The precursor to Cyclone Asani was in the form of a depression on the Bay of Bengal on Sunday.
Once a cyclone, the storm is expected to reach land near the Myanmar and Bangladesh coasts.
The Met office has almost ruled out any impact on Bengal. “If at all there is any impact, it will be after landfall. If the surface temperature on the Bay is on the higher side, it might lead to the formation of a high-pressure area and trigger thunderstorm activities in the coastal areas,” said a Met official.
The weather in Kolkata on Sunday was hot and dry, like it has been for the past few days. The maximum temperature is tipped to rise by a couple of notches to 37 degrees over the next 48 hours.
“The system is drawing some winds towards itself. But as it intensifies and comes close to the Myanmar coast, the storm will draw more winds, including hot and dry winds from north India. The winds will pass through Bengal and push the Celsius up,” said G.K. Das, director of IMD, Kolkata.
The minimum relative humidity, a marker of the moisture content in the air during the driest part of the day, was 20 per cent. Usually, in the third week of March, it is over 35 per cent and the weather is both hot and sweaty.
According to a Met bulletin on Sunday, the depression was 110km from the Nicobar islands and 170km from Port Blair.
“It is likely to intensify into a deep depression by Monday and a cyclone by Tuesday,” said a Met bulletin.
