Intensification of Alberta Clippers

ALberta Clippers are usually known as light snow producers because of their lack of moisture. However, if an Alberta Clipper system can make it across the Appalachian Mountains to the relatively warm, moisture rich Atlantic Ocean some storms can rapidly intensify.

These storms, now located off the East Coast of the United States, become known as Nor'easters and can spread haevy snow over New England and southeastern Canada. This was the case in the great New England blizzard on February 6, 1978. There have been several other storms of this type reported including the storm that struck the East Coast on February 16, 1996. A radar image from this storm is shown below. In this image you can clearly see the storm stretching from eastern Canada all the way down through the Carolinas.This storm dumped large amounts of snow along the coast with reports of up to 10 inches of snow falling in Virginia.


Source: COMET case study
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/wv/960216_2300_nowrad.gif


Although the strongest storms associated with Alberta Clippers occur off the east coast, these systems can also intensify when they encounter moisture over the Great Lakes. In this case, Alberta CLippers are then capable of producing Lake Effect snow on the leeward side of the lakes. In this way, Alberta Clippers can be the source of much of the annual snowfall in the Great Lakes.


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