Tropical Cyclone Thane Rain, Radar, Satellite Images

Driving x

Add New Interest

Jesse Ferrell

Tropical Cyclone Thane Rain, Radar, Satellite Images

December 29, 2011; 10:45 AM ET

UPDATE: (From Comments, thanks Varun) Follow photos, video and news of the storm here.

UPDATE: (From Comments, thanks Scott) Check out a cool animation of the two tropical systems here. This storm is also involved in a hoax about a storm system that stretches from India to the U.S. West Coast. More info at the bottom of this entry.

Here's something we haven't seen in a while... a "hurricane" in December. Technically, it's known only by the name "Tropical Cyclone Thane" will make landfall in southeast India today as a significant threat to lives and property. According to NASA TRMM, has dumped over two feet of rain in the last three days:

The storm has a clear eye on radar and satellite (the Indian Service Met Office appeared to be down due to traffic as of this posting, so the following radar image was borrowed from KEA Weather on Facebook).

Is this unusual? A little bit. The Indian basin's hurricane season is from April 1 to December 31 for the northern Indian Ocean (NOAA Hurricane FAQ), but NOAA says that only 5 hurricane-strength storms have ever existed in December. The following satellites are from the CIMSS Tropical Page and the U.S. Navy (Monterey) Tropical Page:

Another tropical cyclone is currently located to the south of Thane, click here for a cool animation of both.

By the way, Thane has been fingered as being part of a "half-way around the world" storm hoax on YouTube. The problem with this video is that it's neither "a storm system" or "a series of storms." What he's seeing is benign high clouds being moved across the world via the Jet Stream. This is not unusual, in fact the jet stream is always present and does encircle most of the world. If you look at the water vapor satellite shot below, you can see that all weather systems are constantly "connected." The atmosphere is just one sea of moisture.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

Comments

Comments left here should adhere to the AccuWeather.com Community Guidelines. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.

More The WeatherMatrix Blog

30th Anniversary: The Great Cold Outbreak of 1985

January 21, 2015; 12:19 PM ET

The cold outbreak of Jan. 21, 1985, was here. Temperatures had fallen below zero across the Deep South and were in the single digits on the Carolina and Gulf coasts.

2014 Hottest Year Ever on Earth: Maybe, Barely

January 20, 2015; 7:28 AM ET

Was 2014 the hottest year ever on Earth? Probably not, and I outline reasons why I don't believe the global warming numbers.

Upgrading to HD WeatherCams with Foscam IP Cameras

January 18, 2015; 9:52 PM ET

Having built the AccuCam Network last year, I thought this year I'd try to move it up to another level in 2015.

111-mph Winds, 36-Foot Waves, Tornado, Snow in U.K.

January 15, 2015; 11:06 AM ET

The latest storm to attack the United Kingdom and Ireland has left some impressive stats, photos and videos behind.

Social Media + Weather: Snowmen Banned in Saudi Arabia?

January 14, 2015; 3:55 PM ET

This is interesting to me both from a meteorological and Social Media perspective, because those two things conspired to create this controversy.

High Pressure Records Broken in the Plains

January 9, 2015; 2:15 PM ET

A huge high pressure system that was responsible for bringing the coldest air of the season to the U.S. this week broke all-time records in the Plains.