Comments
Very severe cyclone Lehar has left the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, its first port of call, and has hit the open waters of the Bay of Bengal.
It will now wheel along a rather straight highway that takes it towards the Andhra Pradesh coast, its final destination.
HIGH WINDS
On Tuesday morning, India Met Department located the system to 200 km west-northwest of Port Blair; 1,100 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam; 1,050 km east-southeast of Kakinada; and 980 km southeast of Kalingapatnam.
Latest US Naval updates said that the monster storm features winds clocking 139 km/hr this morning.
It is at least two days away from attaining top projected speeds of 185 km/hr.
COOLER WATERS
But there is also suspicion that winds might be able to ratchet up to a maximum of at 175 km/hr, given slightly cooler waters near the coast.
The storm grows in strength over warm waters since the warmth aids the process of cloud-building, which fuels it.
The fact that the very severe cyclone could run into opposing winds associated with a western disturbance too might have a drag effect on it.
But this does not materially reduce the extent of crop loss and property damage from the ferocious storm, ranked three on the five-scale Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity.
vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.