Super Cyclone Gonu in the Arabian Sea
UPDATE 6/7/07: Gonu never came ashore, but is dissipating over water south of the Iranian coastline, according to the JTWC's final statement.
NASA posted a a color version of the high-resolution satellite image shown below. They have also posted a KMZ file that you can open in Google Earth. Beware, it will take a long time to display once loaded.
Here is an additional photo of Gonu's affect on the Oman coast:
In this citizen journalism photo acquired by the AP via NowPublic.com, a citizen journalism web site, a wave rolls behind one of the golden-domed gazebos along the Muttrah corniche, in Muscat province, Oman, at approximately 2:00pm local time (6:00am EDT) Wednesday, June 6, 2007. Oman evacuated tens of thousands of people Wednesday, suspended oil exports, and closed the major port of Sohar as a weakening Cyclone Gonu roared toward the Strait of Hormuz, the world's major transport artery for Persian Gulf oil. (AP Photo/Brinda Toprani)
UPDATE: Waves are already hitting the Oman coast:
Stronger than normal waves come ashore at Muscat, Oman, Tuesday June 5 2007. A cyclone expected to be the strongest storm ever recorded in the Arabian Peninsula churned toward the oil-rich Gulf on Tuesday, forcing thousands of residents of Oman's coastal towns to flee their homes. Its affect on the region's oil installations was unclear with the storm expected to skirt or lose strength before hitting the most important installations in the Persian Gulf off of Saudi Arabia and southern Iran. (AP Photo/Hamid Al-qasmi)
I forgot that I had published in an earlier blog entry a map of tropical storms worldwide; tracks approaching this area are shown below. It looks like neither Iran has never had an official "landfall."
Jim has an evening update (PREMIUM | PRO), noting "Things are looking different and in a way that could bear heavily on the outcome for northeast Oman and northeast UAE."
And of course My Buddy Scott @ SSEC [JessePedia] has some neat images and analysis on this blog entry. Scott says: "This was the first recorded tropical cyclone of Category 5 strength on record in the Arabian Sea." Here's one of his satellite images, click for more:
ORIGINAL POST:
Check out this super-high resolution satellite shot of the eye of Super Tropical Cyclone Gonu in the Arabian Sea -- which may be destined for Iran.
That picture above was taken June 4th at 0900Z time by NASA's AQUA satellite and displayed on the NRL weather site. Since then, the storm has weakened from the equivalent of a Category 5 Hurricane to a Category 3, according to the the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Here are the stats as of this morning:
The latest track from the JTWC puts it on the coast of Iran at 00Z on June 7th (see below). It's rare for a cyclone to move in this direction -- International Expert Jim Andrews quoted (PREMIUM | PRO) only two storms that have hit Arabia from the southeast; I would guess an Iran hit would be even less likely. Keep an eye on Jim's blog (PREMIUM | PRO) for future updates on the progress of Gonu.
