The middle latitudes are regions of great atmospheric variability and a zone of major eddies in the atmosphere, with the climate dominated by a succession of cyclones and anticyclones normally moving from west to east. The fall of temperature toward the poles occurs, not in a uniform manner, but with the strong thermal gradients concentrated in narrow frontal zones. The equatorward limit of middle latitude climates is often taken as the surface subtropical high pressure belt. The poleward limit is more diffuse and variable, although it is often marked by the subpolar lows. The latitudinal extent of the climatic zone will vary from month to month and year to year, depending on changes in the position of the bordering centers of action, but most frequently it occupies the zone between 35° and 56°N and S.
The climate is dominated by the zonal westerlies that blow at the surface and in the upper air and provide a unifying theme to midlatitude climates (Hare, 1960). As the overall...
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Perry, A. (1987). Middle latitude climates . In: Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_116
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_116
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