Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. The storm is also the only one to have caused more than $1 billion in damage or loss in the region, as it hit Oman, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in June 2007. It is the only super cyclone to have ever made landfall in this area of the Indian Ocean, and was the first to make landfall in a major Asian country.
About Cyclone Gonu in brief
Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. Gonu developed from a persistent area of convection in the eastern Arabian Sea on June 1, 2007. With a favorable upper-level environment and warm sea surface temperatures, it rapidly intensified to attain peak winds of 240 kmh on June 4. It weakened after encountering dry air and cooler waters, and early on June 6, it made landfall on the easternmost tip of Oman. It then turned northward into the Gulf of Oman, and dissipated on June 7, after making landfall in southern Iran, the first landfall in the country since 1898. The cyclone caused 50 deaths and about USD 4. 2 billion in damage in Oman, where the cyclone was considered the nation’s worst natural disaster. It also caused 28 deaths and USD 216 million in damage in Iran, where it caused flooding and heavy damage. It was the second named tropical storm of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, and the first super cyclonic storm to hit the Arabian Peninsula. It is the only super cyclone to have ever made landfall in this area of the Indian Ocean, and was the first to make landfall in a major Asian country. It has been named Gonu by the Indian Meteorological Department, and is one of the most destructive tropical cyclones ever recorded in this region of the world. The storm is also the only one to have caused more than $1 billion in damage or loss in the region, as it hit Oman, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in June 2007, causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
The last time Gonu caused so much damage was in 2005, when it caused $1.2 billion in damages in Saudi Arabia and $2.3 billion in losses in the United States. It became the second most powerful tropical storm in the North Indian Sea in 2007, after Tropical Cyclone 02A, which made landfall near Mumbai, India on May 31. The IMD downgraded Gonu to a deep depression on June 2, but later upgraded it to a very severe cyclonic Storm on June 3. It reached its peak 3-min sustained winds about 760 km southwest of Mumbai on June 5, with an estimated pressure of 920 mbar. After the storm’s eye became cloud-filled and ragged, Gonu weakened due to cooler water temperatures and drier air as it approached the Arabian peninsula. It continued to gradually weaken over a period of 24 hours, with a well-defined low-level structure with a weak eye emerging into the Oman Gulf of Muscat early June 6. It later weakened to a weak cyclone with a low- level structure with weak winds of 143kmh. Although the overall organization continued to decrease, the cyclones intensity decreased slightly in the hours prior to landfall. It eventually weakened to very severe Cyclone Cyclone Gonu on June 8, with the intensity decreasing by 95kmh.
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This page is based on the article Cyclone Gonu published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
