Climate change brings cyclone risk to Persian Gulf, study warns

Climate change is bringing small risks that tropical cyclones will form in the Persian Gulf for the first time, reports the Guardian. This poses a threat to cities such as Dubai or Doha which are unprepared for big storm surges according to a US study released on Monday.

According to the article, the shallow and warm waters of the Persian Gulf, where cyclones have never been recorded, might generate the storms in future as a side-effect of global warming, according to the study in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study said that extreme hurricanes now likely to hit Tampa only once every 1,000 years, causing a storm surge of 4.6 metres, would occur every 60 to 450 years by the late 21st century. Cairns would also be vulnerable to worsening storms.