Cyclone Gonu

Wow, it's going to go right across the Straits of Hormuz! :

Thousands of people fled low-lying areas Tuesday as the strongest cyclone to threaten the Arabian Peninsula in 60 years barreled toward the oil-rich Persian Gulf—with southern Iran next in its path.

Cyclone Gonu was expected to skirt the region's biggest oil installations but could disrupt shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, causing a spike in prices, oil analysts said.

..."If the storm hits Iran, it's a much bigger story than Oman, given how much bigger an oil producer Iran is," said Antoine Haff of FIMAT USA, a brokerage unit of Societe Generale. "At a minimum, it's likely to affect tanker traffic and to shut down some Omani oil production as a precautionary measure."

Late Tuesday, Cyclone Gonu, packing winds of 120 mph and gusts up to 150 mph, was churning northwest through the Indian Ocean about 265 miles southeast of Oman's capital, Muscat, according to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Donn Washburn. Rain from its outer edges was reaching some coastal areas, although the storm was weakening as it roared through an area with shallower water and drier air.

Gonu, which means a bag made of palm leaves in the language of the Maldives, is predicted to brush by the east coast of Oman and head to the Gulf of Oman, with heavy rains and strong winds forecast over the country to its capital, Muscat, Washburn said. The cyclone was expected to hit land in southeastern Iran late Wednesday or early Thursday, Washburn said.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a U.S. military task force that tracks storms in the Pacific and Indian oceans, predicted rough seas in the Straits of Hormuz, the transport route for two-fifths of the world's oil and the southern entrance to the Gulf.