Cyclone Tej intensifies into extremely severe cyclone storm, says IMD

Cyclone ‘Tej’ that is hitting the waters of the Arabian Sea intensified into an extremely severe cyclone storm on Sunday and is currently headed towards the Yemen-Oman coasts, according to the India Meteorological Department.

Taking to social media platform X(Twitter). IMD said "The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm “Tej” (pronounced as Tej) over westcentral & adjoining southwest Arabian intensified into an Extremely Esevere Cyclonic Storm."

The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm “Tej” (pronounced as Tej) over westcentral & adjoining southwest Arabian intensified into an Extremely Esevere Cyclonic Storm.#CycloneTEJ #WeatherUpdate #StaySafe@moesgoi @DDNewslive @ndmaindia @airnewsalerts pic.twitter.com/Dzxg2QbCDN

— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) October 22, 2023

Cyclone Tej

As per the weather agency, it's predicted that the cyclone will move northwestwards and cross Yemen-Oman coasts between Al Al Ghaidah (Yemen) and Salalah (Oman), around noon on October 21. The storm will also have wind speeds of 115-125 kmph, gusting to 140 kmph and has been categorised as a severe cyclonic storm.

"The very severe cyclonic storm 'Tej' intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm and lay centred about 160 km east-southeast of Socotra (Yemen), 540 km south-southeast of Salalah (Oman), and 550 km southeast of Al Ghaidah (Yemen) at 8:30 am on Sunday," the IMD said in a statement.

Bay of Bengal weather

The IMD also further stated that the depression on top of the west-central Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a deep depression by early Monday morning.

The depression is predicted to move towards Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts in the subsequent three days, the weather agency said.