The first cyclone over the Bay of Bengal in the pre-monsoon season, Cyclone Remal, is expected to make landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal and Bangladesh‘s Khepupara on Sunday midnight. The deep depression intensified into a cyclonic storm on Saturday evening.
“It is very likely to continue to move nearly northwards, intensify further and cross Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara, close to southwest of Mongla (Bangladesh) by midnight of today, the 26th May 2024 as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 110-120 kmph gusting to 135 kmph,” the Indian Meteorological Department has warned.

States which are likely to be affected by Cyclone Remal

Due to the impact of Cyclone Remal, several parts of Odisha will receive light to moderate rainfall and heavy rainfall is expected in the North Coastal Odisha. “Light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is likely over Mizoram, Tripura and South Manipur on 26th and over Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur & Tripura on 27th & 28th May. Isolated extremely heavy rainfall (≥ 20 cm) is also likely over Assam, Meghalaya on 27th & 28th May, Arunachal Pradesh on 28th May and Mizoram & Tripura on 27th May,” the IMD has said in a statement.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea till May 27th.

How was the cyclone named?

Cyclone Remal was named by Oman following the standard convention for naming tropical cyclones in the region. In Arabic, Remal means sand.
Tropical cyclones are named by six Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) and five Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs), with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) being one of the RSMCs.
The decision to name tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea was made in 2000 by the twenty-seventh session of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC).
This panel includes 13 member nations: India, Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Maldives, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Qatar.