Erstwhile very severe cyclone Hudhud has weakened two rounds and is now a deep depression (just below cyclone status) located over south Chhattisgarh.
The system had roared along at cyclonic speeds in a west-northwesterly track over land well past 12 hours after it made landfall yesterday noon at Visakhapatnam.
India Met Department said in its update the morning after the eventful landfall, that the cyclone remnant featured winds speeding to 50- to 60 km/hr and gusting to 70 km/hr.
As was forecast earlier, the rains are spreading to north and east, in line with a track dictated by an overarching western disturbance trooping in from northwest India.
Heavy to isolated heavy rain will continue to lash north Andhra Pradesh (to the north of Visakhapatnam) and coastal Odisha, before relenting later into the night.
A similar forecast valid for 24 hours is valid for Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh and interior Odisha and for two days for east Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
The US National Centres for Environmental Prediction shows a spurt in heavy to very heavy rain over east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar tomorrow.
HIGH WINDS
This would likely come about as the Hudhud remnant interacts ‘most gainfully’ with the incoming western disturbance along the Himalayan foothills in east India.
A heavy weather warning said winds hauling at 50- to 60 km/hr and gusting to 70 km/hr would prevail around 100 km around the system centre covering south Chhattisgarh and southwest Odisha.
The deep depression is expected to further wind down as a depression with wind speeds of 40- to 50 km/hr gusting to 60 km/hr later by tonight.
Meanwhile, the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction sees a fresh rain wave breaking out for peninsular India in very severe cyclone Hudhud’s wake.
EASTERLY WAVE
It is in the form of an easterly wave from south and southeast Bay of Bengal and headed towards Sri Lanka and adjoining south peninsular India.
This is a southerly counterpart to the western disturbance that impacts northwest India, but blowing in the opposite direction.
In this fashion, southeasterly-easterly-to-northeasterly wind regime may begin to establish over the region to herald the northeast monsoon season, it suggested.
Rains are shown to gradually consolidate over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka during the week starting October 12, and growing heavier in the following week.
In fact, the easterly wave is shown as gaining prominence around October 17. Coastal Tamil Nadu, especially around Chennai, is likely to witness a spell of rain from then.