THATTA, Pakistan: Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall in the western Indian state of Gujarat but was still at a distance from Pakistan where it would hit around or after midnight, Pakistani Climate Minister Sherry Rehman said late on Thursday.
Biparjoy, which means 'disaster' or 'calamity' in the Bengali language, was centred in the Arabian Sea 30 kilometres (19 miles) off Jakhau port in the western Indian state of Gujarat close to the border with Pakistan, weather officials said.
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from eight coastal districts in Gujarat and moved to shelters, the state government said.
In Pakistan, authorities said about 82,000 people were moved from high-risk coastal areas.
“#CycloneBiparjoy has reportedly made landfall in Indian Gujrat. It is still at a distance from Pakistan, and will likely begin counter clockwise landfall around or after midnight in our coastal areas,” Rehman said on Twitter. “Sea may be rough with high waves at the core. Please stay safe.”
Biparjoy was forecast to make landfall around 5:30 p.m. local time on June 15 as a “very severe cyclonic storm” with a sustained wind speed of 125 to 135 kilometers per hour, impacting India’s western state of Gujarat and the densely populated city of Karachi in Pakistan, NASA said on its website.
Biparjoy developed into a cyclone in the early morning hours of June 6. According to Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea were 31°C to 32°C in early June, which was 2°C to 4°C above the climatological mean. A rule of thumb among scientists is that ocean temperatures should be above 27°C to sustain a tropical cyclone, according to NASA.
Strong winds, rain, and high tides from the cyclone have already lashed several regions in western India. Multiple deaths have been reported, including drownings off the coast of Mumbai.
According to NASA, unusually warm waters helped fuel Biparjoy’s rapid intensification twice in its lifetime. Between June 6 and 7, Biparjoy’s wind speed increased from 55 to 139 kilometers per hour (34 to 86 miles per hour), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). The cyclone intensified again between June 9 and 10, when its wind speed increased from 120 to 196 kilometers per hour (75 to 122 miles per hour), making it a category 3 storm.
Warm sea surface temperatures have contributed to the cyclone’s unusually long lifespan.
According to India’s Meteorological Department, Biparjoy may become the longest-lived cyclone in the Arabian Sea, overtaking Kyarr in 2019, which lasted nine days and 15 hours. As of June 14, the Arabian Sea sustained Biparjoy for over eight days.
“The reason why Biparjoy has lasted so long is that it is feeding on warm waters in the Arabian Sea,” said Raghu Murtugudde, a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, who studies the role of oceans in tropical climate variability. “Biparjoy is an example of how climate change—especially warming in the upper ocean—is contributing to cyclones moving slower and lasting longer.”
Cyclones in the Arabian Sea are relatively rare, although they are becoming more frequent with rising sea surface temperatures. A 2021 study led by researchers in India found that cyclones over the last four decades had become more frequent and lasted longer. The researchers found that ocean temperatures were linked to this change.
