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Cyclolysis

Dissipation of a cyclone

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Through Jet stream, Atlantic Ocean and Europe

Extratropical cyclones

Extratropical cyclones usually undergo cyclolysis after an occluded front forms, which separates the center of the cyclone from the warm air. With the center of the cyclone surrounded by cool air, the temperature difference or baroclinity begins to decline, and the jet stream persisting over the strongest areas of baroclinity which is not over the center of the cyclone, which makes it so that the jet stream is unable to support the system. This usually causes decay and dissipation of the cyclone. When an extratropical cyclone has completed cyclolysis, it usually is not connected to any weather fronts. Extratropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere tend to undergo cyclolysis over the northeast Atlantic Ocean, northwestern Europe, the Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, northeast Canada, central Russia, or the eastern Mediterranean sea. In the southern hemisphere, most extratropical cyclones undergo cyclolysis north of 50°S.

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