The diversity of mechanisms that can affect the wind jets along the Pacific coast of Central America is illustrated from detailed descriptions of three major events.

December 17-24, 1996 : Surges of Tehuantepec, Papagayo and Panama wind jets evolved sequentially from north to south in accord with the conventional view.

November 9-17, 1996 : Cross-equatorial flow and southwesterly onshore winds in the eastern tropical Pacific reversed the flow in the Papagayo and Panama jets and altered the normally anticyclonic turning of the Tehuantepec jet axis.

March 4-13, 1997 : Caribbean tradewinds generated strong offshore flow over the eastern Pacific in the Papagayo and Panama jets, with no apparent effect on the Tehuantepec jet.