Maharashtra's first Doppler radar installed in Nagpur

A Doppler Weather Radar (DWR), the first in Maharashtra, has been installed here for accurate predictions of monsoons, cyclones and other weather-related phenomena.

The DWR was installed on Sunday near the Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in the city. It is the third such radar in the country.

The sophisticated S-band Doppler radar here has been provided by a Chinese company and is capable of weather surveillance up to 500 km. It will cover the entire Vidarbha region, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, said Retired Air Vice Marshal Ajit Tyagi, Director General of India Meteorological Centre.

It provides imageries derived from volume scan depicting location of clouds, expected rainfall from these clouds, horizontal winds and wind shear. The imageries are very good for weather analysis and forecasting, he said.

The DWR provides round-the-clock automatic observation of cloud mass and rain patches with updates every 10 minutes and will prove to be a boon for farmers who will not have to look to the sky for rains and clouds and henceforth will receive bulletins on their mobiles.

Plans are afoot to send feed to the Central Weather Bureau and then to super computer which will transmit data through Internet to farmers about accuracy of weather forecast, Tyagi said.

A DWR provides various meteorological, hydrological and aviation products which are useful for forecasters in estimating the storm's centre, fixing its position and predicting its future path. Besides, the Met staff can view thunderstorms, hailstorm, heavy rainfall in greater detail.

Maharashtra's second DWR, manufactured indigenously by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is being installed later this month in Colaba observatory in Mumbai. It will cover the remaining distance between Nagpur and the metropolis.

The Director General said that as part of preparations for installing 55 DWRs across the country, six of them in Maharashtra, the Centre has sent its staff for training to France, China and the United States besides other countries.

The newcomers in the Meteorological department have been trained in Pune, he said.

To a question, he said that under the ongoing modernisation of IMD, they are planning to establish a network of 1,000 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and 3,600 Automatic Rain Gauge Stations (ARG) across the country, which means every taluka headquarter will have this facility.

The country's first Doppler radar was installed in New Delhi and the second one in Hyderabad.