Cyclone Amphan is just about 24hrs away from making landfall over the West Bengal. While it's almost certain now that the cyclone will come ashore there, there is still quite a spread among model guidance with regards to where exactly will the eye/center come ashore. The ECMWF is definitely the most western among the model guidance right now, in that it has Amphan passing very very close to the northern Odisha coast tomorrow(Wednesday) before hitting the coast of West Bengal's Purba Mednipur district that is already near the border with Odisha. Landfall over Odisha cannot even be ruled out on the ECMWF solution. The rest of the guidance have Amphan passing farther from the Odisha coast (but likely still close enough to bring hazards there) before hitting the South 24 Paragnas district or near the border with Bangladesh. The forecast tracks from the JTWC and IMD are in between the model solutions.


As far as I'm aware, the coast of northern Odisha is also prone to storm surges just as how prone the Ganges Delta is. However, there are definitely some factors to consider on how high the surge would be if Amphan does come very close there, such as the cyclone's intensity, size, and angle of approach. The 1999 Odisha Cyclone, which hit the northern part of Odisha, set a benchmark of cyclones hitting this area. Amphan will most probably be weaker but it is much larger in size than the 1999 Cyclone. On the angle of approach, Amphan will be moving north/NNE whereas the 1999 Cyclone made landfall while moving northwestward. I'm not really sure how these factors when combined would affect the storm surge there, again if it does come so close just like what the ECMWF shows. I feel that this is worth mentioning since it's the ECMWF model were talking about here, and the potential impacts to Odisha have not been discussed very much. Anyhow, it's definitely time to watch how the cyclone's movement will be during the next 24hrs.
