Want to know whether you need to carry an umbrella to work? Or keep your potted plants indoors so that they wouldn’t get destroyed in the rain? Or take a call on doing the laundry today? Just ask the weatherman. Exactly what Sumit Khandelwal, managing director, Anandam Sweets Pvt Ltd, did when he was setting up his brand. The Dehradun resident would regularly call meteorologist Anand Sharma. “Knowing the weather prediction helped me streamline my operations. If rain was predicted over the weekend, we wouldn’t have much footfall, but if it was going to be sunny, then we would have more customers. Sharma’s predictions helped me decide how much food to prepare,” he says. Many such instances made Sharma, president of the Indian Meteorological Society realise how weather impacts the lives and livelihood of people from all walks of life. He realised the answer was more awareness. Soon, he began conducting free, interactive sessions for students, doctors, engineers, IAS and IPS officers, forest officers, scientists and, well, just about everyone, helping them read the weather.
Sharma’s sessions are interactive and thought-provoking“I must have taught more than 10,000 people from Leh to Bengaluru, and from Mumbai to Shillong,” says the 63-year-old. He, however, asserts that these sessions are not enough for one to become a professional forecaster. “They will have to undergo rigorous training and work to gain experience in a forecasting unit,” he says, but he agrees that his sessions can give people a better understanding of weather, how it operates and to read and interpret the information put out by the IMD.
But how does predicting weather help the public? “A person who works in the construction industry would regularly ask me if rain is predicted. For instance, if rain was predicted, he wouldn’t put up a roof. On the other hand, the rains would help him if he had just finished constructing a house, as he would usually have to water the house so that the cement would get strong,” says Sharma. Another caller was worried if he should shift the venue of his daughter’s wedding. “It was drizzling and it was an outdoor wedding. He wanted to know if he should shift it inside,” says Sharma, who was driving at that time. “I stopped at the nearest café to check the radar. I realised that it would rain only for a short time, so I asked him not to shift the venue.” His advice helped the man save about a couple of lakhs.
However, while the weatherman plays a big role in our daily lives today, when Sharma finished his studies, there were few career opportunities for meteorologists. “I couldn’t get a job for five years,” says Sharma, who did his MSc in Applied Meteorology from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, in 1984. In 1989, he was finally recruited as a meteorologist in India Meteorological Department (IMD). “I did a yearlong training in theory and the practice of various aspects of the science of weather prediction. Every day a new experiment is happening in the atmosphere. For instance, people say if you see a halo around the moon or sun it indicates high probability of rain. This halo is caused by Cirrostratus clouds and it indicates rain in the next 24 hours,” explains the Delhi resident. Sharma began pursuing his passion for teaching in 1991, when he was posted at the IMD office in the campus of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru.
Weather prediction is quite complex but it’s not rocket science, he says. “A handful of weather patterns influence the weather, so if you can learn to identify those systems on the weather charts and maintain continuity you can appreciate and understand the weather forecast in a better manner. But 100 per cent accuracy in weather forecasting is not possible. It is not pizza delivery,” says Sharma.