Cyclone Midhili to make Landfall in Bangladesh Coast, fishermen warned

Cyclone Midhili to cross Bangladesh early tomorrow

The India Meteorological Department has said Cyclone Midhili has developed in the northwest Bay of Bengal during the early hours of Friday.

The Cyclone Midhili is headed towards Bangladesh

There is no direct threat to India as the Cyclone Midhili is headed towards Bangladesh and hit the coast during the early hours of Saturday. However, strong winds with speeds 30 to 40 km/hr gusting to 50 km/hr could hit Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Assam on Saturday.

This is the second Cyclone Midhili developing in the Bay of Bengal in less than a month. On October 25, cyclone Hamoon had crossed Bangladesh.

The IMD, in its national cyclone bulletin issued on Friday morning, said that the Cyclone Midhili was located 190 km away from Paradip, 200 km from south-southwest of Digha and 220 km southwest of Khepupara, Bangladesh.

The name ‘Midhili’ was given by the Maldives. Countries affected by the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal Cyclone Midhili rotationally give names of cyclones in a sequence.

The Met department warned fishermen not to venture into the sea in north Bay of Bengal and along and off West Bengal coasts till Saturday.

Also read: Nepal Earthquake News Today Live Updates: ‘India stands in solidarity with people of Nepal’

The IMD said the cyclone Midhili will have no major impact on Odisha as it passes above 150 kilometres from the state’s coast. However, some districts like Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur likely to get heavy rainfall on Friday, IMD scientist Umashankar Das said.

“The Cyclone Midhili will continue to move north-northeastwards and cross the coast near Khepupara during the early hours of Saturday. The wind speed at the time of the landfall will range between 60 – 70 kms/hr with gusts reaching 80kms/hr,” the IMD said.

Extremely rough sea conditions will likely prevail over the north Bay of Bengal till Saturday, and the Met department has warned the fishermen against venturing into the deep sea.

Deep depression over Bay of Bengal (BoB) intensified in to a tropical storm in the wee hours today. The cyclone named ‘Midhili’ is centered around 20.3°N and 88.9°E over northwest BoB. The storm is placed at a reasonably safe distance from the capital city of West Bengal and located about 200km south of Digha. The steering winds are moving the storm northeastward, parallel to coastline of West Bengal and heading for Bangladesh.   

Tropical storm is positioned in marginally favourable environmental conditions. The dense clouds mass with deep convection is superimposed over broad low level cyclonic circulation, with a significant outflow.  Adequate heat potential has sustained the storm so far but any further growth is unlikely.  Rather, the storm may weaken a little with fading support from the peripheral region.  Vertical wind shear will increase and sea surface temperature will drop in the close proximity of coastline. Entrainment of dry air and increase of friction may erode the compact structure of storm.  Accordingly, the storm may loose its strength slightly before making landfall.

Also read: Cyclone Midhili: Bay of Bengal System to Intensify Into Cyclonic Storm Tomorrow, Make Landfall over Bangladesh

Cyclone Midhili will continue moving northeastward to head for Bangladesh coast. Landfall is likely near Kaukata, beach town of Bangladesh, sometime in the late evening today. Some stations of Bangladesh like, Kaukata, Khepupara, Madaripur, Comilla, Feni, Sandwip, Cox’s Bazar, Teknaf will be at risk of gale winds and  flooding rains in the next 24 hours.  Khepupara received 135.4mm rainfall in the past 24hours. More intense showers will cause inundation of coastal areas towards evening and night. Capital city Dhaka will be at a safe distance and no hazardous weather is expected.

After making landfall in the late evening, storm will weaken to a depression by mid night and further to a low pressure tomorrow morning/forenoon hours. Northeastern states like Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur will get squally weather and heavy rains in the next 24 hours. Extreme southeastern parts of Assam also will get moderate showers, becoming heavy at times.  Weather conditions will improve significantly by tomorrow evening and further better day after tomorrow.

This is the second post monsoon cyclone of 2023, hitting Bangladesh. Earlier, very severe cyclonic storm ‘Hamoon’ struck Cox’s Bazar on 24^thOctober 2023.  In the pre monsoon season, Bangladesh had a close shave as an extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Mocha’ struck Myanmar, near Sittwe  on 14^th May 2023.