Cyclone Asani has been displaying rapid intensification while at sea, indicating the extent of warming of the Bay of Bengal this time of the year.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday night said the system in the Bay of Bengal had intensified into a deep depression and will evolve into cyclonic storm Asani, a name given by Sri Lanka, by Sunday morning. On Saturday itself, the system intensified over two stages — well-marked low pressure and depression in what is called as the rapid intensification of systems in the sea.
It will be the year’s first cyclonic storm to develop in the North Indian Ocean region, which includes the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. In March this year, a system that had formed in the Bay of Bengal had strengthened up to a deep depression — one stage short of forming a cyclone. But since the system did not intensify into a storm then, the name Asani was not officially used. The name will now be assigned to the newest storm brewing off India’s east coast.
As per the latest forecast, the storm is likely to move northwestwards towards India’s east coast and inch closer to the north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coast by May 10. Squally winds with speeds ranging between 45-55 km/ hour gusting to 65 kms/hour are likely to hit the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on May 10 and 11, the IMD has warned. As on Saturday’s cyclone observations, the storm is unlikely to cross land but instead recurve northeastwards and move away from Odisha. But keeping pace with its rapid intensification, the cyclone will again intensify and become a severe cyclonic storm on Sunday and remain over the same region.
At 11.30 pm on Saturday, the deep depression was located 350 kms west-northwest of Car Nicobar, 300 kms west of Port Blair, 1,060 kms southeast of Visakhapatnam and 1,100 kms south-southeast of Puri.
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The Met department has said that Andaman and Nicobar islands will receive heavy to very rainfall (64.4mm to 204.4mm in 24 hours) this weekend whereas Odisha has been put on a high alert ahead of the heavy rainfall (64.4mm to 115.5mm in 24 hours) forecast on Wednesday. Under the influence of the system in the Bay of Bengal, thunderstorms, lightning and light rain are forecast over Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Sikkim till May 12.
Starting May 8, winds with packing speeds starting 45 km/hour and reaching a maximum of 90 km/hour on May 10 and 11 are forecast over central Bay of Bengal. In view of the approaching cyclone and rough sea conditions, the IMD has issued a warning for the fishing community against venturing into the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal during the next three days.
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