A review of extratropical cyclones: observations and conceptual models over the past 100 years

This article reviews synoptic extratropical cyclone research starting from the skilfully constructed conceptual diagrams of the Bergen school in the 1920s. Careful analysis of multiple surface observations allowed Norwegian scientists to deduce the existence of cold and warm fronts and to characterise a complete cyclone lifecycle. Since then, new observing systems and advances in computational capabilities have enabled scientific research which has greatly expanded and enriched our knowledge of extratropical cyclone structure and evolution.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Weather

• Publication date

  2020-01-01

• Fields of study

  Geology, Physics, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1002/wea.3653
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Extratropical Cyclones: A Century of Research on Meteorology’s Centerpiece

  2019cited by this paper
• How Do Atmospheric Rivers Form

  2015cited by this paper
• On the Structure of Moving Cyclones

  2009influential reference
• Fronts, Jet Streams and the Tropopause

  1990cited by this paper
• Erik Palmen’s Contributions To The Development Of Cyclone Concepts

  1990cited by this paper
• Synoptic-Dynamic Climatology of the “Bomb”

  1980cited by this paper
• RADAR MEASUREMENTS OF AIR MOTION NEAR FRONTS

  1971influential reference
• ON THE THEORY OF CYCLONES

  1944cited by this paper

• Western disturbances and climate variability: a review of recent developments

  2025cites this paper
• Are AI weather models learning atmospheric physics? A sensitivity analysis of cyclone Xynthia

  2025cites this paper
• Assessing flood risks in the Taquari-Antas Basin (Southeast Brazil) during the September 2023 extreme rainfall surge

  2024cites this paper
• The origins of Storm Ciarán: From diabatic Rossby wave to warm‐seclusion cyclone with a sting jet

  2024cites this paper
• Assessing target areas for precipitating moisture source analysis of extratropical cyclones: An analysis based on case studies

  2024cites this paper
• Review article: A European perspective on wind and storm damage – from the meteorological background to index-based approaches to assess impacts

  2023cites this paper
• Multimodal Information Fusion for Weather Systems and Clouds Identification From Satellite Images

  2022cites this paper
• The composite development and structure of intense synoptic-scale Arctic cyclones

  2022cites this paper
• TempestExtremes v2.1: a community framework for feature detection, tracking, and analysis in large datasets

  2021cites this paper
• LSCIDMR: Large-Scale Satellite Cloud Image Database for Meteorological Research

  2021cites this paper
• The Influence of Antecedent Atmospheric River Conditions on Extratropical Cyclogenesis

  2021cites this paper
• TempestExtremes v2.1: A Community Framework for Feature Detection, Tracking and Analysis in Large Datasets

  2021cites this paper
• Serial clustering of extratropical cyclones: a review of where, when and why it occurs

  2020cites this paper