horse latitudes
Subtropical high-pressure belts
Horse latitudes are subtropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean around 30 degrees north and south latitude, characterized by calm winds, high pressure, and sparse rainfall.
Sailing ships could become becalmed here for weeks.
The name may come from Spanish ships throwing horses overboard to conserve water during such delays.
We drifted for days in the horse latitudes.
High-pressure weather systems
- trade windsReliable equatorial air currents
- calmsReduces agitation
- subtropicsWarm latitudes below tropics
- doldrumsState of inactivity
subsidence · barometric pressure · evaporation · aridity · clear skies · weather patterns · climate zones
Left motionless by windlessness
- sailing shipsWind-driven watercraft with masts
- seafaringTraveling by ocean vessel
- dead calmComplete absence of wind
- provisionsStockpiled food and supplies
rationing · trade routes · water scarcity · mariners · square-riggers
Absence of flow or progress
- impasseSituation without resolution
- doldrumsState of inactivity
- standstillTotal cessation of movement
- stuckUnable to move
inertia · plateau · limbo · holding pattern · going nowhere · waiting period
anticyclones
High-pressure weather systems
- trade windsReliable equatorial air currents
- calmsReduces agitation
- subtropicsWarm latitudes below tropics
doldrums · subsidence · barometric pressure · evaporation · aridity · clear skies · weather patterns · climate zones
becalmed
Left motionless by windlessness
- sailing shipsWind-driven watercraft with masts
- seafaringTraveling by ocean vessel
- dead calmComplete absence of wind
provisions · rationing · trade routes · water scarcity · mariners · square-riggers
stagnation
Absence of flow or progress
- impasseSituation without resolution
- doldrumsState of inactivity
- standstillTotal cessation of movement
stuck · inertia · plateau · limbo · holding pattern · going nowhere · waiting period
historical mystery
Crime novel set long ago
- windswind, breeze, gust, gusts, gale
- Latitudesequator, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, North Pole, South Pole
- wind systemstrade winds, westerlies, jet stream, easterlies, wind patterns
- atmosphereair, humidity, atmosphere, temperature, oxygen
- climatestropical, subtropical, temperate forest, equatorial, continental
- earth zonesarctic zone, temperate zone, tropical zone, climate zone, cold zone
horse latitudestrade winds
Reliable equatorial air currents
roaring forties · westerlies · prevailing winds · monsoon · gale
horse, horses, horseshoe, horseback, horseplay, horseman, horsey, horsing, dark horse