The first part of this word is a prefix, put there to alter the meaning of the main word. The main word, of course, is cyclone. The prefix anti can mean against, opposite or instead, It can also mean counter, moving in opposite direction which is what it means in the word anticyclone.
An anticyclone turns in the opposite direction from a cyclone and a cyclone, of course, is a sizeable weather event. It is a circular system of moving air with winds cycling around in a spiral directinn. In everyday language a tornado is often called a cyclone and in dome parts of the world a hurricane is called a cyclone.
In meteorology, the term cyclone means a large low pressure system and the term tropical cyclone is used for the howling hurricane. center of a low pressure system is a cell of low atmospheric pressure where the air is lighter and less dense than the air around it. The denser surrounding air tends to flow into the low pressure pocket, carried by winds towards the center. The rotation of the earth gives a twist to the inflowing air which makes the winds of a cyclone cycle in Spirals towards the low pressure cell.
In the northern hemisphere, the winds of a cyclone spiral in the opposite direction from the hands of a clock. South of the equator, cyclone winds blow in a clockwise direction . Anticyclone winds reverse these directions. North of the equator, they cycle around in a clockwise direction and south of the equator their direction is counterclockwise. Anticyclone winds are opposite from cyclone winds in another direction. They spiral out from the center of a circular wind system.
The heart of an anticyclone is an area of high pressure where the air is denser, heavier and usually cooler that the surrounding air. This cell of high atmospheric pressure tends to flow outward in all directions, carried by breezes to mingle i4ith the surrounding lighter air masses. The spinning of the earth gives a twist to these breezes and they too cycle around in a spiral direction. An anticyclone may be wide enough to cover most of North America and the weather it brings is generally fair. We get clear skies, gentle winds and ;steady temperatures for several days, a week or maybe two weeks.
A cyclone, alias a high pressure system,brings clouds and stormy weather. Our weather system moves from west to east, carried by the prevailing westerly winds. As a rule, the lows and the highs alternate and our weather story is a series of cyclones and anticyclones wafted one behind another from the western mountains to the Atlantic.