[3] On 14 November, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology noted the potential formation of a tropical low west of Sumatra, Indonesia.

[6] This invest struggled to develop initially due to the presence of strong wind shear with convection spread all the way from the Malay Peninsula to Sri Lanka.

[8] As it moved westward, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) began tracking the system for potential tropical cyclogenesis.

[9] On 26 November at 01:30 IST, JTWC issued it a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the depression as it began to move northward, paralleling the Coromandel coast.

It was in a marginal environment for tropical cyclogenesis with high vertical wind shear just northeast of Sri Lanka limiting further intensification.

[15] It made landfall near Puducherry and Marakkanam regions between Karaikal and Mababalipuram coasts on the evening of 30 November[16] and weakened slightly due to land interaction and wind shear.

[citation needed] As Fengal formed, the IMD issued a red alert for the states of Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka as extremely heavy rainfall was expected.

[23] Fishermen were advised to halt fishing and move their boats to higher ground in anticipation of Fengal's landfall over Puducherry.