A punishing storm has much of the U.S. bracing for severe winter weather. So what is an Alberta Clipper? And what should those in its path be expecting?

An Alberta clipper is cutting its way through the northern United States and bringing a lot of snow to the Mohawk Valley.

An Arctic cold front will bring intense snow squalls, strong winds and heavy lake-effect snow to parts of the Northeast, meteorologists say.

Alberta Clippers are quick-moving areas of low pressure that originate in the western Canadian province of Alberta, usually tapping some energy from the polar jet stream and sometimes a bit from the Pacific. The name “clipper” was coined in the 1960s and derives from the fast-moving sailing ships of the 19th century.

The term was coined in the 1960s by Rheinhart Harms, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Weather Service Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who noted the rapid speed of these snow-producing storms as they moved from Alberta towards the Great Lakes.

Meteorologist Matt DiLoreto explains what an Alberta Clipper is and where the name originated. A relative of Vladimir Putin has accidentally let slip secret Kremlin data that reveals Russia’s losses in its war in Ukraine.

There are a few creative names meteorologists use to denote snow storms that originate in central Canada. FOX Weather Meteorologist Haley Meier shows some of those names and their origin.