Cyclone Chapala a Rare Threat for Arabian Sea

Cyclone Chapala is a rare Category 4 hurricane (they call them "Cyclones" in the Indian Ocean) heading through the Arabian Sea, bound for Yemen and Oman. Tropical cyclones are rare over there, even more so ones as strong as Chapala.

As a result, I saw hashtag #chapala trending on Twitter via TrendsMap.com this morning which I believe is the first time I've ever seen a weather-related English word trending in the Middle East. In fact, if you translated the trends for the city of Muscat, Oman, they were almost all about the storm!

According to NOAA's database, only two major hurricanes have ever been tracked through the Arabian Sea -- Gonu in 2007 and Phet in 2010. Gonu reached Category 5 strength and brushed northern Oman as a hurricane before weakening and becoming Iran's first tropical landfall since 1898 (WikiPedia). Phet made landfall in northern Oman as a Category 1 storm (WikiPedia). If you widen the search, no storm on record has ever made landfall in Yemen as a hurricane, according to NOAA's database.

Currently, our track has it moving into Yemen as a Category 2 storm, breaking the historical trend (please see our story for updated tracks). It is likely to weaken considerably and quickly when it hits the desert air.