This is cause for worry for the people of Bangladesh. The low pressure system presently hovering in the Bay of Bengal west of northern Andaman Islands may well turn into a howling monster tropical cyclone Mora with sustained winds of about 200 km/h.
And it is set to hit Bangladesh in 3 days time, on Tuesday morning near Chittagong.
The American GFS (Global Forecast System) in its latest data output says cyclone Mora is going to rapidly intensify in the coming 48 hours, reaching a state with a central minimum pressure of 944 hPa. More worrisome is it is not going to weaken much at landfall.
A 200 km/h cyclone hitting a country suddenly with little prior warning is a recipe for disaster. I am sure the Bangladesh authorities must be well aware of this potential threat and taking preventive measures on a war footing.
Our own assessment is tropical cyclone Mora will not be such a devastating storm. We expect winds of 100 km/h on landfall. But we are monitoring the situation constantly and will keep you updated.
In the meantime listen carefully to what your local meteorological agency says, take all precautions and stay safe.
Folks in Myanmar need to be careful too as the cyclone will pass quite close along the coast. Heavy rainfall with strong winds will occur in coastal Myanmar from Sunday itself. Pathein and Sittwe will be badly affected.
Landfall will occur at Cox's Bazaar on Tuesday morning with winds of 90 km/h, gusts upto 120 km/h
