Fani has covered a really long journey as it started on April 23 as a disturbance. Fani originated close to the equator which was a rare thing as storms usually form 5 degrees north of the Equator however, Fani had appeared just 2.5 degrees North of the Equator.
On April 26, Fani was seen as a depression, and had a long sea travel. Moreover, its inception took 36 hours. Thereafter, it took 5 days, to strike Odisha, which was the morning hours of May 3. Not only this, Fani had a wavering track, instead of being a sturdy one which varied a lot.
In fact, from the time it became a depression, on April 26, to the time it became a storm on May 1, it kept meandering and kept interchanging between north, and northwest directions.
After Fani intensified into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm, it then followed a north northeastern track, more on the northern side towards Odisha. Fani crossed Odisha as an extremely severe cyclonic storm.
These storms usually weaken but Fani held down. Fani started its landfall over Odisha at 8 AM and completed it around 10 AM, taking a long time to cross. In fact, Fani stayed for at least six hours, before weakening into a very severe cyclonic storm.
Cyclone Fani made landfall over Odisha's Puri district. During landfall, the wind speed was at around 180-190 kmph, which was gusting up to 200-220 kmph at times. The storm wreaked havoc over Odisha causing massive damage over the state.
Fani spent a really long time over Odisha, around 19-20 hours. After Fani became a Severe Cyclonic Storm, at the Odisha and Bengal border, it had a rapid weakening, that too, within 12 hours. Fani had the shortest stay over West Bengal.
During the wee hours of May 4, it was a severe cyclonic storm and in just about 3-4 hours, it weakened into a cyclone. In fact, within 6-8 hours, Fani became a deep depression over West Bengal before it crossed over to Bangladesh.
Fani was a deep depression while over Bangladesh and here also saw a rapid decay becoming a depression soon, just about six hours or so, spending only six to eight hours over Bangladesh.
Cyclone Fani had the longest travel over the sea, intensifying from various stages taking its time. On the other hand, its decay phase was also very rapid making it one of the most unique Cyclones in the history of North Indian Ocean Cyclones.
Both West Bengal as well as Northeast India, which were to see heavy rains due to Fani, escaped the fury of the storm, all thanks to its rapid decay process.
While the passage of this storm was supposed to cover up the rainfall deficiencies in Northeast India. The only two states in Northeast that saw good rains due to Fani were Assam and Meghalaya, other states continue to remain deficient.
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com