The Department of Meteorology has forecast the possible development of a low-level atmospheric disturbance near the southern Andaman Sea, in the vicinity of the North Sumatra islands, from Thursday.
The Department advised naval and fishing communities operating in the affected sea area to stay vigilant and to follow subsequent forecasts and weather bulletins, the Daily Mirror reported at 12.14 p.m.
A separate system from Arnab
This is not Cyclone Arnab. That storm formed over the Bay of Bengal and crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast early on Wednesday, several hundred kilometres to the northwest. The disturbance flagged on Thursday is a new feature at the eastern edge of the basin, and at this stage the Department describes it only as possible — a low-level atmospheric disturbance is the earliest and weakest stage in the sequence that can, but frequently does not, lead to a depression or a cyclone.
The advisory carries no warning level, no wind or wave figures and no restriction on putting to sea. It is a notice to watch, issued to the communities with most at stake.
Why it matters to Sri Lankan fishermen
Late October is the peak of the north-east monsoon transition, when the Bay of Bengal generates the systems that drive Sri Lanka’s rough-sea warnings. Two multi-day boats have gone missing off the island’s coasts in the past fortnight — four crew off Kudawella and three off Mullaitivu — both during the spell of disturbed weather associated with Arnab.
Not reported: the filing gives no expected track, intensity or timeframe for the disturbance, does not say whether it is forecast to approach Sri Lankan waters, and sets out no trigger for a sea-area warning. The Department issued no accompanying advisory for land areas. Only the Daily Mirror had carried this bulletin among verified newsrooms at the time of writing.