List of Arabian Peninsula tropical cyclones


The Arabian Peninsula is a peninsula between the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. There are 64 known tropical cyclones that affected the peninsula, primarily Yemen and Oman. For convenience, storms are included that affected the Yemeni island of Socotra. Most of the tropical cyclones originated in the Arabian Sea, the portion of the Indian Ocean north of the equator and west of India. The remainder formed in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast. Collectively, the 64 storms have caused at least US$8.3 billion in damage and 1,693 deaths. The strongest and most damaging cyclone was Cyclone Gonu, which caused US$4 billion in damage and 50 fatalities when it struck Oman in 2007. Tropical cyclone damage in the Arabian Peninsula is chiefly due to flooding.

Climatology

Within the Indian Ocean north of the equator, tropical cyclones are tracked by the India Meteorological Department, which is the officially designated Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for the region. The American-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center also tracks storms in the basin on an unofficial basis. The Arabian Sea, which borders the Arabian Peninsula, typically spawns tropical cyclones in the southeastern portion of the body of water, offshore of western India. About 48.5% of cyclones dissipate without making landfall, or moving ashore, and around one in three storms move toward the Arabian Peninsula. However, storms do not form in the western Arabian Sea because of cool sea surface temperatures, as well as dry air from the Arabian Peninsula.

Impacts by country

The sultanate of Oman, located on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, regularly receives the impacts of tropical cyclones due to its long coastline along the Arabian Sea. On average, storms strike Oman once every three years, mostly between Masirah Island and Salalah, and usually before June or after October. From 1943 to 1967, tropical cyclones accounted for about 25% of Salalah's overall rainfall. About once every five years, a storm affects the Dhofar region of southern Oman, and Oman's capital of Muscat about once every ten years in. Between 1890 and 1996, 36 storms struck Oman, although some landfalling storms might be excluded from the historical record due to the lack of population centers. In addition, storm intensities at landfall have only been accurately known since around 1979, and reliable record keeping began around 1970. In 2014, an archaeology team discovered evidence that a major flood affected Ras Al Hadd in eastern Oman, possibly the result of a tsunami or a severe storm.
Oman's most damaging storm was Cyclone Gonu in 2007, which was the strongest recorded storm in the Arabian Sea and the strongest to make landfall on the landmass. Gonu left US$4 billion in damage and killed 50 people, making it the worst natural disaster on record in Oman. In 2010, a slightly weaker cyclone named Phet caused US$780 million in damage and 24 deaths while crossing eastern Oman. Cyclonic Storm Keila in the subsequent year killed 19 people while looping near Oman's southern coastline, and left US$80 million in damage. In 1890, a storm killed 757 people when it flooded much of Oman's capital. A storm in 1959 caused a shipwreck near southern Oman, resulting in the loss of all 141 crewmembers. Another storm-related shipwreck killed 18 people in December 1998. In June 1977, a storm struck Masirah Island, causing 105 deaths and becoming Oman's worst natural disaster in the 20th century. A storm in 2002 that killed nine and caused US$25 million in damage. Cyclone Nilofar in 2014 killed four people from its outer rainbands.
Although storms rarely strike Yemen, back-to-back cyclones Chapala and Megh hit the country one week apart in November 2015. The country has two recorded landfalls by severe cyclonic storms – tropical cyclones with winds of at least. The first was a storm in May 1960, and the other was Cyclone Chapala in 2015, the latter being the second-strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. Chapala earlier struck the Yemeni offshore island of Socotra, which was also hit by Cyclone Megh less than a week later. The two storms collectively killed 26 people in Yemen. The country's worst natural disaster on record was from a 1996 storm that earlier hit Oman, causing severe flooding that caused US$1.2 billion in damage and 338 deaths. The second worst natural disaster in Yemen was from a weak depression in 2008 that killed 180 people and caused US$874.8 million in damage. More recently, Cyclone Sagar killed a woman when her house caught fire due to the storm.
Elsewhere on the peninsula, Cyclone Gonu's waves damaged the port in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. In 1995 and again in 1996, the remnants of a storm that hit Oman entered Rub' al Khali, or the Empty Quarter, of Saudi Arabia. In 2008, the remnants of a storm that hit Yemen brought rainfall and dust storms to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

List of storms

Pre-1900

in 2018 striking Oman