25 questions on this topic, recalled by candidates after DGCA sittings between 2021 and 2026. Together they were asked 53 times; the most repeated come first. Pick a year to see only what was asked that year.
B. 5-15 N
Within about 5 degrees of the equator the Coriolis force is too weak to start the rotation, so TRS form in the 5-15 degree belt.
C. Pre-monsoon and post-monsoon
Cyclones need warm sea, moist air and little vertical wind shear. The strong shear of the monsoon suppresses them, so the peak seasons are April-May and October-November.
A. October-November
Post-monsoon storms form over the Bay of Bengal and move west-north-west, crossing the Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts in October-November - Tamil Nadu's main rainy season.
B. 17-27 kt
Indian classification: low below 17 kt, depression 17-27 kt, deep depression 28-33 kt, cyclonic storm 34-47 kt, severe cyclonic storm 48-63 kt.
C. NE sector
Normally the worst weather is in the SW sector of a monsoon depression. When it re-curves, the rain belt shifts to the north-east sector.
A. They have a very short travel over the sea
A cyclone feeds on the warm sea. Over the narrow Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea it reaches land after a short sea track, before it can grow as big as the Pacific typhoons.
A. Plains
Monsoon depressions travel faster over the plains than over hills or sea.
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C. Calm wind, little cloud and practically no rain
Air sinks in the eye, warming and drying, so it has light winds and broken or no cloud - right in the middle of the storm.
B. Eye wall
The wall of cumulonimbus ringing the eye has the strongest winds, the heaviest rain and the worst turbulence. The calm eye is surrounded by the most violent weather in the storm.
A. Surface heating
Strong heating of the land warms the air, which expands and rises, lowering the surface pressure - a heat (thermal) low, like the summer low over Pakistan and NW India.
C. Vigorous
Surges (pulses of stronger wind) and shear lines appear when the monsoon current is strong - a vigorous monsoon.
C. 3 - 4 Days
A tropical cyclone over the Indian seas typically lives for three to four days, weakening quickly once it crosses the coast and loses its supply of warm, moist air.
B. 1000 - 900 hpa
The central pressure of a tropical revolving storm is very low, typically between about 1000 and 900 hPa. The deeper the centre, the stronger the winds around the eye.
A. Warm seas
A tropical revolving storm feeds on the latent heat of moist air rising from warm water - it needs a sea surface temperature of about 26-27 °C. Over land its fuel is cut off and it weakens.
A. Latent heat released as water vapour from the warm ocean condenses
Air over a warm ocean picks up huge amounts of water vapour. As it rises in the storm the vapour condenses and releases its latent heat, warming the core and driving the circulation. Cut off from the sea over land, the storm weakens.
A. More than 400 km
A mature tropical cyclone has an eye of about 30-65 km, an inner storm area of about 50-150 km and an outer storm area reaching about 400 km, with gales and spiral cloud bands.
B. Strong winds, heavy rain and poor visibility
Outside the eye a cyclonic storm brings gale to hurricane force winds, torrential rain, low cloud and very poor visibility - stormy weather.
A. Over Head bay
In July and August, monsoon depressions over the Bay of Bengal mostly form over the head (north) of the Bay, then move west-north-west across central India.
B. Wall Clouds
The calm eye of a cyclonic storm is ringed by the wall cloud - a wall of towering CB with the strongest winds and heaviest rain of the whole storm.
C. 3 - 5 days
A monsoon depression typically lasts three to five days, moving west-north-west from the Bay of Bengal across central India and giving heavy rain along its south-west sector.
A. 300 - 500 km
A tropical cyclone typically moves about 300-500 km in a day - roughly 12-20 km/h - so it gives a day or two of warning before landfall.
B. Tropic latitudes
Cyclonic storms need a warm sea surface and enough Coriolis force to start a rotation, so they are confined almost entirely to the tropical latitudes - not right at the equator, where the Coriolis force is too weak.
A. Latent heat released as water vapour condenses
The storm is a heat engine. Warm sea above about 26 °C evaporates huge quantities of water; as that vapour is carried up and condenses it releases latent heat, which warms the core, lowers the surface pressure further and drives more inflow. Cut it off from the warm sea - by landfall - and it dies quickly.
C. Light wind and fair weather
The eye is a region of subsiding air, so it is nearly calm with little or no cloud. The violence is in the eye wall that surrounds it, where the strongest winds and the heaviest rain are found - which is why an aircraft or ship gets a deceptive lull before the second, opposite-direction onslaught.
B. 5 ° and 15 °
A tropical revolving storm needs the Coriolis force to start it turning, and Coriolis is zero at the equator, so nothing forms within about 5 ° of it. It also needs a sea surface above about 26 °C, which rules out the higher latitudes. The productive belt is roughly 5 ° to 15 ° from the equator.
These are candidates' recollections, not official DGCA papers: wording can differ from the paper as set. Every answer was checked against the DGCA CARs, AIP India, ICAO documents or worked calculation (independent check completed 17 Oct 2026). Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will check it against the source.