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Tehuano gap wind event

By Scott Bachmeier •

10-minute True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-19 (right) [click to play MP4 animation]

As a strong arctic cold front moved southward across the Gulf of Mexico toward southern Mexico on 12 March 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-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images (above) showed the hazy plume of dust that was being transported offshore by the Tehuano flow.

A GCOM-W1 AMSR2 wind speed image (below) displayed the leading edge of the Tehuano winds (shades of green) as they began flowing southward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

GCOM-W1 AMSR2 wind speed image at 1934 UTC on 12 March

Categories: Air quality, GCOM-W1, GOES-18, GOES-19