a relatively short time. The “clipper” part is considered a reference to the speeds of the clipper ships.

#Alberta clipper full

In fact, the first full week of January this year was a classic example with record and near record low temperatures in many areas east of the Rockies.Īn Alberta Clipper is a low pressure area that generally originates on the lee side of the Rockies in Alberta, but can also start in Saskatchewan or even Montana. Much of the continental United States occasionally shivers through a winter weather system known as an Alberta Clipper. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this post about the dreaded “Alberta Clipper.” What’s an Alberta Clipper? If you have topics you’d like to see addressed, let me know at. On the other hand, some musings may be weather related, but not all that technical. Often, I’ll write about threats and best-practices. I do have some formal training, but will, as any Extension employee would, rely on research.

Indeed we do have an actual meteorologist or two in EDEN, including Tom Priddy at the University of Kentucky who created our terrific Next 48 online dashboard tool. I hasten to add I am not a meteorologist.

#Alberta clipper series

What’s with Weather Wednesdays? Well, when my term as chair of the Extension Disaster Education Network came to an end in October of 2014, Virginia White asked me if I’d write an occasional blog post for EDEN and our eXtension Community of Practice.Įver since I wrote a series of posts during and after the response to tornadoes in November of 2013 that affected Gifford, Illinois, which is in Champaign County where I serve as the volunteer Emergency Management Agency Public Information Officer and Washington, Illinois, where I grew up and have many family and friends, I’d been thinking about writing about the weather more regularly. Rick Atterberry, EDEN Immediate Past Chair writes about the weather.