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Tehuano gap wind event

By Scott Bachmeier •

10-minute GOES-19 Near-Infrared images with plots of Metop-C ASCAT winds, surface fronts and METAR surface reports, from 1240-2300 UTC on 26 January [click to play MP4 animation]

As a strong arctic cold front moved southward across the Gulf of Mexico toward southern Mexico on 25-26 January 2026, the cold front fractured as it moved inland across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec — the cold air was then channeled southward through Chivela Pass and emerged as a Tehuano (or “Tehuantepecer“) gap wind that eventually fanned outward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec and adjacent Pacific Ocean. 10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-19 (GOES-East) Near-Infrared images (above) showed the hazy plume of dust that was being transported offshore — along with a narrow arc cloud that marked the southern and eastern edges of this Tehuano flow.

A topography image ((below) also showed Metop-B ASCAT winds emerging from the southern coast of Mexico, after the gap winds had accelerated through Chivela Pass; wind speeds were as high as 37 kts. The Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch had issued a polygon where Storm Force winds were likely over the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

Topography image, with Metop-B ASCAT wind barbs (having speeds of 34-47 kts) valid at 1557 UTC plotted in cyan [click to enlarge]

A toggle between Metop-B ASCAT and OSCAT-3 surface scatterometer images (below) depicted the pulse of Tehuano winds off the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Metop-B ASCAT winds at 1557 UTC and OSCAT-3 winds at 1849 UTC on 26 January

In a side-by-side comparison of Nighttime Microphysics RGB and daytime True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-19 (GOES-East) sourced from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below), a large pulse of airborne dust was seen emerging from Mexico’s Pacific coast and spreading south-southwest across the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

10-minute Nighttime Microphysics RGB and daytime True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-19 (right), from 0700-2300 UTC on 26 January [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: GOES-18, GOES-19, Metop, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Satellite winds