Alaska is above the polar front that separates cool and warm air masses of the mid Atlantic region, and it also lies directly along two other lines of air movement, the arctic front and the jet stream.
Some of the storms that hit the Northwestern area of the United States during the fall and winter are occluded fronts; which form when a warm air mass is pushed into a cold air mass. The warm air mass then rises above the cold air mass because it has a lower air density. As this clash happens the jet stream is pushing the front into the Canadian coast and the western coast of the U.S.
Caption: The occluded fronts form near Alaska and are pushed across the Pacific into the coast by the jet stream. This happens when a low pressure cold front that crosses the Aleutian islands collides with a warm air front from the South Pacific and forms the stormy weather associated with the cyclones that hit the coast.
When the storm hits the coast the bulk of the cyclone will hit in the Northwestern region of the United States near Oregon and Washington. The Northwest has a very important role in taking the brunt of the storm, because if anything more than the tail of the storm hits California on a regular basis there could be a bad season for wineries. Probably inadvertently causing the end of the world.
Image Sources In Order of Appearance:
http://berkeleynaturally.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/aleutian-low.jpg
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