Summary:
It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast around Kakinada during 17th December afternoon. However, due to unfavourable environmental conditions, it is likely to weaken slightly before landfall and cross coast as a cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 70-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph The severe Cyclonic storm ‘PHETHAI’ over westcentral & adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 16 kmph during past 06 hours and lay centred at 2330 hrs IST of 16th December, 2018 over westcentral & adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal near latitude 14.0°N and longitude 82.5°E, about 620 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 260 km east-northeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 280 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 330 km south-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh)..