Bhubaneswar: A low-pressure, which formed over Southeast Arabian Sea last night, intensified into a depression on Tuesday morning and it is expected to become a cyclone in the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed.
“Yesterday’s low pressure area over Southeast Arabian Sea has concentrated into a depression over the same region and lay centered at 5.30am, about 920 km west-southwest of Goa, 1120 km south-southwest of Mumbai, 1160 km south of Porbander and 1520 km south of Karachi. It is likely to move nearly northwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm during next 24 hours over eastcentral Arabian Sea and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea during the next 24 hours,” according to a forecast bulletin.
If the system concentrate into a cyclonic storm, it will be named Cyclone Biparjoy, a name given by Bangladesh. This Bengali word means ‘Disaster’ in English.
The cyclone is likely to intensify at least three times over as a very severe cyclone in the next four-five days as it moves away from the West Coast of India. It is expected to be located in the open waters at least 876 km to the Southwest of Mumbai by then, the IMD said.
With squally weather likely over southeast and adjoining southwest Arabian Sea, along & off Kerala-Karnataka-Goa coasts, central parts of Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep-Maldives areas, Andaman Sea, south and eastcentral Bay of Bengal, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea from June 6-10.
“The track of the cyclone is not clear as of now. Few models are indicating its movement in the northerly direction along the West Coast of the country. Some models indicate its movement to the north initially and re-curvature to the north-northeast direction towards Omen and Yaman,” private weather forecaster Skymet said.
The cyclone, however, is likely to critically influence the advance of the monsoon towards the Kerala coast as it remained stuck over Minicoy in Lakshadweep for the fifth day on Tuesday. While IMD has not set a fresh timeline, it has forecast light to moderate to fairly widespread rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds over Kerala, Lakshadweep, and South Interior Karnataka, and isolated to scattered over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh during the next five days. Heavy rain may occur at isolated places over Lakshadweep and Kerala from Wednesday to Friday.
The month of May had witnessed cyclone Mocha in the Bay of Bengal, which was the first pre-monsoon storm in that basin.
