Anticyclones

Anticyclones

An anticyclone (that is, opposite to a cyclone) is a weather phenomenon defined by the United States' National Weather Service's glossary as " large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere". Effects of surface-based anticyclones include clearing skies as well as cooler, drier air. Fog can also form overnight within a region of higher pressure. Mid-tropospheric systems, such as the subtropical ridge, deflect tropical cyclones around their periphery and cause a temperature inversion inhibiting free convection near their center, building up surface-based haze under their base. Anticyclones aloft can form within warm core lows, such as tropical cyclones, due to descending cool air from the backside of upper troughs, such as polar highs, or from large scale sinking, such as the subtropical ridge.

Read more about Anticyclones:  History, Structure, Importance To Global Monsoon Regimes, Depiction On Weather Maps, Extraterrestrial Versions