A low-pressure area formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal on Thursday, which is likely to move west-northwestwards and concentrate into a depression by Saturday morning (October 22), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said. The weather system is likely to further intensify into a cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal by Monday (October 24) and reach the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Tuesday (October 25), skirting the Odisha coast.

If the system develops, it will be the first cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal in the month of October since 2018. Once it intensifies into a cyclone, it will be called Sitrang (read as Si-trang), a name suggested by Thailand. Sitrang will be the second cyclonic storm this year after Cyclone Asani that had formed in the Bay of Bengal in early May.

In light of this, the Odisha government Wednesday alerted seven coastal districts — Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Balasore — and asked them to take precautionary measures. The IMD has also advised fisherfolk not to venture into the sea from October 22.

Once the system intensifies, the IMD will predict the intensity, trajectory and landfall area of the possible cyclone.

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