What is a tehuantepecer?

What in the world? Don't worry, and get your mind out of the gutter! I thought I would enlighten you on some of the weather we have been experiencing.

The Tehuantepecer is a violent, squally northerly or northeasterly mountain-gap wind in the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico. This wind is due to areas of high pressure areas over the Great Plains of North America, extending southward over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea during winter.

Ten to twelve times each winter this produces strong cold winds through three gaps in the Central American cordillera: at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Nicaraguan lowlands (Papagayo) and Panama. Wind speeds can be as large as 50 knots (57 mph), and the events typically last for 5-7 days. Probably the most climatologically important aspect of this phenomenon is the rapid cooling of the sea surface waters and the gusty eddies that can be felt up to 160 km (100 mi) offshore.

You can read more about this weather phenomenon from this website.

Tomorrow marks our 16th and final ALVIN dive. Shortly after we recover the ALVIN at 5:00 PM, we will depart for Manzanillo, Mexico. It will take about 2 days transit.

See you on Easter Sunday!