To improve weather forecast, new radars likely in Ramnad & Yercaud

IN a significant development, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Tamil Nadu government have decided to set up additional Doppler X-band radars in two or three new locations in southern and interior districts of the state to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting.

-  SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA

IMD will also soon replace the old S-band radars in Chennai and Sriharikota for which tenders have already been issued.

M Ravichandran, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, IMD, said this during a press conference in Chennai while replying to a query from TNIE. Site studies in Ramanathapuram and Yercaud are currently on. S Balachandran, head, Regional Meteorological Centre, said, "We are checking for locations that don't have electromagnetic interference."

Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a series of extreme weather events during monsoon seasons, and forecast has become a challenge because of lack of good radar coverage across the state.