Kolkata: The first cyclonic storm of the 2022 North Indian Ocean cyclone season is now on the horizon, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the formation of Cyclone Asani in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday, May 8.
According to its latest update, a well-marked low-pressure area is located over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining south Andaman Sea on Saturday morning.
In the next 12 hours, it is likely to move northwestwards and strengthen into a depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal. Thereafter, the system will undergo further intensification and transform into a cyclonic storm over the east-central Bay of Bengal by Sunday evening.
Upon formation, the cyclone will be named ‘Asani’. The name was given by Sri Lanka, and it means ‘wrath’ in Sinhala.
While it’s still a little early to determine Asani’s exact track and maximum intensity, initial predictions suggest it may continue moving northwestwards after intensifying into a cyclone, and edge towards the west-central Bay of Bengal — off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts — by next Tuesday, May 10.
Precise details on where the cyclone will make landfall (if at all!) will become clearer in the coming hours.
(Smit Soni)
