India needs to have holistic approach to extreme weather events: Kevin Petty

India needs to pay attention to different weather conditions, including extreme events like tropical cyclones, heat waves and heavy monsoon rains, on the country as a whole as these essentially impact the population, a top meteorologist has said. Kevin Petty, director of science and forecasting for 'The Weather Company', said extreme weather events should not be viewed as a "single-type trend" but seen holistically to understand the variety of impact they may have.

"India, like a number of other countries, is going to have to pay attention to a variety of different types of weather conditions, particularly those extremes, whether it be a tropical cyclone, a heat wave, or you know, heavy, heavy rain during the monsoon period. All of those will essentially impact the population, as well as different aspects of operations in different ways," he said in an interaction with PTI. "I think instead of maybe looking at a single-type of trend, there is a need to look at a holistic approach here. And through that holistic approach, understand the variety of impact on the country as a whole," he said.

Petty is also the Director of Public-Private Partnerships at The Weather Company. He said the use of Artificial Intelligence in weather forecasting is growing.

One of the key aspects around AI would be not only to utilise it in aspects of weather assessment and prediction, but also to leverage AI in a way that combines weather data with other non-weather-related data sources, he said. "To truly find those correlations to impact," he said.

"And through those impacts, we will be able to do a better job of supporting critical decision making in a number of different operational areas," he said.