'Madi' may dictate City's winter mood this month

 Come December, the woollies, the scarves, the gloves, the headgears and other winter wear are out of the closets, dry cleaned and ready to be worn to beat the chill and bite of the frosty winter the season of X’mas brings in its wake.

However, this time around, according to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the winter may be a wee bit late in arriving in City, thanks to Madi, the cyclonic storm, presently prevailing over South West of Bengal, which could intensify in the next 24 hours.

According to IMD officials, on Saturday, Madi, christened thus by Maldives, was 500 km South East of Chennai and 850 km from Bangalore.

The cloud cover over south interior Karnataka, they forecast, will increase affecting the solar radiation, and consequently, the temperatures. Temperature, IMD forecasts, could change in the next 2-3 days, with Madi moving in the North West direction and further intensifying.

IMD Director B Puttana observed that since there is no clouding, the maximum (day time) temperatures in City is 1-2 degree above normal.

Further, minimum temperature (night time) is 1-2 degree below normal.

It is because of this Bangalorean feel quite hot during day and extremely cold in evenings. However, Puttana said, this could change in the next couple of days altering the normal pattern.

Deep depression

“While day temperatures may drop, night temperatures would increase from the normal.” The changes being brought about by Madi. “Until Friday it was deep depression. This is likely to affect normal wind pattern, which will affect this winter season and even delay it by a couple of days,” he said.

The normal temperatures for Bangalore City are: Maximum 26 degree Celsius and Minimum 17 degree Celsius. Following fluctuating temperatures, doctors have warned that the citizens must be cautious. Since the weather would be dry, the sudden change would affect those suffering from respiratory problems. Further, they opine, children should be more careful. 

Cyclones over Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean are named by Tropical Cyclone Regional Board responsible for that basin.

The names are decided during the annual and biannual board meetings. The names are suggested by the IMD of each country, which is a member of the board. The earlier cyclones Phailin, Helen and Leher were named by Thailand, Bangladesh and India, respectively.

The member nations of the board are — Bangladesh, India, Maldives,  Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.