The severe cyclonic storm Maha, which is currently over the Arabian Sea, is “very likely” to weaken into a depression by Thursday evening, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said. In a bulletin released late Wednesday night, the weather department said ‘Maha’ had moved east-northeastwards with a speed of 21 kmph and lay centred over east-central and adjoining northeast the Arabian Sea, about 250 km southwest of Porbandar in Gujarat and 290 km west-southwest of Diu. “It is very likely to skirt Saurashtra coast and lay centred about 40 kms south of Diu around noon of November 7 as a deep depression. Continuing to move east-northeastwards, it is very likely to weaken further into a depression by tomorrow evening,” the IMD said. It said that a deep depression, which lay in the Bay of Bengal and is 780 km south-southeast of Odisha’s Paradip, is very likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours. “It is very likely to move northwestwards for some time and then north-northwestwards towards West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts,” the IMD said. The cyclonic storm ‘Bulbul’ has moved northwards with a speed of six kmph during past six hours and lay centred at 02:30 hrs over east-central and adjoining the southeast Bay of Bengal. “It is very likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during next 24 hours and into a very severe cyclonic storm during the subsequent 36 hours,” the IMD said. The weather department also said that Cyclone Bulbul is very likely to move north-northwestwards towards West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts.
