Andhra Pradesh likely to face cyclonic storm next week

VISAKHAPATNAM: If the present observations and forecast by national and international meteorological departments including the IMD are accurate, then AP is likely to face a severe cyclonic storm in the next one week.

This time, the cyclonic storm will be name as Vardah, as suggested by Pakistan. The numerical weather prediction (NWP) models of various national and international meteorological departments including IMD are of the opinion that Vardah is likely to hit the centre of north coastal AP and south coastal AP between December 10 and 12.

However, an European weather forecast meteorological centre has forecast that the storm will make

landfall on December 11

between

Krishna and Godavari districts

. On Monday, the storm appeared as a

well-marked low pressure

over south Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal and by Tuesday it is expected to intensify into a depression and subsequently into a deep depression by Wednesday, IMD said.

K Nagarathnam, IMD director (forecast), Hyderabad, said, "It is very early to say anything about the system. However, chances are high for the well-marked low pressure to upgrade into a cyclone. The present weather models suggest that the system is heading towards the AP coast, but we will get a clear picture in the next few days." The system entered the Bay of Bengal from South China sea and the existing NWP models predict that it may gain a minimum central pressure of 950-970 hPa (hectopascal) before closing in on AP coast.

In such cases, the wind speed will be around 150-180 kmph. According to scientists from the department of meteorology,

Andhra University

, the initial air pressure of a low pressure system at the ground or central or the eye level is 1,013 hPa.

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