VIJAYAWADA: Temperature readings by the AP State Development Planning Society (APSDPS) and IMD are at variance with one another, making it impossible to decide what the accurate temperature of the cities and towns in the state is.
The APSDPS, a state government agency, records temperatures from sensors set up by ISRO at various locations in the state. At the same time, the IMD too dishes out temperature recordings for the entire country, but the state government goes by the APSDPS report as it has signed an MoU with ISRO on sharing data.
The temperature recordings by the two agencies differ by at least three to five degrees, leading to confusion.
On Wednesday, the IMD pegged the temperature in Vijayawada at 41°C, while the APSPDS set the figure at 44°C.
The IMD has only a single sensor at Gannavaram and the APSDPS has three at Gunadala, Ibrahimpatnam and Nunna and temperatures recorded at the three places vary from one another. Though IMD data is official, the State government seems to have faith only in the data delivered by ISRO through APSPDS.
Speaking to Express, Y K Reddy, IMD’s AP head, said the Indian Meteorological Department’s data was “always accurate”. “There might be some variance depending on the location and distance from the
sensor. APSDPS has its sensors on hill tops, near electric substations and as a result the temperature readings are high. They have got a large number of sensors across the State,” he said.
The IMD has 18 manually-operated sensors across the State. APSDPS, on the other hand, has set up 1079 sensors across the State with the collaboration of ISRO and Vassar labs as technical partners to
record rainfall, temperature, humidity, etc.
APSDPS has also launched Varuna App, which gives LIVE Weather updates based on GPS location.
Speaking to Express, the CEO of APSDPS, Sanjay Gupta said that the data points are denser than IMD’s and capture every single detail, producing an accurate report. "The difference in temperature recordings between IMD and APSDPS is because the IMD has limited number of sensors across the State. As weather is not constant across the entire city, it requires more sensors to capture the data. We are able to capture every minute update and also classify the data into three categories: Severe, Moderate and No heat. As we are equipped with the latest technology in equipment and software, we are able to provide accurate recordings,” he said.
The APSDPS website has data based on inputs provided by Automatic Weather Stations and Ground Water Piezometers across the state. For each city, there is information on temperature, wind speed, rainfall, humidity and ground water levels. The wind speed direction is indicated with a static arrow, with north being straight up.