Cyclone Bulbul Set to Form over Bay of Bengal
Starts to Move Towards East Coast
A low-pressure area, formed over the north Andaman Sea and adjoining areas of the Bay of Bengal on Monday morning, intensified into a depression during early hours of Tuesday. Even as the Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Maha rages over the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal depression is all set to intensify further into a cyclonic storm by Wednesday morning. Once the system concentrates into a cyclonic storm, it will be named ‘Bulbul’.
The depression is moving west-northwestwards, towards the east coast of India, and is very likely to concentrate further over the east-central Bay of Bengal. Even though it is too early to forecast, the early indications suggest that the storm could intensify further and make landfall in Odisha around Sunday late night to Monday dawn.
The Weather Channel Met team forecasts northerly storm winds in coastal Odisha before landfall with wind speeds of up to 91 kmph. No substantial impacts of waves and rain are predicted at present.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts that it is very likely to move west-northwestwards initially and then north-northwestwards, towards Odisha — West Bengal coasts. Light to moderate rainfall is likely to start over coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal from Saturday onwards. Heavy to very heavy rains are forecast in Andaman and Nicobar on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The system was a well-marked low-pressure area over the north Andaman Sea on Monday afternoon and moved northwestwards with a speed of 7 kmph till last night. Currently, the depression is around 950 km from the coast of Odisha. It is very likely to concentrate into a deep depression by Tuesday evening.
The IMD has issued warnings to fishers to suspend all fishing operations over the north Andaman Sea and east-central Bay of Bengal till Wednesday. The fishers are advised to return to the coast from these areas.
The name ‘Bulbul’ is based on the suggestion by Pakistan. The naming of cyclones follows the guidelines set by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which stipulates that the countries in the region must name storms in any ocean basin. For the north Indian Ocean, eight countries suggest the names, including India. Oman named the last cyclone ‘Maha’, which is still active over the Arabian Sea.
