Cyclone "Thane" - Slowly crawling W-S-W ! Now Pondicherry and Cuddalore coast is the target!

Position, 8:30am :: 11:53:59 N and 82:18:00 E
Winds :: reaching upto 120 Km/Hr
Pressure :: 982mb
* Still a category 1 cyclone.
* 300 km away from Pondicherry coast.
* Chennai - will miss the FULL grunt of the system.
* Showers and winds to increase after 1pm ALL along N, central Tamilnadu coast.

Latest Satellite IR shot, 8am
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JTWC warning and projected path, 8:30am
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290300Z POSITION NEAR 11.9N 82.3E.
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 06B (THANE), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 160 NM EAST-
SOUTHEAST OF CHENNAI, INDIA, HAS TRACKED WESTWARD AT 07 KNOTS OVER 
THE PAST SIX HOURS. THE CURRENT POSITION IS BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY 
FROM CHENNAI, INDIA, A RECENT SATELLITE FIX FROM PGTW, AND A 282221Z 
SSMI IMAGE. THE INTENSITY ESTIMATE OF 75 KNOTS IS CONSISTENT WITH 
DVORAK T-NUMBER VALUES FROM THREE REPORTING AGENCIES RANGING FROM 65 
TO 77 KNOTS. THE DEEPEST CONVECTION REMAINS ALONG THE WESTERN AND 
SOUTHERN PERIPHERIES OF WELL-DEFINED LOW LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER 
(LLCC) EVIDENT IN THE 282212Z SSMI IMAGE. RADAR REFLECTIVITY DATA 
SHOWS A SYMMETRIC LOW TO MID-LEVEL EYE FEATURE APPROXIMATELY 40 NM 
IN DIAMETER. TC 06B CONTINUES TO TRACK WESTWARD UNDER THE STEERING 
INFLUENCE OF A SUBTROPICAL RIDGE (STR) POSITIONED TO THE NORTH OF 
THE CYCLONE AND SHOULD CONTINUE TRACKING WESTWARD UNTIL MAKING 
LANDFALL JUST PRIOR TO TAU 24. THE CYCLONE LIES TO THE WEST OF AN 
UPPER-LEVEL ANTICYCLONE. THE UPPER-LEVEL ENVIRONMENT IS MARGINAL, 
WITH FAVORABLE BUT DECREASING RADIAL OUTFLOW AND INCREASING VERTICAL 
WIND SHEAR. THE CYCLONE IS ALSO MOVING OVER WATERS WITH LOWER HEAT 
CONTENT THAT SHOULD, ALONG WITH INCREASING VERTICAL WIND SHEAR AND 
DECREASING OUTFLOW, INDUCE SOME WEAKENING PRIOR TO LANDFALL. AFTER 
LANDFALL, INTERACTION WITH ROUGH TERRAIN WELL INLAND FROM THE 
RELATIVELY FLAT COASTAL AREA WILL LEAD TO STEADY DISSIPATION. ASIDE 
FROM THE WEBER BAROTROPIC MODEL, WHICH TRACKS THE CYCLONE POLEWARD 
INTO THE STEERING RIDGE, AND THE UK MET OFFICE MODEL, WHICH HOLDS 
THE SYSTEM TOO WEAK IN BOTH THE ANALYSIS AND FORECAST AND DEPICTS AN 
ERRONEOUS SOUTHWESTWARD TRACK WITH THE LOW-LEVEL FLOW, THE NUMERICAL 
MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE CURRENT FORECAST. 
MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 290000Z IS 22 FEET.

IMD warning, 7:30am
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Very Severe Cyclonic Storm THANE over southwest Bay of Bengal:-Cyclone Warning for north Tamilnadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast : Orange Message

The very severe cyclonic storm THANE over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-southwestward and lay centered at 0530 hrs IST of today, the 29^th December 2011 near latitude 12.3⁰N and longitude 83.0⁰E, about 300 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamilnadu) and 480 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 morning of 30^th December 2011. However, as the cyclonic storm will come further close to coast, there is probability of slight weakening before landfall.