Strengthening Cyclone Vayu is expected to be the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane when it slams into Gujarat in western India early on Thursday.
Vayu will continue to strengthen over the warm waters of the Arabian Sea through midweek.
Vayu intensified into a severe cyclonic storm (the equivalent of a strong tropical storm in the northern Pacific and Atlantic oceans).
Residents of western and central Gujarat should be making preparations for Vayu to slam onshore as an even stronger severe cyclonic storm early on Thursday morning, local time (early Wednesday night EDT).
It is possible that Vayu will intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm (the equivalent of a strong Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane) before barreling into Gujarat.
Schools and colleges in the district of Rajkot have canceled classes on Thursday, according to India Today. The government is deploying 10 teams of personnel from the National Disaster Response Force to Saurashtra and Kutch.
Seas will continue to build across the Arabian Sea as the storm intensifies, creating dangers for boaters and swimmers.
While the worst of the rain and wind associated with Vayu will remain offshore into Wednesday, tropical moisture is already enhancing monsoon rain in Kerala. These tropical downpours, capable of causing mudslides and flooding, will continue to spread up the coast to Maharashtra as the storm tracks northward.
Conditions will deteriorate across the southern Saurashtra on Wednesday night as powerful Vayu approaches.
AccuWeather meteorologists are still monitoring the potential that Vayu tracks slightly more to the west, causing landfall to occur farther up the western coast of Gujarat later on Thursday. It is also possible that the center of Vayu will stay far enough offshore for the heavy rain and strongest winds to narrowly bypass land.
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