'Himalayan Meteorology Programme formulated for hill weather'

After severe floods in Jammu and Kashmir and cloudburst in Uttarakhand, the government today said it has formulated a Himalayan Meteorology Programme for better understanding of weather in the mountainous states.
The initiative will help in improving the forecasting very short range upto 6 hours in advance and predicting severe weather phenomena upto 72 hours in advance, Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Earth Science informed the Rajya Sabha.
"Earth System Science Organisation-India Meteorological Department has formulated a plan to augment observing systems by deploying Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, automatic weather stations (AWS), Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs).
"This will lead to improved understanding of Himalayan weather in general and severe weather in particular," the minister said in a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Responding to another question, Harsh Vardhan said, on a pilot basis, 3-D GIS-based database is generated for Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu for predicting Tsunami.
"The 3-D GIS layers shall provide details of duration, depth and extent of predicted Tsunami inundation in habitated zones of coastal areas for planning effective response action," Harsh Vardhan said.