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A massive blob of cloud the size of the Peninsular India has parked itself off the Tamil Nadu coast this morning in anticipation of further development to a resident low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal.
In fact, the cloud cover originated from Point Pedro, the northern-most land feature over Sri Lanka, and initially touched Muthupet-Nagapattinam stretch on the South Tamil Nadu coast.
CLOUD ALONG COAST
From there, the humongous cloud cover grew exponentially in size and reach out mostly into the sea (Bay of Bengal) hinged to a narrow corridor along the Tamil Nadu coast right up to Chennai-Ponneri.
In this manner, the cloud cover stretched over a distance of 300 km South to North along the coast over Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Puducherry, Kalpakkam, Chennai, and Ponneri.
Adjoining interior including towns of Kumbakonam, Vridhdhachalam, Ulundurpettai, Vandavasi, Kancheepuram, Arakkonam and Satyavedu too fell below the footprint of its fringes.
The resident 'low' is expected to become a monsoon depression as per a forecast outlook of India Met Department, but it seems to be biding time to get going.
The main reason is the elaborate procedure associated with the landfall of erstwhile typoon Khanun in the South China Sea over the Vietnam coast.
SIGNAL FROM SOUTH CHINA SEA
Since they are two individual disturbances partaking of the same moisture flow directed across the Arabian Sea, South Peninsular India, and the Bay of Bengal, it takes time for the 'low' to organise itself.
Meanwhile, agency reports said that Khanun had weakened into a tropical depression and hit the Vietnam coast to a barrage of mudslides and heavy rain claiming more than 60 lives.
The 'low' in the Bay of Bengal need to get over with this weather phase in South China Sea and Vietnam before it can be on its own and orient itself for the next phase of its own evolution.
By all indications, the time has apparently presented itself for this to get into motion, which would likely see the system strengthening to depression strength in the initial phase.
The IMD expects it to further intensify, though it has stopped short of issuing a cyclone notification just yet. That call would come only after assessing the local environment over sea, land and atmosphere.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts seemed to be conservative in its outlook, and saw the storm making a landfall as a depression at best along Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts.
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