So I've got a little more info on Gonu, the tropical storm that's heading towards Oman and Iran (our neighbors).
First off, make no mistake, this is a Hurricane.
In fact, if you look up "Hurricane" on wikipedia, it redirects you to "tropical cyclone". Apparently only the Americas use the word "hurricane". But that kind of makes sense - to quickly delve into some fun Wednesday etymology - "hurricane" is derived from the pre-Columbian Mayan god of winds and storms, Hurakan.
(Also, sidebar - Hurakan was responsible for the Mayan myth of the great flood - anyone else think it's odd that so many civilizations have that same myth?)
Anyway, right now Gonu is a Category Four hurricane, with winds in the ballpark of 150 mph, with gusts up to 185 mph. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it was a category three with winds of 125 mph.
This info is current as of 6 am GMT, which was about 8 minutes ago, from the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Lastly, our friends at the NASA Earth Observatory have some neat satallite images of Gonu up at their website.
So anyway, Dubai appears to be safe for now - the reports say we'll probably get some thundershowers in the next day or two.
