Cyclone Biparjoy, about 150 km off the Gujarat coast, is expected to make landfall on Thursday around 9 or 10 pm, with winds between 115 to 125 km/hr.
Cyclone Warning for Saurashtra & Kutch Coasts: RED MESSAGE.VSCS BIPARJOY at 1430IST today near lat 22.8N and lon 67.6E about 110km WSW of Jakhau Port (Gujarat),160km WNW of Devbhumi Dwarka.Landfall process will commence near Jakhau Port from today evening,continue till midnight. pic.twitter.com/vUZnTr0POZ
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) June 15, 2023
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) June 15, 2023
In June 2023, Cyclone Biparjoy, which remained in the Arabian Sea for more than a week, approached the coastal areas of western India and southern Pakistan. The NOAA-20 satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) took this stunning natural-color image of the cyclone on June 14, just a day before its expected landfall.
Cyclone Biparjoy, which had a remarkable lifetime with wind speeds of 129 kilometers (80 mi) per hour, was classified as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson wind scale. After remaining in the Arabian Sea for eight days, slowly moving northwards, the cyclone took a significant turn eastwards on 14 June.
On the anticipated evening of June 15, Cyclone Biparjoy made its predicted landfall affecting India’s western state of Gujarat and Pakistan’s densely populated city of Karachi. According to local time, it will make landfall as an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” with wind speed reaching 125 to 135 kmph. Authorities reportedly relocated more than 50,000 individuals and 200,000 animals to safer areas in anticipation of the cyclone’s arrival, aiming to mitigate the risks associated with the storm.
Cyclone’s strong winds, rain and high tide have already spread to many areas of western India.
Byparjoy intensified into a cyclonic storm on the morning of 6 June. According to climate scientist Roxy Mathew Cole from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea during early June were 31°C to 32°C, which exceeded the average expected in climate science by 2°C to 4°C. Scientists widely believe that tropical cyclones need ocean temperatures above 27 °C to sustain their strength.
According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), between June 6 and 7, the cyclone’s wind speed increased from 55 to 139 kilometers per hour (34 to 86 mph). Subsequently, Biparjoy experienced another rapid intensification between June 9 and 10, with wind speeds reaching 120 to 196 kilometers per hour (75 to 122 mph), making it a Category 3 hurricane. , This high wind speed persisted until June 11 when an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured the image shown below.
