How the Bay of Bengal Builds a Cyclone
From warm water to a spinning eye in five days. Tasnim explains the ingredients of a tropical cyclone, why the Bay's shape makes storm surge deadly, and how forecasting improved after Sidr.
Why the Monsoon Is Late This Year
0:00 / 0:47
This episode is for members. Sign up free or log in to hear the whole episode.
Show notes
The monsoon engine
The monsoon is not one storm but a season-long tilt of the whole atmosphere, driven by land heating faster than sea. Tasnim explains the engine, the Himalayan wall that holds it in place, and the distant ocean patterns that can speed it up or stall it. Voice notes come from a farmer in Khulna waiting to plant.
- The land-sea temperature difference that starts it all
- Why the Himalayas matter as much as the ocean
- El Nino and the delayed onset
- What onset actually means to a forecaster
- How a farmer decides when to transplant rice
Next week, the Bay of Bengal and why it produces such violent cyclones.
Transcript
Assalamu alaikum and welcome to Monsoon Mechanics. I am Tasnim Rahman. For seven years I sat in a forecasting room in Dhaka watching clouds form over the Bay of Bengal, and now I want to explain that sky to you. This week the question everyone in my family is asking. Why is the monsoon late? The honest answer starts with a simple idea, land heats faster than sea, and then gets complicated in interesting ways, including a patch of warm water in the Pacific that is thousands of kilometres away and still matters. I have a voice note from a farmer in Khulna who is deciding whether to transplant his rice this week or wait. By the end you will understand what he is weighing. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts. Let us look up.
Open as text