Arnab makes landfall on India's eastern coast

NASA said Arnab was the first named storm of the 2026 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. It emerged in the Bay of Bengal on October 25, a late start for a basin that typically produces named cyclones in April or May.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on NOAA-20 captured Arnab at 20:12 Universal Time on October 26, or 1:42 a.m. India Standard Time on October 27. The India Meteorological Department reported sustained winds of about 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour.

Arnab made landfall on the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coast early on October 28, with sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour. The India Meteorological Department categorized it as a very severe cyclonic storm, similar to a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

The landfall occurred between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, a heavily settled area with large cities, farmland and fishing communities. The storm damaged trees, flooded crops and homes, limited fishing operations, and disrupted transportation and power networks, according to news reports.

Before landfall, Indian authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people from vulnerable coastal areas. NASA said the storm arrived amid El Niño, a climate pattern linked to warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific.

NASA said the pattern emerges roughly every two to seven years. It can alter global weather patterns and affect rainfall, winds, tropical cyclones, fires and floods. In the Bay of Bengal, research has associated El Niño conditions with reduced tropical cyclone activity and found that the basin sees less frequent and less intense tropical cyclones during El Niño years.