A tropical cyclone to hit the Bay of Bengal soon
Over the last few years, the Bay of Bengal belt has experienced too many tropical cyclones, such as Jawad (December 2021), Yaas (May 2021), Krovanh (December 2020), Amphan (May 2020), Burevi (late November 2020), Nivaar (early November 2020), Bulbul (October 2019) and Fani (April-May 2019) among others. As most of you probably know, majority of these cyclones took the shape of super cyclone and wreaked havoc across states such as Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, damaging property and destroying lives.
In fact, this year alone, super cyclone Asani affected the south eastern coasts around the Bay of Bengal for a period of 4 days in the month of May. It had a wind speed of 119km/h and had a pretty abrupt landfall.
And now it looks like, another tropical cyclone is on the way as an alert was recently issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Being deemed as a super cyclone named ‘Sitrang’, it is supposed to develop around 22nd October over the Bay of Bengal.
Surprisingly, this forecast was first made by the US weather prediction model but was previously dismissed by the IMD as nothing more than speculation. However, after thorough analysis, Indian meteorologists have now admitted that the news was indeed true. The authenticity of this recent development was traced by meteorologists based at IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre in Kolkata.
They, along with the Vishakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, have revealed that a cyclonic circulation was in place over the south Andaman Sea and its neighbourhood, and was slowly moving northward. Sources also cite that under the influence of this cyclonic formation, a low-pressure zone is going to form over south east and adjoining east central Bay of Bengal for the next few days. By the morning of 22nd October, it is like to shift in the west-northwest direction, turn into a depression and cause heavy rainfall and intensified cyclonic storm (exact wind speed and pressure have not yet been revealed; the path may also differ in the last moments) over the west-central Bay of Bengal.
Interestingly, the rumours about this ‘super cyclone Sitrang’ was born when PhD scholar based at Canada’s Saskatchewan University made a forecast that “a weather anomaly could hit the Indian coast in late October.” In fact, the very name Sitrang was also his brainchild.
Currently, the situation is being monitored by all the regional weather forecast centres at Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal as all the three states have issued high alert. Special Relief Commission and other disaster management teams are also keeping ready to jump into action, as and when required.
In case you didn’t know, tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal are pretty common and occurs from 1 to 7 times a year. It is typically influenced by the monsoon season.