What is an Alberta Clipper, Manitoba Mauler, Saskatchewan Screamer?
All three names describe the same type of storm. FOX Weather explains why they carry different crazy Canadian names.
Where do the crazy Canadian storm names come from?
Alberta Clipper, Saskatchewan Screamer, Manitoba Mauler -- all describe the same type of storm system. FOX Weather explains the different names.
The Alberta Clipper, Manitoba Mauler and the Saskatchewan Screamer are all sweeping weather systems that can bring accumulating snow and gusty winds to the Northeast, Great Lakes and Midwest.
It may seem that meteorologists come up with the craziest names for storms. We can blame a few names for the same type of storm on Canada.
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File: The fast moving storms bring bursts of snow and high wind.
(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Getty Images)
Why is a storm called an Alberta Clipper?
Alberta Clippers are fast-moving low-pressure systems that receive their name from where they originate in western Canada. They sweep across the northern tier of the United States rather frequently during the late-fall and winter months and provide quick bursts of snowfall and strong winds.
The name clipper comes from a fast moving classic sailing ship, according to Britannica.com. The sleek, slim hull with an enormous field of sails, hung on three masts, in the mid-1800s raced to bring the first tea of the season to both Europe and the U.S. from China.
File: The Sunderland Clipper Barque, "Flying Dragon", 1854. The Flying Dragon was built for the Australian trade, a vessel that has been celebrated for superior sailing qualities. She was known for one of the fastest voyages on record, having accomplished the distance between Brittain and Port Phillip, Australia in seventy-three days.
(Print Collector/Heritage Images / Getty Images)
These moisture starved systems develop when moisture from the Pacific Ocean is directed toward the mountains of Canada's Alberta and British Columbia provinces. This moisture-mountain interaction causes an area of low pressure to form over this region.
When the weather pattern features a southward plunge of the jet stream east of the Rockies in the winter, it's relatively common for a clipper system to develop in this portion of western Canada.
Upper-level disturbances within that jet stream dip will dive down from Canada across the Midwest and shove the Alberta Clipper rapidly eastward with snow, gusty winds and falling temperatures along its path.
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Alberta Clippers are fast-moving low-pressure systems that receive their name from where they originate in western Canada.
(FOX Weather)
Other names for the same type of storms
While most clipper systems are called Alberta Clippers because of their origination in that province, they can also develop over Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to the east of Alberta.
Those that call Saskatchewan home are referred to as Saskatchewan Screamers, while clippers that can trace their origins back to Manitoba are called Manitoba Maulers.
Besides their alliterative nature, the terms "Screamer" and "Mauler" are also meant to refer to the fast movement of clipper systems because they are steered by the jet stream's strong winds aloft.
File: Clippers may not drop alot of snow but the strong winds blow snow around creating near white-out conditions.
(Thomas Cooper / Getty Images)
What kind of wether can you expect?
Alberta Clippers don't typically organize into major winter storms, though they can produce localized areas of heavier snow and strong winds, resulting in poor visibility and hazardous travel conditions for motorists.
The cold air mass ushered in by a clipper system often causes lake-effect snow to develop over the Great Lakes snow belts, so the highest snowfall accumulations are usually found downwind of the lakes, with lighter snow totals expected elsewhere along the clipper's path.