Comments
The ‘well-marked’ low-pressure area around Sri Lanka has failed to deliver as it lost steam under the influence of a tropical storm evolving just to its South.
The system weakened to a conventional low-pressure area on Wednesday morning, and was located near Comorin (around the peninsular tip of India), adjoining Sri Lanka and the Equatorial Indian Ocean.
Light rain
The India Met Department (IMD) has forecast the possibility of heavy rain at isolated places over South Tamil Nadu for Thursday. The adjoining southern parts of Kerala may not make appreciable gains since the system may weaken further and fade out. The focus would then shift to a fresh buzz likely developing over the South-East Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman Sea.
The IMD has traced out an upper air cyclonic circulation lying over the South China Sea and adjoining Gulf of Thailand, which is expected to emerge into the Andaman Sea on Wednesday/Thursday.
Under its influence, a fresh ‘low’ is likely to develop over the Andaman Sea and adjoining South-East Bay, far away from the Sri Lanka-Tamil Nadu coast, by Thursday.
Fresh ‘low’ soon
The ‘low’ is forecast to move west-northwestwards and start intensifying subsequently. But there is wide divergence over where exactly the system, which is widely perceived to become a cyclone, is headed.
The IMD is of the view that the system might give in to the relentless movement of western disturbances over North-West India and get plucked from mid-Bay and dumped over Odisha/Bengal.
A weather tracker of the US National Weather Services sees a storm developing in the Bay but its track of movement is undergoing a shift on the home stretch towards Tamil Nadu.
While the initial west-northwestward movement may bring the system in line with the North Tamil Nadu coast, it might later start to dip south-southwest and aim for the South Tamil Nadu coast for a landfall.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts says a strong cyclone could be evolving since the ‘low’ may have an extended stay over the waters. It may fight all odds to reach the North Tamil Nadu coast as a weakened ‘low’ late next week.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.