Biparjoy, which means ‘disaster or calamity’, a name suggested by Bangladesh for a tropical cyclone that has formed in the Arabia Sea, is some 1,400 kilometers south of Karachi and likely to convert into a severe cyclonic storm (SCS), the Pakistan Meteorological Department said on Tuesday, adding that at the moment, the accurate direction of the cyclone could not be predicted.
“The depression (strong low-pressure area) over the southeast Arabian Sea has intensified further into a cyclonic storm (CS) ‘Biparjoy’, which is pronounced ‘Biporjoy’ and now lies near Latitude 12.3°N & Longitude 66.0°E about 1420km south of Karachi. Maximum sustained surface winds are 60-70 km/hour gust 80 km/hour around the system center,” Dr Sardar Sarfraz, chief meteorological officer (CMO) of Sindh, told The News on Tuesday. Referring to an advisory issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), he said that due to favourable environmental conditions which include the sea surface temperature of 30-32°C, low vertical wind shear and upper-level divergence, the system is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 24/36 hours and continue to move in the north/northwest direction.
“Currently, none of the Pakistan coastal areas is under any threat. The PMD’s cyclone warning center, Karachi is monitoring the system and will issue update accordingly,” Dr Sarfraz quoted the advisory as saying.
He maintained that most of the cyclones in the Arabian sea turn towards Oman or Indian Gujarat due to upper-level divergence, but an accurate prediction could be made once the cyclone moves towards 20 degrees North. He added that they were closely monitoring the movement of the cyclone in the Arabian Sea.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the cyclonic storm ‘Biporjoy’ will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Thursday morning and a very severe cyclonic storm by Friday evening.