Muscat – A tropical depression may form near the coast of the western Indian state of Gujarat in the Arabian Sea this weekend, the National Multi Hazard Early Warning Centre has warned. The weather disturbance, however, is not expected to directly impact Oman.

The Directorate General of Meteorology stated, ‘The latest analysis of the National Multi Hazard Early Warning Centre indicates probability of a tropical depression formation over northeast of the Arabian Sea near the coast of Gujarat on Friday and Saturday, with no direct impact over the sultanate for the next three days.’

According to Jason Nicholls, international forecasting manager at AccuWeather, low pre-ssure will form near the Gujarat coast in the next 24 to 48 hours with heavy rain and flooding risk in Gujarat, Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh through Thursday. “Heavy rain is possible in South Pakistan on Thursday and Friday.”

He added that a low-pressure drift across the North Arabian Sea can result in thunderstorms again in the east of Oman and UAE this weekend.

In its forecast for Thursday, the Met Office stated that clear to partly cloudy skies will prevail over all of the governorates. ‘There are chances of convective clouds developing and isolated rain and occasional thundershowers associated with downdraft winds and hail affecting the Al Hajar Mountains and adjoining areas towards afternoon.’ The coastal areas of Dhofar and adjoining mountains may witness drizzle and isolated rain, it added.