Nowcast by 2010

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is going to launch a new weather forecast system called Nowcast, which will allow forecast of weather conditions for the next two hours. This Geographical Information System-based system will focus on specific areas and cities to address the problems faced by people due to sudden change in weather conditions — a situation faced by Mumbai in2005.
“If people know what kind of weather and rainfall is expected within next few hours, a lot of trouble can be saved. This weather alert system will be helpful for office goers who can either start early or reschedule their day’s programme accordingly in case their is an alert for sudden rain or storm. It will also prevent chaos on the roads,” said Dr Akhilesh Gupta, advisor to the minister of science and technology.
Nowcast is available in some of the major cities in United States and is mainly used as storm tracker and tornado warnings.
Even though the first demonstration of this system is going to be only in New Delhi before 2010 Commonwealth Games, the IMD is putting in place the system for real time weather prediction. In the first phase 12 doppler radars, 550 automatic weather stations, 1350 automatic rain measuring instruments will be placed across the country. “These will be connected with ground observation and space-based network for timely and accurate forecast of weather,” said Gupta.
The IMD is simultaneously working on a 24x7 weather forecast channel for various users which is expected to be operational from October this year. The channel was earlier scheduled for a June launch but got delayed.
Let's pray that they stick to their schedule.India on the move!