Dangerous Cyclone Mahasen gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal

Dangerous Tropical Cyclone Mahasen is gathering strength over the Indian Ocean's Bay of Bengal, and is a potential major threat to Bangladesh and Myanmar. The 11 am EDT Saturday advisory from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center put Mahasen's top sustained winds at 55 mph, with a motion northwest at 19 mph into the center of the Bay of Bengal. Satellite loops show that Mahasen has a large area of intense thunderstorms with very cold cloud tops that reach high into the atmosphere. The cloud pattern is not well-organized, with little spiral banding. However, the cyclone has developed respectable upper-level outflow channels to the north and east, which are ventilating the storm by carrying away air converging to the center near the surface. High wind shear of 20 - 25 knots is affecting the storm, which is keeping the system disorganized. However, wind shear has declined about 5 knots since Friday, and is predicted to fall to the moderate range, 10 - 20 knots, by Sunday. This should allow organization into a Category 1 storm on Sunday. Aiding this process will be Mahasen's motion away from the Equator, which will help the cyclone leverage the Earth's spin to get itself spinning faster. Also aiding the intensification process will be ocean waters that are an exceptionally warm 31°C (88°F). This is about 1°C warmer than average for this time of year.


Figure 1. Latest satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Mahasen gathering strength over the Indian Ocean's Bay of Bengal.

Forecast for Mahasen
The official forecast brings Mahasen to Category 1 strength before landfall occurs in Bangladesh near the Myanmar border on Wednesday. Comparative model forecasts of Mahasen from the GFS, ECMWF, UKMET, GEM, NAVGEM, and FIM models show wide disagreement on the future intensity and speed of the storm, though. It is possible that wind shear will keep the storm disorganized and below hurricane strength until landfall, as suggested by the GFS and ECMWF models. The 06 UTC forecast from the HWRF model brings Mahasen to Category 3 strength on Monday, but weakens the storm to tropical storm strength at landfall. The model predicts that the storm will dump a significant area of heavy rains of 32 cm (12.6") over Maynmar and Bangladesh. The storm surge, high winds, and heavy rains of Mahasen are a huge concern for the thousands of Myanmar refugees living near the coast in makeshift camps, as reported by the New York Times.


Figure 2. Double trouble: Tropical Cyclone Jamala (lower) and Tropical Cyclone Mahasen (upper storm) spin on opposite sides of the Equator in this in this MODIS image taken at 04:25 UTC May 10, 2013. Mahasen is the name of a King of Sri Lanka from the 3rd century. Image credit: NASA.

MJO pulse that spawned Mahasen headed towards the Atlantic
Mahasen spun up in response to an active phase of the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) that has been moving through the Indian Ocean during the past week. The MJO is a pattern of increased thunderstorm activity near the Equator that moves around the globe in 30 - 60 days. The strong MJO pulse coincided with a convectively coupled atmospheric Kelvin wave (CCKW), a wave of increased heat and moisture propagating along the Equator, which helped increase thunderstorm activity. The active pulse of the Madden Julian Oscillation is expected to reach the Western Caribbean sometime May 22 - 26, and there will be a heightened chance of an early-season tropical storm forming in the Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean during that time period.

There is a small disturbance a few hundred miles north of Puerto Rico today that has developed some spin and a bit of heavy thunderstorm activity. This system is over cool waters of 77 - 79°F, and will likely be torn apart by high wind shear on Sunday.

Resources
Comparative model forecasts of Mahasen from the GFS, ECMWF, UKMET, GEM, NAVGEM, and FIM models

India Meteorological Department's tropical cyclone page

Bangladesh Meteorological Department Warning

Myanmar Dept. of Meteorology and Hydrology Warning

Tutorial on Equatorial Waves in the COMET program's Introduction to Tropical Meteorology, plus their case exercise built around the May 2002 "twin twins" case, for use in a tropical synoptic course.

Jeff Masters