Cyclone Mocha to intensify, severe rain expected in India's northeastern states, check details

Severe cyclone Mocha on Friday morning intensified over the southeast Bay of Bengal with winds of around 140-150 km/h with a 165 km/h gust. According to M Mohapatra, director general of India Meteorological Department (IMD), there are dry, continental winds blowing over all of east India in the general direction of Cyclone Mocha. On May 13 and 14, Mohapatra predicted rain and severe winds for the northeastern states.

Cyclone Mocha intensified into a "very severe" cyclonic storm today over the southeast and adjoining areas of the central Bay of Bengal. As per IMD, "The SCS "Mocha" intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, lay centered at 05:30 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over central adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal near latitude 13.2N and long 88.1E, about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair."

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IMD has issued warnings about the potential for landslides in sensitive places, minor damage to weak or unstable structures, uprooting of small trees and breaking of tree limbs, and damage to tiny trees like banana trees in Mizoram, Tripura, and South Manipur.

It has requested that farmers to rapidly harvest mature fruits and crops, stake and cover vegetable nurseries and orchards, refrain from using chemicals, and confine cattle to sheds.

The really rough to phenomenal sea (9–14 m wave height) is expected to have an impact on the shipping and offshore industries. Up to Saturday, IMD advises regulating shipping, offshore operations, and tourism around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It has suggested limiting ships till Sunday in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

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Mocha is not likely to have any impact on the monsoon which usually reaches Kerala around 1 June. “Mocha is a transient system and there is still a fortnight left for the normal onset date for monsoon. We do not think the very severe cyclone will impact monsoon onset,” said Mohapatra.

On Friday morning, Mocha was around 520 kilometres to the west-northwest of Port Blair. The tropical heat potential, which fuels the cyclone, is at its highest level close to the coast of Myanmar, according to an IMD official.

“Bay of Bengal is considerably warm with sea surface temperatures of over 30°C over most parts of the ocean.”

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Sea surface temperatures near Myanmar were, according to climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Pune), as high as those around the Bay at 30-32°C, or 1-2°C above average.

“The subsurface conditions are also warm, but not as warm as central Bay.”

Because of the winds and moisture that mocha is attracting, there will likely be extreme heat in several areas of east and northeast India. On Wednesday, portions of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Gangetic West Bengal had maximum temperatures that were well above average (5.1°C or above).

For patches in Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal on May 11, Konkan from May 10 to 12, Rajasthan on May 12 and 13, and coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam from May 13 to 15, IMD issued a heat wave warning. Uncomfortable weather is predicted in the Konkan, Odisha, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu due to the humidity and high temperatures.

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