List of Arabian Peninsula tropical cyclones

Satellite image of Cyclone Gonu approaching the coast of Oman

The Arabian Peninsula has experienced the impacts of 57 tropical cyclones on record. For convenience, storms are included that affected the Yemeni island of Socotra. Most of the storms formed in the Arabian Sea, which is the body of water in the Indian Ocean north of the equator west of India. The remainder originated in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast. Collectively, the 57 storms have caused at least US$5.7 billion in damage and 1,662 deaths.

Climatology

Within the Indian Ocean north of the equator, tropical cyclones are tracked by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), as part of their duties being the officially designated Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for the region.[1] The American-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also tracks storms in the basin on an unofficial basis.[2] The Arabian Sea, which borders the Arabian Peninsula, typically spawns tropical cyclones in the southeastern portion of the body of water, offshore western India.[3] About 48.5% of cyclones dissipate without making landfall, or moving ashore,[4] and around one in three storms move toward the Arabian Peninsula.[3] However, storms do not form in the western Arabian Sea due to cool sea surface temperatures,[5] the result of strong winds from the monsoon,[3] as well as dry air from the Arabian Peninsula.[6]

Country impacts

The sultanate of Oman, located on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, regularly receives the impacts of tropical cyclones, due to its long coastline along the Arabian Sea.[7] On average, storms strike Oman every three years, mostly between Masirah Island and Salalah, and generally before June or after October.[3][8] From 1943 to 1967, about 25% of Salalah's overall rainfall was from tropical cyclones.[9] About once every five years, a storm affects the Dhofar region of southern Oman, and about once every ten years in Oman's capital Muscat.[8] Between 1890 and 1996, 36 storms struck Oman, although some landfalling storms might be excluded from the historical record due to the lack of population centers.[3] In addition, storm intensities at landfall have only been accurate since around 1979,[7] and good record keeping began around 1970. In 2014, an archaeology team discovered evidence that a major flood affected Ras Al Hadd in eastern Oman, possibly the result of a tsunami or a storm.[10]

Oman's most damaging storm was Cyclone Gonu in 2007, which was the strongest storm in the Arabian Sea and the strongest to make landfall on the landmass.[11][12] Gonu left US$4 billion in damage and killed 50 people, making it the worst natural disaster on record in Oman.[13] In 2010, a slightly weaker storm named Cyclone Phet caused US$780 million in damage and 24 deaths while crossing eastern Oman.[14][15] Cyclonic Storm Keila in the subsequent year killed 19 people while looping near Oman's southern coastline,[16][17] leaving US$80 million in damage.[18] In 1890, a storm killed 757 people when it flooded much of Oman's capital Muscat.[19] A storm in 1959 caused a shipwreck near southern Oman, resulting in the loss of the crew of 141.[19] Another storm-related shipwreck killed 18 people in December 1998.[20] In June 1977, a storm struck Masirah Island, causing 105 deaths, and becoming Oman's worst natural disaster in the 20th century.[21][22] Other deadly storms include a storm in 2002 that killed nine and caused US$25 million in damage,[23][24] and Cyclone Nilofar in 2014 which killed four people from its outer rainbands.[25]

Although storms rarely strike Yemen,[6] back to back cyclones Chapala and Megh hit the country one week apart in November 2015.[26] The country has two recorded landfalls by severe cyclonic storms – tropical cyclones with winds of at least 89 km/h (55 mph). The first was a storm in May 1960, and the other was Cyclone Chapala in 2015, the latter being the second-strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea.[27] Chapala earlier struck the offshore Yemeni island of Socotra, which was also hit by Cyclone Megh less than a week later.[26] The two storms collectively killed 26 people in Yemen.[28] The country's worst natural disaster on record was from a storm that earlier hit Oman,[29] causing severe flooding that caused US$1.2 billion in damage and 338 deaths.[30][31] The second worst natural disaster in Yemen was from a weak depression in 2008 that killed 180 people and caused US$874.8 million in damage.[6][11][32]

List of storms

Pre–1900

1900–1949

1950–1979

Satellite image of the 1977 Oman cyclone

1980–1999

Satellite image of the 1996 Oman cyclone

2000–2009

Road damage in Muscat, Oman due to Cyclone Gonu

2010s

Cyclone Chapala over the Gulf of Aden

Climatological statistics

Number of recorded storms affecting the Arabian Peninsula
Month Number of storms
May
11
June
18
July
3
August
1
September
3
October
7
November
8
December
5
Number of recorded storms affecting the Arabian Peninsula
Period Number of storms
1800s
5
1900–49
10
1950s
4
1960s
5
1980s
2
1990s
6
2000–2009
5
2010s
9

References

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