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REPORT
Quest for Accurate Weather Prediction Fourteen cyclones since 2004, thousands of casualties, coastal flooding and torrential rainfall — Tamil Nadu has weathered many a storm in recent years. Though the State Government, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have been chalking out mitigation strategies, an infrastructure upgrade is the need of the hour. By Priya Chadha
O
n December 30, 2021, the weather bulletin issued at noon in Chennai, predicted ‘light-to-moderate’ showers in some areas of the city. An alert issued a little later again warned that there would light-to-moderate rain at isolated places in Chennai and nearby districts for one or two hours. However, by the time an ‘orange alert’ was sounded, there was a heavy downpour in Chennai and three other districts, inundating most areas and leading to gridlocks. There was loss of property and human lives. Apparently, two of the three radars had not been working since November 6, 2021, and as per a report, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had been issuing conflicting predictions. The state government relies on IMD for any weather-related
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information. But the department’s predictions have not been so accurate of late, and its failure to do so is costing the state dear as it is unable to put in pre-emptive efforts to save lives. Technology upgrade is the need of the hour as in such a situation, not only is normal life crippled, but health services are also affected.
An automated weather station On plans to set up a new weather station, Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department, said that like other states, Tamil Nadu too wants to improve its early warning system. “For instance, if we issue a warning, some action has to be taken, and to act as per the warning, a decent support system is required by districts,
tehsils or blocks concerned. In addition to our automated stations, states are also establishing their own automated weather stations, which is why the Tamil Nadu government, too, wants to set up a similar weather station,” he said. The automated weather station will be an observatory station, and will automatically record temperature, pressure, rainfall, etc. Mohapatra added, “IMD issues the forecast. No separate prediction is issued by Tamil Nadu. All our data is stored in GIS now. It is a collaborative work between IMD and the Tamil Nadu government. As per our guidance, we are working together and there is no separate meteorological facility. It will be augmented by setting up a few observatories by the Tamil Nadu government like any other government is doing. For
