A comprehensive plan to increase the city’s weather forecasting capacity by 2020 is being worked upon in collaboration between the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), officials said on Friday.
The statement was made by K.S. Hosalikar, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, IMD at a conference held at the BMC headquarters. Dr. D.R. Pattanaik, IMD, Delhi and Dr. Kripan Ghosh, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Pune were also present.
An integral part of the event was focused on discussing the developments in the city in preparation for the monsoon.
“With science and technology developing, we are coming up with a special plan for Mumbai, which other megacities will eventually follow. These plans include setting up automatic rain gauges in several parts of the city to help in impact based forecast,” Mr. Hosalikar said.
The city currently has 60 automatic rain gauges installed across civic wards, and the new plan involves bringing the number up to 140, which will be set up across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
“We have already partnered with the Western Railway and are currently working on partnering with the Central Railway to install these devices by the end of the month” Mr. Hosalikar said. The IMD and the BMC have also formed a committee and have planned on adding six doppler weather radars, which will help densify the 140 rain gauges around the city.
“There is already one operational S-Band weather radar in Colaba and we plan on installing more in places such as Thane, Navi Mumbai, and Ghatkopar/BKC. We are currently deciding whether the additional radars will be S-Band or X-Band. While the S-Band weather radar is extremely heavy weighing 15 tonnes, the X-Band weather radar seems like the more feasible option because it weighs below one tonne and thus has fewer logistical requirements.” Mr. Hosalikar said.
Mr. Pattanaik added that the professional interaction between the IMD and BMC had strengthened and there was better dialogue between the two agencies.
“All said and done, monsoon is a challenge for the IMD and it keeps us on our toes, but the delay in rains have given us breathing time wherein we can come up with more advanced plans” Mr. Hosalikar said.