Origins

• Trade winds are persistent, near-surface winds that move over ocean waters in tropical areas. They are the result of somewhat permanent high-pressure zones over tropical and subtropical oceans. Occasionally, a passing cyclone or a sinking cold front from northern latitudes interrupts these winds. These are global winds blowing consistently toward the equator from the northeast or the southeast. The places where they merge are very calm and form the Doldrums. Sailors on the ocean for commercial reasons (trade) depended on these winds to help them move along quickly. Thus, they became "trade winds" to ships and their sailors.
  
  

Easterly Winds

• Wind currents change in cycles with the water and air playing a large part in the climate changes that they influence. Weak easterly trade winds are not capable of churning the ocean to bring the cold water to the top. They also do not help propel anything forward, making them unfriendly to ocean traffic. Surface waters containing nutrients stay warm, which may potentially affect ocean life. This allows rain to build up and drench the southern and eastern United States with strong wet weather. These tropical easterly winds blow to the immediate north and south of the equator driving weather in those regions toward the west.
  
  

Extreme Weather

• The easterly pattern of weather explains why a hurricane near the coast of Africa gets a push across the Atlantic Ocean. When the hurricane reaches the western Atlantic, the strong pull of the Coriolis effect pushes the storm into the Caribbean area or up the coast of eastern United States. The eastern Atlantic and eastern Pacific areas remain dry as rainfall occurs over the warmer surface waters, especially in ocean waters around South America.
  
  

Tracking the Patterns

• Changing weather events occur in cycles. Weather professionals, including meteorologists, are able to track the cycles and predict various weather patterns and the region where impact will be greatest. Water temperature measurements along with the strength of the trade winds are pattern creators. Air and water work together to create wind.
  
  Various theories still abound regarding the causes of the El Nino. One such theory involves thunderstorm activity along an easterly moving front line as a source of the process preventing cooler water from coming to the ocean surface. Changes in air circulation especially in churning storms (thunderstorms / tornadoes / cyclones) usually affect large atmospheric areas.