The middle latitudes (mid-latitudes, sometimes midlatitudes) are between 23°26'22" North and 66°33'39" North, and between 23°26'22" South and 66°33'39" South latitude, or, the Earth's temperate zones between the tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. 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 often very strong. These parts of the world also see a wide variety of fast-changing weather as cold air masses from the poles and warm air masses from the tropics push up and down over them, sometimes alternating within hours of each other, especially in the roaring forties (between 40 and 50 degrees latitude in both hemispheres).
Famous quotes containing the words middle and/or latitudes:
“Unfortunately, life may sometimes seem unfair to middle children, some of whom feel like an afterthought to a brilliant older sibling and unable to captivate the family’s attention like the darling baby. Yet the middle position offers great training for the real world of lowered expectations, negotiation, and compromise. Middle children who often must break the mold set by an older sibling may thereby learn to challenge family values and seek their own identity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“Ah, the truth, what a thing it is! I sacrifice so much for it, with people: I forego, for truth’s sake, discretion, loyalty, diplomacy, tact, polite manners, elegance, grace, poise, balance, good taste, conformity, image-role, fashionableness, polish, confidences, promises, ambition, consistency, identity, clarity, comprehensibleness, good will, hypocrisy, and lots of other things—amass sacrifice, at truth’s altar. God! is truth worth it? I hope it is. It better be, in fact.”
—Marvin Cohen, U.S. author and humorist. Fables at Life’s Expense, “Where Does Truth Lie,” Latitudes Press (1975)