| Date, time | Wind Speed | Pressure | Latitude | Longitude | Movement | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 120 kmh | 991 mb | 14.3 | 80.9 | 19 kmh NW | Category 1 Hurricane | |
| 102 kmh | 996 mb | 13.5 | 81.8 | 20 kmh NW | Tropical Storm | |
| 111 kmh | 995 mb | 13.6 | 82.6 | 26 kmh NW | Tropical Storm | |
| 93 kmh | 998 mb | 12.8 | 83.8 | 26 kmh NW | Tropical Storm | |
| 74 kmh | 1,003 mb | 12.2 | 84.8 | 26 kmh NW | Tropical Storm | |
| 65 kmh | 1,007 mb | 11.6 | 86.6 | 22 kmh NW | Tropical Storm |
Cyclone Murasu is a category 1 storm 151 km NNE of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, in the Bay of Bengal, moving west-northwest at 19 km/h. At 06:00 UTC on November 2, Murasu has sustained winds of 120 km/h, gusts of 138 km/h and a central pressure of 991 mb. Wind speed rose from 102 km/h six hours earlier, while pressure fell from 996 mb. Murasu strengthened from a tropical storm to a category 1 cyclone during that interval. The 00:00 UTC reading placed the storm 171 km ENE of Chennai. Earlier readings placed Murasu 383 km E and then 258 km ENE of Chennai on November 1. Across the six readings, its recorded movement ranged from 295° to 300°, with speeds of 19 to 26 km/h.
No active watches or warnings.
November 1 — FOUR is recorded as a tropical storm.
The available observation at 00:00 UTC records FOUR over the Bay of Bengal at 11.6°N, 86.6°E, with winds of 65 km/h and pressure of 1,007 mb. No earlier reading is on file, so the record does not show when FOUR reached this classification or how its strength changed beforehand.
November 2 — Strengthens to a category 1 cyclone.
At 06:00 UTC on November 2, Murasu's recorded winds reached 120 km/h, up from 102 km/h six hours earlier, and pressure fell from 996 mb to 991 mb. The reading reclassified Murasu from a tropical storm to a category 1 cyclone, with gusts of 138 km/h.
The single reading records a pressure of 1,007 mb and winds of 65 km/h, with gusts of 75 km/h. Pressure can help show how a cyclone is changing, but one measurement cannot establish a trend; there is no earlier value to compare. The reading also gives a motion of 295° at 22 km/h, which corresponds to west-northwest. That is one recorded motion, not a measure of how consistently FOUR has travelled in that direction. With no second position or wind reading, the available data cannot show whether the cyclone is organizing or weakening.
Turn on the tropical storm tracks layer in RainViewer to follow FOUR’s plotted track. Each point shows the cyclone’s category at that moment: tropical depression points are cyan, tropical storm points are blue, category 1 points are yellow, category 2 points are amber, category 3 points are orange, category 4 points are red and category 5 points are dark red. FOUR’s recorded tropical-storm point is blue.
The reading places FOUR over the Bay of Bengal and records a west-northwest motion at 22 km/h. Since only one observation is on file, there is no earlier point here to compare for a change in direction, speed or category. Compare any later plotted readings with this position and with the recorded wind and pressure. Download the RainViewer app on Google Play or the App Store to follow the storm track.
November falls in the North Indian Ocean’s post-monsoon cyclone season, which follows the summer monsoon. Cyclones can form in this basin during both the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. Warm ocean water, moist air and relatively weak changes in wind with height can support cyclone development in general. Those are broad seasonal conditions, not measurements for FOUR: its available reading contains no sea-surface temperature, moisture or wind-shear data.
Two past North Indian Ocean cyclones provide seasonal comparisons. Cyclone Nargis formed in the Bay of Bengal in 2008 and reached category 4; it caused more than 138,000 deaths. Cyclone Amphan formed in the Bay of Bengal in 2020 and reached category 5; it caused more than 100 deaths. Both formed in May, so their timing differs from FOUR’s November observation, but they show how widely outcomes can vary among cyclones in the same basin.
A heading is measured clockwise from north, with 0° pointing north and 90° pointing east. A heading of 295° points west-northwest.
Wind speed is the sustained wind value in the reading, while a gust is a brief peak in wind speed. FOUR’s reading lists 65 km/h winds and gusts of 75 km/h.
Names give forecasters and the public a clear way to identify a storm in communications. Regional naming lists help distinguish one cyclone from another.