KARACHI – Pakistan Meteorological Department on Thursday issued a tropical cyclone alert due to a deep depression over the coastal belt of Sindh and a potential sea storm in the northeastern Arabian Sea.
The Meteorological Department, the deep depression (DD, a very strong low-pressure area) has slowly moved westward and southwestward over the past 12 hours from the Rann of Kutch, India, and is now approximately 270 kilometers southeast of Karachi.
It is expected that this system would continue to move west and southwest, potentially reaching the northeastern Arabian Sea along the Sindh coast by late tonight or tomorrow morning.
Given the favorable environmental conditions, the sea surface temperatures and upper-level divergence, the system is likely to intensify into a cyclone by tomorrow.
Initially, the cyclonic storm is expected to move westward and southwestward, bringing thunderstorms with heavy rains to Karachi Division, Tharparkar, Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jamshoro and Dadu until August 31.
The winds are expected to reach speeds of 50 to 60 kilometers per hour, caused the sea to remain rough and very rough. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea until August 31.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department is monitoring the cyclone warning center and the Karachi system, and the authorities concerned have been asked to stay informed through the Meteorological Department’s advisories.
Once the storm forms in the Arabian Sea, it would be named “Isna” which is the proposed name by Pakistan and it means “elevated” or “higher”.
