Dear Kim’s class: the Doldrums are a more general term. The more specific term used in meteorology is the ITCZ, the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone. Its where the northern and southern hemisphere weather systems meet. We can get our weather maps from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that will define where that ITCZ is or where they think it is. Its very complicated to try to predict the weather anyway, and in a place like that, where there are a number of forces at work, between the hemispheres, its very difficult. We, in fact, had forecast for southeast trades coming up across the Equator and we in fact had northwest winds. So, its very complicated for them to try to make those predictions.
Question submitted by Kim W.’s class, Aurora NB, USA