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Are cyclonic storms more common in the summer or in the winter?
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I would go ahead and say cyclonic storms are more common in the winter here in Utah. First of all let's review what a cyclone is. Cylconic storms are storms are storms that move counter clockwise in the Northern Hemipshere, so an area of low pressure is a cyclonic storm. Also, hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere are referred to as cyclones, but those rotate clockwise.
So a cyclone here in the US is an area of low pressure and anticyclone would be an area of high pressure.
We must remember what brings us areas of low pressure and that's the fast moving river of air high above our heads, the jet stream. The jet stream seasonally shifts based on the heating and cooling of the earth. In the winter it is shifted southward over the United States, in the summer it is shifted more to the north. Along this jet is where the active storm tracks are so in the winter, the active storms move along it and here over the great state of Utah.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
