Cyclone ‘Vardah’ threatens to escalate into cyclonic storm, Here’s all that you need to know

The depression over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Friday. It is expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Kakinada around afternoon on December 12.

Updated: December 8, 2016 8:29 PM IST

By Sandhya Dangwal

Cyclone ‘Vardah’ threatens to escalate into cyclonic storm, Here’s all that you need to know

New Delhi, Dec 8: Incessant rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has triggered a fear of tropical cyclone ‘Vardah’ in the region. The cyclone is expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Kakinada around afternoon  on December 12, giving the administration ample time for preparations to avoid any mishap. Heavy rainfall continues to lash the Havelock Islands, located about 40 km from the state capital Port Blair in Andamans and paralyzed normal life since Wednesday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday morning mentioned in its release that the storm, as predicted will emerge in the open waters of the Bay of Bengal and may grow into a deep depression leading to a cyclone on Friday.

Heavy rains over Andaman and Nicobar Islands are expected to last during the next 24-48 hours. The IMD in its statement said that the cyclone lay centred over southeast Bay of Bengal about 1060 km southeast of Visakhapatnam, 1150 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. It said that the depression over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a deep depression by Thursday and into a cyclonic storm by Friday.

Cyclone Vardha is predicted to travel to the Andhra Pradesh and make a landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast in the coming days. Andhra Pradesh will witness moderate to heavy rains, with isolated places recording extremely heavy spells on December 11 and 12, Sky Met weather reported. There are chances that Chennai may also receive light showers on Thursday and Friday.

Chennai, on Wednesday experienced light showers. As per reports, S.Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre said, “The system is still far away and is being monitored. It is premature to reveal details on landfall and the volume of rainfall that it would bring. We will wait till the weather system intensifies into a cyclonic storm.”

The Indian Meteorological Department in its latest update mentioned that a deep depression over southeast Bay of Bengal moved further northwards during the past 06 hours, intensify into cyclonic storm, (VARDAH) and lay centred at 0530 hours IST of today, the 8th December, 2016 over southeast   Bay   of   Bengal   near   Latitude   11.2°N  and   Longitude   90.5°E,   about   1060   km   southeast of Vishakhapatnam, 1150 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam, 340 km northwest of Car Nicobar and 240 km southwest of Port Blair. As per reports by Reuters, deadly flash floods, due to heavy rain have already been experienced in southern Thailand, killing about a dozen people.

After the Bay of Bengal developed a deep depression of about 1,320 kms southeast of Vishakapatnam, the IMD issued warnings on Tuesday and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea. The IMD’s Cyclone Warning Division on December 6 at 7:30 pm stated that the depression over southeast Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of about 20 kmph.

Here’s all that happened so far:

  1. The Havelock Island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands received incessant rainfall on Wednesday where 1400 tourists have been stranded. The Indian Navy rushed for assistance and dispatched four ships for evacuation process.
  2. The ships departed from Port Blair around 3:15 am on Wednesday and reached Havelock to ferry tourists back to Port Blair.
  3. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that stranded tourists stranded in Havelock Island are safe. Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma assured security and safety of tourists.
  4. The Hut Bay Island in Andamans recorded a whopping 166 mm of rainfall followed by 121 mm of rain in Port Blair in a span of 24 hours from 8:30 am on Tuesday.
  5. Cyclone Vardha is predicted to travel to the Andhra Pradesh and make a landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast in the coming days. There are chances that Chennai may also receive light showers on Thursday and Friday.
  6. The cyclonic weather has caused flood-like situation in the Andamans. It has also disrupted power supply in some low-lying areas of Port Blair and has severely affected the movement of essential supplies of the local populace of 10 villages of Havelock and Neil islands.
  7. ‘Vardah’, which means ‘rose’ in Arabic and Urdu, has been located 210 km west-south-west of Port Blair this morning. The cyclone is however, expected to intensify to a severe cyclone by Friday.
  8. The storm, as predicted will emerge in the open waters of the Bay of Bengal and may grow into a deep depression leading to a cyclone on Friday.
  9. Sea conditions have been predicted to be rough to very rough along the Andhra Pradesh coasts from December 11.
  10. Earlier this morning, India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the formation of the third cyclone of this North-East monsoon season, after ‘Kyant’ and ‘Nada’.

What caused depression in Bay of Bengal?

Cyclones take place only with availability of water vapour in the atmosphere. The reason why cyclones originate in Bay of Bengal is because they make landfall on the eastern side of the peninsula. It is the Bay of Bengal that sees the maximum activity (upto level 2 in the severity scale) around the region of Indian peninsula.

As per Quora, the Bay of Bengal is much warmer than the Arabian Sea resulting in more storms brew over the bay. The Bay of Bengal has a lot of fresh water due to the major rivers in the region and since freshwater is lighter than the salty waters in the Bay, it forms a thin layer on the surface. This thin layer of fresh water is heated more easily than the extremely salty waters in the Arabian Sea.  The Bay is more conducive to cyclone formation than the Arabian Sea.

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