This term was introduced by R. S. Scorer (1952) for the surface winds blowing through the Strait of Gibraltar. When air stratification is stable, as it usually is in summer, the air tends to flow through the gap from high to low pressure, emerging as a "jet" with large standing eddies in the lee of the gap. The excess of pressure on the upwind side is attributed to a pool of cold air held up by the mountains. Similar winds occur at other gaps in mountain ranges, such as the tehuantepecer and the jochwinde, and in long channels, such as the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the Olympic Mountains of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Compare jet-effect wind, canyon wind, mountain wind
Scorer, R. S. 1952. Mountain-gap winds: A study of surface wind at Gilbraltar. Quart. J. R. Meteor. Soc.. 78. 53–61.
A local wind blowing through a gap between mountains, a gap wind.
