Cyclone Chapala has intensified two rounds in the past 10 to 12 hours to become a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 140-150 km/hr and gusting to 165 km/hr this morning.

It is expected to become an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' (160- 170 km/hr gusting to 185 km/hr) during the course of the day and further grow to 190-200 km/hr gusting to 220 km/hr by tomorrow.

Peak intensity

This is the ultimate level it may grow to, but it would have reached to within a sniff away from being classified as a class-topping super cyclone, according to an India Met Department update.

Chapala has spun far away from the coast of India, and approach North Yemen and adjoining Oman coast for landfall after winding down a round back into a very severe cyclone by Monday noon.

The rapid intensification of the storm has left the North-East monsoon over peninsular India in a state of thrall, having been forced to cede a good part of the moisture to the former.

The result has been that a low-pressure area that would have brought heavy rain to Coastal Tamil Nadu has weakened, persisting this morning as a cyclonic circulation over Sri Lanka and the adjoining seas.

Rain for South

But the residual southerly flows from this circulation are still forecast to bring rain into Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka during the the next two to three days.

Only Kerala, Coastal Karnataka and Konkan-Goa have received normal rainfall during the season until last evening. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Rayalaseema, North and South Interior Karnataka are in deficit.

A US Climate Prediction Centre update said that the southern parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu may receive above normal showers, while the rest may witness normal rainfall until November 4.

Monsoon watchers are keeping an eye on the Bay of Bengal for signals of an easterly wave with a likely storm-head, which is forecast to emerge in Southeast of Andaman Islands in another five to six days.

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