{"id":38472,"date":"2023-12-05T01:11:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T19:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38472"},"modified":"2025-04-23T11:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T05:52:02","slug":"michaung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/michaung\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclone Michaung intensifies into \u2018severe\u2019 cyclonic storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>How are Cyclones Classified?<\/li>\n<li>What is landfall of a cyclone?<\/li>\n<li>How long does a landfall last?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary<\/li>\n<li>An unusual cyclone<\/li>\n<li>Indian tropical storms<\/li>\n<li>Storm intensification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the Indian Meteorological Department, Cyclone Michaung intensified into a severe cyclonic storm.<\/li>\n<li>It is likely to make landfall between Nellore and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh on December 5.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How are Cyclones Classified?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Cyclones are classified on the basis of wind speed by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD):\n<ul>\n<li>Depression: Wind speeds of between 31\u201349 km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Deep Depression: Between 50-61 km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Cyclonic Storm: Between 62\u201388 km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Severe Cyclonic Storm: Between 89-117 Km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Very Severe Cyclonic Storm: Between 118-166 Km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm: Between 167-221 Km\/h<\/li>\n<li>Super Cyclonic Storm: Above 222 Km\/h<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is landfall of a cyclone?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Landfall is the event of a tropical cyclone coming onto land after being over water.<\/li>\n<li>As per the IMD, a tropical cyclone is said to have made a landfall when <u>the center of the storm \u2013 or its eye \u2013 moves over the coast<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>The &#8220;eye&#8221; of a cyclone is a region of relatively calm weather found at the center of the storm.<\/li>\n<li>It is a circular or oval-shaped area characterized by light winds, clear or partly cloudy skies, and decreased precipitation.<\/li>\n<li>Within the eye, winds are light and variable, often with clear or only partially cloudy skies.<\/li>\n<li>The size of the eye can vary significantly, ranging from a few kilometers to over 50 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter in larger cyclones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>During landfall, the outer bands of the storm may have already reached the coast, bringing strong winds, heavy rain, and storm surge.<\/li>\n<li>Landfall marks the moment when the cyclone officially reaches the land.\n<ul>\n<li>A landfall should not be confused with a \u2018direct hit\u2019, which refers to a situation where the <u>core of high winds (or eyewall) comes onshore but the centre of the storm may stay remain offshore<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How long does a landfall last?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Landfalls can last for a few hours, with their exact duration depending on the speed of the winds and the size of the storm system.<\/li>\n<li>Cyclones lose their intensity once they move over land because of <u>sharp reduction of moisture supply and increase in surface friction<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>This means that while landfalls are often the most devastating moments of cyclones, they also mark the beginning of its end.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Tropical cyclone Michaung will cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between the cities of Nellore and Machilipatnam in the forenoon of December 5.<\/li>\n<li>The IMD had initially predicted that Michaung would remain a \u2018tropical cyclone\u2019 (wind speeds of 62 kph to 87 kph) until it crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast.<\/li>\n<li>Later, the <u>IMD upgraded it to the intensity of a \u2018severe\u2019 storm<\/u> (wind speeds of 88 kph to 166 kph).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>An unusual cyclone<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Due to unfavourable ocean conditions, <u>storms that develop over the North Indian Ocean in December do not usually attain destructive intensities<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Such intensification of a December cyclone is unique. The <u>above-normal value of the heat index off the southern Andhra Pradesh coast<\/u> led to the strengthening of Michaung.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Indian tropical storms<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Climatologically, about <u>five cyclones develop in the North Indian Ocean basin<\/u> \u2014 comprising the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea \u2014 every year.\n<ul>\n<li>Of these, an average of four cyclones develop over the Bay of Bengal and one over the Arabian Sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>However, Arabian Sea storms often reach higher intensities and carry the potential to cause widespread damage.<\/li>\n<li>The North Indian Ocean basin is most prone to cyclone development during the pre-monsoon (April-June) and post-monsoon (October-December) months.<\/li>\n<li>Due to favourable ocean conditions, cyclones that form in May and November usually reach higher intensities than storms that form at other times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Storm intensification<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fuelled by ocean heats\n<ul>\n<li>Tropical cyclones are fuelled by ocean heat (in addition to other factors).<\/li>\n<li>Ocean temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius or more, prevailing at depths between 50 metres and 100 metres, are conducive for cyclogenesis.\n<ul>\n<li>Cyclogenesis refers to the processes that lead to the development and strengthening of a cyclone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>An oceanographic parameter called the Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential (TCHP) is considered an important factor in cyclone genesis, intensification, and propagation.\n<ul>\n<li>TCHP is a measure of the heat energy available in the upper ocean layers that can potentially fuel the intensification of tropical cyclones.<\/li>\n<li>It is defined as a measure of the integrated vertical temperature from the sea surface to the depth of the 26\u2103<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Intensification process is highly complex\n<ul>\n<li>This process is also influenced by a combination of various favourable atmospheric conditions including:\n<ul>\n<li>boundary layers (the fluid layer adjacent to a bounding surface),<\/li>\n<li>wind shear (changes in wind direction and\/or speed over a vertical or horizontal distance),<\/li>\n<li>convection (transfer of heat within a fluid),<\/li>\n<li>Rossby waves (which occur in rotating fluids),<\/li>\n<li>upper ocean circulation, and air-sea interaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is a tropical cyclone?<\/h3>\n<p>A tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans. It is also called a hurricane or a typhoon. It is characterized by low atmospheric pressure and heavy rain, and its winds exceed 119 km (74 miles) per hour.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is the meaning of ocean heat?<\/h3>\n<p>The total amount of heat stored by the oceans is called \u201cocean heat content,\u201d and measurements of water temperature reflect the amount of heat in the water at a particular time and location.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/cyclone-michaung-intensifies-9054156\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>What makes Cyclone Michaung, headed to the Andhra coast, such an unusual storm?<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoml.noaa.gov\/phod\/cyclone\/method.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/cyclone-michaung-live-rain-updates-tamil-nadu-andhra-pradesh-december-4\/article67603506.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cyclone is a large-scale system of air that rotates around the centre of a low-pressure area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}