Weather phenomena that cause dramatic changes often get special names, descriptive names. One such phenomenon is an Alberta Clipper. This is a cold low pressure system that starts in the Arctic plains of Alberta, Canada. As it plunges southeast into the United States, it brings extremely cold weather with it. Since there isn’t a source of moisture tied to the systems, they generally don’t generate a lot of snow, with the exception of some lake effect snows near the Great Lakes. Fortunately for Kansans, the Alberta Clippers generally swing east fairly quickly and we miss the coldest temperatures. We’ve seen that with the latest cold that has plagued the East Coast.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu