low-pressure system

The common way of referring to a mid-latitude low-pressure area, which in technical language is an extratropical depression or cyclone. Low-pressure systems are associated with abundant cloudiness, precipitation, and strong winds. The air rotates around its center counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the south. The term is also used as a synonym for gale, tempest, or storm. It is common to associate it with "bad weather," as opposed to the anticyclone, which is identified with "good" weather, although it is not advisable to use those labels; they frequently misrepresent the meteorological reality (for example, during a drought, "good weather" comes hand in hand with the low-pressure systems that bring rain). The word comes from the Latin term borras, which in turn has its etymological origin in Boreas, the wind-god of the north in Ancient Greece.