Equatorial winds gripping island in storms (7)
I believe the answer is:
tirades
'storms' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'equatorial winds gripping island' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'island' could be 'i' (geographical abbreviation) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'winds' could be 'trades' (trade is a kind of wind) and 'trades' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tirades that I've seen before include "stormy blasts" , "Astride (anag) - diatribes" , "Invective" , "It dares to unleash long angry speeches" , "Astride with streams of abuse" .)