A clipper this way comes..

A wintertime treat will come our way tonight in the form of an Alberta clipper. These systems ride the jet stream from Canada (generally from the Alberta region - hence the name) from Canada into the US and generally produce some quick, light snow as the colder air behind the system shoves up (isoentropic lift) the (relatively) warmer air as it progresses eastward which leads to cloud formation. I have attached an IR enhanced satellite image from this morning as a nice example of a very vigorous Albtera Clipper that will bring us a few inches of snow tonight.

If you look at the satellite image across the Midwest, you can see the wind pattern above reflected in the streaking of the clouds from NW to SE. This is the precipitation field in front of the front which lies behind in the Dakotas (you can see a thin diagonal of white clouds running from NW to SE which is the backside of the cold air.

There are some nice ocean effect clouds off of New England.

The same phenomenon of the IR returns matching the profile of the Great Lakes is present here as the one I discussed a few weeks back. And the interplay between the air temperature and water temps are even more nicely displayed along the Southeast coast. Look how neatly the purple enhancement (from the cold polar high presssure) exactly matches the coastline in Virginia, NC, SC and Georgia. The underlying ocean waters moderate the air as it progresses off the land and warm the air which does not provide an IR return. If you look carefully at the Cheasapeake, you can see that this body of water is too small to warm the air (it is colored purple) but that enhancement is gone off of the Delaware and Maryland coast. These IR enhanced satellites are really useful in seeing how the water and air interact!
The southern branch of the jet stream is present across mid Florida - this is carrying the moisture from SW to NE across the peninsula and into the Atlantic.