Elevation 224 m | Range Sierra Madre de Oaxaca | |
Location Istmo de Tehuantepec, Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico Traversed by Mexican Federal Highway 185 | ||
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.
Map of Chivela Pass, Oaxaca, Mexico
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.