Sunny in Lalbagh; raining in Gomti Nagar: Accurate area-wise forecasts coming soon to Lucknow
Lucknow will soon provide precise weather data from multiple locations, improving forecasts with new stations and radars for better disaster management.
Lucknowites will have access to accurate weather readings of different areas very soon. Just like Delhi, people in Lucknow will now get to know the exact temperatures at Gomti Nagar and also at Hazratganj at the same time via India Meteorological Department (IMD) website.
Met department sources said the service will be initiated soon in the state capital.
Citizens will also get a cumulative average of weather reading—maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall, relative humidity--from multiple stations established by the state government across the length and breadth of the city. Currently, Lucknow Met office shares information recorded only from one station located at the Met office near Amausi airport.
“The state government established eight automatic weather stations (AWS) and 19 automatic rain gauges (ARG) that measure rainfall. These will automatically record various meteorological parameters like temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and rain accurately. These readings from different locations will first go to the main server of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITL) Lucknow and simultaneously to the IMD server in Pune that people can access easily from the website,” said Manish R Ranalkar, Lucknow Met director.
Additionally, seven more AWS and 23 ARG will be installed shortly, he added.
Likewise, in Uttar Pradesh, 550 AWS and 2000 ARG will be installed for wide and accurate coverage of weather forecasts and every district will have wide coverage, he said.
“Every 15 minutes data will be updated by IIIT Lucknow and will be relayed to IMD server,” he said.
The state government is also installing four radars at Jhansi, Aligarh, Lucknow and Azamgarh. These should be installed latest by March 2025. And there is already one at Varanasi installed by the IMD.
“Besides, we also have the one in Lucknow. It is not able to cover the extreme south east and south west districts of UP like Sonbhadra, Jhansi, Lalitpur,” he said.
Ranalkar said, “The new radars will help improve the forecasting ability of IMD. It will be useful for the state government to better plan for disaster management.”
Box plz
LDS across state soon?
Efforts are on to install lightning detection sensors (LDS) across Uttar Pradesh. These are used to detect lightning strikes and can be used for disaster management and climate research. It will help in giving real time information and alert before lightning strikes. This will help the relief commissioner’s office make preparations and sound alerts.