DECODING THE
STORM

Cyclone Murasu, the ninth Bay of Bengal system of 2026 (BOB 09), formed as a Depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal at 1130 IST on 31 October 2026 near 10.0°N, 90.2°E, about 330 km west-southwest of Sri Vijayapuram. Moving west-northwestwards, it intensified into a Deep Depression and then Cyclonic Storm Murasu on 1 November, and into a Severe Cyclonic Storm over the westcentral Bay of Bengal on 2 November. Slowing to 8-9 km/h as it neared land, it crossed the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole (near 15.5°N, 80.2°E), between 0330 and 0530 IST on 3 November as a Severe Cyclonic Storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100-110 km/h gusting to 120 km/h, an estimated central pressure of about 995 hPa and IMD warning of a 1.0-1.5 m storm surge over Bapatla, Krishna and Prakasam districts. Bapatla recorded 22 cm of rain in the 24 hours to 0830 IST on 3 November. Over land it moved slowly north-northwestwards and was still a Severe Cyclonic Storm 40 km west of Bapatla at 1130 IST on 3 November; IMD forecasts it to weaken into a Cyclonic Storm that afternoon, a Deep Depression around midnight and a Depression by the morning of 4 November. The name Murasu was proposed by India and means "drum" in Tamil.

Cyclone Arnab (IMD designation BOB/08/2026) formed as a Depression over the eastcentral and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on 25 October 2026. It intensified into a Deep Depression and then Cyclonic Storm Arnab, and on the night of 26 October became a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm over the westcentral Bay of Bengal. It crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts southwest of Yanam, about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, early on 28 October as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm with maximum sustained winds of 125-135 km/h gusting to 150 km/h, and weakened into a Severe Cyclonic Storm over land that morning. Moving north-northwest and then north into south Chhattisgarh, it weakened into a Deep Depression late on 28 October and a Depression by the morning of 29 October, bringing extremely heavy rain to south Odisha. Its remnant weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over central Chhattisgarh later on 29 October and into a low pressure area over north Chhattisgarh and adjoining East Madhya Pradesh by the morning of 30 October, after bringing up to 280 mm of rain to Kusmi in Balrampur district, Chhattisgarh. The rain caused river flooding in Gajapati district, where the Mahendratanaya overflowed into villages in Goshani block and a bridge collapsed in Mohana block, pushed the Vamsadhara above its danger mark, and swelled rivers flowing into Chhattisgarh. In Andhra Pradesh about 2.24 lakh hectares of crops, mostly paddy in the Godavari delta districts, were inundated or damaged. At least five deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh, along with widespread damage to trees, power lines, roads, houses and crops. The name Arnab was proposed by Bangladesh.

A system tracked over the Bay of Bengal in September 2026, upgraded from a Well Marked Low Pressure Area to a Depression on 21 September and to a Deep Depression on 22 September. It crossed the north Andhra Pradesh coast near Kalingapatnam (Srikakulam) around midnight on 23-24 September as a Deep Depression, never reaching cyclonic-storm intensity. It weakened back into a Depression over south interior Odisha and adjoining south Chhattisgarh (near Nuapada) by the morning of 25 September and dissipated soon after. The system was never named; the next name on the WMO/ESCAP North Indian Ocean list remains Arnab, proposed by Bangladesh.

Cyclonic Storm Ditwah formed over the southwest Bay of Bengal on 26 November 2025 and intensified from a depression to a cyclonic storm in under 24 hours before crossing Sri Lanka's eastern coast on 28 November. Its winds were only moderate (65-75 km/h at landfall), but the storm moved slowly, dropping prolonged, extreme rainfall that triggered severe flooding and landslides across Sri Lanka - the deadliest impact of any storm in this archive outside the 1999 Odisha cyclone and Nargis. A World Bank rapid damage assessment recorded 647 deaths, 183 people still missing, and over 4 billion US dollars in damage, with parts of southern India also placed under alert.

Cyclonic Storm Fengal formed over the Bay of Bengal in late November 2024 and made landfall near Puducherry on the evening of 30 November, with winds of 70-80 km/h gusting to 90 km/h. It then stalled over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry rather than weakening quickly inland, dropping record rainfall (over 48 cm in 24 hours in Puducherry, the highest in three decades) that caused most of the flooding damage. It killed at least 37 people across India and Sri Lanka combined.

Severe Cyclonic Storm Dana formed over the Bay of Bengal in late October 2024 and crossed the north Odisha coast between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra in the early hours of 25 October, with sustained winds of 110-120 km/h and gusts to 130 km/h. Mass evacuations along the Odisha coast ahead of landfall, plus a slow, five-hour landfall process, kept the death toll low relative to the storm's strength. Heavy rain also reached south Bengal.