After a long gap, a Cyclone has formed in the Arabian Sea not very far from the Gujarat coastline. The storm has been named as Cyclone Hikka, the name has been given by Maldives.
The Cyclone is currently 500 km away from Gujarat Coast and 400 km away from Pakistan. However, the Cyclone is not expected to hit the Indian mainland but change direction and move southwestwards.
Why is the Cyclone not moving towards India and Pakistan?
The storm has an initial movement in the west northwest direction, however, the Cyclone will change its course soon. The reason being the presence of an Anti Cyclone over the Arabian Peninsula. This Anti-Cyclone will end up restricting the storm’s movement and thus, the system instead of moving westwards will take a southwest path.
The Anti Cyclone is acting as a barrier and not allowing Hikka to gain latitude. On the contrary, Hikka is losing latitude. This is the reason that Hikka has not moved towards Indian Coastline or Pakistan.
Why will the storm not intensify further?
For the intensification and steering of a storm, the winds matter a lot, right from its growth to its movement, upper winds are all pervasive. Favourable features are necessary for the intensification.
The storm is not very far from the coastline, and due to which it will not get a lot of sea travel. It will remain of the midget status, which means that the system will sustain as a storm but not undergo any intensification.
Along with this, the wind shear is also not light and is moderate which will restrict its strength status, and the sea surface temperatures are not very high which will further not be favourable for intensification.
This is the fag end of the Monsoon season, wherein temperatures may not support the intensification and this part of Arabian Sea is relatively colder than the other parts.
The system will approach Oman and continue to maintain its status without intensifying any further.
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