Weekly Wrap-up: Tropical Cyclone Chapala Slams Yemen; Widespread Snowfall Whitens Western US

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

November 6,2015; 10:17PM,EST

 

 

Powerful Tropical Cyclone Chapala churned through the Arabian Sea before making landfall in central Yemen on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Upon landfall, the storm brought several years' worth of rain in just a matter of days.
"Chapala became the second strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls said. "The pressure of Chapala was 922 mb, close to the lowest pressure of Gonu, 920 mb, in 2007."
At least three people were killed as a result of the storm, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. According to the U.N., more than 36,000 people have been displaced in Yemen and at least 700 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

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At its peak intensity, on Friday, Oct. 30, Chapala was the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. Before striking Yemen, Chapala battered the island of Socotra with flooding and powerful winds.
The busy period of tropical activity in the Arabian Sea continued with Tropical Cyclone Megh, which was named by the India Meteorological Department early Thursday night, local time.
Tropical Cyclone Chapala batters Mukalla, Yemen, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015. The day before, the rare and rapidly intensifying cyclone killed one person and injured nine Sunday on the remote Yemeni island of Socotra as it moved toward the Yemeni mainland, local security officials said. (AP Photo/Mohammed Bazahier)
Meanwhile, winter weather took hold of the Western U.S. this week with areas from Wyoming to New Mexico receiving snow. The snow was partly a result of the chilliest air since last April sweeping through the West, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.
Montana's Big Sky Resort received 20 inches of snow through Wednesday afternoon. Another 13 inches of snow covered Yellowstone National Park, and a daily record of 9.9 inches was measured in Flagstaff, Arizona, on Wednesday. The previous record was 5 inches set in 1926.
At the Big Sky Resort in Montana, one person took to the snow on Wednesday. (Photo/Big Sky Resort)
While snow fell across the West, it felt like late summer across the East this week.
On Tuesday, Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida, set daily record highs of 90 and 89 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Tampa, Florida, set a new all-time record high for the month of November on Wednesday with a high of 92 F.
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Also on Wednesday, the high soared to 80 F in Philadelphia. While it was not a record, it was the warmest November day in the city since 1993. In fact, Philadelphia, Baltimore (74 F), Chicago (71 F) and New York City (70 F) were all warmer than Phoenix Wednesday.
Multiple rounds of flooding and severe thunderstorms targeted southern and central Texas last weekend, which resulted in at least six deaths. More severe weather swept through the state on Thursday when a tornado damaged a building in Fort Worth, Texas. No injuries were reported.
Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.

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Have questions, comments, or a story to share? Email Kevin Byrne at Kevin.Byrne@accuweather.com, follow him on Twitter at @Accu_Kevin. Follow us @breakingweather, or on Facebook and Google+.