BHUBANESWAR: The tropical storm brewing over the Bay of Bengal is likely to skirt the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday.
The well marked low pressure area concentrated into a depression and lay centred over south-east Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman Sea at 11.30 am, about 1,270 km south-east of Visakhapatnam and 1,300 km south-southeast of Puri.
“The tropical storm is likely to continue to move north-westwards and reach west-central and adjoining north-west Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts by May 10,” IMD DG, Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told The New Indian Express.
The cyclonic storm is likely to skirt the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts. The system is expected to move along the Odisha coast but weaken gradually due to cold waters in north Bay of Bengal, said Mohapatra.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre has indicated a similar path of the tropical storm and has suggested it is very likely to move parallel to the Odisha coast towards the West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts.
Weather experts are of the opinion that the impending cyclone may have the same intensity as that of weak tropical storm Jawad, which had formed over the Bay of Bengal in December last year.
Meanwhile, the IMD has said light to moderate rainfall is likely to commence at many places in coastal districts of the state from Tuesday evening and heavy rainfall is expected at one or two places in Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri districts during the period.
Similarly, light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at many places in coastal districts and heavy rainfall has been predicted at one or two places in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts on Wednesday.
Gale wind speed reaching 80 km/hr to 90 km/hr and gusting up to 100 km/hr is likely to prevail over west-central, adjoining north-west and east-central Bay of Bengal on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, gale wind speed reaching 70 km/hr to 80 km/hr and gusting up to 90 km/hr is expected to prevail over north-west and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal.
The national weather forecaster has advised fishermen to not venture into the deep sea area over central parts of Bay of Bengal on Monday and Tuesday, and over north-west Bay of Bengal on Tuesday and Wednesday.