Cyclone HUDHUD Strikes the Eastern Coast of India on 12 October 2014 Dr
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Cyclone HUDHUD strikes the eastern coast of India on 12 October 2014 Dr. Susanne Haeseler; updated: 21 October 2014 Introduction Cyclone HUDHUD, which formed over the Bay of Bengal, crossed the eastern coast of India on 12 October 2014 with wind speeds of 170 to 180 km/h, gusting up to 195 km/h. Then it moved inland while weakening (Fig. 1 and 2). HUDHUD caused serious damage due to heavy rainfall, storm and high waves. Well in advance of the arrival of HUDHUD, the India Meteorological Department (Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam) issued warnings about winds of hurricane force, heavy rainfall and high seas. It was pointed out that damage to buildings and disruption of power lines as well as of rail and road traffic was expected. Trees could be uprooted and there would be a potential risk of flying debris. According to media reports, more than 100 000 people were evacuated previous to the arrival of HUDHUD. Nevertheless more than 30 cas- ualties were counted in the coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa alone. Fig. 1: Track of HUDHUD across the Bay of Bengal and India from 7 to 14 October 2014. [Source: IMD, RSMC] 1 On 14 October, the centre of HUDHUD was located over the Plain of the Ganges south of Nepal (Fig. 1 and 2b). Though weakened, it still caused heavy precipitation and an unsea- sonal snow storm in the Himalaya that increased the death toll by at least 39. Particularly on the well-known Annapurna Circuit in Nepal numerous groups of hikers were caught in the storm. HUDHUD and its impacts Cyclone HUDHUD was classified as a „very severe cyclonic storm“ by the India Meteorologi- cal Department. This is defined as a storm with maximum sustained winds of 119 to 221 km/h near surface (IMD, New Delhi). HUDHUD made landfall on the Indian coast on 12 October between 6:30 and 7:30 UTC (12 to 13 o’clock Indian time) near the town of Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The satellite image in Figure 2 shows the storm with its eye still located off the coast. Fig. 2a: Satellite image of Cyclone HUDHUD on 12 October 2014, 05:10 UTC. The eye of the storm is located off the eastern Indian coast near Visakhapatnam. [Source: NASA, Earth Observatory] On 12 October at 03 UTC, when the centre of the storm lay off the coast, the weather station of Visakhapatnam reported a northwesterly wind with a 10-minute sustained wind speed of 78 km/h. The air pressure was 980.3 hPa at that time. Three hours later, at 06 UTC, the wind came from the east with a 10-minute sustained wind speed of 111 km/h, and the air pressure had fallen to 955.0 hPa. At that time the centre of the storm must have been located some- where south of the weather station. During the crossover of HUDHUD, i.e. already before it made landfall, some weather stations recorded 24-hour precipitation amounts of more than 100 mm. E.g. the weather station of Kalingapatam, located northeast of Visakhapatnam, recorded a 24-hour precipitation amount of 117 mm on 12 October at 03 UTC. 2 Figure 2b shows a satellite image of HUDHUD on 14 October 2014, when it had already weakened considerably. On that day it triggered the devastating snow storm in the Himalaya. Fig. 2b: Satellite image of HUDHUD on 14 October 2014. Already weakened, HUDHUD triggered an unseasonal snow storm in the Himalayas on this day. [Source: NASA, Earth Observatory] 3 Climatology of severe cyclones in October The Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Tropical Cyclones Over North Indian Ocean, established at the India Meteorological Department, published on its website an analysis about tropical storms, which develop over the Gulf of Bengal or the Arabian Sea and move across land, together with tables of the frequency of tropical cyclones, sorted by intensity, season and area. In order to analyse the climatological valuation of HUDHUD, severe cyclonic storms with maximum wind speeds of 89 km/h (48 knots) and higher were examined in the region of the Gulf of Bengal. Figure 3 shows the frequency of such storms in October as well as in each year from 1891 to 2013. Fig. 3: Frequency of severe cyclones (maximum wind speed of 89 km/h or more) over the Bay of Bengal in October and in the whole year from 1891 to 2013. [Diagram: DWD; Data source: IMD, RSMC] On average, about two severe cyclonic storms occurred over the Gulf of Bengal per year during that period. In some years there was no severe cyclonic storm, while in 1966 there were 6. The maximum number of severe cyclonic storms in October was 2. Although less severe cyclonic storms were recorded in the month of October since the end of the 1980th, no trend can be deduced from this. As the analysis of the RSMC in Figure 4 shows, 61 % of the tropical cyclones that formed over the Gulf of Bengal during the period from 1891 to 2007 moved towards the eastern coasts of India and 25 % towards Bangladesh and Myanmar, while 14 % vanished over sea. The Indian state of Orissa was affected mostly, followed by the Indian state of Andhra Pra- desh and Bangladesh. 4 Fig. 4: Frequency of tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal making landfall over various coastal states from 1891 to 2007. [Source: IMD, RSMC] The occurrence of the very severe cyclonic storm HUDHUD in October is no extraordinary event. It rather fits into the annually varying number of strong cyclones. Sources and further information . Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Climate Data Center (CDC) http://www.dwd.de/cdc . India Meteorological Department (IMD): INSAT_3D Satellite Images and Products – Archive, Cyclone Images, HUDHUD 2014. http://202.54.31.45/archive/CYCLONE-IMAGES/HUDHUD_2014/ . India Meteorological Department (IMD), AWS LAB, Pune http://www.imdaws.com/ . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam http://www.cwcvsk.gov.in/ . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam: Cyclonic storms those affected Andhra coast from 1970. http://www.cwcvsk.gov.in/strmlist.html . India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi, Cyclone Warning Division: Terminology on Cyclonic disturbances over the North Indian Ocean. http://www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/images/pdf/cyclone- awareness/terminology/terminology.pdf . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Centre http://202.54.31.51/hwrf/03B2014.htm . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Tropical Cyclones Over North Indian Ocean http://www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/index.php?lang=en . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Tropical Cyclones Over North Indian Ocean: Climatology – Frequency of Cy- clone. http://www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&It emid=203&lang=en . India Meteorological Department (IMD), Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Tropical Cyclones Over North Indian Ocean: Climatology – Landfall. http://www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&It emid=202&lang=en . NASA: Hudhud (Northern Indian Ocean). http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hudhud-northern-indian-ocean/#.VDbyVxaUKA0 5 . NASA, Earth Observatory: Cyclone Hudhud. (October 9, 2014) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=84533 . NASA, Earth Observatory: Hudhud: Another Damaging Bay of Bengal Storm. (October 12, 2014) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=84547 . ReliefWeb: Tropical Cyclone Hudhud – Oct 2014. http://reliefweb.int/disaster/tc-2014-000141-ind . The Times of India: Hudhud makes landfall in Vishakapatnam coast, two killed. (Oct 12, 2014) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hudhud-makes-landfall-in-Vishakapatnam-coast- two-killed/articleshow/44790257.cms . Unisys: 2014 Hurricane / Tropical Data for Northern Indian Ocean. http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/n_indian/2014/index.php 6 .