Saturday 27 / July / 2024
Muscat: A tropical system forming near the Arabian Sea is expected to intensify within the next 48 hours, a meteorologist at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation's (PACA) MET directorate has said.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, the official said, "We are expecting the system to develop into a deep depression and further intensify into a tropical storm within the next 48 hours. According to the weather systems we are following, the system is heading west-northwest.”
In a statement online, PACA said that the centre of the depression is currently 1,270 km away from the coast of Salalah and that the nearest convective cloud bands are 400 km away from the coast. The tropical system is moving towards the west/north west of the Arabian sea.
If the depression does develop into a storm, it is likely to be called Luban — a name submitted by Oman, one of the eight countries on the World Meteorological Panel that chooses names for cyclones over the North Indian Ocean. Luban is the next name on the North Indian Ocean's list, following 'Ockhi', 'Sagar', 'Mekunu', and 'Daye'.
The official added, "So far the systems have shown various predictions and we have many scenarios."
Regarding possible rainfall, the meteorologist added, "As the track of the system is not fully clear, we cannot speculate about the amount of rainfall it might bring."
