Weather: South TN, Kerala on edge as Cyclone Burevi leaves Lanka

Cyclone Burevi, which was over Sri Lanka, moved west-northwestwards and was found about 40 km East of Mannar (Sri Lanka), one hundred twenty km East-South-East of Pamban, and 320 km East-North-East of Kanniyakumari (the two in South Tamil Nadu) at 5.30 am on Thursday morning.

The cyclone would retain its framework intact and move west-northwestwards to arise into Gulf of Mannar near the Mannar coast by 11.30 am, mentioned the India Meteorological Office (IMD). Packing winds dashing to 70-80 km/hr and gusting to ninety km/hr, the cyclone will be centered near to Pamban all-around midday.

Slight change in track

It will then change track (bend southward) to move west-southwestwards throughout the Pamban space by the afternoon, and cross the South Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Kanniyakumari by Thursday night time or early Friday morning as a cyclone with wind speeds of 70-80 km/hr gusting to ninety km/hr.

The impression of the cyclone could get started revealing alone over the coastal districts of South Tamil Nadu from this forenoon alone from the Ramanathapuram district first, and distribute slowly toward the Kanniyakumari district farther to the South-South-West, the IMD mentioned.

Significant to extremely weighty rainfall is forecast with isolated very weighty falls over the Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi and Sivagangai districts in South Tamil Nadu and the Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts in South Kerala on Thursday and isolated weighty to extremely weighty rain over South Tamil Nadu and South Kerala on Friday.

Significant rainfall forecast

Significant to extremely weighty rainfall is probable over North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Mahe, Karaikal and North Kerala on Thursday whilst it would be isolated weighty on Friday. Significant rainfall is forecast also over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep on the two Thursday and Friday. The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, mentioned that popular showers could strike Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep till Friday morning whilst it will be isolated over Coastal Karnataka and scattered over South Interior Karnataka.

Landfall over Sri Lanka

Cyclone Burevi built the first landfall over Sri Lanka past night time (Wednesday) when it crossed the East Coastline of the island near to north of Trincomalee between 10.30 pm and 11.30 pm. The Sri Lanka Meteorological Office mentioned that the centre of the cyclone had crossed the North-East coast between Kuchchaveli and Thiriyayi between 10.30-11.30 pm.

Meanwhile, squally wind speeds reaching fifty five-fifty five km/hr gusting to 75 km/hr over the Comorin space, the Gulf of Mannar and alongside, and off Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari in South Tamil Nadu Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha in South Kerala, will scale up to 70-80 km/hr gusting to ninety km/hr from the forenoon to Friday.

Higher winds, tough seas warned

Wind speeds reaching forty five-fifty five km/hr gusting to 65 km/hr are forecast over Lakshadweep-Maldives space and adjoining South-East Arabian Sea will prevail into Friday. A storm surge of about three.two ft significant above the astronomical tide could inundate small lying regions of Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts during the time of landfall.

Sea circumstances will be ‘very tough to high’ (wave heights of 20-30 ft) over Comorin space, the Gulf of Mannar, and alongside and off the South Tamil Nadu-Kerala and West Sri Lanka coasts on Thursday and Friday. It will be ‘rough to extremely rough’ (eight-20 ft) over the Lakshadweep-Maldives space and adjoining South-East Arabian Sea from right now (Thursday) to Saturday, the IMD mentioned.