Record cyclone year for Arabian Sea sees another deep depression intensify into Cyclone Pawan; 2nd low pressure area may weaken

In a year that has witnessed a record number of cyclonic disturbances in the Arabian Sea, two more deep depressions areas are discovered in the sea just before the new year. According to various weather monitoring channels, two deep depressions are brewing in the Arabian Sea and while the first has already concentrated into Cyclone Pawan, the second may just weaken before taking the shape of a cyclonic storm. The weather warning system of Indian Meteorological Department shows that the deep depression over southwest Arabian Sea has already intensified in to Cyclone Pawan and lay centred at about 470 kilometres south-southeast of Socotra (Yemen) on Thursday morning at around 5.30 pm. [caption id=“attachment_7742231” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] DD over southwest Arabian Sea intensified in to CS Pawan and lay centred at 0530IST of 05 Dec, about 470 km south-southeast of Socotra (Yemen). Image Courtesy: IMD[/caption] “It is very likely to maintain its intensity as a cyclonic storm till tomorrow morning and weaken gradually thereafter. It is very likely to move north-northwestwards for some more time, then re-curve west-southwestwards and cross Somalia coast as a depression between Latitudes 7° and 8°N during 7 December morning,” the IMD predicted. Meanwhile, the deep depression over the East central Arabian Sea is unlikely to mature into a cyclonic storm. Overnight, it has moved slowly northwestwards with a speed of 2 kilometre per hour during past six hours, weakened into a depression and lay centred around 690 kilometres west-southwest of Mumbai and 630 kilometres west of Panaji. It is very likely to weaken gradually into a well marked low pressure area and move west-northwest wards away from Indian coast during next 12 hours. Earlier, it was predicted that this deep depression may strengthen and transform into Cyclone Amphan. The calendar year 2019 has witnessed the highest number of cyclonic disturbances — seven — over the Arabian Sea in the last 127 years, the India Meteorological Department said on Wednesday. But the year not only saw the most number of cyclones forming in the north Indian Ocean — including the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal — but also the most intense ones. Out of the seven cyclones in the north Indian Ocean so far, six had intensified into severe cyclonic storms, which happened for the first time in a century. One of them, Cyclone Kyarr ended up becoming a Super Cyclone in the Arabian Sea, Livemint reported. In 1998, there were six cyclonic disturbances (CDs), as per the IMD records. The yearly average for the area is 1.7. Compared to the Arabian Sea, the activity over the Bay of Bengal has been subdued, with three cyclones recorded so far against the average four every year, the IMD said. The cyclonic activity brought post-monsoon rain, hitting agriculture in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka. Of the seven cyclonic disturbances over the Arabian Sea this year, four were recorded post-monsoon. “This is the maximum frequency of cyclonic disturbances observed over the Arabian sea so far in the post-monsoon period,” an IMD official said. “The recorded last such activity was in 1982 and 2011 when four CDs were observed in the post-monsoon season,” he said.