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Friday, May 10, 2013

Info Post
By Eric Leister, Meteorologist

A large zone of unsettled weather over the Indian Ocean has resulted in the formation of two tropical cyclones this week.

The first area, just east of Sri Lanka, will pose the greatest threat to land, as the potential tropical cyclone could bring impacts to areas from northeast India to Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Farther south, Tropical Cyclone Jamala formed on Wednesday from this broad area of unsettled weather.

The above satellite image from Friday shows clouds associated with Tropical Cyclone Jamala well south of India. Also seen is the newly formed Tropical Cyclone 01B to the southeast of Sri Lanka.

This newly formed tropical cyclone will be the greatest threat to land during the next week, while Tropical Cyclone Jamala will drift south and then westward over the open Indian Ocean during this time.

Tropical Cyclone 01B is expected to take a generally northward track over the next couple of days as it becomes better organized. With this track, the potential storm could bring life-threatening conditions to millions of people from northern India and into Bangladesh and even Myanmar.

The storm is expected to approach Bangladesh Wednesday, however anyone in the area from northeast India to Myanmar can be impacted by this storm.

Another concern is that parts of Bangladesh and northeast India have received 6-12 inches of rainfall during the past week, so additional heavy rainfall from a possible tropical cyclone would likely produce widespread flooding and possible mudslides.

Cyclones that have hit these areas in the past have been some of the most deadly across the globe. In 2008, Tropical Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of Myanmar with some estimates of more than 100,000 people killed by the storm. A tropical cyclone that hit Bangladesh in 1991 reportedly killed more than 100,000 people as well.

Even though this storm is not expected to be as powerful as either of these, it shows how much damage can be done by a tropical cyclone in this part of the world.

Tropical Cyclone Jamala will have less impact on land masses, especially in the short term. The most likely track would take the storm to the south before upper-level winds take the storm westerly toward Madagascar late next week.

Credit & Copy From; http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/india-to-myanmar-possible-targ/11912370