Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 15: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today informed the Lok Sabha about Mobile Apps to know the weather forecast.
The Minister, who is also In-Charge India Meteorological Department (IMD), stated that in 2020, IMD launched seven of its services (Current Weather, Nowcast, City Forecast, Rainfall Information, Tourism Forecast, Warnings and Cyclone) with ‘UMANG’ mobile App for use by public. Moreover, in 2020, IMD had developed Mobile App ‘MAUSAM’ for weather forecasting, ‘Meghdoot’ for Agromet advisory dissemination and ‘Damini’ for lightning alert.
In a reply to a question, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that IMD follows a seamless forecasting strategy. The long range forecasts (for the whole season) issued are being followed with extended range forecasts issued on every Thursday with a validity period of four weeks. To follow up the extended range forecast, IMD issues short to medium range forecast and warnings daily valid up to next five days with an outlook for subsequent two days.
The short to medium range forecast and warning at district and station level are issued by state level Meteorological Centres (MCs)/ Regional Meteorological Centres (RMCs) with a validity of next five days and are updated twice a day, the Minister informed. The short to medium range forecast is followed by a very short range forecast of severe weather up to three hours (nowcast) for all the districts and 1171 cities and towns. These newscasts are updated every three hours, he added.
The Minister further stated that the forecast is issued for 36 meteorological subdivisions from National Weather Forecasting Centre, IMD HQ and is updated four times a day. The forecasts and nowcasts are issued at District Level and Station Level by State Level Meteorological Centres and Regional Meteorological Centres.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that IMD is implementing Impact Based Forecast (IBF) which gives details of what the weather will do rather than what the weather will be. It contains the details of impacts expected from the severe weather elements and guidelines to the general public about do’s and don’ts while getting exposed to severe weather. These guidelines are finalised in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and are already implemented successfully for cyclone, heat wave, thunderstorm and heavy rainfall.
The Minister also added that IMD has taken various initiatives in recent years for improvement in dissemination of weather forecast and warning services based on the latest tools and technologies. The forecasts and warnings are disseminated to users including disaster managers by e-mail on a regular basis. In addition to this, WhatsApp groups are created including disaster managers and IMD officials and forecasts & warnings are disseminated through this facility also. The forecast & Warnings are uploaded in social media & website for reference by all concerned. The newscasts related to Severe Weathers are disseminated through SMS also to the registered users.
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