Cyclone Remal to reach Bengal today: How cyclonic storms get their names

Cyclone Remal is expected to make landfall on Sunday night, the IMD said. (Image credit: ANI)

Cyclone Remal -- formed over the north Bay of Bengal -- has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and is expected to make landfall between West Bengal's Sagar Island and Bangladesh's Khepupara on Sunday night, the IMD said on Sunday morning. The cyclone is likely to intensify further and cross the West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coasts with wind speeds of 110 to 120 kilometre per hour (kmph), gusting to 135 kmph around midnight.

The Met office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha on Sunday. Parts of northeast India may also experience extremely heavy rainfall on May 27-28. A storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall.

Here's how Cyclone Remal got its name

To improve tracking and communication regardinf cyclonic storms, many meteorological organisations follow a systematic naming convention. Weather forecasts provide a name for each tropical cyclone to avoid confusion, as per the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). Once a cyclone develops enough to meet the specific criteria, the naming is done on the basis of a predetermined list. The name assigned to a particular cyclone remains the same throughout its lifetime, despite its intensity.

The name "Remal", which means sand in Arabic, was provided by Oman. Cyclone Remal is the first pre-monsoon cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this season.

#WATCH | West Bengal: As per IMD, cyclone 'Remal' is to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next few hours and cross between Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts around May 26 midnight as a Severe Cyclonic Storm

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(Visuals from Sundarbans, South 24 Parganas) pic.twitter.com/1yp3xRxUPr

— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2024

In the Indian Ocean region, a formula for naming cyclones was agreed upon in 2000. Thirteen countries lie within this region: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. These countries contributed a set of names which have been sequentially assigned whenever there is a development of a cyclonic storm.

Flight operations in Kolkata suspended

Major airlines Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet announced on Saturday that they would suspend their operation at Kolkata airport because of the impact of cyclone Remal on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata.

A total of 394 flights, arrival and departure, in both international and domestic sectors would not operate to and fro the airport during the flight suspension period, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) spokesperson told PTI.

Train services from Sealdah station have also been halted in anticipation of Cyclone Remal's projected landfall tonight.