A cyclone is a large-scale low pressure system characterized by a cyclonic circulation (counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern) about a definite center where pressure is lowest. Air spirals toward the center of a cyclone, rises, and then diverges at upper levels.hus, a cyclone rotate … s clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. In meteorology the term cyclone is reserved for circulation systems with horizontal dimensions of hundreds (tropical cyclones) or thousands (extratropical cyclones) of kilometers.