ALARMING TRENDS

Cyclone Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea provides yet another example of the changes that storm systems are exhibiting due to warmer waters

- ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY and HIMANSHU BHAYANI

ON JUNE 15, the Jakhau port in Gujarat was hit by cyclone Biparjoy, which originated in the Arabian Sea about nine days prior. After two days of heavy rainfall, 234 cattle died and 47 people were injured, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told media persons while on a visit to cyclone-affected areas. The government evacuated more than 40,000 people amid devastation in the Kutch-Saurashtra region.

The cyclone's movement defied several early trajectory models such as that of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which initially predicted Biparjoy's path to Gujarat and Pakistan. Another weather model by the Global Forecast System of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had predicted the cyclone's landfall to be in Oman. However, as it made landfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was able to forecast its path to Gujarat and then Rajasthan, where it led to flood-like situations in multiple districts. As of June 20, Biparjoy has moved over Delhi-National Capital Region, and is now officially the longest-lived cyclone in the Arabian Sea basin.

But this is not the only notable aspect of the cyclone. Rather, it is the fact that Biparjoy's formation and intensification was aided by warmer ocean waters.