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IMD shares weather update as reports of ‘Cyclone Shakti’ does rounds
According to IMD, the southwest monsoon advanced into parts of Nicobar Islands on Tuesday, at least a week before its scheduled time of arrival.
The Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) official weather update on Wednesday said the probability of the formation of a depression over the Bay of Bengal for the next 168 hours is “NIL” as media reports suggested the possibility of “Cyclone Shakti” over the next week.
The weather agency's cyclone tracker only noted the presence of an upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal and did not mention or alert about the possibility of a cyclone formation.
“Yesterday’s upper air cyclonic circulation over Andaman Sea extending up to 3.1 km above mean sea level tilting southwestwards with height persisted at 0300 UTC of today, 14th May, 2025,” IMD said.
“An upper air cyclonic circulation lay over southwest Bay of Bengal adjoining Tamil Nadu coast at 1.5 km above mean sea level at 0300 UTC of today, 14th May, 2025,” the alert added.
The agency said that scattered low and medium clouds with intense to very intense convection are present over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, while scattered low and medium clouds with moderate to intense convection lay over the central and southwest Bay of Bengal. Other regions of the Bay of Bengal have only isolated weak to moderate convection clouds.
IMD on South-West Monsoon
According to IMD, the southwest monsoon advanced into parts of the Nicobar Islands and some areas of the north Andaman Sea on Tuesday, at least a week before its scheduled arrival time.
The conditions are favourable for the monsoon to advance further into more parts of the sea and are likely to reach Kerala on May 27, earlier than the usual date of June 1.
In April, the agency had forecast above-normal cumulative rainfall in the upcoming monsoon season and ruled out the possibility of El Niño conditions, which are associated with below-normal rainfall in the Indian subcontinent.
The monsoon is crucial for India’s agriculture sector and for replenishing reservoirs critical for drinking water and power generation across the country.
