J&K to get 3 doppler radars for weather forecast

| | New Delhi
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J&K to get 3 doppler radars for weather forecast

Friday, 25 January 2019 | PNS | New Delhi

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will install three hi-tech Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) across the Valley to predict accurate forecast in the extreme weather.

Jammu & Kashmir is presently equipped with only one Doppler radar, making the task of accurate weather forecasting difficult in the State due to different weather patterns in its three regions-Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir. Presently, the lone radar is installed in the meteorological office in Srinagar.

Sources said that IMD will install three high tech Doppler radar, to predict accurate extreme weather conditions in the Valley.

“The DWR provides advance information, enhancing the lead time so essential for saving lives and property in the event of natural disaster associated with severe weather. Though the conventional radars are able to track and predict cyclones, the DWR provides detailed information on storm’s internal wind flow and structure. The severity of the weather systems can thus be quantitatively estimated more accurately than ever before and more precise advance warnings can be generated for saving lives and property,” the IMD said. The IMD is also planning to add 30 Doppler radars in next two to three years in Indian cities. The plan is also to have 14 radars in the northeast region, including the existing three radars. “The hilly states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir witness erratic weather patterns, thunderstorms and heavy rains and snowfall, and so do the northeastern states,” IMD officials added.  “Right now, the IMD is working on selecting locations in hilly states to install these radars”, he added.

A Doppler radar is a tool to provide precise information about thunderstorms, dust storms, hailstorms, and rainfall and wind patterns. With a radius of around 250-kms, it helps in issuing forecasts 2 to 3 hours prior to severe weather events. There are currently 27 Doppler radars in the country. The first Doppler radar was installed in Chennai in 2002. It was procured from M/S Gematronik Gmbh, Germany. A year later, another one was installed in Kolkata. By 2006, two more such facilities were installed at Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam.

Its need became more compelling after the 2013 cloud burst in Uttrakhand that killed thousands of people and recent Kerala floods in 2018.

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