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The India Met Department (IMD) has pointed to a stretch between Pamban and Cuddalore, along the Tamil Nadu coast, as the likely landfall zone for cyclone ‘Gaja’ by forenoon on Thursday.
It located the cyclone 720 km east-north-east of Chennai and 800 km east-north-east of Nagapattinam.
Rain for North TN
It is expected to become a ‘severe cyclone’ any time into Tuesday and maintain intensity into Wednesday. But it might lose steam and wind down as a conventional cyclone before crossing the Cuddalore-Pamban coast on Thursday.
The cyclone is expected to bring with it a much-needed spell of heavy rainfall at isolated places along North Coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining South Coastal Andhra Pradesh from Wednesday evening.
Heavy to very heavy rain is forecast at a few places with extremely heavy rain at isolated places over Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the day of the landfall, while it would be heavy over South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Kerala.
After landfall, a remnant of the cyclone would tear into interior South Peninsula, bringing heavy to very heavy rain over Interior Tamil Nadu, Kerala and South Interior Karnataka on Friday.
The remnant will keep travelling further West across the South Peninsula and step out into the Arabian Sea off the Kerala-Karnataka coasts, where it might redevelop into a low-pressure area by the same evening.
An extended forecast valid from Saturday to Monday spoke about the possibility of fairly widespread to widespread rainfall over Lakshadweep as the remnant of the cyclone brews a ‘low’ in the neighbourhood.
Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall activity has been forecast for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, and Coastal Andhra Pradesh during this period. Gale winds with speeds reaching up to 100 km/hr and gusting to 110 km/hr have been forecast over the South-West and adjoining West-Central and South-East Bay (some distance away from the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh coasts) from Tuesday morning.
More to follow?
Sea conditions may become ‘very high’ (waves 30-46 ft high) over the South-West and adjoining West-Central and South-East Bay the same day.
Fishermen are advised not to venture into the central parts of the South and Central Bay and into the South-West and adjoining West-Central Bay. Fishermen who are currently located in the deep seas have been advised to return to shore.
Meanwhile, a weather tracker employed by the US National Weather Services suggested that cyclone ‘Gaja’ would have cleared up a track over the Bay waters for a follow-up weather system or two over the next 10 to 15 days.
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