Tropical Cyclone Mandous strengthened over the southwestern Bay of Bengal on Thursday. At 4:00 p.m. EST on Thursday the center of Tropical Cyclone Mandous was located at latitude 10.7°N and longitude 81.9°E which put it about 215 miles (345 km) southeast of Chennai, India. Mandous was moving toward the west-northwest at 9 m.p.h. (15 km/h). The maximum sustained wind speed was 65 m.p.h. (105 km/h) and there were wind gusts to 80 m.p.h. (130 km/h). The minimum surface pressure was 988 mb.

The circulation around Tropical Cyclone Mandous strengthened on Thursday. Even though Mandous was stronger, the distribution of thunderstorms continued to be asymmetrical. Many of the thunderstorms were occurring in bands in the western half of Mandous’ circulation. Bands in the eastern half of Mandous consisted primarily of showers and lower clouds. Storms west of the center of Mandous generated upper level divergence that pumped mass away to the west of the tropical cyclone. Winds to tropical storm force extended out 150 miles (240 km) from the center of Tropical Cyclone Mandous.

Tropical Cyclone Mandous will move through an environment that will become unfavorable for intensification during the next 24 hours. Mandous will move over water where the Sea Surface Temperatures are near 28˚C. It will move under the southwestern part of an upper level ridge over Southeast Asia and the Bay of Bengal. The ridge will produce easterly winds that will blow toward the top of Mandous’ circulation. Those winds will cause moderate vertical wind shear. The wind shear is already contributing to the asymmetrical distribution of thunderstorms and the shear will inhibit intensification. The western side Tropical Cyclone Mandous will interact with a mass of drier air over India, when Mandous gets closer to the coast of India. A combination of moderate vertical wind shear and drier air is likely to cause Mandous to begin to weaken during the next 24 hours.

Tropical Cyclone Mandous will move around the southern side of a high pressure system over southern Asia. The high pressure system will steer Mandous toward the northwest during the next 24 hours. On its anticipated track, Tropical Cyclone Mandous will be near the coast of southern India near Chennai in 24 hours. Mandous will bring gusty winds and locally heavy rain to Puducherry, northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh. Tropical Cyclone Mandous will also drop heavy rain over northern Sri Lanka. Heavy rain could cause flash floods in some locations.