This segment originally aired in November 2019.
This transcript was edited for clarity and length.
Bill Burton: It’s time for us to take a look at the Science Behind the Forecast as I’m joined by WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew. Good morning, Tawana.
Tawana Andrew: Good morning. We're talking about something that is a little bit fast, you may say.
BB: Fast, and can be cold, too. We're talking about the Alberta Clipper and some of its cousins. What do we need to know about it?
TA: The Alberta Clipper is defined by the National Weather Service — you're going to love this definition — as a fast-moving, low-pressure system that moves southeast out of the Canadian province of Alberta, the plains, Midwest, Great Lakes regions, usually during the winter. What makes these so special is that they can bring some strong winds, usually light snow and very cold temperatures to a region as they pass by. For an Alberta clipper to form, what you need is an area of low pressure, basically moving towards British Columbia's Pacific coast, and that causes wind flowing across the Rocky Mountains to increase. Basically what happens is you have what's called a trough, or an elongated area of low pressure, developing in that region. That trough tends to linger on the eastern side of the mountains for a while as it strengthens, but once a cold front basically overtakes it, the clipper starts to push all the way to the east, dives southeast through the Midwest into the plains, usually over the Great Lakes, then towards the northeastern United States.
Clippers get their name from the super fast sailing yachts that were popular in the 19th Century. And they are very quick-moving systems. We're talking about 30-35 miles per hour. That is faster than you can move in your neighborhood roads, basically! These don't really produce a lot of snow, usually, because they're so far away from any moisture source, but they can tap into additional moisture, let's say, if they move south enough, and they can get a little bit of that moisture from the Gulf, they can produce a lot of snow then. What we usually see is when they move over the Great Lakes, they cause that lake effect snow. In some cases, they can drop half a foot of snow as they pass by in a very short amount of time.
We typically see Alberta Clippers in December and January. That's when they're a little bit more common, but you can see them anywhere from October all the way through March.
They go by some different names, depending on where they come from. Of course, the Alberta Clipper comes from Alberta. Then you have the Manitoba Mauler. This is when meteorologists actually get creative, for once. Then you have the Saskatchewan Screamer.
BB: These are Canadian Football League teams, right?
TA: Yeah, wait ‘til the last one! My favorite one, the Ontario Scarios. Yes, that is an actual meteorological term.
BB: It’s an actual meteorological term. That might be my favorite term ever.
TA: That’s the one time meteorologists actually got it right.
BB: Ontario Scario. Weather system or professional wrestler?
TA: Both!
BB: I feel not just educated, but now entertained as well. I knew about the clipper. I can't say I knew about the others. We now have a much better understanding of the Alberta Clipper and its cousins, like the Manitoba Mauler and the Ontario Scario, thanks to WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew and the latest edition of Science Behind the Forecast. Thanks for the knowledge, Tawana.
TA: Of course.
