Honorable Mr. Chief Minister Sir,
Greetings from Skymet Weather Pvt. Ltd.
This is in context with your statement in the press conference on Friday (1st December, 2017) regarding Cyclone ‘Ockhi ’ that caused widespread devastation in coastal areas of Kerala. We are equally concerned with the development and intensification of cyclone Ockhi in the Arabian Sea and that’s the reason we have been constantly tracking the phases of cyclogenesis and issuing forecast information and weather warnings to various stakeholders through our channels. The following chronology of our forecast dissemination indicates how we have been constantly predicting the possible movement of cyclone with potential disaster situations –
November 21: A low pressure area had appeared over South Andaman Sea and adjoining areas.
November 24: The low pressure area moved further and was marked over southeast and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal.
November 26: The low pressure area got more marked by this time and was seen over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka coast
November 28: In the wake of the low pressure area nearing the Indian coast, heavy rainfall forecast were issued for southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
November 29: The low pressure area gained momentum and intensified into a well-marked low pressure area. It rapidly concentrated into a depression during the same time period over Sri Lankan coast and adjoining Comorin area. Cyclone alert was issued and as it was clearly indicated that the system will track very close to southern tip of South India. In the wake of this, heavy to very heavy rains were anticipated over southern districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu much in advance.
#Depression in #Bay may form into first #cyclonicstorm of season. https://t.co/E8pux1nGYk #Cyclone #CycloneWatch #CycloneAlert #Depression91B @IndianExpress @livemint @htTweets @toi
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 29, 2017
#Depression91B nowcast: Skymet weather CEO @JATINSKYMET talks about potential #cyclone brewing in Bay, first of sea… https://t.co/HaCx3tZVma
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 29, 2017
#Weather Forecast for Nov 30: #Cyclone #Alert issued, heavy #Rains in #TamilNadu #Kerala #SriLanka #ChennaiRains @TOICitiesNews pic.twitter.com/vJbyDcK83p
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 29, 2017
November 30: The deep depression over Comorin area finally intensified into the cyclonic storm Ockhi. Heavy to extremely heavy rains were predicted over Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Damage alert was issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam and Kanyakumari.
#cyclonealert: The #Sea conditions would be rough along & off South #Kerala coast during next 48 hrs and along & off south #TamilNadu coast during next 24 hours. #Cyclone #Ockhi #CycloneOckhi #Weather #cyclone1 #Chennai #Chennairains #Kerala @tnsdma @ndmaindia @CMOKerala
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017
#Cyclonealert: Damage is expected over #Alappuzha #Kottayam #Idukki #Kollam#Pathanathitta #Thiruvananthapuram in south #Kerala, adjoining districts of south #TamilNadu such as #Kanyakumari #Tutukudi #Tirunelveli and #Lakshadweep #Cyclone #Ockhi #CycloneOckhi @tnsdma @CMOKerala
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017
Heavy to very heavy #rain are likely to batter #Thiruvananthapuram #Kollam #Alappuzha #Kochi and #Kottayam. Torrential rains likely: https://t.co/Vq1TWGbheR @CMOKerala #Cyclone #Ockhi #CycloneOckhi #Weather #cyclone1 #cyclonealert #Kerala
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017
#CycloneOckhi forms, Severe Cyclonic #storm likely in 24 Hrs: https://t.co/HWMRuV0WFs #Cyclone #Ockhi #Weather #cyclone1 #Chennai #Chennairains #Kerala #cyclonealert @KeralaGovernor @BSNL_KL @kerala_kaumudi @SunTV @tnsdma @karthickselvaa @ndmaindia @archvivekh @SuryanFM
— SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017
December 1: Cyclonic storm Ockhi moved further in west-northwest direction in Southeast Arabian Sea and strengthened into a severe cyclonic storm over Lakshadweep Island by Friday afternoon. As weather conditions were favorable, Ockhi further strengthened into very severe cyclonic storm.
Time to time weather updates along with nowcast videos were also issued on the same.
Being a responsible weather forecasting and monitoring agency in the country , we feel it as the utmost priority to disseminate our vital information to concerned stakeholders through our own network , which may be evidently seen in our messages in Skymet portals, twitter handles ,Disaster Management Whatsapp group etc. All this information has been shared free of cost. Many media channels including BBC, Newsx, Republic TV, BTV, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Times of India, Firstpost etc. were quoting our cyclone updates and forecasts.
With a rich network of over 100 Automatic Weather Stations across Kerala, we have been sharing vital weather information since long. I hope the state government of Kerala would consider taking help of our weather forecast information for early warning and disaster risk management in future.