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The winter months are notorious for producing very fast moving weather systems that generate a quick burst of snow across the Plains, Midwest and Great Lakes region. These are most often referred to as “clippers.” A Saskatchewan Screamer is a fast moving low pressure system that moves southeast out of the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan and quickly moves into the northern U.S., usually bringing snow, wind and much colder temperatures.

Another version of this same system is called an “Alberta Clipper”, which is the exact same weather setup, the only difference is that an Alberta Clipper originated in the Canadian Province of Alberta instead of Saskatchewan. You may have heard of the Alberta Clipper that's impacting the Great Lakes region this week.

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It’s not uncommon for these sneaky weather systems to bring winds as high as 40-50 mph and can produce blizzard conditions. In January of 2022, Winter Storm Izzy was considered a Saskatchewan Screamer as it originated out of Canada and went on to produce up to a foot of snow across the central U.S. and snow as far south as Georgia.

J​ennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.