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.

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – The snow that will be impacting western Massachusetts Wednesday night is what meteorologists call an Alberta clipper. As snow is in the forecast for tonight into Thursday morning, this snow will not be from a coastal low-pressure system but from an Alberta clipper.

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.

An Alberta Clipper is a low pressure system that rapidly moves from western Canada, deriving its name from the Canadian Province of Alberta. It travels into the Northern Plains, the Midwest and the Great Lakes. An Alberta Clipper draws down cold Canadian air and typically brings snow, cold temperatures and strong winds.

A winter weather event known as an Alberta Clipper will descend from Canada later this week and roll across the northern tier, potentially bringing snow to at least 12 states from the Dakotas to New England.

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.