With Cyclone Asani positioned closest to India’s east coast since the early hours of Wednesday, its effects in the form of overcast sky conditions will be experienced over Maharashtra. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are already witnessing moderate to heavy rainfall due to the cyclone since Tuesday.
Early on Wednesday, Asani had weakened from a ‘severe’ cyclone to a ‘cyclone’ category and was located closest to India’s east coast.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said that the storm will traverse along the coastal Andhra Pradesh districts. The latest satellite images show the cyclone’s outer cloud bands reaching as far as North Konkan and Central Maharashtra on Wednesday.
Cloudy to partly cloudy sky conditions will prevail over Central Maharashtra and Southern Konkan on Wednesday and Thursday but chances of rainfall have been ruled out. The night temperatures will remain above normal and range between 25 to 27 degrees Celsius whereas the maximum temperatures will fall slightly below normal and remain within 38 degrees Celsius, the latest forecast issued by IMD, Pune, stated.
As per the satellite observations of 5.30 am shared by the IMD on Wednesday, Cyclone Asani had moved at a speed of 6 kmph and was located at about 50 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam150 km southwest of Kakinada290 km southwest of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 530 km southwest of Gopalpur and 640 km southwest of Puri in Odisha.
As the day progresses, Asani is likely to continue to move north-northeast wards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni, and Visakhapatnam coasts. Later, it will slowly recurve sometime between noon and evening hours and emerge into the west-central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by Wednesday night, the IMD’s morning cyclone bulletin issued at 8.30 am said.
“It is likely to weaken gradually into a depression by Thursday,” it said.
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