Delhi among 3 cities to get urban radar network for better weather forecast

Three metropolitan cities -- Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata -- will soon get urban radar networks for better weather forecast on the lines of a similar network unveiled for Mumbai last month, officials said on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences launched four X-band weather radars in Mumbai last month, taking the total number of such monitoring systems in the financial capital to six covering an area of nearly 50,000 sq km together.

"We plan to extend similar coverage in the other three metros Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata within the next one year," M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said.

Under Mission Mausam, the government plans to install 50 doppler weather radars across the country to strengthen weather forecasting services.

The urban radar network will provide real-time data every five minutes by detecting clouds which bring extreme rainfall as well as thunderstorms.

The data from the radars will be integrated, and eventually offer a real-time view of weather systems developing in and around Mumbai.

The launch of the urban radar network has made Mumbai the country's most monitored city for understanding evolving weather systems.

At present, Mumbai has two doppler weather radars.

Last month, the government approved Mission Mausam with a budget outlay of Rs 2,000 crore to make the country weather-ready and climate-smart' by developing cutting edge weather surveillance technologies and systems.

The mission aims to establish 50 doppler weather radars, 60 radiosonde/radio wind stations, 100 disdrometers, 10 wind profilers, 25 radiometers, one urban testbed, one process testbed, one ocean research station and 10 marine automatic weather stations with upper air observation.