c Tornado: A tornado (often referred to as a twister or,

erroneously, a cyclone) is a violent, dangerous, rotating

column of air that is in contact with both the surface of
the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases,
the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes come in many
shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a
visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end
touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of
debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less
than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately
250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several
kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can
attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h),
stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on
the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km)
c Tropical cyclones: A tropical cyclone is a storm system
characterized by a large low-pressure center and
numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds
and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when
water evaporated from the ocean is released as the
saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water
vapor contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a
different heat mechanism than other cyclonic
windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms,
and polar lows. The characteristic that separates
tropical cyclones from other cyclonic systems is that
any height in the atmosphere, the center of a tropical
cyclone will be warmer than its surrounds; a
phenomenon called "warm core" storm systems.
c Mesocyclone: A mesocyclone is a vortex of air, approximately 2 to 10 miles in
diameter (the mesoscale of meteorology), within a convective storm.[1] That is,
it is air that rises and rotates around a vertical axis, usually in the same direction
as low pressure systems in a given hemisphere. They are most often cyclonic,
that is, associated with a localized low-pressure region within a severe
thunderstorm. Such storms can feature strong surface winds and severe hail.
Mesocyclones often occur together with updrafts in supercells, where tornadoes
may form. Mesocyclones are believed to form when strong changes of wind
speed and/or direction with height ("wind shear") sets parts of the lower part of
the atmosphere spinning in invisible tube-like rolls. The convective updraft of a
thunderstorm is then thought to draw up this spinning air, tilting the rolls'
orientation upward (from parallel to the ground to perpendicular) and causing
the entire updraft to rotate as a vertical column. Mesocyclones are normally
relatively localized: they lie between the synoptic scale (hundreds of kilometers)
and small scale (hundreds of meters). Radar imagery is used to identify these
features. Mesoscale convective systems (MCS) can develop mesoscale convective
vortexes which can spur later development of either another MCS or a tropical
cyclone.
c Molar low cyclone: A polar low is a small-scale, short-lived
atmospheric low pressure system (depression) that is found
over the ocean areas pole ward of the main polar front in
both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The systems
usually have a horizontal length scale of less than 1,000 kilo
metres (620 mi) and exist for no more than a couple of
days. They are part of the larger class of mesoscale weather
systems. Molar lows can be difficult to detect using
conventional weather reports and are a hazard to high-
latitude operations, such as shipping and gas and oil
platforms. Molar lows have been referred to by many other
terms, such as polar mesoscale vortex, Arctic hurricane,
Arctic low, and cold air depression. Today the term is
usually reserved for the more vigorous systems that have
near-surface winds of at least 17 m/s (38 mph)
c Arctic cyclone: An arctic cyclone is a low
pressure weather system usually spanning
1000-2000 kilometers in which the air is
circulating in a counterclockwise fashion (in
the northern hemisphere). The reason for the
rotation is the same as tropical cyclones, the
coriolis effect.
c Arctic cyclones can occur at any time during
the year. However, summer cyclones tend to
be weaker than winter cyclones.
c Subtropical cyclone: A subtropical cyclone is a
weather system that has some characteristics of a
tropical and an extratropical cyclone. As early as
the 1950s, meteorologists were unclear whether
they should be characterized as tropical or
extratropical cyclones. They were officially
recognized by the National Hurricane Center in
1972. Subtropical cyclones began to receive
names from the official tropical cyclone lists in
the Atlantic Hurricane Basin and the southwest
Indian ocean.
c Mid-latitude cyclone: Mid-latitude or frontal
cyclones are large traveling atmospheric cyclonic
storms up to 2000 kilometers in diameter with
centers of low atmospheric pressure. Mid-
latitude cyclones are the result of the dynamic
interaction of warm tropical and cold polar air
masses at the polar front. This interaction causes
the warm air to be cyclonically lifted vertically
into the atmosphere where it combines with
colder upper atmosphere air. This process also
helps to transport excess energy from the lower
latitudes to the higher latitudes.
c Extratropical cyclone: Extratropical cyclones,
sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave
cyclones, are a group of cyclones defined as synoptic
scale low pressure weather systems that occur in the
middle latitudes of the Earth (outside the tropics)
having neither tropical nor polar characteristics, and
are connected with fronts and horizontal gradients in
temperature and dew point otherwise known as
"baroclinic zones".[1] Extratropical cyclones are the
everyday phenomena which, along with anticyclones,
drive the weather over much of the Earth, producing
anything from cloudiness and mild showers to heavy
gales and thunderstorms.