Cyclone Senyar weakens, but Ditwah on the prowl

Panaji: While cyclonic storm Senyar in the Strait of Malacca adjoining Bay of Bengal has already weakened, another cyclonic storm, Ditwah has formed over coastal Sri Lanka and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal.Though, like Senyar, the new cyclonic storm is unlikely to affect Goa, it is likely to trigger widespread rain in Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh and isolated rain in coastal Karnatkaa. For Goa, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast dry weather for the next few days.But what piqued the interest of the meteorologists is the formation of four cyclones in the post-monsoon phase during the last twomonths.The first one, cyclonic storm Shakti, had formed in early Oct and Cyclone Montha later in the month, as both created some impact over the state, too.Two-back-to-back cyclonic storms have followed in late Nov. Cyclonic storm, Senyar, being described as a rare one to form in Strait of Malacca formed this week and weakened by Thursday.“There has been a spate of cyclones in recent weeks over the north Indian Ocean and this could be attributed to unusual warming of the northern Indian Ocean,” said M R Ramesh Kumar, chief scientist (retired), NIO and meteorologist.Cyclonic storm Ditwah moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 10kmph earlier on Friday and lay 40km southwest of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) and 320km southeast of Karaikal (India). It is very likely to reach over southwest Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.