MUSCAT, SEPT 22 - The low-pressure system in the Arabian Sea has now developed into a tropical depression. Authorities are closely monitoring the situation, and urged people to depend only on official channels for weather updates and do not indulge in any speculations. According to an official weather expert, “The weather system, currently near the Indian coast of Gujarat, is likely to intensify into a deep depression or a cyclonic storm during the next 12 to 24 hours. It is likely to move west-northwestwards towards Oman during the next 72 hours.”
He added that the direct impact on Muscat and adjoining areas will be minimal. On Sunday in its first bulletin, the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) said the low-pressure system has developed into a tropical depression east of the Arabian Sea. “The system is located at longitude 69 degrees east and latitude 20 degrees north with estimated 17-27 knots per hour and is likely to deepen to a deep tropical depression over the next 24 hours,” it said. The depression is about 150 km away from the Gujarat coast in India and 900 km from the closet point in Oman at Masirah.
According to the bulletin, the latest numerical prediction indicates westerly to the northwesterly movement of the tropical depression towards the centre of the Arabian Sea, with all probability developing into a deep depression over the next 24 hours.
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