| ABSTRACT | The traditional classification of cyclones treats tropical and extra-tropical storms as distinct phenomena. Such paradigm has been challenged by the discovery on the one hand of cyclone transitioning between the two classes, and on the other hand of systems sharing features of both classes for most of their lifetime (hybrid cyclones). A new paradigm has been suggested, where the dynamical structure of cyclones spans a continuous spectrum, with purely barotropic and purely baroclinic storms representing the two extremes of such spectrum. The Mediterranean Sea is one example of basin where tropical-like and extra-tropical cyclogenesis is known to co-exist. It is also known that cyclones sharing features of the two classes occur. However, this “grey area†has been seldom explored in the literature. Here, we analyze several recent cases of intense Mediterranean cyclones with respect to their dynamical structure, and argue that an extended classification scheme would provide a suitable framework for a better understanding of Mediterranean cyclogenesis. |