Cyclone Michaung

Context:

landfall of cyclone Michaung in Andhra Pradesh.

The name Michaung was proposed by Myanmar, denoting resilience and

fortitude. The cyclone is the sixth to develop in the Indian Ocean this year
and fourth to form in the Bay of Bengal.

Tropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones are named by various warning

centers to simplify communication between forecasters and the general
public regarding forecasts, watches and warnings. The names are intended
to reduce confusion in the event of concurrent storms in the same basin.
Once storms develop sustained wind speeds of more than 33 knots (61
km/h; 38 mph), names are generally assigned to them from predetermined
lists, depending on the basin in which they originate.

Within the North Indian Ocean between 45°E – 100°E, tropical cyclones are
named by the India Meteorological Department (IMD/RSMC New Delhi)
when they are judged to have intensified into cyclonic storms with 3-minute
sustained wind speeds of at least 34 kn (39 mph; 63 km/h).

Cyclone:

It is a large-scale system of air that rotates around the center of a

low-pressure area.
It is usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather.

As per the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)-

A cyclone is characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate
anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern
hemisphere.
It classifies cyclones broadly into two categories: tropical cyclones and
extratropical cyclones.

Tropical cyclones:

These develop in the regions between the Tropics of Capricorn and

Cancer.
They are the most devastating storms on Earth.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA)-
Such cyclones develop when thunderstorm activity starts building close to
the center of circulation, and the strongest winds and rain are no longer in a
band far from the center.
The storm's core turns warm, and the cyclone gets most of its energy from
the “latent heat” released when water vapour that has evaporated from
warm ocean waters condenses into liquid water.

Warm fronts or cold fronts are not associated with tropical cyclones.

Tropical cyclones have different names depending on their location and

strength.
For instance, they are known as hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, the
Gulf of Mexico, the North Atlantic Ocean and the eastern and central North
Pacific Ocean. In the western North Pacific, they are called typhoons.In
Australia, they called it Wily Willy.
The conditions favorable for the formation and intensification of
tropical storms are -
● Large sea surface with a temperature higher than 27° C.
● Presence of the Coriolis force.
● Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
● A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic
circulation.
● Upper divergence above the sea level system.
Extratropical cyclones:

Also known as mid-latitude cyclones, extratropical cyclones occur outside

the tropics, i.e., beyond the areas that fall under the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA)-
They have cold air at their core and derive energy from releasing potential
energy when cold and warm air masses interact.
Such cyclones always have one or more fronts connected to them.
A front is a weather system that is the boundary between two kinds of air
masses, where one front is represented by warm air and the other by cold
air. Such cyclones can occur over land and ocean.

How are cyclones named: The name Michaung was proposed by

Myanmar, denoting resilience and fortitude. The cyclone is the sixth to
develop in the Indian Ocean this year and fourth to form in the Bay of
Bengal.

Tropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones are named by various warning

centers to simplify communication between forecasters and the general
public regarding forecasts, watches and warnings. The names are intended
to reduce confusion in the event of concurrent storms in the same basin.
Once storms develop sustained wind speeds of more than 33 knots (61
km/h; 38 mph), names are generally assigned to them from predetermined
lists, depending on the basin in which they originate.

Within the North Indian Ocean between 45°E – 100°E, tropical cyclones are
named by the India Meteorological Department (IMD/RSMC New Delhi)
when they are judged to have intensified into cyclonic storms with 3-minute
sustained wind speeds of at least 34 kn (39 mph; 63 km/h).