Kerala to soon get 85 automatic weather stations

IMD will also set up a doppler radar in north Kerala to keep entire area under surveillance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a bid to increase its forecasting capabilities, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will soon set up a doppler radar in north Kerala and 85 more automatic weather stations (AWSs) across the state, taking the total number of such stations to 140. 

The state currently has two doppler radars — one each in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram — for predicting the approach of storms and cyclones. Setting up one more doppler radar in north Kerala will enable the state to keep the entire area under surveillance as each device can cover around 400km. 

The radar will enable the IMD to issue more specific ‘nowcast’ regarding the rainfall activity issued by the Met department every three hours. Further, it would install 85 more AWSs, the work on which is expected to start next month. These stations are expected to be operational before the next monsoon season. 

“We are going to install 87 AWSs in ‘Kerala region’ -- 85 in the state and one each in Mahe and Amini (Lakshadweep). All 87 equipment may reach Thiruvananthapuram shortly. This is a part of a project for the installation of 400 AWSs all over India. The first installation will be at Tirupati. All experts will reach there and certify it after proper procedures. Then only, installations in Kerala will start. We expect that by the 2022 monsoon season, all will be operational. All sites have been identified for the project in Kerala region,” said a senior IMD officer. 

“The AWS will give data after observing various parameters. It is one of the tools and initial conditions for weather forecasting, in addition to several other tools available with IMD, mostly to see the current situation of weather parameters, wind, temperature, atmospheric pressure and rainfall. We will get this information every 15 minutes. Members of the public can see the data on the web through their mobile phones,” said P S Biju, joint director of IMD, Thiruvananthapuram.

The IMD had announced after the 2018 mega flood that Kerala would get 100 new AWSs by the end of 2020. However, it could set up only 15 in different districts till now because of Covid spread, which delayed the installation of the units, although the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) had handed over the plots identified for setting them up.

Early warning system project

• Centre has allocated D76.60 cr as its share to set up early warning dissemination system (EWDS) as part of national cyclone risk mitigation project
• KSDMA had handed over the land for setting up AWSs in two phases
• In the first phase, 73 land parcels identified by KSDMA and approved by IMD were allotted in 2019
• In the second phase, remaining 27 preferred sites and 38 second preference sites were allotted in May 2020
• One doppler radar will soon be set up in north Kerala and 87 automatic weather stations in ‘Kerala region’ — 85 in state and one each in Mahe and Amini (Lakshadweep)