A cold-core low, also known as an upper level low or cold-core cyclone, is a cyclone aloft which has an associated cold pool of air residing at high altitude within the Earth's troposphere, without a frontal structure. It is a low pressure system that strengthens with height in accordance with the thermal wind relationship. If a weak surface circulation forms in response to such a feature at subtropical latitudes of the eastern north Pacific or north Indian oceans, it is called a subtropical cyclone. Cloud cover and rainfall mainly occurs with these systems during the day.
Severe weather, such as tornadoes, can occur near the center of cold-core lows. Cold lows can help spawn cyclones with significant weather impacts, such as polar lows, and Kármán vortices. Cold lows can lead directly to the development of tropical cyclones, owing to their associated cold pool of air aloft or by acting as additional outflow channels to aid in further development.
Characteristics
Cold cyclones are stronger aloft than at the Earth's surface, or stronger in areas of the troposphere with lower pressures, per the thermal wind relationship and the hypsometric equation. The hypsometric equation dictates that colder atmospheres have less room between pressure surfaces, which corresponds to the concept of lower atmospheric thickness, and the thermal wind relation indicates that in this situation, the wind increases with height. It also means that an isolated pool of cold air aloft is associated with the feature. Because of its cold center, the center shows an area of thickness minimum. Since the temperature at any given radius is similar and parallel to the orientation of the pressure gradient, and therefore the wind, it is barotropic in nature. The movement of cold-core cyclones can be erratic since they are separated from the main belt of the Westerlies, which would otherwise steer them progressively to the east.
Most cloud cover and precipitation in association with cold lows occurs during the daylight hours as sunlight warms the Earth's surface, destabilizing the atmosphere and causing upward vertical motion. The development of severe weather, particularly tornadoes, can occur near the center of these systems over land during any season of the year. During winter, when cold-core lows with temperatures in the mid-levels of the troposphere reach move over open waters, deep convection forms which allows polar low development to become possible.
Importance to cyclones within the subtropics and mid-latitudes
Kona lows, most extratropical cyclones, and tropical upper tropospheric cyclones are cold core lows. In the eastern half of the north Pacific ocean and north Indian ocean, the formation of a weak circulation underneath a mid to upper-tropospheric low which has cut off from the main belt of the westerlies during the cold season (winter) is called a subtropical cyclone. In the case of the north Indian ocean, the formation of this type of vortex leads to the onset of monsoon rains during the wet season.
East coast lows form near and east of where a cold core low interacts with a sea surface temperature (SST) gradient along the east coast of continents, such as Asia, North America, southern Africa, and Australia within a pre-existing area of high pressure. Those offshore the East Coast of the United States, which normally form in the months between October and April, are termed nor'easters. Not initially associated with weather fronts, they form in tandem with blocking anticyclones at higher latitudes, which leads to a slow poleward movement up the SST gradient. East coast lows can persist for up to a week. Some East coast lows develop rapidly, becoming meteorological bombs. There is a 4.5 year cycle in the formation of East coast lows near Australia, in years in transition between warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) ENSO years. These systems can develop strong wind, heavy rains, waves over in height, and eye features on weather satellite imagery. Upper-level lows are usually the cause of heavy rainfall and storms in southeastern Australia, particularly during La Niña years.
Importance to tropical cyclones
The summer tropical upper tropospheric trough in the Southern Hemisphere lies over the trade wind region of the east central Pacific and can cause tropical cyclogenesis offshore Central America. In the western Pacific, tropical upper tropospheric lows are the main cause for the few tropical cyclones which develop north of the 20th parallel north and east of the 160th meridian east during La Niña events.