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The two cyclonic disturbances that are being tracked by the India Meteorological Department (Photo: Google Earth)

Double storm activity over Arabian Sea picks up, depression likely to form near India coast

The India Meteorological Department is currently tracking two cyclonic disturbances over the Arabian Sea. The first one is near the African coast while the second one is expected to form opposite the Indian coast

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HIGHLIGHTS

Two storms are forming over the Arabian Sea, fresh predictions from the weather department indicate. One of them has already turned into a low pressure system and is likely to become a depression over the next one day with further intensification likely. It currently lies off the African coast and is likely to move over Oman and Yemen.

The second weather system is in infancy and is likely to intensify into a low pressure area by Sunday and then a depression early next week. This one will be a bit close to India, somewhere opposite the southern part of India's west coast.

A low pressure area and a depression are the first two levels on the India Meteorological Department's eight-category scale used to classify cyclones based on their intensity.

In its latest cyclone bulletin, the IMD has predicted that a low pressure area that's formed near the African coast is likely to turn into a depression in the next 24 hours. It is likely to intensify even further in the coming days and might cross the coasts of Oman and Yemen in Africa. Accordingly, Oman's weather department has issued an alert for rainfall in certain regions of the country and rough seas along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea.

Meanwhile, the IMD is tracking another cyclonic disturbance over the Arabian Sea, this one a little nearer to the Indian coast. The disturbance is likely to turn in a low pressure area by May 31 and then intensify further into a depression around June 3, or Wednesday next week. The predicted depression will lie over the Arabian Sea somewhere opposite the coasts of Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka.

More information on whether the predicted depression will intensify further up the cyclonic storm scale and how it will move will be known in the next couple of days, with the IMD saying that it will maintain a continuous watch on the area for the next one week.