Dhaka, May 22 -- On May 13th, an area of low pressure developed over the southeastern Bay of Bengal about 1020 km (635 mi) to the southeast of the important port city of Visakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The area of low pressure was located within a favourable environment for further development, noted meteorologists in the earliest correspondence they engaged in over what eventually emerged as Cyclone Amphan (meaning amber we're told, and leave the pronunciation), the name submitted by Thailand as part of a regional pooling initiative.

Over the next couple of days, the system became more marked as it gradually consolidated further, with bands of deep atmospheric convection wrapping into the system's low level circulat...