How do you read latitude?

All parallels north of the equator are called north latitudes and all parallels south of the equator are called south latitudes. The value of each latitude is followed by either the word north or south. Generally, this is indicated by the letter ‘N’ or ‘S’. For example, both Chandrapur in Maharashtra (India) and Belo Horizonte in Brazil (South America) are located on parallels of about 20° latitude. But the former is 20° north of the equator and the latter is 20° south of it. We, therefore, say that Chandrapur is situated at 20° N latitude and Belo Horizonte is situated at 20° S latitude

Further Reading:

• GLOBE: LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES
• Geography Notes