The speed of wind in the centre is 110 kmph, gusting to about 130 kmph. With the storm abating a little, the central pressure has risen to 990 hectapascal (hPa).
Cyclone Madi, named so by Maldives, is positioned around 550 km east/north east of Chennai. The storm is likely to shift south westward after 24 hours. As it moves closer to the coastline, weather of south coastal Andhra Pradesh and north coastal Tamil Nadu will be affected in terms of precipitation and strong winds with surface speed of 30 to 40 kmph. Even the interiors stand a chance to be affected when Madi reaches sufficiently closer to the coastline. So far the cyclone has hardly brought any rain in peninsular India and its effect has been restricted to heavy clouding in coastal parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and even stretching to Northeast India. The cloud belt is also expected to shift southward with West Bengal and Assam receiving clear skies.
Though we still maintain that no significant eye of Cyclone Madi is visible, a ragged eye seems to have been formed. Let’s understand the ‘eye of the strom’:
- Eye forms at the centre of the storm
- It is warmer than the surrounding
- The eye of the storm is generally cloud free, and
- It is surrounded by a thick wall of cloud
Skymet Weather will keep following up on the latest developments of the storm and weather in South India in view of this system.