How the National Forecasting Centre in Oman Dealt with Tropical Cyclone Gonu

Abstract

Tropical storms and cyclones over the Arabian Sea are almost entirely confined to two cyclone seasons (Fig. 1), namely, the pre-monsoonal period (May-June) and the post-monsoonal period (October-November) (Membery, 1985). Most storms originate over the southeastern Arabian Sea in the vicinity of the Laccadive Islands, but some late season storms start over the southeastern Bay of Bengal and move westwards across southern India regenerating as they cross over the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. Once a storm/cyclone has formed over the southeastern Arabian Sea, it moves in the northwest direction toward the Arabian Peninsula, sometimes curving northeastwards toward Gujarat and Pakistan and sometimes curving westwards toward the Gulf of Aden (see Fig. 1 in Pedgley 1969). Pedgley (1969) has discussed the characteristics of these coastal storms, and more recently Galvin (2008).