Cyclone Gati, 1st recorded hurricane to hit Somalia

The first hurricane to hit Somalia brought 2 years worth of rain in one day.

Last weekend, Cyclone Gati became the strongest tropical cyclone on record off the coast of Somalia, and the first hurricane to make landfall there (records for the Arabian Sea go back to the "satellite era," around 1970).

Tropical Cyclones near Somalia (lines) vs. Cyclone Megh (circles)

NOAA

The only other hurricane to approach Somalia was Cyclone Megh, which skimmed the top of the nation in 2015 as a Category 1 hurricane.

According to NASA GPM, as much as 7 inches of rain (170 mm) fell in parts of northeast Somalia in 24 hours -- an area that typically receives less than 4 inches of rain per year.

That, presumably, caused immense flooding, but weather data from Somalia is generally unavailable, with only one weather station; little news or Social Media travels outside of the country. (Unrelated, flooding was ongoing in other parts of Somalia before Gati).

The storm's unusual track started Friday night, when two potential tropical cyclones started rotating around each other (called the Fujiwhara effect) in the Arabian sea:

Sunday, Cyclone Gati was declared and the two convective cloud masses merged, then Gati strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane equivalent, the strongest tropical cyclone on record at that latitude, with a clearly defined eye.

Cyclone Gati (Visible satellite)

NASA

The storm's quick intensification was way outside of historical bounds for cyclones in the Arabian Sea.