Cyclone Tej Alert: IMD Issues An Update On Cyclonic Storm; Mumbai Out Of Danger
Cyclone Tej is expected to hit on October 21. This will be the second cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea this year.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday said that a low-pressure area over the southeast and the adjoining southwest Arabian Sea has developed into a depression. This is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by the morning of October 21, 2023.
It is likely to move west-northwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm by the morning of October 21, 2023. It is also likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by October 22. It would continue moving north-northwestwards towards South Oman and adjoining Yemen coasts.
What Is Cyclone Tej?
The cyclone will be named Tej according to a formula followed for naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean Region and will be the second cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea this year.
According to IMD, the cyclonic storm is predicted to further intensify into a severe cyclonic storm on Sunday and move toward the south coasts of Oman and adjoining Yemen and not Mumbai.
However, meteorologists have also said that at times, storms may deviate from the predicted track and intensity, as seen in the case of cyclone Biparjoy, which formed in the Arabian Sea in June and initially moved in a north-northwest direction before changing course to make landfall between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan.
Private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said that a majority of models indicate the storm is heading for the Yemen-Oman coast. However, the Global Forecast System models suggest a re-curvature while positioned over the deep central parts of the Arabian Sea, steering it towards Pakistan and the Gujarat coast.
How Are Cyclones Named
Cyclone Tej was named by India and features in the list of storm names adopted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) panel in April 2020.
Worldwide there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones. IMD is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries. RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).
The following criteria were adopted for selection of names by the PTC member countries:
The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender
Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe
It should not be very rude and cruel in nature
It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member
The maximum length of the name will be eight letters
The proposed name should be provided along with its pronunciation and voice over
The Panel reserves the right to reject any name, if any of the criteria above is not satisfied.
The finalised names may also be reviewed during the course of time of implementation with the approval of PTC in its annual session, in case any reasonable objection is raised by any member
The names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean will not be repeated. Once used, it will cease to be used again. Thus, the name should be new. It should not be there in the already existing list of any of the RSMCs worldwide including RSMC, New Delhi.
