Prepared by: Bruce Buckley (Weather Australia)

Weather situation
The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is currently centred along the latitude band from the equator to 2S. It is relatively subdued at the moment. However the thunderstorm activity is expected to increase markedly on Saturday as trade wind surges from both hemispheres meet. This means the region affected by heavy rain and thunderstorms is likely to expand both northwards and southwards

This leg of the World ARC would have to be across the most benign of the tropical oceans. Apart from Tropical Cyclone Catarina that occurred in March 2004, there have been no recorded tropical cyclones over these waters. The dominant feature is expected to be the ESE trade winds which historically average near 15 knots in the St Helena region but ease back closer to 10 knots and turn more easterly near Salvador. The lighter winds of the doldrums remain further north and the most active low pressure systems are usually centred far enough to the south not to be of direct concern.