Tropical Cyclone Bulbul Bringing High Winds, Heavy Rain to India and Bangladesh
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Tropical Cyclone Bulbul Bringing High Winds, Heavy Rain to India and Bangladesh

Meteorologist Heather Tesch has the latest on Tropical Cyclone Bulbul.

At a Glance

  • Tropical Cyclone Bulbul is making landfall in eastern India.
  • Flooding rain, storm surge and damaging winds are all threats into Bangladesh through Sunday.
  • The Bay of Bengal coast has a deadly history of tropical cyclones.
  • Bulbul is also known as Tropical Cyclone Matmo.
Tropical Cyclone Bulbul is making landfall along the Bay of Bengal coast of eastern India, and will spread flooding rain, storm surge and strong winds into Bangladesh through Sunday.
Bulbul begun the process of landfall, according to the India Meteorological Department, around 8:30 p.m. local time Saturday in the the Sundarbans, the group of islands and lowlands at the mouth of the Ganges River in eastern India's West Bengal state, about 80 miles south of Kolkata.
Bulbul once again became the equivalent of a Category 2 tropical cyclone according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), after it underwent a short period of intensification gaining energy from shallow, but very warm water and spreading winds aloft near the top of the cyclone's circulation.
The tropical cyclone, also known as Matmo since it originated from the remnant of a Western Pacific tropical storm in the South China Sea in late October, is lashing West Bengal State and southwest Bangladesh with heavy rain according to Doppler radar from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
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Forecast Path
(The red-shaded area denotes the potential path of the center of the tropical cyclone. It's important to note that impacts (particularly heavy rain, high surf, coastal flooding, winds) with any tropical cyclone usually spread beyond its forecast path.)

Potential Impacts

Heavy rain will fall generally to the north and northeast of the center of Bulbul through Sunday.
Rainfall totals of 3 to 10 inches, with locally higher amounts, are expected over West Bengal state into much of southwest and central Bangladesh, potentially as far north as the megacities of Kolkata and Dhaka. This could lead to flash flooding.
Additional rainfall forecast for Tropical Cyclone Bulbul. Locally higher amounts are possible where bands of heavy rain stall for a period of a few hours.
According to the IMD, major damage to thatched homes, power lines, trees and coastal crops is expected from Bulbul's winds Saturday into early Sunday.
A storm surge of up to 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) above normal tide levels is expected along and near the coast of West Bengal state as Bulbul's center moves ashore Saturday night, the IMD said. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department forecast a peak storm surge of 5 to 7 feet above normal tide along the country's southwestern coast.
While Bulbul's surge is not expected to be nearly as massive, the extremely surge-prone Bay of Bengal is infamous for deadly tropical cyclones.
The November 1970 Great Bhola Cyclone claimed 300,000 lives in what is now Bangladesh.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.