KARACHI: Currently prevailing as a very severe cyclonic storm over the Arabian Sea, Biparjoy has slowly moved further north-northwestward over the last 12 hours, the Met department reported on Thursday night.

Currently, none of Pakistan’s coastal areas is under any threat from the cyclone.

According to the department’s advisory released on Thursday night, the system now lies near Latitude 14.5°N & Longitude 66.0°E at a distance of about 1,160km south of Karachi. Maximum sustained surface winds are 130-150km per hour and gusts of 160km/hour around the system centre.

Environmental conditions including the sea surface temperature of 30-32°C, low vertical wind shear and upper-level divergence were still supporting the system to intensify further, it added.

“It’s likely to move further in the north-northwest direction. Sea conditions are very high around the system centre with maximum wave height 25-28 feet,” chief meteorologist Dr S. Sarfaraz said.

About its likely impact on Karachi, he said currently the system was far away from the coastal areas of Pakistan.

“If the distance (between the cyclone and the city) reduces to 600km, we may experience high clouds. The system is likely to take four days to reach Oman and then it may influence weather conditions in the coastal areas of Balochistan.”

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2023