Michael Whitley! age 9s of Nashville$ Tenn

What are trade winds?

The wind blows trade is an old sailor’s expression. It means that the wind blows steadily. From the same direction. There are places on the. earth where the wind always blows steadily from the same direction. These winds are the trade winds. They blow clear around the world in two wide belt. The . trade: wind belts; are just north and just south of the equator. They blow in an easterly direction around and around the widest part. of the world: Trade winds blow their best over the oceans. They are warms gentle winds of from 10 to 15 miles an hour. In some places they blow day and nights winter and summer. They bring warms gentle weather to ..the; West Indies: and to the sunny state of Florida.  _ _.

Over lands the trade winds tend to be less constant. Solid objects towns and mountains get in their way. But you can feel them blowing steadily across. the flat regions of southern Florida. If you drive from the east to the west coastline of Florida. the trade winds will help you on your way.

The trade winds north and south$ set out to blow towards the equator. But north of the equator. they blow from the northeast. South of the equator they blow from the southeast. This is because the earth is widest at the equator. It is also spinning around towards the east. The wide bulge in the middle deflects or twists  the trade winds; towards the east. Instead of blowing due south and due north. the winds: blow towards the equator from the northeast and from. the southeast.

You may well wonder what happens to all that wind when it meets at the equator. It blows into a narrow strip of calm air called: the doldrums. This is the hot region of the equators.  Here, the warm air I always rising.The narrow doldrums bolt moves slightly north and south with the changing seasons= But it always. creates a region of light warm air. And thin region of low pressure is what pulls the traces winds towards the equator. 

Now we may wonder that happens to all that warm rising air above the doldrums. This air cools. itself as it expands and rises. Ten miles above; the ground it is cool and rises no more. It turns around and blows away. direction from the equator. It forms an upstairs and blowing in the opposite/from the trade winds below it. We call it. the antitrade wind.

At latitude 30 degrees north of the equator.; just south of Jacksonville the antitrade curls down and starts towards the equator again it becomes  the trade wind. The same thing happen/at. paralell 30 south of the equator.  Meanwhile. warm air is still rising in the region of the doldrums.. It is an area of light. air.  The cooler heavier air north and south of the equator is pulled into this area of light air. And so the trade winds blow around and around the world from the northeast and southeast towards the equator. Then up they go back in the opposite direction as the antitrades, down and around again.