The Day The ITCZ Exploded
17 December 2014 | 10 30'N:115 0'W,
Richard
The ITCZ is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, also known as the Doldrums. The ITCZ is an area between the NE and SE tradewinds; warm, humid, with fitful winds interspersed with strong squalls, heavy rain and owering cumulus clouds.
It is usually a lot of work to sail thru the ITCZ, as it requires frequent sail changes, and while it gets totally calm, nothing lasts for long, so if one drops the sails and starts the motor, it likely won't be for long before more wind arrives. So I pay attention to where the ITCZ is (it is shown on weatherfax forecasts, a portion of which is the image above), and try to get thru it quickly.
Normally seen as a somewhat wandering double line (with slashes between the lines) across the weatherfax forecasts, suddenly the ITCZ broke apart just ahead of us. I've not seen that before, so wasn't sure what to make of it. Judging from the conditions we've seen so far (we're now well into the broken area, south of the
position indicated in the post), it seems like we are alternating between ITCZ-conditions and the NE tradewinds).