Arabian Sea saw second most frequent and intense cyclones since 1902 : IMD

Interestingly, the rainfall amounts during both the southwest monsoon (June to September) and northeast monsoon (October to December) remained 109 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). That is, the country recorded excess rainfall during the entire year, making it an extremely wet year in recent times, when both monsoons reported above normal rain for the seasons.

The mean temperatures remained 0.36 degrees above normal, making 2019 the seventh hottest year ever recorded, the report said. The decade 2011 – 2019 remained the warmest on record for the country, when the annual mean temperature remained 0.36 degree above normal. The report highlighted that India had warmed by 1 degree Celsius since 1901. Whereas, the rise in minimum temperature was 0.22 degrees in the century.

While extremely heavy rain and hot days are becoming more frequent in recent years, 2019 was exceptional also for the number of cyclones that swerved India’s east and west coasts, IMD said.

Notably, an active Arabian Sea brewed more cyclonic storms than the Bay of Bengal during the year gone by. It was only for the second time in 117 years that the Arabian Sea saw such intense and frequent cyclones. Previously, similar cyclonic activity was reported in the Indian Ocean only during 1893, 1926, 1930, and 1976. During these years, cyclones formed both in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal put together numbered to ten in a calendar year.

In 2019, eight cyclonic storms formed over the north Indian Ocean, IMD officials said. Of these, five — Cyclones Vayu, Hikka, Kyarr, Maha and Pavan originated in the Arabia Sea, which is normally calmer, not seeing more than one cyclone in a year. On the contrary, the Bay of Bengal last year reported lesser than normal number of cyclones. The four cyclones formed here were — Cyclones Pabuk, Fani, Bulbul. Meteorologists said that the Bay of Bengal sees an average of five cyclones each year, making 2019 a year when the Arabian Sea dominated.

The winter of 2018-2019 was one of the coldest in the northern hemisphere when the snowstorms penetrated into the Indian sub-continent throughout the winter months. Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh reported 51 deaths triggered by snow avalanche, last year.

The state-wise death toll caused due to various extreme weather events read as — Maharashtra (231), Jharkhand (138), Uttar Pradesh (135), Rajasthan ( 94), Kerala ( 86), Odhisha (64), Jammu and Kasmir, Ladakh ( 51), Karnataka (43), Himachal Pradesh (27) and Madhya Pradesh (24) last year.