Cyclone Remal Update: Depression To Intensify Into A Severe Cyclonic Storm, Says IMD

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The India Meteorological Department in its latest bulletin has said that a well-marked low-pressure area lies over the west-central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal.

It is very likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by May 25 morning and reach near Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts by May 26 evening as a severe cyclonic storm.

Heavy rainfall had lashed parts of Kolkata on Thursday morning, and IMD has predicted that these weather conditions will continue to prevail with Gangetic West Bengal likely to get isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall on May 26 and May 27.

Heavy showers are likely to hit some districts, including North and South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore, on Saturday, the day the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections is scheduled.

As per IMD's prediction, the probability of cyclogenesis (formation of depression) is high for the next 24-48 hours.

A few days ago, the director of the IMD's Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, Sunanda, informed ANI that a low-pressure area is likely to form over the southwest Bay of Bengal around May 22. This system was expected to move northeastwards and intensify into a depression over the central Bay of Bengal by the morning of May 24.

Various weather models are indicating the landfall point varying from Odisha to Bangladesh coasts. The global forecast systems of ECAI and NCEP indicate that Cyclone Remal will make landfall crossing the Odisha coast. In contrast, the global forecast system of IMD, NCUM & IMD MME are predicting landfall over the Bangladesh coast. The severity of the Cyclonic storm also varies across different models. All GFSs are predicting the landfall to happen between 5:30 PM on May 26 to 2:30 AM on May 27.