IMD works on more accurate forecasts

Also,part of the department’s five-year plan is the installation of 55 more Doppler radars across India. The country currently has 15 of these devices,used to predict the approach of storms and cyclones,many of them along the east coast as also inland towns,including Hyderabad,Nagpur and Delhi. Doppler radars were first installed in India in 2002.

The integrated Mountain Meteorology Programme is meant to cater to specific demands in the hilly states stretching from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. “The needs of these states are very different as these are hilly regions. So the programme is meant to be a holistic project to improve facilities in these states and has already been sanctioned,” said Yadav.

Phase 1 of the modernisation drive,which began five years ago and focused on improving basic capabilities,had seen the accuracy of IMD’s forecast increase tremendously,Yadav said. “The percentage of correct forecast has improved from around 65 per cent to 80 per cent now in the last five years. False alarms have reduced by half and ‘missing rates’ — the number of times we miss a weather event — has also gone down to a similar degree,” he said.

The improvement in the percentage of correct forecast to 80 per cent also applied to the IMD’s fog forecast,Yadav said,adding that the cyclone forecast had also seen an improvement.