A cyclonic storm named “Shakti” has formed over the Bay of Bengal, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the United States Navy. The storm was reported on Thursday morning, with its center located in the southwest Bay of Bengal.
In its 9 a.m. advisory, the JTWC said the cyclone was positioned east of the Andhra Pradesh coastline and about 700 kilometers southwest of Kolkata. The maximum sustained wind speed near the center was recorded at 65 kilometers per hour, with gusts reaching up to 83 kilometers per hour.
The weather agency stated that Cyclone Shakti is expected to make landfall tonight between the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. However, the meteorological departments of both Bangladesh and India are still classifying it as a “deep depression.”
Although the cyclone is not expected to directly cross Bangladesh, its influence may bring moderate to heavy rainfall across parts of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya through October 5.
Meteorologist and climate researcher Mostafa Kamal Palash of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada noted that the development of Cyclone Shakti during the monsoon is an unusual occurrence. “Typically, full-scale cyclones do not form in the Bay of Bengal until the monsoon season has ended. The formation of Shakti before the conclusion of the monsoon is highly exceptional,” he said.
He also observed that this year the Bay of Bengal has already witnessed a record number of monsoon-induced low pressures, depressions, and deep depressions occurring in succession, making Shakti’s emergence a rare event in the climatic history of the region.
