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Tehuano gap wind event

By Scott Bachmeier •

10-minute GOES-19 Near-Infrared (0.87 µm) images, from 1300-2330 UTC on 05 February [click to play MP4 animation]

As a strong arctic cold front moved southward across the Gulf of Mexico toward southern Mexico on 04-05 February 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 edges of this Tehuano flow.

The pulse of Tehuano winds emerging southward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the adjacent Pacific Ocean was seen in ASCAT winds (source) from Metop-B and Metop-C (below).

ASCAT winds from Metop-B and Metop-C

The highest Metop-B wind speed was 40 kts (below).

GOES-19 Near-Infrared (0.87 µm) image at 1550 UTC on 05 February, with a cursor sample of Metop-B wind speed at 1551 UTC [click to enlarge]

At the leading (southern) edge of the Tehuano flow, a ship reported NE winds gusting to 35 kts at 1800 UTC (below).

GOES-19 Near-Infrared (0.87 µm) image at 1800 UTC on 05 February, showing a ship report with NE winds gusting to 35 kts [click to enlarge]

The broad plume of dust lofted by Tehuano winds was apparent in True Color RGB images (source) from both GOES-18 and GOES-19 (below).

10-minute True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (GOES-West, left) and GOES-19 (GOES-East, right), from 1330-2330 UTC on 05 February [click to play MP4 animation]

A relatively narrow smoke plume was seen near the middle of the broad dust plume — and a closer look using 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 GeoColor RGB images with Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (below) showed the larger/hotter wildfire that was responsible for producing this smoke plume.

5-minute GOES-19 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons, from 1801-2331 UTC on 05 February [click to play MP4 animation]

Just south of the Pacific coast of Mexico, wind-driven significant wave height values derived from SWOT were as high as 9.55 ft at 2321 UTC (below).

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Altimeter significant wave height values from SWOT at 2321 UTC on 05 February

Categories: Altimetry, Fire detection, GOES-18, GOES-19, Marine weather, Metop, NGFS, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Satellite winds