Agri Business

Weather: IMD upgrades outlook to severe cyclone in Bay

Vinson Kurian Thiruvananthapuram | Updated on May 16, 2020 Published on May 16, 2020

A moderately strong pulse of the MJO is currently located over the West Indian Ocean and is expected to extend its influence over the entire Indian Ocean for a week from April 19 to 26 B_JOTHI RAMALINGAM

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has upgraded the outlook in the Bay of Bengal to a severe cyclone after an existing well-marked low-pressure area over South-East Bay of Bengal intensified early this (Saturday) morning into a depression. It was located about 1,100 km South of Paradip (Odisha); 1250 km South of Digha (West Bengal); and 1,330 South-South-West of Khepupara (Bangladesh).

The system could rapidly intensify, that is, twice over during the course of the day, into a cyclone by the evening and further intensify into a severe cyclone tomorrow (Sunday). It may move North-North-West till Sunday and then re-curve to the North-North-East towards the North Bay from Monday to Wednesday. This slow movement and extended stay over the very warm waters could help the prospective severe cyclone to intensify even more, according to some global forecast models, which see a cyclone of catastrophic strength in the making away from the East Coast of India.

May pick up further strength

The building storm is already kicking up squally winds with speeds of 45-55 km/hr gusting to 65 km/hr over the South-East and the adjoining South-West Bay. These are likely to ratchet up to 90-100 km/hr gusting to 110 km/hr over the East-Central and adjoining West-Central Bay by Sunday morning; 120-130 km/hr gusting to 145 km/hr over the southern parts of the Central Bay Monday.

Later, the storm is expected to grow further in strength, rustling up wind speeds of 155-165 km/hr gusting to 180 km/hr over the Northern parts of the Central Bay and adjoining North Bay by Tuesday; and 160-170 km/hr gusting to 190 km/hr over the North Bay by Wednesday morning. The Bay continues to feature some of the warmest waters along the global tropical region, with a large warm pool extending over its South-West, West-Central and North-West (31 degree Celsius).

Warmest waters in tropics

Sea-surface temperatures are warmest at 32 degree Celsius in the deep waters off the Andhra Pradesh coast on Saturday. The building storm is forecast to tread along the warm pool in the open waters (away from any coast) at a slow pace that gives it the freedom to devour oodles of moisture being generated. The moisture in turn goes to build huge thunderstorms around the system and construct the storm tower.

IMD has advised fishermen to not venture into these areas during these periods. They have been advised not to venture into the Odisha-West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coasts from during Monday to Wednesday. Those out at sea are advised to return to the coast. Conditions are expected to become favourable for the onset of the South-West monsoon into some parts of the South-East Bay, the Andaman Sea and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in by Sunday, the IMD added.

Monsoon to enter Bay

Scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershowers with lightning and gusty winds (30-40 km/hr) have been forecast over the South Peninsula during the next 4-5 days along with isolated heavy rainfall activity over Kerala during next four days; over South Interior Karnataka during today and tomorrow; and over Coastal Karnataka and Lakshadweep today.

The North-Eastern States may continue to experience scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershowers during next four days. Isolated heavy falls is likely over Assam and Meghalaya during until tomorrow. It will be scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershowers with isolated heavy falls over Odisha and plains of West Bengal from Monday.

Published on May 16, 2020

A letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.

Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.

In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.

We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.

But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.

I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.

A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!

Support Quality Journalism
IMD
  1. Comments will be moderated by The Hindu Business Line editorial team.
  2. Comments that are abusive, personal, incendiary or irrelevant cannot be published.
  3. Please write complete sentences. Do not type comments in all capital letters, or in all lower case letters, or using abbreviated text. (example: u cannot substitute for you, d is not 'the', n is not 'and').
  4. We may remove hyperlinks within comments.
  5. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name, to avoid rejection.
Ending APMC monopoly: Centre bites the bullet at last
You have read 1 out of 3 free articles for this week. For full access, please subscribe and get unlimited access to all sections.