Cyclones and its lifecycle
A cyclone refers to any low-pressure area with winds spiraling inwards. Cyclones rotate clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. … Cyclones are also referred to as hurricanes and typhoons.
Formation of cyclones
Cyclones are formed over the oceanic water in the tropical region. In this region, the sunlight is highest which results in warming of land and water surface. Due to this, the warm moist air over ocean rises upwards following which cool air rushes in to fill the void, they too get warm and rise — the cycle continues.
The spinning of cyclones
The spinning of cyclones happen because of 2 reasons –
1. Wind always blows from high pressure to low pressure areas. High pressure areas are created in the cold region while low is created in the warm regions.
2. Earth’s movement – Movement of Earth is west to east. The rotation on its axis causes deflection of the wind in the tropical region as the speed of spinning of Earth is higher compared to polar sides due to its spherical shape. Wind coming from the Arctic is deflected to the right while Antarctic wind deflects to the left side. So, wind is already blowing in a direction. But when it reaches the warmer place, cool air starts getting attracted to the center to fill the gap and formation starts taking place.
Landfall of a cyclone
Cyclone starts to slow down when it hits the land… Tauktae was first monitored by India Meteorological Department on May 13 in the Arabian Sea and it made its landfall in Gujrat on May 17. It was classified as Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm which means speed of the wind Speed is more than 221 km/hr.
Now while Tauktae is losing its grip, another low-pressure system (named as Yass) is brewing over the Bay of Bengal and is set to intensify into a powerful cyclone. Eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal are likely to face the brunt of the upcoming storm next week, as the storm is expected to make landfall by May 26.