Typhoon Nari may enter Bay of Bengal

Typhoon Nari, packing winds of up to 133 kilometres per hour, knocked Vietnam on the 15^th of October causing widespread damage to life and property. One of the biggest typhoons to hit the country since 2006, has loosened strength after making a landfall. It majorly affected Danang, popular for its pristine beaches. Danger now looms over the Bay of Bengal as the typhoon is expected to enter here as a cyclonic circulation in a manner as cyclonic storm Phailin did on the 12^th of this month.

“It may enter the Bay, however chances of it becoming a cyclone are less,” says Mahesh Palawat, Head of the Meteorological team at Skymet Weather. Phailin entered Bay of Bengal near the Andaman Coast and Tenasserim coast in Myanmar as a low-pressure area. But Nari will enter as a cyclonic circulation which is weaker in intensity then a low pressure area. Unlike Phailin, Nari will not get enough time to intensify as Phailin. He also added, “we have to wait and watch weather it enters Bay of Bengal or not and even if it does then what is its intensity.”

Vietnam braced up for Nari by evacuating more than 120,000 people to makeshift shelters far away from the coastal areas. The India met department is now closely monitoring the track of the typhoon but hasn’t concluded whether it would intensify into another cyclone or not as its intensity is quite lower than a low pressure system.

 

picture courtesy: Nasa