New Delhi: A low-pressure area over the southeast and the adjoining southwest Arabian Sea developed into a depression and is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by October 22, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

The cyclonic storm is predicted to further intensify into a severe cyclonic storm on Sunday and move towards the south coasts of Oman and adjoining Yemen, a bulletin release by the Met department read.

The weather agency cautioned that at times, storms may deviate from the predicted track and intensity, as seen in the case of cyclone Biparjoy, which formed in the Arabian Sea in June and initially moved in a north-northwest direction before changing course to make landfall between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan.

The IMD said the low-pressure system lay centered around 900 km east-southeast of Socotra (Yemen), 1,170 km southeast of Salalah Airport (Oman) and 1,260 km east-southeast of Al Ghaidah (Yemen) at 11:30 am on Friday.

“Continuing to move west-northwestwards, it is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the evening of October 22. Thereafter, it would move north-northwestwards from the morning of October 24, towards south Oman and adjoining Yemen coasts,” the Met department bulletin read.

Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting service, said that a majority of models indicate the storm is heading for the Yemen-Oman coast. The Global Forecast System models suggest a recurvature while positioned over the deep central parts of the Arabian Sea, steering the system towards Pakistan and the Gujarat coast.