A satellite image shows Cyclone Chapala spinning in the Arabian Sea Thursday Oct. 29, 2015.(Photo: Naval Research Lab)
Cyclone Chapala is taking aim at the Arabian Peninsula and is forecast to strengthen into a Category 5 storm today, with winds of up to 166 mph. It should<span style="color: Red;">*</span>approach<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Oman and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Yemen at Category 2 or 3 strength late Sunday or early Monday.
A cyclone is the same type of storm as a hurricane or typhoon. They're known as cyclones in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
A Category 3 storm has winds of at least 111 mph.
"Chapala is also on pace to become the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea," Accuweather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls said.
Regardless of its strength,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Chapala has the potential to dump a year's worth of rain or more in just a day or two over parts of eastern Yemen and southwest Oman, the Weather Chanel said.
According to worldclimate.com, the average annual rainfall in Salalah, Oman (estimated population 197,000 as of 2009), is just 4 inches.
Cyclone landfalls in this area are "fairly rare," tweeted meteorologist Steve Bowen of Aon Benfield, a global reinsurance firm.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>According to Weather Channel hurricane specialist Michael Lowry, there is no record of a hurricane-strength cyclone landfall in Yemen dating back to 1945.
The Weather Channel reports that there have only been two Category 4 equivalent Arabian Sea cyclones on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>record. Gonu in 2007 and Phet in 2010 both weakened before making landfall in northern Oman near the capital, Muscat.
Gonu claimed 100 lives in Oman, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, while Phet killed 24 people in Oman. As for damage costs, Gonu caused $5 billion in damages while Phet led to $1 billion, Bowen said.
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