Ann Stephen Fisher, age 12., of Charleston, Virginia

Where do the trade winds blow?

Find North America on your  atlas. Move your fingers down the east coast to Jacksonville, Florida. This is at Latitude 30 degrees North of the equator. Here the trade winds start to blow. They blow from the northeast direction towards the equator, Follow the 30th parallel right across our continent. The trade winds blow south of this line. Driving from Houston to San Antonio they provide you with a tail wind.

Other trade winds blow towards the equator from the southern hemisphere. They begin at Latitude 30 degrees South of the equator and blow in a southeasterly direction. This means that there are two belts of trade winds, one north and one south of the equator.

The trades blow day and night around the wide waist of the world, We call them prevailing winds because they are the most usual winds to be blowing in those latitudes, Most of America is north of the trade wind belt, Most of us live in latitudes where the prevailing winds are the westerlies.