Meteorology department has appealed to fishermen to avoid entering in the Arabian Sea on June 11-12.
New Delhi/Mumbai: A cyclone is likely in the Arabian Sea, some 300 kilometres off the country's west coast between Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather department has said. Monsoon is expected to reach Mumbai and the Konkan region during this period.
The cyclone, while not hitting the Maharashtra coast, is likely to bring with it strong winds and a turbulent sea, the officials said. Monsoon normally reaches Mumbai by June 7, but it takes another 15 days to completely cover the state.
The Maharashtra government has advised fishermen to avoid entering the sea.
The Meteorological Department has said the low pressure is expected to intensify into a depression moving north-northwestwards in the next two days and subsequently, change into a cyclone.
"Under the influence of the cyclonic circulation over Lakshadweep area and adjoining Southeast Arabian Sea, a low-pressure area has formed over the southeast and adjoining east central Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep area," the IMD said in a statement to news agency ANI.
"Associated cyclonic circulation has extended up to midtropospheric levels and it is very likely to concentrate into a depression during next 48 hours over the southeast and adjoining east central Arabian Sea," it added.
Farmers have also been asked not to rush into sowing as the onset of the south west monsoon has been delayed. After the early showers, soil needs time to be ready for germination, the state government said.
Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon in the remaining parts of South Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep and Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu and the central Arabian Sea in the next 24 hours, the weather department said.
The cyclone warning in Arabian Sea comes a month after Cyclone Fani in the eastern coast caused widespread destruction in Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, with 41 killed more than 11 lakh people evacuated in Odisha.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)