Depression over Bay could hit rains in city

It is good as well as bad news for Mumbai. The India Meteorological Department on Saturday confirmed that the south-west monsoon has advanced up to Kochi in Kerala...

It is good as well as bad news for Mumbai. The India Meteorological Department on Saturday confirmed that the south-west monsoon has advanced up to Kochi in Kerala,but a low pressure threatening to develop into a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal could play a dampener to this years good monsoon forecast.

According to the IMD,the latest satellite imageries collected on Saturday afternoon indicated that a depression has formed over the west central Bay of Bengal,which lay centered about 650 km south-southwest of Bangladesh. It is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move in a near northerly direction towards West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coasts during the next 72 hours, the IMD website said.

At 8.30 pm,weather observers said the depression had intensified (from T1 to T 1.5) and is bound to develop into a full-blown cyclone. The bureau has warned of heavy rainfall in West Bengal and northern Orissa from Sunday.

R V Sharma,the deputy director-general of IMD,Mumbai,said,Past observations show that when a cyclone develops in the Bay of Bengal,the monsoon currents in the Arabian Sea weaken. However,only the development of the depression and the direction it takes will determine its effect over Mumbai or Maharashtra.

Professor Kapil Gupta,associate professor of the department of civil engineering,IIT Bombay,agreed that the cyclone to be named AILA is bound to develop,but said the route it takes and the repercussion it has on the monsoon pattern in Mumbai is still not clear.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram