The equator is an imaginary circle around the earth, an equal distance from the North and South Poles.
Since the weather gets warmer as you travel away from the polar regions toward the equator, you would think that the equator is the hottest place on earth. But there are some places on the equator where the weather is quite cool!
The city of Singapore in the Far East, which is very close to the equator, has a hot, humid climate, with year-round temperatures well up in the 80s. But Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya in Africa, is even closer to the equator than Singapore, and yet has an average temperature in the 60s. And Quito, the capital of Ecuador in South America, sits almost directly on the equator, yet has a mild, springlike climate, with temperatures as low as 25 degrees!
How can this be? Altitude has as much to do with a city’s weather as its location. Nairobi is over 5,000 feet above sea level. And Quito, which is in the Andes Mountains, is over 9,200 feet above sea level. That’s why this equatorial city has a cooler climate than many American cities.
There are no seasons on the equator. Temperatures remain just about the same throughout the year!
