Editing Panhandle hook (section)

==Formation==
[[File:Colorado_low_circulation.png|thumb|200px|Typical Southwest circulation, east of the Rockies, of a [[Colorado low]]. For a Panhandle hook, the flow should be slightly further east.]]
A panhandle hook storm has its origins as a strong [[Shortwave (meteorology)|shortwave]] [[low pressure system]] which traverses the base of a [[long-wave]] low pressure trough while geographically coincident with the southwestern United States. Such systems ubiquitously develop a surface low-pressure system in the northwestern Texas and western Oklahoma area (as an eddy effect interaction of the [[topography]] of the [[Rocky Mountains]] in relation to the jet stream) with associated [[warm front]] and [[cold front]], with attending snow to the northwest of the low and severe [[thunderstorm]]s to the southeast -- the "hook" refers to the left-ward east to northeast jog in the track of the surface low as it is plotted on a weather analysis chart.

If the associated jet stream is stronger than normal and there is colder than normal air in place in central [[Canada]] to provide a greater than normal temperature contrast with [[Gulf of Mexico]] moisture drawn northward by the developing panhandle low, surface cyclogenesis can be particularly energetic and cause a great swath of heavy snow to develop and blanket a large portion of the American [[Great Plains]] and upper-midwestern states in conjunction with very strong winds, the combination of which exceeds blizzard criteria. Over the [[Great Lakes]],  the interaction of these storms with the lakes can amplify windspeeds causing extreme heavy sometimes localized snowfall, [[thundersnow]] and often shoreline erosion. Initially pleasant weather ahead of the northeast-bound storm can lull the unwary into dressing lightly and then being surprised by heavy snow accompanied by howling easterly and northerly winds as the low traverses south to east of their location.