The Gulf region is suffering from exceesive heat. In Kuwait, burning highs of 50 and 51c have been recorded from June 14 to 16, after several days of temperatures in late 40s. Saudi Arabia has also been experiencing high temperatures especially Riyadh, Al Ahsa, and Dammam where daily highs of 45-49 have been recorded. In fact, the same situation is accross the whole gulf region including Qatar and the UAE as well.
I have a question….Do these extremely high temperatures mean that there is an increased chance of cyclones forming in the Arabian sea? Don’t these high temperatures mean higher sea surface temperatures as well and therefore more chance for storms to develop?
Yes, you are right. During cyclone Phet, the Arabian Sea was warmer than average by 2 degrees. Cyclones need temperatures above 26c to form. And the Arabian sea had sea surface temperatures of 28-32 during cyclone Phet. It really helped Phet to intensify. However, cyclones also need other factors as well such as the right wind directions and pressure levels. While we can’t fully say that there will be more or less cyclones due to higher temperatures, we can say cyclones could be stronger due to more latent heat available from warmer sea surface temperatures.