Before I tell you about myself, there's a few important things that you need to know about Alberta. This Canadian province is the second from the country's west coast. The Rocky Mountains divide Alberta and British Columbia. In fact the provincial border is in the Rockies. Alberta is roughly the same size as Texas and I enjoy calling it home.
Now that we have the boring stuff out of the way, let's talk about the exciting part of this article - Me! he he. I'm a bit vain. Talking about me makes me feel very important.
I'm always born as a low-pressure storm on the high plains, east of the Rocky Mountains. From there I usually dive southeast, into the Dakotas and Minnesota. After that I arc east toward the Great Lakes. I like to stay on this path, hundreds of miles from the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Because I hold very little moisture, I don't leave a huge amount of snow behind. I like to leave a few inches on a narrow path that passes places like Detroit and Milwaukee.
Sometimes, just to keep people on their toes, I'll take a detour over to the Appalachian Mountains. At this time I change disguises and become a nor'easter. I pulled this trick on February 6, 1978. Little me turned into the New England Blizzard of '78. he he. It sure was fun dumping all that snow on the New England States. People were scrambling for days to clear up all that snow.
I love La Nina years. La Nina means the jet stream dives south across the Great Lakes. Those years I appear more frequently (often.) I like to bring a white Christmas to people that live around the Great Lakes. I am fast-moving and bring frigid Arctic air to the warm northern regions of the United States. Sometimes I decide to visit southern Ontario as well. I bring strong, gusting winds to those areas as well as sleet and freezing rain.
I have lots of fun bringing all kinds of crazy winter weather to the Great Lakes regions. So, if you live in the area and hear your parents say an Alberta Clipper's on the way, you'll know I'm stopping by for a visit. Be prepared. I may bring a little snow, freezing rain, or sleet. You never know what to expect from me and I plan to keep it that way.
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