Cyclone "Thane" - NO sign of weakening yet! In striking distance 180km East of Pondicherry!

Position, 3:30pm:: 11:48:01 N and 81:34:20 E
Winds :: up to 125 km/hr
Pressure :: 982mb
Showing NO sign of weakening yet, but expected to weaken from midnight!
Continue to track west towards Pondicherry, now located around 190km East of Pondicherry.
Chennai will have to bear up to 80% of the Cyclones fury !
Extreme heavy rains with Wind gusts up to 100 km/hr will start along Chennai to Pondicherry coast from 6pm.


Latest satellite IR shot, 3pm
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Latest Radar image, 4pm
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One can see the EYE of Cyclone Thane between 150km and 200km

IMD warning, 1:30pm
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Very Severe Cyclonic Storm 'THANE' over southwest Bay of Bengal:-Cyclone Warning for north Tamilnadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast : Red Message

The very severe cyclonic storm 'THANE' over southwest Bay of Bengal moved westward and lay centered at 1130 hrs IST of today, the 29^thDecember 2011 near latitude 12.0⁰N and longitude 82.0⁰E, about 220 km east of Puducherry, 200 km southeast of Chennai (Tamilnadu) and 400 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka). The system is likely to move westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Chennai, close to Puducherry around early morning of 30^th December 2011.

JTWC warning, 2:30pm
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290900Z POSITION NEAR 11.8N 81.7E.
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 06B (THANE), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 135 NM 
SOUTHEAST OF CHENNAI, INDIA, HAS TRACKED WESTWARD AT 06 KNOTS OVER 
THE PAST SIX HOURS. ANIMATED MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY 
INDICATES THAT THE SYSTEM HAS INTENSIFIED FURTHER WITH A 15-NM EYE. 
A 290245Z SSMIS IMAGE DEPICTS TIGHTLY-CURVED BANDING WRAPPING INTO 
THE CENTER WITH THE BULK OF THE DEEP CONVECTION OVER THE WESTERN 
SEMI-CIRCLE DUE TO WEAK, EASTERLY VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. THERE IS GOOD 
CONFIDENCE IN THE CURRENT POSITION BASED ON THE VISIBLE EYE. THE 
CURRENT INTENSITY IS BASED ON DVORAK ESTIMATES RANGING FROM 77 TO 90 
KNOTS. TC 06B IS FORECAST TO TRACK WESTWARD, MAKING LANDFALL NEAR 
TAU 12, AND IS EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE OVER INDIA BY TAU 36. WITH THE 
EXCEPTION OF WBAR, MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN TIGHT AGREEMENT. MAXIMUM 
SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 290600Z IS 22 FEET.