Context: The Odisha government sounded a warning for the cyclonic storm Gulab, which is expected to cross the coast between its southern districts and north Andhra Pradesh with wind speeds of 75-85 kmph on Sunday.
Status
- According to India Meteorological Department informed that the cyclone was likely to hit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh, and Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Odisha.
- The deep depression over northwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal moved nearly westwards with a speed of seven kmph in last 6 hours, intensified into Cyclonic Storm ‘Gulab’ (pronounced as Gul-Aab) and lay centered over northwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal.
It comes under the category of the cyclonic storm according to IMD.
- Being a monsoon system, it naturally holds excess moisture compared to storms of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods.
- A couple of unique meteorological factors are also helping the system intensify and retain moisture.
- Because of weak to moderate negative Indian Ocean Dipole (-IOD), the equatorial Rossby waves (natural planetary waves) could have transferred a substantial amount of energy (moisture) to this system.
Key Facts regarding this Cyclone
- It is a tropical cyclone.
- Pakistan proposed the name Gulab which means Rose.
- Region affected: North Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Odisha coasts
- Location: Bay of Bengal
Cyclones
A cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure. Cyclones are usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather.
- The air circulates inward in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.Cyclones are classified as: (i) extra tropical cyclones (also called temperate cyclones); and (ii) tropical cyclones.
- Cyclones that develop in the regions between the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancerare called tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones are intense circular storms that originate over warm tropical oceans.