Cyclone Murasu Tracker

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The track shows Murasu's path and the forecast cone.

Murasu is a category 1 cyclone 151 km NNE of Chennai, moving west-northwest at 19 km/h.

Murasu observation history

Date, timeWind SpeedPressureLatitudeLongitudeMovementStatus
120 kmh991 mb14.380.919 kmh NWCategory 1 Hurricane
102 kmh996 mb13.581.820 kmh NWTropical Storm
111 kmh995 mb13.682.626 kmh NWTropical Storm
93 kmh998 mb12.883.826 kmh NWTropical Storm
74 kmh1,003 mb12.284.826 kmh NWTropical Storm
65 kmh1,007 mb11.686.622 kmh NWTropical Storm

What's happening now

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.

Areas under watch or warning

No active watches or warnings.

How Murasu developed

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

How Murasu is behaving

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.

How to track Murasu

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.

How FOUR fits into Bay of Bengal cyclone history

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.

Storm FAQ

What does 295° mean in a cyclone track?

A heading is measured clockwise from north, with 0° pointing north and 90° pointing east. A heading of 295° points west-northwest.

What is the difference between cyclone wind speed and gusts?

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.

Why do tropical cyclones get names?

Names give forecasters and the public a clear way to identify a storm in communications. Regional naming lists help distinguish one cyclone from another.

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