Gandhinagar: In an unusual event, a rare cyclone is forming over the Saurashtra-Kutch region of Gujarat and is anticipated to take shape over the Arabian Sea on Friday (August 30), as reported by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Should this cyclone form, it would be only the second occurrence of its kind in the Arabian Sea during August in more than fifty years.
The IMD’s national bulletin states that the deep depression over Saurashtra and Kutch is expected to move west-southwestwards and appear over the northeast Arabian Sea off the Kutch coast and adjacent Pakistan, intensifying into a cyclonic storm by Friday. Upon becoming a cyclone, it will receive the name Asna, as provided by Pakistan.
Even with the potential intensification of the deep depression into a cyclonic storm, it is not expected to affect the Indian coastline significantly. According to IMD predictions, the cyclone is likely to move from the Saurashtra-Kutch area of Gujarat towards the coast of Oman.
The IMD notes that the formation of cyclonic storms in August over the Arabian Sea is an infrequent occurrence. There have been only three such storms since 1891, with the last one in August 1976. This would mark the first cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea in August since that year.
