By Derick Baldwin
Dubai: Cyclone Chapala (click here) was expected to unleash 400mm of tropical rainfall on central coastal Yemen by the end of the day on Tuesday when it dumps three years worth of precipitation within 24 hours, says a leading global weather expert on climate anomalies.
Dr Mansour Al Mazroui, Director of Centre of Excellence for Climate Change at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said on Monday that computer models at the centre suggest that Yemen will be battered by the Category 1 storm with winds of 150-175 km/h by the time it makes landfall on the mainland.
The depression will morph into a tropical storm and decrease in intensity as it moves inland to release its torrential rainfall.
“We’re running models and it’s showing 400mm of rain — that’s more than three years of rain all at once,” he said.
“This cyclone is considered a very tropical cyclone for that region,” Dr Al Mazroui told Gulf News. “Most [Indian Ocean] cyclones hit India but very few go north. We’re seeing now the second strongest cyclone [in the region’s history] and it’s hitting Yemen. It is remarkable.”...
