There is a threatening cyclonic system being formed in the southeastern Bay of Bengal and it is likely to affect the southern states at the time of the Sankranthi festival. According to meteorologists, the system could become a cyclone if the conditions are right.
A deep depression appeared in the southeastern Bay of Bengal and by Wednesday morning it was already a cyclonic storm. By the evening it was:
IMD reports that by Thursday at the latest this storm will have escalated to a severe cyclone and will take 48 hours for the west-northwest movement to occur.
Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu can expect heavy to very heavy rains from Friday all the way to Sunday. The State Disaster Management Authority anticipates light to moderate rains for Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore, Annamayya, Chittoor, and Tirupati districts on Saturday and Sunday.
Cyclonic threat led to a cyclone warning number one being issued by the cyclone warning center for the following ports: Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam, Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram, and Kakinada.
Northeast monsoon season is usually over by December 31 but there are no cyclones in the Bay of Bengal during January and February. Data from 1891 to 2024 shows that there were:
Out of these, most systems had been already in landfall in Sri Lanka. The rest of the three occurrences were after the Sankranthi festival, of which only one cyclone reached Andhra Pradesh.The current system is thus, unusual but it is monitored very closely.
