The Cyclonic Storm Mandous which had become a severe cyclone has once again weakened into a Cyclonic Storm. It has continued to move west northwestward. The system is abeam Pondicherry by about 80 km and within the striking range of Chennai by about 100 km.
The system is moving slowly at the speed of 10 km per hour, coming closer to the coast. The forward band of clouds have already reached the coast due to which Chennai, Puducherry and adjoining areas have been receiving heavy rains. While the forward band of clouds have even moved beyond the coast, the centre of the storm still remains away.
The centre will move towards the coast which should be after midnight. With this, Chennai and adjoining areas will continue to see heavy to very heavy rains for the next 12 hours. The landfall is likely to be very close to Puducherry and slightly far from Chennai.
As it reaches further closer to the coast, other parameters increases and the dissipation of the storm becomes faster due to land entrainment, dry and cold air and a great degree of dip in the sea surface temperatures as well as other environmental factors.
The system will make a landfall over the coast as a Cyclonic Storm but it will immediately dissipate.