Bhubaneswar: Cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ is around 1,000 km away from Mumbai and is making its way to the coastline of Pakistan. It is expected to intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours, the India meteorological department (IMD) informed on Wednesday.
“The cyclonic storm over Arabian Sea moved further northward, intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centred at 5.30 am of June 7 over eastcentral and adjoining southeast Arabian sea, about 890 km west-southwest of Goa, 1,000 km southwest of Mumbai, 1,070 km south-southwest of Porbandar and 1370 km south of Karachi,” it said.
The system is likely to move nearly northwards and intensify into very severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours and then move north-northwestwards during the subsequent 3 days, it added.
While the cyclone is moving far away from coastal areas of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, these areas are still likely to receive strong winds and there could be heavy rain in isolated areas.
Under its influence, gale wind speed reaching 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph prevailing over the east-central Arabian Sea and adjoining areas of west-central and southeast Arabian Sea is likely to become 105-115 kmph gusting to 125 kmph from the evening of June 7 over the same area. The areas adjoining westcentral and south Arabian Sea and those along the north Kerala-Karnataka-Goa coasts are likely to experience squally winds with speed 40-50 km per hour to 60 km per hour. The wind speed is likely to remain same for the next four days along these coasts.
Biparjoy means ‘Calamity’ or ‘destruction’. The name has been given by Bangladesh.
According to the MeT office, the intensity of Cyclone Biparjoy, its location of formation in the Arabian Sea and its subsequent movement are likely to affect the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala. “As the cyclone moves further, it is likely to go north and at that time, we will be able to see the impact that it can have on our coast,” head of Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Mumbai, Sunil Kamble told India Today.
While the weather agency is yet to give a tentative date for the onset of monsoon over Kerala, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said it may happen on June 8 or June 9 with a “meek and mild entry”. “These powerful weather systems in the Arabian Sea spoil the advancement of the monsoon deep inland. Under their influence, the monsoon stream may reach coastal parts but will struggle to penetrate beyond the Western Ghats,” it said.
The southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1. The IMD had earlier predicted that it might hit the Indian coast by June 4.
In 2021, Cyclone Yaas had formed at the time of the monsoon onset.
