High Winds to Persist Throughout the Northeast
Christy Bowen
3 hours agoAs predicted, it was a blustery day of weather across the Northeast on Wednesday as a fast-moving Alberta clipper storm roared through the region with gusto. Here is a look back at this event, as well as what is on deck as another clipper storm gears up to sweep through parts of the northern U.S. on Friday and Saturday.
Thousands Wake Up in the Dark in the Northeast on Thursday
Over 70,000 customers were left without power in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey on Thursday morning after a powerful clipper storm whipped through the Northeast. A top gust of 70 mph was reported in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island.
Forecasters had been warning since the beginning of the week that it was setting up to be a windy stretch of days for much of the Great Lakes and the Northeast. Over 60 million Americans in the Northeast were put under High Wind Alerts on Wednesday as the storm pushed across the Great Lakes and into this corner of the country.
The winds first fired up in the eastern Great. Lakes on Wednesday afternoon. A gust of 43 mph was clocked off the shores of Lake Erie in the western part of New York before the storm tracked farther to the east and the south.
High wind alerts remained in place for a number of large metro areas in the eastern U.S. on Thursday. These cities include New York City, Hartford, Providence, and Boston. The high winds stretch up into southern New England and parts of coastal Maine.
Alberta clippers are a nickname given to fast-moving low-pressure systems that originate in western Canada. The storms typically roar across the northern U.S. during the late fall and throughout the winter. Clippers usher in powerful winds and bursts of snowfall as they chug along.
According to Britannica, the name clipper comes from a sailing ship that moves at a fast clip. While Alberta clippers do not usually organize into major winter events, they often carry enough energy and moisture to generate localized areas of strong winds and heavy snow. The pairing of these two elements inherently raises the risk of hazardous road conditions.
Clippers also infuse cold air into the atmosphere, supporting the development of lake-effect snow at times. As such, the highest snowfall accumulations associated with clipper storms are typically recorded downwind of the Great Lakes. Lighter snow amounts are typically the story for other areas in the path of a clipper due to the fast-moving nature of these storms.