The Bay of Bengal system heading for the Andhra Pradesh coast is now officially a cyclone. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the deep depression intensified into Cyclonic Storm Murasu over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal at 11.30 a.m. IST on Sunday, November 1 — the moment the system took the name Murasu, contributed by India and meaning “drum” in Tamil.

Source: IMD on X / IMD National Bulletin No. 5

At naming, the storm carried maximum sustained winds of 65–75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph, according to the IMD update reported by Weather.lk. In its 8.30 a.m. bulletin position, as a deep depression, the system lay about 630 km east-southeast of Chennai and 710 km east-southeast of Nellore, moving west-northwestwards at about 20 kmph.

Source: Weather.lk (IMD update)

11:30 am IST, Nov 1Deep depression became Cyclonic Storm Murasu
65–75 kmph, gusting 85Winds at naming
Stage 2 of 4Cyclone Alert raised for Andhra and north Tamil Nadu coasts
100–110 kmph, gusting 120Forecast winds at landfall on Nov 3

The warning level has gone up with the name. In its National Bulletin No. 5, issued at 1 p.m. IST, the IMD raised its warning to a Cyclone Alert for the Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts — stage two of its four-stage warning system, up from the pre-cyclone watch in force at 10 a.m. Fishermen have been advised to stay off the Andhra Pradesh coast from the morning of November 2 to the afternoon of November 4.

Source: IMD on X / IMD National Bulletin No. 5

The forecast track itself is unchanged from this morning's bulletin. The IMD expects Murasu to strengthen into a severe cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal on Monday, November 2, and to cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur on the morning of Tuesday, November 3, with sustained winds of 100–110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

Rain will build ahead of the storm. The IMD has forecast light to moderate rainfall at many places in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, with heavy rainfall at isolated places, intensifying on Monday to heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, according to The Hindu BusinessLine's reading of the IMD forecast.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

Murasu is the second cyclone of this north-east monsoon season over the Bay of Bengal, arriving days after Cyclone Arnab made landfall near Narsapur on October 28 and left the same coastline to recover. Awaaz Punjab reported earlier on Sunday, from the IMD's 5.30 a.m. Bulletin No. 4, that the system had become a deep depression and was expected to take the Murasu name and turn severe; it has now done the first of those — the severe-storm stage is forecast for Monday. Forecasts can change with later IMD bulletins, and the next development to watch is Monday's intensification and any change in the Nellore–Narsapur landfall window.