The Hindu Business Line : Heat wave builds as cyclones brew far away

Bangkok, April 22 Oppressive heat wave conditions manifested themselves across the Indian landmass even as two tropical cyclones reared their heads from within the fertile Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) straddling the equator.

On Tuesday, these cyclones hovered off the Australian and the Indonesian coasts causing large chunks of the moisture packing the ITCZ, the global band of low pressure area, to get redirected.

This may temporarily affect the normal wind flow pattern when the ITCZ moves north of the equator relative to the Sun’s position and goes to prop up what, in a month’s time, may transpire as the year 2008’s Indian monsoon.

Third cyclonic storm

As if this was not enough, there is a third cyclonic storm threatening to spin out from the ITCZ to the south of the Bay of Bengal and has been forecast to move in a north-northeast direction to the Thailand-Myanmar coasts. The landfall is likely to be around April 29, according to forecasts by the European Centre for Medium Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Over land, the weak western disturbance drifting in from across the border had parked itself to the east of Jammu and Kashmir. The cyclonic circulation over west Rajasthan persisted on Tuesday. These two systems are expected to move east northeastwards.

On Tuesday, the weather causing trough running through the centre of the landmass connected Orissa with south Tamil Nadu, meandering through Marathwada and interior Karnataka.

Monday’s cyclonic circulation over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh now lies over Bangladesh and neighbourhood. The cyclonic circulation over coastal Karnataka and adjoining Lakshadweep area has become less marked.

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