Chapala, seen from space, made landfall along the coast near Al Mukalla, Yemen. Photo / AP
A very odd atmospheric event has been unfolding in the Arabian Sea.
Late last week, aided by extremely and anomalously warm ocean temperatures, tropical cyclone Chapala rapidly intensified in the Arabian Sea, reaching strong category 4 intensity with maximum sustained winds estimated at 250km/h, as it headed towards the Gulf
of Aden and the Arabian Peninsula. It appears to be the second strongest storm ever recorded in the Arabian Sea region, notes Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach, at least based on reliable records that only go back to 1990.
This also made Chapala the 23rd category 4 or 5 storm in the northern hemisphere this year - a year that is vastly outdistancing the prior record of 18 in 2004.
Chapala has weakened and yesterday a Category 2 storm made landfall along the coast to the west of the port city of Al Mukalla, a region with very little or no experience with hurricanes. Bob Henson of Weather Underground said it "is difficult to overstate the rarity and gravity of this event: a hurricane-strength storm striking near a large, ancient city, situated near mountains, with no modern experience in dealing with tropical cyclones".
The rainfall poses a huge danger, with Chapala likely bring at least five years' worth of rain to parts of Yemen.
