Published By: Soham Halder

Real-Time Cyclone Dana Tracking: How Modern Tech and Apps Keep You Safe

The cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall in Odisha’s Kendrapara region on October 24, bringing heavy rain and thunderstorms.

‘Severe’ cyclonic storm Dana is currently moving towards coastal regions of Odisha and West Bengal, threatening millions of population. A cyclone is formed when a large amount of air spirals in an inward manner and rotates across a low-pressure zone. With rapid rise in cyclone promoted by high sea water temperature, global warming, climate change, anthropogenic activities, there has been an urgent need for tracking ghe the path of cyclone to mitigate the damage. Advanced technologies help in early warning, better evacuation and better disaster management.

According to the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) data, approximately 58% of the cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal region make landfall on the eastern coastal area. Moreover, the Bay of Bengal also holds the title of ‘80% of the world’s cyclone-related death,' as mentioned in ‘The Weather Channel’. In this article, we will discuss advanced technologies use for tracking cyclones and useful smartphone apps for personal preparedness.

Modern Technologies used by IMD:

Gone are those days of manual tracking and time-consuming analysis. Now, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) use modern technologies like satellites, radars and computers, to track cyclones from developing stage to landfall. Cyclone’s path can be challenging to estimate, however, meteorologists use state-of-the-art techniques like numerical weather prediction models to forecast its movement and intensity. These methods have successfully tracked several previous cyclone landfall areas in 2020 (Cyclone Amphan), 2021 (Cyclone Yaash), and so on. Using these methods, IMD has forecasted the latest updates on Social media platforms.

Credit - X/@Indiametdept

Apps for Personal Preparedness:

If you are residing in coastal Bay of Bengal area, you must frequently keep track of the cyclone's progression in real time. Following are some important apps for this purpose:

Zoom Earth: It is an user-friendly app with more than 100,000 downloads. Easy tracking along with 3D viewing options made it an essential app for cyclone tracking. It has a rating of 4.7 stars on the Google Play Store. Zoom Earth can provide you to observe the Cyclone Dana’s current location and further movements.

Windy.com: From weather forecast to cyclone tracking, Windy.com is a very useful app. It has over 10 million downloads and a rating of 4.5 stars. It provides wind and waves forecast for kiters, surfers, paragliders, pilots, sailors and anyone else.

Windfinder: It is another helpful app downloaded over 5 million times, holding a 4.7-star rating. “Windfinder is your global partner for wind and weather related outdoor activities - find wind, waves, weather and tides in one app,” as mentioned in app website.

Windy.app: With over 5 million downloads, Windy.app is another popular choice for cyclone tracking, waves update. It has more than 200,000 user reviews with an impressive rating of 4.8 stars.

My Hurricane Tracker & Alerts: “My Hurricane Tracker gives you the most comprehensive tools for tracking tornados, cyclones, tropical storms and weather warnings available,” mentioned in the app website. This is a app specialized in cyclone and tornedo tracking. It has over 100,000 downloads and a rating of 4.7 stars on google play store.

The Weather Channel: According to the app website: “The Weather Channel and weather.com provide a national and local weather forecast for cities, as well as weather radar, report and hurricane coverage.” It has more than 100 million downloads with positive reviews from 3 million users globally.

More than 1.14 lakh people in West Bengal and 4 lakhs in Odisha have been evacuated to safer shelters so far.