A Very Severe Cyclonic Storm is the third highest category used by the

India Meteorological Department The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. IMD is headquarter ...

(IMD) to classify tropical cyclones, within the North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone basin between the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

and the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

. Within the basin a very severe cyclonic storm is defined as a tropical cyclone that has 3-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds of between . The category was introduced alongside the Super Cyclonic Storm category during 1999 in order to replace the previously used Severe Cyclonic Storm with Core of Hurricane Winds. However, it was bifurcated during 2015, when the IMD introduced a new Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm category. There have been at least eight storms that have attained such an intensity. The most recent super cyclonic storm was

Cyclone Kyarr Super Cyclonic Storm Kyarr was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the first super cyclonic storm in the North Indian Ocean since Gonu in 2007. It was also the second strongest tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea and one of the mos ...

2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season The 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season was the most active North Indian Ocean cyclone season on record, in terms of cyclonic storms, however the 1992 season was more active according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The season featured 12 ...

Background

The North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone basin is located to the north of the

Equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

, and encompasses the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, between the

and the

. The basin is officially monitored by the

Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre A Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) is responsible for the distribution of information, advisories, and warnings regarding the specific program they have a part of, agreed by consensus at the World Meteorological Organization as p ...

in New Delhi, however, other national meteorological services such as the Bangladesh and Pakistan Meteorological Department's also monitor the basin. The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm category was introduced during 1999 alongside Super Cyclonic Storms in order, to replace the previously used Severe Cyclonic Storm with Core of Hurricane Winds. At the time it was the second-highest category with systems having 3-minute sustained wind speeds of between . However, during 2015 the category was bifurcated, after the IMD introduced a new Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm category. As a result, very severe cyclonic storms are currently estimated, to have 3-minute sustained wind speeds of between .

Systems

Climatology

References

External links

RSMC New Delhi
{{Tropical cyclones by intensity Very severe cyclonic storms NIO VSCS