RMC to crowdsource weather data

CHENNAI: The meteorological department recently launched a website to crowdsource information on weather patterns across the nation. According to officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, this is an attempt to bring the public into the forecasting process.

“We have 1-2 Automatic Rain Gauges in each district, but that may not be enough for an accurate enough forecast. Therefore, we request the public to submit pictures and information on the weather in their vicinity on the website, so that it may be included in the day’s forecast,” said N Puviarasan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC.

The website lets the public input the time, weather pattern, district and damage caused. Additionally, they may attach photographs. According to Puviarasan, corroboration of the validity of the information will be done by the department, before being included in the forecast and released to the public.

This is also an effort to provide more accurate forecasts, he said. “For example, if our readings show that there are low wind speeds at the coast, we will not issue a coastal warning. But if fishermen in the sea see high wind speeds, they can immediately notify us. Noting this, we can adjust our technology and fine-tune it to catch these weather readings, to provide better and more accurate details in the future,” said Puviarasan.

The URL to the website is https://city.imd. gov.in/citywx/crowd/enter_ th_datag.php.