Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said that Cyclone Montha has formed over the southwest and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal and is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday morning.

According to the IMD’s bulletin issued at 4 am, the system moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 16 kmph in the past three hours and was centred at 2.30 am on October 27 near latitude 11.7°N and longitude 85.5°E. It was located about 600 km east-southeast of Chennai, 680 km south-southeast of Kakinada, 710 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 790 km west of Port Blair, and 850 km south of Gopalpur in Odisha.

The weather agency said that Cyclone Montha is expected to continue moving west-northwestwards over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal for the next 12 hours. Subsequently, it will shift its course towards the northwest and then north-northwest, gaining strength into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 28.

The cyclone is very likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, during the evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm, with wind speeds reaching 90 to 100 kmph and gusts up to 110 kmph.

Under the influence of the system, many Odisha districts are likely to receive heavy rainfall.

Forecast for October 28


Red Warning: Scattered heavy to very heavy falls (7 to 20 cm) with isolated extremely heavy rainfall (>20cm) very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Malakangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajpati, and Ganjam.

Orange Warning: Heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 to 20 cm) is very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhmal, Nayagarh, Khorda, and Puri.

Yellow Warning: Heavy rainfall (7 to 11 cm) very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Nuapada, Bolangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bargarh, Sambalpur, and Deogarh.

Forecast for October 29


Red Warning: Scattered heavy to very heavy falls (7 to 20 cm) with isolated extremely heavy rainfall (>20cm) very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Malakangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, and Rayagada.

Orange Warning: Heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 to 20cm) is very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Nuapada, Bolangir, Boudh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, and Ganjam.

Yellow Warning: Heavy rainfall (7 to 11 cm) very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, and Kendrapada.

Also read: IMD issues wind warning for Odisha; know District-Wise Wind Speed forecast.