Glossary · Weather & oceans
Roaring Forties
Also called: Quarantièmes rugissants, 40e rugissants, cinquantièmes hurlants, Furious Fifties, Screaming Sixties, Grand Sud, mers du Sud, Southern Ocean, océan Austral
Southern latitudes between 40° and 50° South, swept by strong westerlies; further south, the Furious Fifties.
Around Antarctica, no land stops the wind: depressions follow one another from west to east and raise huge swells. Sailors speak of the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties and the Screaming Sixties. It is the “Deep South” of round-the-world races, sailed within the limits of the ice exclusion zones.