Cyclone Biparjoy: UAE weather forecast as storm gains strength in Arabian Sea

Image: Twitter/Oman Meteorology

Tropical storm Biparjoy has developed into a severe cyclone according to Oman’s meteorology department.

The country’s Directorate General of Meteorology said their “national multi-early hazard warning system indicates the development of the tropical storm into a category 1 (CAT 1) cyclone in the center of the Arabian Sea.”

The bulletin added the windspeed at the center of the cyclone was between 120 to 130 kilometres per hour. The cyclone was currently 1140 kilometres off the coast of Oman.

pic.twitter.com/z0p3Ju66Gg

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMUAE) June 7, 2023

Tracking the cyclone

A high resolution satellite imagery of the storm released by Oman’s weather authority shows Cyclone Biparjoy located in the centre of the Arabian Sea, almost equidistant from the coasts of Oman and India.

صورة متحركة عالية الدقة من الأقمار الإصطناعية، للإعصار المداري من الدرجة الأولى (بيبارجوي) توضح بروز عين الإعصار#بيبارجوي #بحر_العرب #Arabian_sea pic.twitter.com/BDkTRiiCUq

— الأرصاد العمانية (@OmanMeteorology) June 7, 2023

The weather bulletin also predicted Cyclone Biparjoy to strengthen into a category 2 (CAT 2) storm with wind speeds hovering between 150 to 160 kilometres per hour. The cyclone, currently located over the east-central and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea, is expected to move northwards in the next 24 hours.

Report (2) weather over Arabian Sea #بيبارجوي
#بحر_العرب #Arabian_sea pic.twitter.com/phT7UwJa3e

— الأرصاد العمانية (@OmanMeteorology) June 7, 2023

The UAE is not expected to see any disruption from the storm according to the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM). The country recorded a temperature of 46.7°C in Gasyoura (Al Dhafra Region) at 3pm on June 7.

Elaborating on the movement of the storm, the NCM said in a statement on June 7, “A tropical cyclone CAT 1 is centred south of the Arabian Sea at latitude 13.1 north and longitude 66.4. The wind speed around the centre ranges from 120 to 130 km/hr with an existing formation of rainy convective clouds around the depression.”

“The tropical cyclone CAT 1 is expected to continue with the same strength in the next 24 hours”.  The bulletin added that the storm’s path will be towards the north in the Arabian Sea, where the “wind speed ranges between 130 to 145 km/hr around the centre and the moving speed of the tropical cyclone is 5 km/hr.”
“There is no effect on the country during the next five days,” NCM concluded.

The last storm to bring severe disruption to Oman was Cyclone Shaheen in 2021. The UAE escaped with some cloudy weather and rain showers due to the storm.

Biparjoy is the first tropical storm that has preceded the onset of the southwest monsoon season in the Arabian Sea. The word means ‘calamity’ and the name of the cyclone was suggested by Bangladesh as per the naming convention set by World Meteorological Organisation.