Cyclone Tej: India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday said that a low-pressure area over the southeast and southwest Arabian Sea has developed into a depression and is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by the morning of October 21. This would be the second cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea this year. According to a formula followed for naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean Region, it will be called 'Tej'.
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Cyclonic storm is likely to further intensify
According to the IMD, the cyclonic storm is likely to further intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Sunday (October 22) and move towards the south coasts of Oman and neighbouring Yemen. However, meteorologists caution that at times, storms may deviate from the predicted track and intensity, as seen in the case of Cyclone Biparjoy, which formed in the Arabian Sea in June and initially moved in a north-northwest direction before changing course to make landfall between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan.
According to the weather department, the depression over the southwest Arabian Sea moved westwards and lay centered over the same region at 11.30 am, which is about 900 km east-southeast of Socotra in Yemen and 1,170 km southeast of Oman’s Salalah airport.
Storm heading for Yemen-Oman coast
"Depression over SW Arabian Sea intensified into DD about 880 km E-SE of Socotra (Yemen).To intensify into a CS over SW Arabian Sea during next 12 hours and further intensify into a SCS in the evening of 22nd Oct. To cross Oman-Yemen coasts bet Salalah (Oman) & Al Ghaidah (Yemen)," IMD said.
Skymet Weather, a private forecasting agency, also said that a majority of the models indicated that the cyclonic storm was heading towards the Yemen-Oman coast. However, the Global Forecast System models suggest a recurvature while positioned over the deep central parts of the Arabian Sea, steering the system towards Pakistan and the Gujarat coast, it said.
A cyclonic storm is characterised by a maximum sustained wind speed of 62-88 kmph, while it is termed a severe cyclonic storm if the maximum sustained wind speed reaches 89-117 km per hour.
Weather warnings for next 5 days:
South India: Light to moderate rainfall at some/many places with isolated heavy rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds very likely over Kerala on October 23 and 24.
Northeast India: Light to moderate rainfall at some/many places with isolated heavy rainfall accompanied with thunderstorms and lightning very likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura on October 24.
Meanwhile, the IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea as the cyclonic storm is predicted to further intensify into a ‘severe’ cyclonic storm on October 22.
