Cyclonic storm ‘Mandous’ over the Bay of Bengal will hit the coast between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh around December 9 night and early next day. As the state government including Puducherry reviews preparations, heavy rains continued to lash Tamil Nadu under the influence of the cyclonic storm.
The IMD said Doppler weather radars are monitoring the cyclone which weakened into a cyclonic storm on December 9 after being a severe cyclonic storm for less than 24-hours. It now lay at about 260 km south-southeast of Chennai and 180 km east-northeast of Karaikal and is very likely to move nearly northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota near Mamallapuram. Once it intensifies, the cyclonic storm’s maximum sustained wind speed will reach 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph, during midnight and early hours of Saturday.
Why the Name ‘Mandous’? Who Names Cyclones?
Mandous, pronounced ‘man-dous’ meaning ‘treasure box’ in Arabic was reportedly picked by the United Arab Emirates.
Tropical cyclones are officially named by one of its warning centres spread across the globe under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The is due to the fact that there can be more than one cyclone at a time in a particular geographical location or around the globe and using separate names for the storms helps in avoiding confusion, facilitating disaster risk awareness, management and mitigation.
In general, tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at the regional level. In the Indian Ocean and South Pacific region, tropical cyclones receive names alphabetically, and women and men’s names are alternated.
The list of names for the cyclones along with tropical cyclone advisories are issued by six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Storm Warning Centres (TCWCs) from around the world. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is one of the RSMCs and is tasked with giving a title to a cyclone that forms over the northern Indian Ocean when they have reached a maximum sustained surface wind speed of 62 kmph or more. Other countries having regional authorities include Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.
A list comprising 169 names of cyclones was issued in 2020 which was a compilation of suggestions from 13 countries.
So far, 11 names from the list have already been used. These include the names Nisarga, Gati, Nivar, Burevi, Tauktae, Yaas, Gulab, Shaheen, Jawad, Asani and Sitrang.
(With inputs from agencies)
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment