Weatherman wants to hear from you for better forecast

NEW DELHI: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is seeking inputs and observations from the general public to make its forecasting more robust. In a link posted on its main and regional websites, IMD has asked people to submit information on different weather phenomena ranging from rain, hailstorm, lightning, dust storm and gusty winds (over 62 kmph) that have occurred in their neighbourhood.
The public has been asked for the weather phenomenon, its intensity and damage caused to gauge the impact in places where IMD’s observatories and weather stations do not exist.

IMD officials said the exercise to crowdsource inputs began six months ago with over 8,500 observations having been collected so far from across the country. Out of these, nearly 50% of the observations are rain-related.
Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the regional met office in Delhi, said the data had so far helped them improve their own accuracy in forecasting weather-related events. The data was also being gathered to gauge future events.
“It often happens that light rainfall is forecast to occur, but if the main stations like Safdarjung, Palam, Aya Nagar, Ridge or Lodhi Road do not record any rainfall, it is believed that there was no rain across the city. However, it may be possible that light to moderate showers may have occurred in some parts where a station or observatory does not exist,” added Srivastava.
The weatherman further stated that this would help them identify which areas recorded rainfall. “Radar images can be checked to identify which cloud movement or formation may have contributed to rain in the area. This will improve forecasting accuracy and we can learn from the data provided to us,” said Srivastava, adding that short-duration events such as hailstorm or gusty winds could particularly be identified in this manner.
“There is a section where people can report hailstorms, gusty winds and even lightning, along with the damage that has possibly occurred. If the main observatories do not record hailstorm activity, user inputs will help us know that there was hail along with rain. Quite often, the hail melts in seconds, so people’s inputs can be beneficial,” said Srivastava, adding that outer parts of Delhi would get better coverage.
Data is currently being collected through the link https://city.imd.gov.in/citywx/crowd/enter_th_datag.php. People can make observations about the weather phenomena as well as report damage, including uprooted trees, damage to buildings, livestock, crops or telephone poles and flooding, among others events.