Winds and Currents

The Tokelau Islands are cooled by the southeasterly trades for more than half the year and are consequently comfortable for living in spite of their nearness to the equator. Because of the prevailing wind direction, the villages are built on the eastern shore of western islets of the atolls. The change in winds divides the year into two seasons, the winter months of the southeasterly trade winds and the summer months of variable northerly winds and calms, when the sun becomes blistering hot.

The ocean currents about these islands change with the seasonal winds. During the trade wind season, the set of the current is from east to west, with a drift ranging from 0–20 miles per hour. In the middle of summer the current changes, descends from the north, and runs parallel to the general northwest-southeast line of the islands. It turns east below Fakaofu and finally sets to the east and northeast (33).