An upright vacuum cleaner includes a housing having a suction airstream inlet and a suction airstream outlet. A dirt container is selectively mounted to the housing for receiving and retaining dirt and dust separated from the suction airstream and includes a first cyclonic air-flow chamber and a second cyclonic airflow chamber. The chambers are spaced apart and are each approximately vertically oriented and arranged in a parallel relationship. An air manifold is disposed at a top portion of the dirt container. The air manifold includes an inlet section through which dirty air passes and an outlet section. The inlet section directs a flow of dirty air into two separate inlet conduits leading to a respective one of the first and second airflow chambers. The outlet section collects a flow of cleaned air from both of the chambers and merges the flow of cleaned air into a single outlet conduit.