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Arabian Sea Cyclone Chapala


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Radar from Salalah, Oman (due north of the centre around now) shows a rain band extending to around 100 NM from the coast a couple of hours ago.

http://www.met.gov.om/opencms/export/sites/default/dgman/en/weather-chart/map-data/

salalah radar.JPG

Unfortunately the Yemen met service website is as useful as a chocolate teapot and does not have any current observations, though does have a warning out for Socotra.

Thanks for the link!

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I can see Chapala going annular, the environment may somewhat favor it. No indications so far, just mentioning the somewhat enhanced potential of such development.

;)... There are some indications now...Looks like JTWC's forecast is too low...probability of a major in Yemen is real high now.

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I was just going to post that Socotra should be getting hit pretty hard right now. That video above is pretty impressive.

unfortunately main part of Socotran population seems to be on North coast. however, they have some of the strongest monsoon winds on earth so there likely isn't much flimsy construction.

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Shear is now 5kt or less and there's more environmental moisture than there normally is (desert front to the north is helping with this). Chapala also has a huge moisture envelope now, so dry air intrusion will likely have to wait until the cyclone is much closer to landfall. I can't stress how unusual this is. This probably why JTWC has been adamant about weakening.

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Shear is now 5kt or less and there's more environmental moisture than there normally is (desert front to the north is helping with this). Chapala also has a huge moisture envelope now, so dry air intrusion will likely have to wait until the cyclone is much closer to landfall. I can't stress how unusual this is. This probably why JTWC has been adamant about weakening.

 

GFS shifted south, it may hug the Gulf of Aiden for an extra day and make landfall near AIden.

 

Edit: Nevermind GFS is further south but still way northeast of AIden and not near any populated areas.

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This news website (who posted the video on YouTube) seems to believe the reality of the video shown in post #62:

 

http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/cyclone-chapala-socotra-island-hit-1-dead-and-9-injured-video-2015-11-01-1.608666

 

Some good additional information as well.

 

Here is a second video from Socotra with some impressive lightning: 

 

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Video fake, pic perhaps real

The photo appears to be real. A Yemeni journalist has been covering the event and reports wind damage and flooding. Apparently there has also been a fuel shortage on the island, contributing with issues in the evacuation and recovery efforts.

http://www.startribune.com/yemen-s-socotra-island-hit-by-rare-cyclone/339159951/

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gifsBy12hr_04.gif

The Tc takes a noticeable jog south and intensifies as it approaches Socotra. I dont know see why the video shown above could not be real. They are getting hit pretty hard.

socotra is one of the most unique places on earth in terms of geology, biology.

I have doubts about the high wind video because it literally could be anywhere tropical.

I doubt the lightning video because there seems to be little wind and the clouds seem to be barely moving.

I think the beach pics are real and the flooding vid may well be real as the architecture looks right.

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So possible years worth of average rain in places in a couple days?

For the western highlands maybe. San'aa, the capital in the west, gets about 11". The southern and eastern coastal areas get far less, often less than 2". Only in the higher terrain of the central and eastern regions do they get 3-5"/yr. So, for these coastal cities of Al Mukalla and whatnot, we could easily be talking 5+ years of rain. There's a reason there's little to no vegetation. Hell, at least Socotra gets a nice even 10-12" and has some vegetation. These areas have little to none. It's going to be a catastrophe when those soils start getting hit with 1-2"/hr rainfall rates. After months of baking in the sun, that soil literally turns into a hydrophobic chalk-like dust.

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Looks to me that the first feeder bands should be impacting the coasts now in the landfall area. We're still 24 hours from landfall. Ugh. I'm sure to these folks, who have no real experience with a hurricane, it's going to seem like the world is ending. The road system isn't built to even handle more than the rare thundershower washing down a wadi, so a hurricane is likely to completely cut off roads via washout. 

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