Chivela Pass

Chivela Pass
Elevation	224 m (735 ft) [1]
Traversed by	Mexican Federal Highway 185 Ferrocarril Transistmico
Location
Location	Istmo de Tehuantepec, Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
Range	Sierra Madre de Oaxaca
Coordinates	16°43′26″N 94°59′49″W / 16.724°N 94.997°W / 16.724; -94.997Coordinates: 16°43′26″N 94°59′49″W / 16.724°N 94.997°W / 16.724; -94.997

The Chivela Pass is a narrow mountain pass in the Sierra Madre Mountains that funnels cooler drier air from the North American continent, through southern Mexico, into the Pacific. These northeasterly winds, specifically the Tehuano wind, which periodically blows across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, have important climatic effects, influencing the formation of hurricanes and typhoons, as well as contributing to worldwide climatological events, such as El Nino.^[2]

In extreme circumstances during the winter, truly cold, dense, air occasionally flows from the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico through the Chivela Pass in the Sierra Madres, into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific side. These winds can be strong enough to sandblast paint off ships at sea.^[3]

Notes

1. ^  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Tehuantepec". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 507. http://books.google.com/books?id=uDQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA507&lpg=PA507&dq=chivela+pass&source=bl&ots=NaDAQWatx6&sig=GvPHgrY30qi1yCNSAmfIyt8-TH0&hl=en&ei=212PTeijMoShtweJ_-GcDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=chivela%20pass&f=false. 
2. ^ "Non-Inertial Flow in NSCAT Observations of Tehuantepec Winds". http://coaps.fsu.edu/~bourassa/pubs/tpec_HW/tpec_HW.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-15. 
3. ^ "Moving Vectors for Gap Flow Through Mexico's Chivela Pass". http://coaps.fsu.edu/~bourassa/scat_html/demo_anim.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-15. 

External links

• The Gulf of Tehuantepec Hurricane Force Wind Event of 30-31 March 2003
• The Structure and Evolution of Gap Outflow over the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico