The story so far: On December 5, Cyclone Michaung (pronounced mig-jaum) made landfall over Nellore in Andhra Pradesh as a super-cyclonic storm. A day earlier, the weather system had produced 150-200 mm of rain in north Tamil Nadu.
How did the cyclonic storm take shape?
On November 29, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) identified a well-marked low pressure area in the southwest Bay of Bengal. It was expected to become a depression by November 30, a deep depression on December 2, and eventually a cyclonic storm by December 3. Thereafter, the IMD forecast that the system would move north towards coastal Andhra Pradesh, bringing rain and strong winds to areas in north Tamil Nadu on December 3 and 4, while travelling parallel to the latter’s coast. It was finally expected to cross over land between Nellore and Machilipatnam as a cyclonic storm, with 80-90 km/hr winds gusting to 100 km/hr.
