Weather prediction accuracy increased by 40 percent in India: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi: The Weather Prediction Accuracy in India has increased by about 40 percent for different severe weather events forecast during last five years, said the Union Minister of State Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh here.

The Minister said India will be covered by “Doppler Weather Radar Network” by 2025 to predict extreme weather events more accurately.

Dr Jitendra Singh made these remarks at the 148^th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department (IMD) here.

He said IMD has taken pro-active steps to increase the Radar Network from mere 15 in 2013 to 37 in 2023 and will add 25 more in next 2-3 years.

The IMD on Sunday commissioned four doppler weather radars (DWRs) in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir.

The four DWRs have been installed at Banihal Top in Jammu and Kashmir, Jot and Murari Devi in Himachal Pradesh and Surkanada Devi in Uttarakhand.

They will help bolster its weather monitoring capabilities in the western Himalayan region. Dr Jitendra Singh also dedicated 200 Agro Automated Weather Stations to the Nation.

Under Agro-Meteorological Services, it is targeted to establish 660 District Agro Meteorological Units (DAMUs) by 2025 and increase from 3,100 blocks in 2023 to 7,000 blocks in 2025.

Doppler radar is a specialised tracking system that tracks weather conditions and calculates information about the location and velocity of a storm or other forms of extreme weather events by using the Doppler effect.

It is used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type. Forecasting with the help of doppler radar is more timely. Such forecasts can be critical during safe evacuations in the likelihood of extreme weather events

Dr Jitendra Singh said, Climate Services are very important for short and long term planning and strategy development and IMD has already initiated these services in five major thrust areas of Agriculture, Health, Water, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction and has lined up plans to expand them through customization of products.

He said, soon a National Framework will be created on priority to provide climate products and information for Sectoral applications.

Elaborating the impact of forecasting on human lives, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it has succeeded in minimizing loss of lives from various extreme events like cyclone, heavy rain, thunderstorm, heat wave and cold wave in the recent years.