On the formation, direction of movement and structure of the Arabian Sea Cyclone of 20-29 May 1963

Data presented in Mazumdar's paper (1966) have been examined to understand the formation, movement and structure of the Arabian Sea cyclone of May 1963. It is observed that the conclusions arrived at by Desai and Rao (1954) in their examination of some of the famous Indian cyclones are generally supported by this case study except for the unusual southwesterly movement during the later stages which was under the directive influence of an upper tropospheric anticyclone to its west. There is evidence of asymmetric distribution of wind and weather (Desai and Basu 1933, Basu and Desai 1934) and of at least two air masses-warmer drier continental air and colder moist monsoon air in the outer storm area. The Tiros reports of centres can perhaps be helpful in forecasting movement of the cyclones. The differences in air and water temperatures cannot justifiably be utilised to show that the sea surface contributes substantial part of the energy of the cyclone as the air temperature would have considerably decreased with replacement of warmer continental air by colder monsoon air, the water temperature, however, not changing appreciably over the area.