SARANAC LAKE — The week’s active weather pattern continues with another clipper system and associated Arctic cold front sweeping through the Tri-Lakes region today.

Clipper systems originate over western Canada and generally move southeast through the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast. Aptly named after the clipper sailing vessels, these storm systems are fast-moving and form over land, which tends to limit overall snowfall accumulations relative to nor’easters or lake effect snow, which both often impact an area longer and have more moisture to deposit.

Over the years, these sorts of storms have racked up an assortment of nicknames owing to their location of origin — various Canadian provinces. These names include “Alberta Clipper,” “Saskatchewan Screamer” and “Manitoba Mauler.”

The snow, which began falling late Tuesday night, is expected to continue through mid-afternoon today, according to the National Weather Service in Burlington, which serves the Tri-Lakes area. Total accumulations are predicted to range between 4 and 7 inches — with directional and elevational gradients.

Western areas of the Tri-Lakes region, such as Tupper Lake and eastern St. Lawrence County, and higher elevations, such as the High Peaks, are expected to see totals on the higher side, with some isolated mountaintops likely seeing over a foot by the time the snowfall ends.

Eastern portions of the area, such as Keene, Jay and AuSable Forks are expected to see totals on the lower end of the range, with NWS Burlington forecasting between 2 and 4 inches for much of the Champlain Valley.

The range of forecasted snowfall totals has led NWS Burlington to issue different weather alerts across the area. There was a winter storm warning in effect for southeastern St. Lawrence County, a winter weather advisory for southern Franklin County and no alerts for Essex County as of press time Tuesday evening. Despite this, Tyler Danzig, a NWS Burlington meteorologist said Essex County could be upgraded to an advisory by todayt based on new weather data.

“Right now, we have borderline advisory thresholds (for Essex County),” he said. “Higher elevations are definitely going to be seeing a good amount of snow, however below 2,000 feet and what not, we’re still waiting on some new guidance to see if we pull the trigger on issuing that for Essex (County).”

Danzig said the variable hinges on the strength of a snow squall line that will develop along the Arctic cold front pushing through on the system’s back end.

“By the time we get to sunrise — about 7 or 8 a.m. — we’ll see that Arctic front really move into the area from the west,” he said. “How far that line extends into the Adirondacks is going to be what we’re watching.”

Danzig said if the line holds, the event’s heaviest snow could move through the area between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., before diminishing in the mid-afternoon. He added that there will be some wind associated with today’s storm, but nothing as strong as what the area experienced Monday.

“It’s not going to be quite as bad as what we saw (Monday),” he said. “We’re going to see some gusts up to 30 mph as the snow squalls move through in particular. Sustained winds are probably about 10 to 15 mph, but any gusty winds are going to be really associated with those snow squalls Wednesday morning into early Wednesday afternoon, but we’re not expecting any major wind like we saw (Monday) afternoon.”

High temperatures are expected to reach the mid-20s early today ahead of the cold front. Once it moves through, Danzig said the mercury will plunge.

“Once that Arctic front comes through, we’re going to see temperatures drastically drop. Lows (tonight) into Thursday are going to dip down into the negative teens across much of the Adirondacks,” he said. “With the wind, it won’t be blustery by any means, but even if we have wind there, our wind chills are going to be in the negative 20s and 30s.”