2020 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

2020 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

The North Indian Ocean cyclone season has no official bounds, but cyclones tend to form between April and November. The scope of the season is limited to the Indian Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, east of the Horn of Africa and west of the Malay Peninsula. On average, 3–4 cyclonic storms form in this basin every season. This year in the Arabian Sea, Cyclone Nisarga, BOB 02 and BOB 03 formed, affecting Yemen and Oman, and Cyclone Gati, affecting Somalia and Yemen.

About 2020 North Indian Ocean cyclone season in brief

Summary 2020 North Indian Ocean cyclone seasonThe North Indian Ocean cyclone season has no official bounds, but cyclones tend to form between April and November. The scope of the season is limited to the Indian Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, east of the Horn of Africa and west of the Malay Peninsula. On average, 3–4 cyclonic storms form in this basin every season. The season began on May 16 with the designation of Depression BOB 01 in the Bay of Bengal, which later became Cyclone Amphan, the strongest storm in the bay since the 1999 Odisha cyclone. The official Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre in the basin is the India Meteorological Department, while the United States’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center releases unofficial advisories. This year in the Arabian Sea, Cyclone Nisarga, BOB 02 and BOB 03 formed, affecting Yemen and Oman, and Cyclone Gati, affecting Somalia and Yemen, where the cyclone took place. On November 28, a low pressure formed off the coast of Tamil Nadu, it gradually intensified into a depression and then into a cylonic storm, named Cyclone Burevi. A depression formed over Oman on May 29, causing 200mm of rain. The storm left a trail of catastrophic damage, and was later confirmed to be the costliest storm ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean  basin. It is the second year in a row featuring a super cyclonic storm; the previous year saw Kyarrarr in the Arabian Sea, at approximately the same time as Amphan in the northern Indian Ocean.

The Indian Meteorological Department has issued landslide and flooding warnings for parts of eastern Sri Lanka and the Indian state of Kerala. It has advised residents to exercise caution and not venture to low-lying areas or sea or sea areas in Oman, where residents have been advised to evacuate as the depression intensified as 200mm or more of rain was expected. The system began bringing torrential rainfall to Sri Lanka and Southern India. On May 20, Amphan made landfall near Bakkhali, West Bengal, after weakening once inland, and then dissipated the next day. It was the second time in two years that a supercyclonic storm has made landfall in the north Indian Ocean, after Kyarr in 2008. The previous year, Kyarr was the first to make landfall near the West coast of the Indian subcontinent, and it was also the strongest cyclone in the region at the time, with 3-minute sustained winds of 240 kmh and a minimum pressure of 920 hPa. It’s remnants formed ARB 03, which was a weak storm, lasting for 2 days. After it’s break, Cycle Gati formed, leaving 8 confirmed, 30 missing as of today, on Somalia and Yemeni, where it took place on November 25. It weakened into a well marked low pressure on the early hours of November 27.