Middle latitudes Middle latitudes The middle latitudes (also called the mid-latitudes, sometimes midlatitudes, or moderate latitudes) of Earth lie between 23°26'22" and 66°33'39" north, and between 23°26'22" and 66°33'39" south. They include Earth's subtropical and temperate zones, which lie between the tropics and the polar circles (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle, and between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle). Weather fronts and extratropical cyclones are usually found in this area, as well as occasional tropical cyclones, which have traveled from their areas of formation closer to the Equator. The prevailing winds in the middle latitudes are
Thermal equator of maximum temperatures surrounding the globe which migrates roughly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This region is known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone where the Earth orbits the Sun. This zone is the result of trade winds from the northern and southern part of the hemisphere eventually joining together. Still another definition states that the thermal equator is the latitude at which insolation is identical throughout the year. This is not the same as the astronomical equator because the Earth reaches perihelion (the minimum distance from the Sun in its orbit) in early January and