Cyclone Chapala captured early Monday morning by NOAA's Aqua satellite. (credit: NOAA)
The equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, Cyclone Chapala, should make landfall in Yemen on Tuesday. The outlandish prospect of a hurricane striking the desert, war-torn country of Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, raises two questions. Has this ever happened before, and is climate change a contributing factor?
Fortunately for the coast, Chapala is forecast to weaken into the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane before striking Yemen. While it should still bring damaging winds to the port city of Al Mukalla, Chapala’s primary threat should come from its potential to produce heavy rains. An area along the Yemen coast could receive 30 to 45 centimeters of rain during the next two days, certain to cause major flooding as that part of the country typically receives only about five centimeters of rain a year. The island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen, was already reeling from the effects of high winds and rains on Monday.
Yemen has been struck by tropical cyclones, as they are known in the Indian basin, before. The equivalent of a weak tropical storm, Keila, hit the country in 2011. According to the India Meteorological Department, two cyclones with stronger winds hit Yemen in 1959 and 1960. It appears safe to conclude that the country hasn’t been hit by a storm this potentially devastating in nearly half a century.
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