Cyclone Murasu, the second cyclonic storm to bear down on India's eastern coast in less than a week, is moving toward the shoreline and has prompted India's weather office to issue heavy rainfall warnings for the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. According to the India Meteorological Department, the cyclone is expected to make landfall around midnight on Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The warning covers the coastal areas of the two southern Indian states, where heavy downpours are forecast as the system approaches and crosses the coast.

Landfall Expected Late Monday Night

The India Meteorological Department, the national agency responsible for monitoring and forecasting weather systems across India, has charted Murasu's path toward the country's eastern seaboard and identified landfall for around midnight Monday or early Tuesday morning. The timing places the storm's arrival squarely in the overnight hours, when most coastal residents are asleep and conditions are at their most difficult to assess.

Landfall marks the moment a cyclone's centre crosses from the sea onto land, and it is generally when the most severe coastal conditions of a storm's passage are experienced. For districts along the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, that window opens late Monday night and continues into the early hours of Tuesday.

A Closely Watched Forecast

The forecast, carried by Nepali outlets including RatoPati and Gorkhapatra Online, centres on two elements: the expected landfall and the heavy rainfall that will accompany it. Both details come directly from the India Meteorological Department, whose warnings remain the authoritative reference for the two states in the storm's path.

Heavy Rain Warnings for Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu

The heart of the current alert is rainfall. The India Meteorological Department's warning flags heavy rain for the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the two southern states that line India's eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal. The key points of the advisory can be summarised as follows:

  • Cyclone Murasu is the second cyclone to move toward India's eastern coast in less than a week.
  • Landfall is forecast for around midnight on Monday or early Tuesday morning.
  • Heavy rainfall warnings have been issued for the coastal areas of both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
  • The India Meteorological Department is the source of both the landfall forecast and the rain warnings.

The focus on coastal areas reflects the geography of the threat. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together stretch along a broad section of India's eastern seaboard, and their coastal districts are the first to feel the effects when a cyclone pushes in from the Bay of Bengal. By covering the coastal belts of both states, the warning signals that the weather department expects significant precipitation across a wide arc of the coastline in connection with Murasu's crossing.

For the communities living along those coastal stretches, the warning covers the period in which the cyclone is expected to arrive and cross, making the overnight hours into early Tuesday the critical stretch of the event.

A Second Cyclone in Less Than a Week

What sets Murasu's approach apart is how quickly it follows the previous storm. The system is the second cyclone to move toward India's eastern coast in less than a week, according to the India Meteorological Department, meaning coastal communities are confronting a fresh cyclone threat just days after the last one. The rapid succession keeps attention fixed on the Bay of Bengal and on the eastern states that sit in the path of systems forming over its waters.

Storms of this kind are a recurring feature of the region. The Bay of Bengal is one of the world's most active cyclone-forming basins, and the systems that develop over its warm waters frequently head toward India's eastern coastline, regularly placing Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu among the states that must prepare for landfall, coastal weather and heavy rain.

The name Murasu itself carries regional roots: the word means drum in Tamil, one of the major languages of the states now under warning. Cyclones forming in the North Indian Ocean basin, which includes the Bay of Bengal, are given names drawn from a naming system maintained for the region, and Murasu is the name assigned to the current system as it tracks toward land.

The Hours Ahead

With landfall expected around midnight Monday or early Tuesday, the coming hours are decisive for the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The India Meteorological Department's advisory remains the source for updates on the cyclone's position, the timing of landfall and the extent of the heavy rain warning across the two states.

For now, the picture presented by the forecast is consistent across reports: a second cyclone in less than a week, a heavy rain warning stretching across the coastal areas of two southern states, and a landfall window that opens late Monday night and runs into early Tuesday. As Murasu completes its final approach to India's eastern coast, attention will remain on the overnight hours and on the rainfall that the India Meteorological Department has warned will accompany the storm's crossing.