Unprecedented Event

[crisavec]

There is a Cyclone in the Arabian Sea working its way north towards the coast of Oman. Cyclones are nothing new...but Cyclone Guno is the first recorded Category 5 cyclone ever seen in the Arabian sea. Interesting in its own right, but its current track has it entering the Gulf of Oman right about now, and thats not happened in recorded history. Guno has dissipated to Category 3 now, and by the time it finishes sideswiping Oman and makes landfall in Iran it is projected to have dissipated to a weak Cat 2 or a strong Cat 1 storm.

I've been trying to do some reading about cyclones/hurricanes in the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean...but everything focuses on the eastern side of the basin and all the cyclones that impact India and Bangladesh. Its so unusual for a cyclone to run into the northwestern area of the basin(there are maybe 4 recorded storms like that, and none of them were strong enough to even earn names) that there are no models for prediction and the forecasters are having to make educated guesses as to storm surge areas and wind damages.

The almost ironic thing is that for as impressive and unusual as this storm is, its just like the South Atlantic Cyclone Catarina that hit Brazil in 2004....No one is talking about it except the weather geeks.

Tracking Links

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/MargieKieper/comment.html?entrynum=163&tstamp=200706

http://hurricane.methaz.org/gonu/