Indian authorities are evacuating tens of thousands of people from the country’s eastern coast, where a powerful tropical cyclone is expected to make landfall on Wednesday morning. Arnab, as the storm is called, originated in the Bay of Bengal and is expected to hit major coastal cities in the state of Andhra Pradesh, bringing heavy rainfall and winds up to 150 kilometers per hour, or 93 m.p.h., according to the India Meteorological Department.
It has been classified as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, the third highest category in the I.M.D.’s storm classification system. Tracking Tropical Cyclone Arnab See the likely path and wind arrival times for Arnab Andhra Pradesh, and the neighboring state of Odisha, are moving to evacuate more than 130,000 residents from vulnerable areas to disaster shelters, while the authorities have also closed schools and instructed fishing boats not to go out to sea.
The country’s railway has canceled at least 61 trains. Several flights have also been canceled or diverted. With Arnab expected to cut inland and head north, the authorities in Nepal, which lies in its anticipated path, have also issued alerts for potential heavy rainfall and flooding later in the week. The Bay of Bengal is a major cradle for powerful tropical storms, many of which occur in October and November, following the monsoon season, and often devastate the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent.
Cyclone Hudhud, one such storm that hit Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in 2014, caused $11 billion in damages and led to more than 40 deaths .
The New York Times gives a clear, well-sourced account of the evacuations, wind speeds and transport closures ahead of Cyclone Arnab. When it explains why the Bay of Bengal breeds such storms, it points only to geography and the season. It never tells the reader that a warming climate is making intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.
Leaves out the climate link
Serious
“The Bay of Bengal is a major cradle for powerful tropical storms, many of which occur in October and November, following the monsoon season, and often devastate the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent.”
Why this matters
This sentence is where The Times explains why storms like Arnab hit this coast. It puts them down to the Bay of Bengal being a "major cradle" and to the post-monsoon season, and to nothing else.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away thinking Arnab and storms like it are a fixed, natural feature of the region's calendar, with nothing about the planet's warming affecting how strong or how frequent they are.
The context
Human-caused warming has made intense tropical cyclones and heavy rainfall more frequent or more severe. The article reports a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm bringing heavy rainfall and 150 km/h winds, but it never says this anywhere. The word climate and the word warming appear nowhere in the piece.
How we know
On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate” and “warming”.
The Bay of Bengal is a major cradle for powerful tropical storms, many of which occur in October and November, and climate change is making intense cyclones like Arnab and their heavy rainfall more likely.