Low pressure area

An example of a low-pressure system off the southwestern coast of Iceland on September 4, 2003.

A low pressure area, or low for short, is a word used in meteorology (the study of weather) that means a place where the atmospheric pressure is lowest compared to the surrounding area. Coriolis effect causes winds to blow counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in southern hemisphere. This makes storms like tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones, subtropical cyclones, and subpolar cyclones. They are called "low-pressure cells" in some English-speaking countries.