Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones, are a group of cyclones that occur in the middle latitudes of the Earth, and which have neither tropical nor polar characteristics. They are connected with fronts and feature changes in temperature and dew point horizontally, otherwise known as "baroclinic zones". Extratropical cyclones are the everyday phenomena which, along with anticyclones, drive much of the weather on Earth, producing anything from cloudiness and mild showers to heavy gales and thunderstorms. The image on right is a picture taken by a weather satellite in infrared of the 1993 North American Storm Complex, an extremely strong extratropical cyclone known to many in North America as the "Storm of the Century".

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