Updated at 6:30 p.m., Oct 23, 2023: The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has finally intensified to Cyclonic Storm Hamoon today. The system is expected to move northeastwards, nearly parallel to the Indian coast, and will thereafter head for Bangladesh.
It is expected to have a short stint as a Cyclone and will make landfall by tomorrow itself. The storm is likely to weaken way before it makes landfall over the Bangladesh coast, close to Chittagong.
Published at 3:00 p.m., Oct 23, 2023: The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) is now centered around 17.5°N and 85.1°E, about 300km east abeam Vizag and nearly 700 km south of Kolkata. Though, the system is not very far from the landmass, but still positioned in favourable waters and environmental conditions. The sea surface is warm enough (29-30°C), vertical wind shear is light (10-15Kts) and decent poleward outflow support intensification.
Deep depression is likely to become a named storm ‘Hamoon’ as proposed by Iran, by today evening. The system will have a short stint of about 24 hours, as a storm before it weakens over the sea itself. The deep depression has already taken a recourse northeastward, moving parallel to the coastline of Odisha and West Bengal. Since the storm is keeping a distance of over 150 km from the coast, there is no serious threat to the Indian region. The proximity of land and drop in sea surface temperature will weaken the system to a deep depression or depression, well before it makes landfall over Bangladesh, near Chittagong.
As the storm skirts the coastline, no damaging rains and strong winds are anticipated for Odisha and West Bengal. Since the left quadrants of the system will have close vicinity to the coastline of these two states, moderately strong winds and intermittent showers are expected over Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal. Locations like Puri, Satapada, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Baleswar, Jaleswar, Digha, Contai, Diamond Harbour, Nandigram, Kolkata, Basirhat can expect rain and thundershower activity over the next 2 days.
The wet spell may interrupt the festive activities of Vijay Dashmi for these two states on the 23rd and 24th of October. Weather conditions will ease out on 25th October over the entire region. The tropical storm, a little early in the season, leaves a lot of scope to have another one before winding up of post-monsoon season.
